Hex Terrain Slope Cutting Jigs

One I had a bunch of hexes cut out, the next step is cutting some sloped shapes for hills.  Since the sides need to all line up, I needed to make some jigs - 3 jigs to be specific.

In order to make the three jigs, I needed to cut 10 wall sections.  The length of each of side of a 4" wide hex is 2.3094 inches (just under 2 and 5/16 on an inch.  Each end has a 30 degree bevel so when they're all placed together they form a perfect hex.

In order to aif the assembly of the jigs I cut some 4 inch wide hexes out of 1/8 plywood and glued them down on some plywood.  Each jig would be assembled around the hex base.

The height of each segment is 1 and 5/8 inches - 1/8 for the base they are built around, 1/2 for the standard hieght of a terrain hex and 1 inch for the height of the slope.

 I cut these using my Incra Mitre gauge on my table saw.  It allows my to dial in very exact angles.  I cut the first piece at 3 inches interior length and then snuck up on by shaving a way a little bit a time until it was a perfect match and locked it down with a stop block.

Given the height of the blade and shortness of the piece being cut (less than 3 inches) this set up is VERY DANGEROUS and you need to use clamps to hold both the stop block and the piece being cut.  DO NOT use your hand to hold the piece in place or you may be making a sacrifice to the blood gods of woodworking.  Also stand fully behind the mitre gauge as when you cut the smaller cutoff pieces they can get caught by the blade and flung at you with impressive force.  Like all power tools a table saw should be treated with extreme respect.  If you're setting up a cut that you are uncomfortable with just don't do it.  Step away and think of a safer way to accomplish the task at hand.

To make the three jigs, you'll need to cut 10 wall segments

six of these segments you need to cut the slope on.  I took a piece of 1 inch foam and used it to trace a line from the top down.  I then drew a diagonal line - 3 from the top left to bottom right and 3 from the top right to bottom left.  The where rough cut on my band saw and then sanded to match.

The three jigs all assembled.  The difference between them if the number of wall segments between the slopes - none, one and three.  Because I'm a completist I'll probably bang out a fourth jig that has two wall segment in between the slopes.  I went the this configuration because thats what the GHQ materials suggested are required

The full set of extra pieces in the back are there because once I get this fully set up, I'm making a set of jigs for Ed.

To use the jig, pop a 1/2 inch high base piece into the jig.  It's a snug fit, which is good.

place the 1 inch high section on top an then pass the hot wire cutter over the jig

and, boom, a slope section stater to take form.

As you can see from the first picture the jigs worked pretty well.  I did screw up one thing.  The interior span of my hand held hot wire cutter (and old Woodland Scenics model) is less than the width a the jig.  The same goes to the hot-wire length on the trusty Proxxon.  The jigs are intended to be use with a single pass of hot wire for the base cut and it's a little cumbersome doing multiple angled passes.  It still works but I can't believe I forgot to measure the gap before building these things.  This conundrum is best summarized by a quote from the great philospher and social commentator, H. Simpson: "Dooohhhh!!!!"