mickyd's Woodworking Projects

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:04 pm

I got too hung up on the material list calling out 21 linear feet of strips without thinking about or looking at the details involved. I just realized that although I have the specified 21 feet called out in the plan, I have nowhere near enough material to do this project. Because of the length sizes that need to be cut out of these 8" long strips, 24@4-1/4", 8 each @4-3/8", 5-3/8", and 6-3/8", I can only get 1 piece per strip. That means I need a total of 48 strips. I have only 32. To the lumberyard I go.

I now see where charlese mentioned in post 44 not getting the glass cut until the end. The 24 pieces @ 4-1/4” horizontal rails, which establishes the width that the glass was cut, could have been reduced to 4” so that I could have gotten exactly 2 pieces per 8” strip instead of 1. This would have meant cutting the width of the glass 1/4” narrower. Bummer!! Oh well, next time I know. Good lesson learned.

Knowing what I know now, I would have never used the 8" long stock. 12" would have eliminated a lot of waste. This issue brought up a question. Is there a program out there that calculates the optimum wood size to buy when starting a project? It would optimize and tell you the best size to buy and the most efficient way to layout and cut your pieces with the intent of minimizing waste. I’ve seen cutting layout diagrams on tom_k/mo’s website and wondered if that’s done manually or via software??

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:42 pm

JPG40504 wrote: . . .

This gives you 1/4 x 1/2 x 8 strips. The jig solves the 'small part' handling problem even if it makes it time consuming. The [4 1/4"] rails can be cut to 4"(adjust the 1/2" rabbet to 3/8") since you will be mitering that 1/8" off anyway. A bandsaw would be preferable, however thou has not got one.

Try all this out on some cheap throwaway pine before sawing that mahagony!

Did you 'miss' this the first time around?;)

Re: figgering stock cutting. Gee you want a 'program' for everything? Engineers are supposed to be able to figger stuff like that using their upper grey matter! FWIW any sw solution would not include the 'I screwed this(these) part(s)' factor. i.e. Tain't a good idea to figger it so closely. You want some left for later use.

PTL! You finally created sawdust!!!!!

If yer next 'project(s)' requires over 100 posts to get you started, ss will need to rent more storage space!:D

shipwright · Post by **shipwright** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:12 pm

MIKE CUT WOOD !!!

There is a software program that will do everything you want automatically on almost any job. You already have it, you got it free and it's never been used. Only drawback is it takes about 10 years or so to download.

Congratulations you're a wood butcher like the rest of us.

Paul M

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:22 pm

Oh yeah, I forgot. GREAT your FINALLY making saw dust.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:33 pm

mickyd wrote:This issue brought up a question. Is there a program out there that calculates the optimum wood size to buy when starting a project? It would optimize and tell you the best size to buy and the most efficient way to layout and cut your pieces with the intent of minimizing waste.

Its called "experience" and it is usually gained at the cost of many years of screwing up.

-
In my own case I believe a few years in the cutting department of a plastic film converting plant laying out with patterns and cutting hundreds of layers of vinyl cover parts at a time helped me a lot. One of the things we made in that plant was hundreds of thousands of typewriter covers. Talk about something becoming a dinosaur...

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:45 pm

Hi Mikyd and welcome to the Shopsmith Woodworking Forum!

Ed

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 7:51 pm

[quote="JPG40504"]Did you 'miss' this the first time around?]
I didn't miss it. I wasn't associating your suggestion however as a way of getting 2 pieces per 8" strip. Now I see your point. At the time, 100% of the gray matter was going into the strips. I now see and understand. Wise and observant man, grasshopper!! Saves me some stock for sure.

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 7:56 pm

reible wrote:Hi Mikyd and welcome to the Shopsmith Woodworking Forum!

Ed

Wow......I just realized where I was

. It's so much brighter and happier in here. You guys in here are much nicer and friendlier than those over in the Maintenance and Repair section!!

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:19 am

Back in post #113 you show a couple images of the strips you have cut. BTW, nice orderly stake of work.

However, it looks like you might need a new blade. Maybe not, maybe the photos don't do justice but it seems that there are a lot of saw marks.

Maybe you should have polished that blade too.

shipwright · Post by **shipwright** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:11 pm

mickyd wrote:Wow......I just realized where I was . It's so much brighter and happier in here. You guys in here are much nicer and friendlier than those over in the Maintenance and Repair section!!

Same guys Mike. We're just in a better mood working with our tools than we are working on our tools.

Paul M