Archive for the ‘Woodworking Articles’ Category

Here are photos of the final assembly.  You can gather a lot of information from looking at the pictures.  The real fun is in the finishing artwork for your projects.

Do you buy reconditioned tools or does it scare you a bit?  Some people will not think twice about buying a used tool on Ebay, but stop short when buying a reconditioned tool new from a site or a retail storefront.  The funny part is, if it breaks you still have to take it to the same place to fix it whether it is new or used

Repairs to Routers

Most manufacturers do not do any type of repairs themselves.  In fact if you have ever had a problem, they usually state that they do not want you to return the item to where you bought it.  However that is what most people do if the tool is brand new and defective from the start.  Otherwise the rest of us are stuck with taking routers to a certified repair center for repairs.  This can be a good thing or a bad thing.  The good thing is that the tool now gets a thorough look over from the repair shop and is tested for proper functioning.  This does not happen in the factory.  The bad news is that these repair shops can be a bit pricey and then you have to neogiate with the manufacturer about who pays the bill.

Reconditioned

Here is what I like about reconditioned.  Most of the time, the tool is brand spanking new.  A good portion of the time you have a tool that had a very minor problem such as a bad switch or broken accessory and its repaired easily and quickly.  The best part is the tool is looked over and tested.  That means I know that someone has given it the green light and I can feel good that its going to run like its supposed to.  There is always the person that buys something and really has no idea how to run the tool, and returns it for some reason or another.  That tool cannot now be sold as new even though it works properly.  These are all good opportunities to save some money.

There a couple of places that sell reconditioned routers, usually you have to look around a bit since the offerings vary from day to day or week to week.  I like Tool King and CPO Bosch.

Tool King Routers

CPO Bosch

I have been toying with a woodworking business idea for some time now.  So I thought I would share with my readers.  Feel free to respond if you like.  I really like this CNC machine made by Rockler called the Shark.  It is compact enough to fit in my small space and do some really neat work.  My office is on the other side of the workshop, so the idea of me working on my computer on one side and having the cnc running on the other is appealing for some reason.

Woodworking businesses

2009 has been a tough year if you are in business, this year should be better.  If you are thinking about starting something I think this machine or one similiar can be very helpful.  Most woodoworkers tend to think old school when they want to start something up at home.  I say why not go out on the edge a bit and use the machine to create some buzz in the community and a little cash in your pocket.  About the only downside of this particular machine is that it does not do bigger pieces of wood, however you will have to shell out considerably more cash to make get a bigger size.  The next size up seems to be a 4 x4 sized machine but it seems the offerings are slim.  Shop bot seems to be the only one with a machine that size and its really not covered or presented that well.

Use this machine for:

• Making plaques
• Signs for garages (men’s toys)
• Kids items
• kitchen signs
• decorative art
• copies of photos

I have a few good ideas in my head.  If I were just starting out, I definetly would harness the power of Ebay to get started.  Ebay has spent gajillions of dollars on marketing and that makes perfect sense for someone who is just starting out.  Lots and lots of people go to Ebay looking for something unusual or custom made and you don’t have to drop a lot of money to get a website going.

Specs  You can see the Rockler CNC Shark or read further:

Improvements over the original CNC Shark:

• Twice the workable area
• Increased strength
• Includes updated version of VCarve software (5.0)
• Includes 1/2” Dia. V-Groove Router Bit
• Includes two Hold-down Clamps

Additional features:

• High speed traverse
• Less than .001″ resolution
• USB interface with removable memory card interfacee
• Includes mounts for a Bosch router (router sold separately)

Capable of interfacing with the following CNC programs:

• VCarve Pro
• 3D Cut
• Photo Carve
• BobCadt
• BobArt
• BobNestCad
• Mach 3
• Lazy Cam

MACHINE

• Travel: X: 24″ Y: 24″ Z: 4.25″
• High Speed traverse
• Bearings: 12 Precision Linear Bearing Guides (4 on each axis) that maximizes rigidity
• Resolution: less then .001 of an inch
• High Power Hybrid 1.8-degree steppers
• USB interface with on controller memory storage
• 24V Supply to provide full power to the steppers
• VCarve 5.0 program included (you can swap with BobCad 21)
• Rockler Holding Clamps included
• Rockler Router V bit included

