Weekly Blog - April 20th

john · Post by **john** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:40 pm

A.h.h.h spring IS here, for now. Thursday, I managed to get out on the garden swing to enjoy my newspaper and coffee for the first time. Of course I did have to tip-toe through the remaining snow to do it BUT it is a sign of better things to come.

Still working on the wine rack though the nice weather has distracted me somewhat. I decided to use the internal sanding feature on the strip sander to sand the inside edges on the end panels. Found that the panels were too deep to use the outside face of the sander platen, so I decided to work on the back side. That worked. However, since the belt is moving upwards on that side, it sort of defeated the purpose of the dust collector hose attached to the bottom.

I have also decided to give up on attaching the cross pieces to the ends with dowels, and plugged the holes. I will go back to using screws and then make some walnut plugs to hide the screw holes on the outside face.

As I have mentioned in the past, I find that the protruding end of my Kreg bandsaw fence rail is a safety hazard so I thought of cutting it off at about the 16 inch mark as that the farthest point the fence travels on the rail. Then I realized that if I wanted to use the micro adjustment tool, (which I don't have), I needed to leave that piece intact. Now I have to decide whether I really need the micro adjuster. So far I don't really see a use for it on the band saw, but sure would like something like it when using the SS table saw fence.

My recent copies of magazines have some nice outdoor projects so I might start devoting some thought to that for my next project. I enjoy working with cedar and with the weather improving can probably start to do some work outdoors where the dust will not bother me as much.

Have a Fun and Safe week!

John

cadman84 · Post by **cadman84** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:45 pm

Well, due to our now two month old my shop is collecting more dust than usual but I did manage to make a small project the other day so I thought I would share it here. It is a growth chart that I made from a piece of clear pine and cut all the pieces out of scrap. Rather than nailing the pieces on we decided to put them on with velcro. It should be interesting to see how long it takes to lose a number or an animal. I do need to give all of the painting credit to my wife.

In Kansas we are moving into the hot season already with ocasional highs in the upper 70's to 80's. Now is the time of year to close the shop and enjoy the weather before we turn on the AC and run inside.

I tried a bit of fishing this weekend as I had a friend over from Germany who has never been fishing. Sadly we were on the water for two hours and did not catch a single fish.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:31 am

Very nice growth chart, cadman84!

friscomike · Post by **friscomike** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:56 am

Howdy,

Very nice with lots of kid appeal. Great job.

~mike

john · Post by **john** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:39 pm

Nice job on the growth chart and art work! As Mike said, it's really kid friendly.

John

kalynzoo · Post by **kalynzoo** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:28 am

John, i'm glad it finally warmed up for you. I really didn't get into the shop at all, as we went to Las Vegas for my babies 21st birthday. I lost he won.
Cadman, really nice for a child's room. With any luck one of my daughters might be having a child come next year (trying for medical help now). If so I will refer to you pictures. Thanks.

kalynzoo · Post by **kalynzoo** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:28 am

John, i'm glad it finally warmed up for you. I really didn't get into the shop at all, as we went to Las Vegas for my babies 21st birthday. I lost he won.
Cadman, really nice for a child's room. With any luck one of my daughters might be having a child come next year (trying for medical help now). If so I will refer to you pictures. Thanks.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:27 am

Boy! that's really Spring Fever! Tip Toeing through the snow to sit on the bench in the sun! Or maybe it's because you like that bench, now that it is fixed. Well, the Ducks went the same way as the Penguins! That's been the fate (curse) of Stanley Cup winners.

Cadman - That's a real nice growth measuring board! Congrats to your wife for the decorating. Very happy looking board. Now to see is Emily wants to get measured every day. Of course that won't happen until she walks and talks.

My new avatar is of a grizzly with rainbow trout, I carved when in carving classes. The trouble with making carvings is you either have to find places to put them, or sell them.

Decided to make some display shelves for a couple of the carvings.. The shelf is what I wanted to put into the forum. To make it - get a board about 9 or 10 inches wide and a foot and a half long. The actuall size is determined by the size of the object to be displayed. Cut a half circle out of half of the board. Use the circle part for the shelf (piece 1)- use the cutoff piece for the back (piece 2) - after sawing off the pointed bottoms of the back (piece 2), use these as the shelf support (piece 3). Rout or decorate the edges as desired. There is no waste from the board other than kerf.

In the Lancaster shop, got the drawers sized and installed, glued up two tops and two shelves, sized them and first sanding. Haven't yet installed the mounting blocks for the top and shelf, but am working on them this week. Here's a pix of the two tables with un-attached tops and shelves. They look like they are ready for finishing, but it will be several days form now.

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perryobear · Post by **perryobear** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:01 pm

Hi guys,

As part of our on-going Family Room fix-up project, I had the need to cut a fair amount of MDF sheet goods. I remember reading in a forum thread somewhere about the dusty woes of working with this material; one person posted something to the effect that the best way to cut MDF was to cut it in somebody else’s shop! With this in mind, and the fact that my shop is in the basement of the house, and as John said, spring is indeed here, I decided to move this task to the great outdoors.

I picked up an old Mk 5 Greenie last year for $9.99 (not a typo) which had since been languishing in the corner of our Sun Room. A quick look through the headstock access hole a few weeks ago showed that a new control sheave, belt, and quadrant (at a minimum) would be needed to get her running again. I ordered the replacement parts (on-sale and with the usual great SS customer service support). I spent last Friday afternoon and Saturday morning disassembling the headstock for a good cleaning and further evaluation. This resulted in a new power cord and switch being added to the must-do list (bearings and a speed dial were placed on “the next time I get a chance list”). Got her all back together on Saturday afternoon and she is running better than I am; we are similar in age. I installed a new blade, checked basic alignments, and I was in business.

I rolled the Greenie out of the Sun Room onto the patio area on Sunday afternoon and did a couple of quick test cuts. Monday was the main event. My wife and I put on dust masks and did the cuts. The cuts went great, but all the dust – oh my! The patio was blanketed in brown powder. I am soooo glad I didn’t do this in the house. Even with the dust collector running it would have been a real mess. My wife was glad too, she even suggested that the Sun Room might make a good place for a new shop (I didn’t dismiss the idea).

Andy,

The growth chart looks great! Glad you were able to include your wife’s artistic talents in the project. Don’t lose the plan for this project, before you know it you will be making the “College Fund Growth Chart” version (they grow up very fast).

Chuck,

I like the "No-waste" shelf. It's what us engineers call an "elegant solution". Also I will be showing the wife the photo of your work-in-progress tables. After all, the Family Room needs to be furnished when its finally finished.

Regards to all,

Dennis

john · Post by **john** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:20 pm

Chuck:

That "no waste" shelf is a great idea. Your tables also look great and I hope we will get to see the finished project.

Our Montreal Canadiens finally disposed of those pesky Bruins but they sure kept us on pins and needles while they took their time doing it. Tonight we get to see who the next opponent is.

Dennis:

Unfortunately my 510 is in the basement so I can't move it outdoors but in the good weather I try to do as much planing, sanding and anything else in the yard under the shade of the "old apple tree". Also unfortunately, the tree is really old and rotting and I will have to start removing some major branches this year.

Have fun.

John