Posts Tagged ‘recreation’

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

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.

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

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

This is a very interesting series by Sommerfeld Tools.  This particular video covers the “router tables made easy” DVD.  First off, a lot of people do not know much about Sommerfeld tools, they are not really lumped in with the big brand names.  In some ways that can be very good.  This 6 minute video shows a lot of information of what’s on the DVD, that is a good thing.  Here is an overview of the video:

• Preview from the “Made Easy” series
• New extruded table top overview
• Review of the cabinet DVD
• Table overview size is 36” x 27”
• Fence is 48” x 4 ¾”
• Fence uses retractable pin and good dust collection
• Sub fences
• 3 zero clearance inserts on fence
• 3 insert rings for the router table insert

Cabinet

• Building the face frame first
• Self aligning Tongue and Groove Joinery
• Laying out the parts
• Uses pocket hole joinery
• Matched tongue and groove router bits
• Uses a jig for bit height (available at their site)
• You cut all grooves at once
• Assembly of the case
• Drawer assembly
• Dovetail joinery for drawers, another cool jig that you use on your router table
• Easy set jig for cope cuts
• Drawer fronts
• Drawer pulls
• Easy board jig for mounting drawers
• DVD is only $9.90 plus free shipping

You can find this video here at there website.

As you may know, we love router tables. We like to build them, talk about them and profile them and when we find a good one, we always like to share what we have found. This particular router table was found in the popular Lumberjocks forum, and what a beauty it is. We have permission from the builder to reprint and feature the router table because the design and outcome is so GOOD. This is the Rolls Royce of router tables because of the great design and the great features.

The main benefit is for you to get some good ideas and see what other folks are building out there in their workshops. If you have a router table that you would like featured on our site please contact us at supportibn@gmail.com.

This is a router table I’m working on for my shop. I was able to incorporate most the features I needed and plan to use it often. It isn’t finished but most the major parts are in place. I purchased the Incra twin linear, router table top, woodpeckers router lift and the porter cable 7518 motor from Woodpeckers Inc about 6 or 7 years back. Finally, she’s in working order.

Since the last post I was able to complete the rear portion which really dressed up this side of my table. I needed a place to keep the large Incra template guide booklet handy. Again I included dowels in the construction of these new parts, this kept things looking uniform.

There’s also a new picture of the inside of the vacuum enclosure.
Some of the important features include:

* locking casters
* 16” ball bearing full extension slides for all 4 drawers
* concealed hinges on the inset doors
* grizzly power switch and aux power outlet on the front of the cabinet
* Power is supplied by a 30 foot cord reel (I just installed a male plug to the end of the reel) built in
* I put 3/8th” stained dowels in the panels of the doors and drawers on the sides
* the dust collection enclosure is fabricated out of 1/2” mdf (the inside is smoothed, all corners have a 1” radius filled in and the bottom is made with an mdf frame and fiberglass in order to maximize dust flow) hooked up to 4” thin wall drain pipe (pvc)
* the reason the two side doors open facing the operator is for future bit or accessory storage access
* Incra template library drawer (I built a series of removable boards which house templates on both sides behind 1/8” lexan or acrylic)
* plexi windows for viewing the router and lift in action
* constructed from different types of pine and mdf

Future plans include:

* trimming out the inside of the cabinet around the plexi windows
* would like to add a Wixey digital router lift gauge
* need a coat or three of Polystain or some finish haven’t decided
* use this table more and master all that its capable of!

You can also see more information about Incra fences here.