Posts Tagged ‘woodworking business’

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.

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