Shopsmith Forums

Good job, Chris. I learned a new tip about bottom slot ventilation. We need that in Tejas for the blue birds.

Best Regards,
mike

I'll have to post a photo of the bluebird house I built this spring once I get my camera outside. It is not painted all pretty like Chris', but the birds don't seem to mind. I have my 2nd brood of bluebird hatchlings this season. The 1st brood had 4 nestlings and this brood started with 4, but the house sparrows killed two before I got my "sparrow spooker" built and installed. I do have a photo of the 1st brood soon after hatching.

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BTW, Chris, those are nice bird houses.

Bruce

Hi guys,

I am always glad to share my experiences with you guys, and grateful that you all share both your energy and experience. My wife took some more pictures of her birdhouses here:

detailed birdhouse pictures

We are boxing the Texas birdhouse up and she is sending it to her mom as a birthday present!

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for the detailed response! You are right that the board had a great deal of "reaction" (did not know the word for it - thanks!). The picture I took was after running the blade into the piece a few times. Each time, it removed more from the narrow side and eventually bound up, and the board kept closing up more and more. There's a good three kerfs worth of missing wood and it still wanted to close up at the end. I'll keep an eye on the grain next time, there's no reason to stack the deck against myself if I can help it.

I see what you are saying about making the 30 degree cross-cuts. The left end of the miter extension is hanging out there, and could have benefitted from some support. I tend to favor the left side of the blade because I am a righty, and I am still a bit novice and don't like to reach across the plane of the blade unless necessary.

Regarding the tilted table cuts, this was something I wasn't sure about. I chose the configuration I did because if I cut with the trimmed piece on the uphill side, I figured it would fall into the blade and turn into a projectile. I decided it was better to let the trimmed piece "fall away" although I can see that having the big board become a projectile if I let go of the miter grip would be even less pleasant. I tried accessing the PTWFE on the Shopsmith site but I seem to be having some browser problems. I will try again after this posting in a different browser.

Jim is very impressed with the Shopsmith! He and his wife have other priorities right now (of the 18 year commitment variety) but his working space is limited as is mine, and I think perhaps there could be a Shopsmith in his future. He was really impressed by the total configurability of the Shopsmith, especially since we were always able to tilt something or put a stop somewhere, etc., to make steady progress through the project. He also helped me perform an alignment before we got started, and he was impressed with the precision and repeatability of the machine.

Observation - I tend to move my stock laterally on the table while the upper guard is resting on it, causing the guard to get pulled into the spinning blade. Every time I do it, it makes a loud noise and scares the heck out of me.

- Chris

Very nice project and thanks for the EPA link for birdhouses. That will be handy. I sure wish I had someone to work with on a project like that. LOML makes plenty of requests, but hasn't showed interest in partenering up on a project in the shop.

[quote="chrispitude"] I tend to favor the left side of the blade because I am a righty, and I am still a bit novice and don't like to reach across the plane of the blade unless necessary.
We all need to learn to saw both left and right handed. (also use lathe tools both right and left handed) (even hand chisel right and left handed). Believe me! The time will come when you will find the only safe and best way to do an operation is to do it left handed (or the opposite way you are used to). After you learn to use both right & left hand use of the tools, you will find woodworking to quickly become a lot easier and intuitive!
You can practice with the table saw, without wood and without the motor running! Just stand noticeably to the left side of the blade and move the miter gauge (located in the right miter gauge slot) back and forth across the table, using your left hand. You can adjust your feet to get comfortable with this. After becoming a little confident - try the same movement with the saw running and a scrap piece of wood.

I tried accessing the PTWFE on the Shopsmith site ...
Don't you have a hard copy?

Observation - I tend to move my stock laterally on the table while the upper guard is resting on it, causing the guard to get pulled into the spinning blade. Every time I do it, it makes a loud noise and scares the heck out of me.
Don't do that any more!!!!:p It'll scare you and mar your blade guard.