Posts Tagged ‘do it yourself’

This one comes from my friend Greg the Who Dat from Lumberjocks.  He built this really cool table that can be extremely helpful in organizing the shop.  Not only does it sit flush to the saw, but it gives you a perfect extension for cutting large pieces of stock.  Now all it needs is a router insert plate! (but he has a seperate table)  Looks like he pulled out all the stops by using an Incra fence system.

I recently moved my table saw from one end of my shop to the other side and no longer had the nearby shelves where I stored my table saw accessories. I decided to build a storage shelf that would also act as a extension for my table saw top.
It is nothing fancy…just useful, and it gave me a use for the 3/4 sheet of ply and the maroon formica that has been gathering dust in the corner. The trim around the top is cumaru…hard as a rock…and the plugs are walnut.
I wanted something to hang the woodpeck “T- Square” on without scratching it so I drilled the springs out of 2 wire nuts and screwed them to the cabinet side.
It took about 3-4 hours to build it. I am now thinking I probably will build a face frame and some doors to keep the dust out.

This part one of a building a guitar by the Wood Whisperer.  I really like this video because I am into guitars and have always wanted to build my own.  This is a three part series and it shows a tremendous amount of details about the project.  Keep in mind this is for a classical accoustic guitar, not an electric solid body.  Below the video is some bullet point summary of the video if you are interested.  I have added a few points.  So far from part one I have surmised that you need a decent table saw, band saw, drill press and scroll saw (maybe) , jointer and router table.   The author also uses a vacume press jig that you might be able to swap out for some creative clamping.

• The materials were bought with a kit from www.lmii.com

Neck

• The Neck:  not a pre bought neck (which is cool)
• Layout of neck angle using jointer and bandsaw
• Cutting angle on Band saw to prep for glue up
• Used sander to plane the neck stock to size
• Head piece glue up using c clamps and f bar clamps (no screws!)
• Cutting the heel block, glue up
• Laminating the head piece by substituting some curly maple and sandwhiching them together with the vacume bag jig.  This takes only an hour
• Then glue the heel block and head piece then shaped on band saw.  After that cleaned up on router table with a flush trim bit.  This allows that layered glued up wood to really give some nice detail.
• slotting the heel stock for the side , used table saw with an angle on the blade.
• rough sawing the heel block shape
• Cutting the tuning machine holes on the drill press, then cleaning up the slots using a scroll saw.

Sides

• Used East Indian Rosewood
• Stock Preperaton
• Home made jig prep using a bandsaw.  I would imagine after you make this, you could churn out more guitars since you have the jig.
• cut opening for the heel stock into the jig.
• Built own custom bending jig using a light bulb and 1/4″ thick aluminum.  The lightbulb supplies the power via a 1000 watt dimmer switch (so you can control it) and water provides the moisture to bend the wood..Very neat.
• After wood is bent, clamped into jig and glued up
• Attached headstock

Here is an interesting video review that is good to watch and re think some items no matter what your skill level is.  One of the best things about using Pattern cutting templates and bits is that they really make easy work of your woodworking projects.  I like templates because once I remove the stock, the router really makes me look good.  The key is having a good template.  Take your time when making your template and the output will be good.  If you rush your way through it, it will not.  If you are doing any type of production work, or selling a particular item over and over again, these templates can be a lifesaver.  They almost take your woodworking to a cnc type of production without the overhead of the unit.  Here is the video and a brief bullet type summary of that video.

• The bearing and the cutter are on the same side
• Good rule:  What the bearing feels, the cutter cuts
• The difference between a pattern bit and a flush trim bit
• Taping a template to the stock
• Rough cut the stock outside the line on bandsaw makes less work for router
• Clamp stock to template and bench or tape
• Set bit height in plunge router
• Using thicker wood then your bit height

Rockler Pattern Cutting Bits

I like looking at new and tidy offerings. I found this little gizmo from the folks at Rockler. It shows some very interesting items without having to go through the whole site. Of notable intersests were the outlet section. After the beating my wallet took over christmas, saving money is always a welcome sign. I also liked the kitchen pull out shelf kit in the top sellers section. I was thinking about adding that feature to a cabinet in the kitchen for a better garbage set up. Currently we use a bucket with trash bags and its not working very well. I did price some slide out kits at Lowes, but all you get is the hardware and no real directions on how to make the rest of the items you need.

Well it is the holiday’s and if you have some woodworking skills (and I assume you do) then putting them to work as gifts seems like a natural idea.  I originally started out making kids furniture to sell on Ebay (highly recomended by the way, so go ahead and steal that idea).  Of course this year we have a new munchkin in the family so it only seemed naturally to dust off the old kids chair project.  I use to make the chairs the hard way which is cutting all the sides and doweling them together and hoping it comes out flat.  I have (fnally) learned that this takes way too long to do and there is a different way to skin this cat.  This year I redrew the design to be cut on the cnc machine.

I had the CNC cut all the parts and it tool like 5 minutes and they came out perfect.  Next we rounded over the edges with a palm router.  Anytime you finish an edge, wood becomes furniture in my opinion.  I do realize that not everyone has access to a CNC machine, but if you do, this can be really fun.  Next up was some good old fashioned hand sanding.  I used MDF on this project.  I know what your thinking, it will break, or its cheap, or whats your problem?