Here is a design for a stand that I really like.  Part of the reason I like it so much is that it is very stable and very easy to build.  The other is, well, it was my idea.  You can make this stand out of anything that you have laying around the shop.  It will work with plywood, hardwood, soft woods, and MDF.  I have built some with MDF and then laminated over it to give it a touch of class.  I have used laminate to just trim out some edges on plywood as well.  Either way, you can make it really slick or basic and fucntional.  You will notice on the bottom I have put in supports for a optional shelf.  Even if you do not add a shelf, it really helps with the stability of the stand.  However I have never known a woodworker who has not needed a bit extra space or turned down a shelf.

The main feature of the design is the leg.  It has an “L” shape and lends to the stability of the stand.  You can join two pieces together with any type of joint that you like.  I have screwed them, glued them and brad nailed them together.  I have found that gluing them and then hitting it with the brad gun works very very well and is fast.  You can literally have the four legs together as quickly as you can prep the wood. 

Cutting the lengths and widths of the stand is another straight forward operation.  I used screws for joining them to the legs so that I could make sure I can make small adjustments for my shop floor.  You can dress up the screws with trim washers if you want it to look a little different.

 

                                                    

 By Jennifer Akre

Once you finish a cabinet remodel you still need to install the new cabinet pulls. There are a few simple tricks to use to ensure the job goes quickly, smoothly and will look great. So here’s a quick guide on how to install cabinet door pulls.

The first thing you’ll need to do is figure out just where you want to put up the new door pulls. Use a little bit of paste to tack the first cabinet pull up onto the cabinet door. You can adjust the pull up, down, left or right until it looks just right.

Now go to the furthest cabinet and stick up another knob in the same general location. Adjust it until it’s in line with the first handle you stuck into place.

Grab a chalk line and a buddy.

Snap the chalk line across the row of cabinets above and below the two knobs you stuck up with the paste. This gives you a reference point for the height of the door pulls. You won’t have to worry about them sitting uneven on the door fronts.

Now you can just measure how deep the door pull is from the edge of the cabinet and you have the measurements you need to install all of the cabinet door pulls.

Now you’ll want to construct a quick template so that all the pulls go up in the same location.

Grab a piece of wood and mark off the offset you just measured.

Drill holes through the wood that line up with the cabinet door pull and attach bolts.

Now you can take the template and hold it up to cabinet door. Stick a pencil through the door and mark the front of the cabinet.

Next use a cordless drill to put holes in all the cabinet doors at the same time. This will save you time from having to switch out between screwdriver and drill after each cabinet.

Once you drilled out all the pilot holes grab one of the bolts from the cabinet and use it as a test fit. Increase the size of your drill bits until you reach the size of the bolt.

Go back and enlarge all the holes to the same size.

Now you can put down the drill and switch to the screwdriver for good.

Slide each bolt through the back of the cabinet doors. Use the screwdriver to tighten the cabinet pulls to the door facing. You don’t want to crank down too hard on the screws you’ll risk stripping the screws and warping the door pulls.

All that’s left to do is clean up all the saw dust from the drilling. Just vacuum it all up and you’re finished!

Hopefully this guide on how to install cabinet door pulls will make your remodeling job a little easier. These are but a few tips to make the job go smoothly. Just snap a few chalk lines make a template and you’ll have new cabinet pulls up in a few short hours.

Author Jennifer Akre is an owner of a wide variety of online specialty shops including that offer both items and information on how you can easily furnish and decorate your space. Whether it is knobs for your bathroom or cabinet hardware for your kitchen there are many tips you can use to make those spots both functional and beautiful. Click today and indulge your senses.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Akre
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Install-Cabinet-Door-Pulls&id=2557483

This holiday season its time to either buy yourself a gift or get one for someone special.  I put together a little poll to gather some information.  Some people are focused on only buying brand named tools.  Some don’t care or maybe even do not know any better.  Truth is most brands manufacture somewhere else and you can find the exact same table with either different color sequences  and different brand names.  This is very common and happens often.  Does Price motivate you?  How about customer service?  Sometimes things get damaged in shipping, having someone to call can make the day!  Considering the fact that router tables have a lot of parts to them, its inevitable that one of those parts are not going to be perfect.  Having someone to contact can save the day in getting a replacement part.  Go ahead, say whats on your mind.

