Shopsmith Forums

Masonsailor: “surface” meaning the length along the joint?

It has been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The actual construction of this clock begins with a foot. An ogee bracket foot to be specific. Of course, I've never done this before so I spent a lot of time reading up on the internet on how to do it. Reading and doing, however, are two different things.

The first step was to make the pattern for the foot. I cheated and simply enlarged the measured drawing I have to actual size, after which printed it out, attached it to some scrap ply with spray adhesive and cut it out on the band saw.
I used the drum sander to sand the pattern to the lines and then used my pattern to trace out a bunch of feet on some stock. After cutting the 45 degree bevels, it was back to the band saw to rough cut out the profile -- except the edge where the feet meet at the bevel. That facilitates gluing up and that will get cut out later.
To get the blanks all the same and identical to the pattern, I used to double stick tape to hold the blanks to the pattern and then used the Shopsmith pattern sanders to sand the blanks identical.
After gluing up the blank, it is back to the band saw to cut out the profiles where they meet at the miter. This is done by resting/clamping the glued up foot on a jig.

Once you cut the first profile, the profile for the second cut is revealed in the miter because of the change in grain direction. Cut along this line.
Off the band saw, one side was pretty smooth, but I think my hands were shaking when I did the second profile, because it was rough. To clean it up, I set up the strip sander with the curved platen. I'm not sure if I like it enough to keep it. I think having done it I can do better. So this may end up scrap. But it proves the concept works. One foot on the journey of a thousand miles. Or time marches on?*


*A line suggested by Shipwright.

I am really looking forward to seeing this project. Very intricate and challenging !
Paul

Bravo. Anxiously watching your progress, I've always wanted to build a large floor clock.

This is going to be fascinating, Al ... I’ve already learned a few things. One of which was the existence of the Shopsmith pattern sanding guides. How do you like them?

BuckeyeDennis wrote:This is going to be fascinating, Al ... I’ve already learned a few things. One of which was the existence of the Shopsmith pattern sanding guides. How do you like them?

They worked exactly liked advertised, Dennis! I debated making my own because the idea is simple enough. One interesting thing is that the guides are are slightly larger than the sanding drum(s). You use a square to align the front of the guide with the front of the drum and that tangent point serves as the only point of contact between the work piece and the sanding drum. You can read the instructions on line. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/manu ... _03-12.pdf I will try to post a few photos of them the next time I use them, which should be soon.

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Ooohh! Nice legs!
Not to complicate things too much Al but if you want a challenge that joint was commonly done (in fine furniture) with a full blind dovetail. :-)
They aren’t that hard, you should try it.

shipwright wrote: Not to complicate things too much Al but if you want a challenge that joint was commonly done (in fine furniture) with a full blind dovetail. :-)
They aren’t that hard, you should try it.

That would be a "No."

algale wrote:

shipwright wrote: Not to complicate things too much Al but if you want a challenge that joint was commonly done (in fine furniture) with a full blind dovetail. :-)
They aren’t that hard, you should try it.

That would be a "No."

A spline open at the bottom?(butterfly)