Here is my reasoning, and it comes from making a lot of these.  First of all, kids do not weigh that much, so weight is not an issue.  If you use decent joinery along with glue, they really cannot break it.  I use to build the chairs and ship them out assembled.  They were made out of maple, which is about as tough as it gets.  Federal Express still managed to destroy them, so I switched to building them as flat stock with “some assembly required” (like the rest of the world)  Once you put it together, its amazingly strong.  I had the conversation of building it out of other materials, it went like this:

Maniac: maybe we should cut them out of plywood?  CNCoperator: You will spend forever filling the voids and somehow chinese plywood has infiltrated the lumber yards and its full of voids, you will have to sand the heck out of it and I know you hate that.  You could go with Russian Birch, but thats like $80 a sheet.

Maniac: How about getting some 12″ hardwood like poplar and cutting it from that?  CNCoperator: If you can find it, its not very stable and chances are it will split.  If you send it out west where the humidity is low, it will almost always split and then you have that to deal with.  Smaller pieces with intricate joinery always make for better stability, or you can use this MDF.

Maniac: How about some other engineered material?  CNCoperator: everything is so expensive are you sure you want to go that direction?

Maniac: How about if we make the outsides out of hardwood and the support pieces out of MDF to save money?  CNCoperator: Now your bugging me.

Maniac: Or we could use decent hardwood cut on the CNC from like 6″ pieces and then pocket join them together?  CNCoperator: not a bad idea but do you want to see all those holes?

Maniac: Or we could make it out of MDF.  CNCoperator: You drink too much coffee.

See part 2 for video of the CNC and of the finished product (gift).

After cutting all the parts and do a dry fit with clamps, you will next need to prep the stock.  In my case I used MDF for the chairs and that means the end cuts have to be sanded.  If you don’t sand them it will continue to suck up paint or primer forever.  I recomend using an 80 grit then an 120 grit.  You might think that is not enough, but here is why.  The minute you prime the ends of MDF, you will raise the grain (so to speak)  Then you will have to go back and sand again.  Some use some sort of sealer, joint compound, spackling, and even bondo (yep).  But I have found that if you sand once, prime it, sand again, and then prime again you should be ok.  The last prime will of course need a sanding, and I use a 240 paper for that.

Prime the stock

I use two coats of primer on my chairs and table.  This helps me and saves some paint since the stock somewhat sucks up the primer fairly quickly.  This can be time consuming but if you are making a future family heirloom, it does not matter.  Besides most primer today is quick drying and you can reprime it fairly fast.

Next I lightly sand the primer and then paint with my final colors.  If you are going to do some art work, I recommend using a flat latex paint.  The satin finish and gloss finishes make it hard for the acrylics that most artists use to work with.  After you get the artwork done, let it cure for a couple of days.

Seal

I like to seal my artwork since little kids are involved and they like to bang on everything.  I have had very good luck with polyacrylic protective finish by Minwax.  It comes in a blue can and I like clear satin for the gloss factor.  Again I let everything cure for a while before shipping or using the item.

The last step is the assembly.  Hopefully you will have figured out your joinery technique before you have even started to cut any stock.  I knew mine was going to be assembled with screws and glue.  Now I know that some of you die hard woodworkers are snubbing your nose at my choice but I do have a reason.  Originally I built the chairs with dowels which worked pretty well.  But, I had to ship the chairs whole and the mortality rate from Federal Express was enough to make your stomach churn.  You have to outsmart the guy working third shift who is cold and tired and really wants to go to bed instead of handling your package with utmost care.  So I choose to have the chair ship flat and have the receiptaint put it together themselves.

In order to dress it up a bit, I did choose to buy birch buttons, paint them and have them cover the screws.  This gives the chair a kind of a mission look, but it is better than looking at the screws in my opinion.  If the chair did not have to be shipped, I would go back to dowels and call it a day, but that is not the case and if you are thinking about selling some, you will have to cross this road too.

Table Skirt

The table skirt is basically a wood box with the table legs attached to the inside.  Very easy, very simple and quick to build.

Table Top

The top started out with a 30″ piece of Plywood, edged with a round over bit and then primed and painted.  This also is pretty straight forward.  Attaching the skirt to the top can be a little tricky, but again the name of my game is shipping the table, so I opted for these neat little 45 degree corners that I made on the miter saw.  Screw one end to the top and one to the skirt.  This allows seasonal movement and and easy assembly.

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.

Skirt to Leg Assembly

Placing the skirt and leg assembly

Clamping the chair for drilling the holes

A small cleat to hold the seat in place

Table Top with Artwork

Finished chair with artwork

Carved Chair back with name

I have always said that woodworking has really evolved.  In my humble opinion there has always been some “old school” woodworkers and there are “new schoolers” too.  I have some relatives that build kind of the old school standards, like paper towel holders and scounces.  This bores me to death to be quite honest.  I say if your going to be in the shop, make something that works for you.

This months deal is from Rockler, and its pretty cool because its useful.  Yeah I know there is still snow on the ground in most places, but hey that is when you get some good shop time.  A nice barbeque set really is very helpful when you are in the battle of the coals and raw meat.  This one I really like since it gives you a lot of the tools you really need and you get to brag about making the handles and take all the credit.  Having the ability to download the plan for free is a great thing too.  I can easily drop $50 on a decent set of barbeque tools so the $15 for the hardware is pretty slick.

Go directly to this Deal of the day here.

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