By Ken Schulte

Everyone that is interested in woodworking wants to make something that makes others say ‘wow”
A router table adds a new dimension to your woodworking because of its amazing versatility. For such a simple concept, a spinning blade, the router table has so many different profiles.

I have always said that when you put your project on the router table it is wood, when you take it off, its furniture.

Here are the top reasons why you want a router table in your shop.

· Amazing versatility

· Versatile edge profiles

· Template following capabilities

· Dado and groove cutting

· Raised panel doors construction

· Precision joinery

· Rounding over wood

· Tables available in Large and bench top sizes

· Tons of accessories are available

· Router bits are available for almost anything

· You can make your own router table, but not your own table saw!

Just think, if you bought a 50-piece router bit set and brought it home, you could literally do 50 different types of cutting. That’s like getting 50 different machines in your shop.

Here are some cool things you can do with “unique” router bits

· Glue Joints

· Mortising

· Lock Mitres (for strong joints)

· Architectural moldings

· Stile and Rail joinery

· Box joints

· Panel raising

· Tongue and groove joints

· Finger joints

· Laminate trimming

· Face framing bits

· Dovetail joinery

· Sign making

· Rabbets

· Biscuit joining

· Slot cutting

· Round overs

· Fluting

· Multi beading

· Picture hanging bits

· Mullion cutters

One of the better aspects of routing on a router table is the ability to attach a dust collector to your router fence. I personally like a portable dust collector that is dedicated to my router table. If you can split the dust hose using a “T” you can collect dust at the router fence and again at the bottom of the table. This keeps your shop clean and organized.

There are so many accessories out there, it can boggle the mind. You can find almost anything for the most demanding project. With so many accessories available, I find it valuable to have a router table cabinet with drawers. Under the table portion of the cabinet is open so the router can breathe. Underneath I like having two drawers that keep all my router table items in one place. I could never keep all the little knobs, allen wrenches, collet wrenches and speed controls, to name a few, all organized. Imagine how easy it is with a couple of drawers to help you keep it all together.

So how do you learn more about your router table? You read, read and read some more. Thanks to the Internet, there is so much out there (for free) that you can learn. Hopefully this article has inspired you to go out and buy a router table and make something amazing.

If this article has inspired you, you may want to learn more about what type of router to purchase when you set up your router table. There are a lot of choices out there and the Internet can either help you or confuse you. I will be posting another article on this very subject.

Ken Schulte is a contributing editor to Router Table Depot. You can find other articles directly related to woodworking with routers and router tables at http://www.routertabledepot.com/Articles.html This site is dedicated to woodworking with router tables. Inside you will find not only lots of products to choose from, but extensive resources to extend your workshop knowledge.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Schulte
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-You-Want-A-Router-Table-In-Your-Woodworking-Shop&id=369924

By Ryan Henderson

Any individual that owns any type of tools knows the importance of keeping them maintained and in good working order. Most of the wood working tools for example are not cheap to buy. In addition, they will not do the best job they are designed for if the applicable ones are not kept sharp.

Keeping the woodworking tools sharp does not only make for precision work it reduces the possibility of accidents as well. This means that you are going to have to invest in some tools just to do the job of keeping the others sharpened. The problem is how do you know which ones to buy for what tool. What you are going to need will also be determined as to the type of woodworking you do. Each specialized area has its own tool requirements. For example, if you do woodcarving or construct wood furniture then your needs will be different.

There are some tools that you can hand sharpen but there are others that will require power sharpeners. You will need to learn about each one of your tools then determine what will be needed to sharpen them.

One thing you are going to learn is that power equipment designed for sharpening tools do not necessarily do a better job they are just able to do the same job much faster. For tools that have been neglected the power sharpening tools work great at removing any build up debris on the cutting components. Most often, these cutting edges are gouged and this really is where you will need the power sharpening equipment to do an effective job.

One of the most popular pieces of equipment for sharpening is the grinders. It must be noted that the shop grinders are not for using on woodworking tools in their original state. They need some modifications done to them first. You will need to remove the original wheel that comes on the shop grinder and replace it with one of the wheels that is designed specifically for sharpening wood working tools. The original blade that came on your grinder is designed for sharpening items such as the blades of your lawnmower or for grinding in general.

Another part that also needs to be changed is the tool rest. You will find the tool rest that comes on the grinder difficult to adjust because it’s so small. This makes it most difficult for any type of control of your grinding. Doing your grinding up grades won’t be difficult to do because they are readily available on the market.

Once you have purchased your grinder and completed the necessary changes to it then you will be ready to start getting your woodworking tools back in shape where they can do a great job just like they were designed to do. Often novices to woodworking tools will blame the inferior job they are doing on the quality of the tool not realizing it’s because of a dull blade. Then there are some that will attempt to just change the blade instead of sharpening the one they have.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and learnt something from it.

What to do next:

Visit http://www.MyShedPlans.com download over 12,000 shed plans, woodworking patterns, wood projects.

MyShedPlans makes it easy for you to start building sheds or any woodworking project with step by step guides and blueprints

P.S: Visit MyShedPlans.com now and download free shed plans. (only for the next 72 hours!)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_Henderson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Calling-All-Woodworkers—Understanding-Sharpening-Tools-and-Equipment—Woodworking&id=2378385

I was talking with a friend last week who operates is own woodworking business.  They do all types of projects but focus on a lot of repeat business from larger companies looking to make impressive display centers.  They use a CNC machine as the center of their shop as well as all the other typical machines you would find in a big shop.  My friend mention the fact that it is getting terribly hard to find highly skilled craftsman these days.  No one really wants to work hard at a craft that focuses on talent, everyone wants to rush things and get as much done as possible in the shortest amount of time.  While that can be good for business, its not good for shop owners since the ranks of which to choose good competent help is getting smaller and smaller each year.  When you do find someone decent they always seem to want huge money.  I myself have a problem paying someone wages that exist in the doctor lawyer level for a days work.  Still if you can manage to find someone that is knowledgeable, it can considerably shorten your training time in guiding them in what you want done.  This in turn creates a catch 22 scenario.  Most applicants today seem to be of the ‘helper” status which does not do a busy shop much good either.

If “budding entrepeneurs” would take the time to realize, they could command good money from the woodworking field, perhaps more would slow down and concentrate on skills that would give them long term work.  Just as the USA is realizing its smart to get back to basics and conserve energy, use less gas and put common sense to work, they are also realizing that craftsmanship is valuable.  A guy or gal thinking about going into the woodworking industry would have tremendous value if they knew how to embrace the Web 2.0 atmosphere of the Internet combined with old fashioned skill in their field.

I get asked a lot about building lost cost router tables that have lots of features and work well in the shop. I stumbled across this one and thought that I would elaborate on it and share it with you. The table is originally a router table extension for a table saw. This one is for sale at Router Table Depot The neat thing about this particular top is that you can use it for a table saw, no problem. But because it has this nice base around the bottom, you can easily mount it to a stand. If you make one yourself, the possibilities are really endless. The one pictured here is a basic stand design but you can go pretty much as far and deep as you would like.

The Stand

The stand is not rocket science, it is basically four “L” shaped legs with stringers attached to hold it square. The stringers can be also made into a shelf for an extra sturdy design. You can make this whole stand out of some scrap plywood or you can use any other scrap wood that you might have lying around. The whole premise of the stand is that the top slides over the stand and rests on the legs. After that you simply use the base of the extension and screw it right to the legs of the stand.

The top has all the features that you would want in a table and can accept all the industry standard upgrades.

• 24″ x 27″ deep
• 1 3/8″ thick
• Top and bottom are laminated
• 3/4″ miter track installes
• Insert is acrylic and measures 12′ x 9″ x 3/8″
• Fence is a split fence design and has a solid aluminum core with 12″ x 6″ Extensions
• Mounting frame is 27×21 1/4″ outside diameter and 24 5/8″x19″ inner diameter

Originally you can buy this for $179 (at this printing) From the Router Table Depot and I believe it has free shipping.  I can imagine the stand costing you more than $20 to make yourself.  Maybe a tad more if you went a little crazy and made drawers, doors and a cabinet style design.