Archive for the ‘Woodworking’ Category:
It has been a year since I got started remodeling my shop. I haven’t exactly finished with what I had in mind, but then I think a guy’s shop is always under construction. I have completed the basics and have made some nice projects as well as continuing to make the improvements I set out to complete. With that said, there is one area I have completed that has been a little more than disappointing… Dust Collection.
My shop is fairly small and I really didn’t have the budget to buy some large cyclone and really go overboard with the collection. I purchased a fairly standard 2hp collector that should be plenty for my shop. I installed the collector in a small room in the corner of my shop and ran 4″ black hose through the wall to one of the trash can separator lids. Out of the lid, I ran 4″ hose about 18′ down the wall and put a Y at each machine with a plastic blast gate. Each machine is on wheels or a mobile base and is very easy to pull out for use.
This is where my disappointment comes in…These blast gates clog with wood chips in no time and render the collector almost useless. When the gates stop closing all the way due to the chips, the effectiveness of the collector is greatly reduced.
I did a little research (I wish I had done more research when I first bought all my equipment) and found these self-cleaning gates through Lee Valley.
The main problem with the plastic gates is that wood chips and sawdust get caught in the grooves which prevent the gate from sliding closed all the way. With the Lee Valley self-cleaning gates, the grooves or channels go all the way through the gate allowing chips to be cleared out as the gate closes. They also have a knob that you can tighten to lock down the gate to keep it in the open or closed position.
I have just installed these gates as of this morning, but so far I am thrilled with them. The increased performance of my system is more than noticeable, it is like I installed a new system.
The Lee Valley gates are steel and cast aluminum as well as about $7 higher than the plastic gates, but I think they will more than pay for themselves just in cleaning time and frustration.
The first photo below shows the old gates installed in the system. The second photo are the plastic gates after removal. This is as far as they could close due to the chips wedged in the gate channel. The last two photos are of the new gates installed in the system.
Share on Facebook
Since the last update on this job, I have been working on the drawer fronts and doors. I decided to go with a simple frame and panel door with the panel being 1/4 in plywood. I would love to do a raised panel in this job, but time and budget restraints being considered, plywood panels seem the logical fit.
Since I am doing a flat panel, I felt like waking up the design a little bit by doing an arch top on the upper cabinet doors. I cut all the upper rails at 3 1/2 inches compared to 2 1/2 inches for all the other rails and stiles. Since I have a wide variety of door widths, I needed a set up to cut the arches at different radii. Also, the particular router bit I have has a bearing on top and does not make contact with the piece being routed in the set up I chose. So I knew I needed a template to stick onto the piece being routed for the bearing to ride against.
I could have constructed a jig with nails or screws and a flexible strip, but I decided to just calculate the radius of the piece by a simple formula and then use a beam compass to strike the arc. I wanted a very small flat on each end where the rail meets the stile, so I decided to leave 3/8 in on each end. That makes the total width of the arc 3/4 in less than the width of the rail. I also knew that I wanted the height of the cut to be 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the rail to the top of the cut. With this info, I used the formula:
where H = height of cut (all 1.5 in my case) and W = width of the arc (all my widths varied). As I said, there are several ways to do this, but being the math geek that I am, this is the way that felt right for me.
I calculated all the radii with this formula and then proceeded to cut some mdf scrap into parts sized identically to the arched rails. I then marked the two end points as well as the center point 1 1/2 inches up and used my shop made beam compass to strike the arc. After striking the arc, it was off to the band-saw and then the oscillating spindle sander to cut and then fair out the arch on the template pieces.
With all the arches cut on the upper doors, it was just a matter of routing the cope and stick profiles on the router table. The straight pieces were straightforward, but I had to use a template on the arches. I simply double stick taped the mdf templates I had made and routed them using a starting pin.
After the rails and stiles were all done, the 1/4 in plywood panels were cut to rough size and then the arch was transferred to the panel via the templates and cut out on the band-saw. I think they turned out very nice and you can see what they look like in the photo below.
Next it’s a whole lotta sanding and scraping followed by staining/finishing ( I finally get to use my hvlp system on a project ). One thing I have realized with this project is that my next tool will be an open ended drum sander. I just cringe knowing how long all these parts are going to take to sand versus how quickly I could knock them out with a drum sander…
Dry fit of one of the completed doors
Dry fit of one of the tall door frames
Template routing the arches
Router table setup for the straight pieces
Cleaning up the curves on the spindle sander
Cutting the templates on the bandsaw
Striking the arcs with a shop made beam compass
Rails and stiles all laid out on the out feed table
Drawer fronts
Share on Facebook
Just a quick update on the kitchen cabinet job I’ve been working on. I actually haven’t spent a lot of time on them lately. I took some time off during Christmas and New Years, I’ve had to go work at my regular job a couple of days and then the temperature has been absolutely crazy this week…Saturday morning the low is supposed to be somewhere between 0 and 5.
That being said, I was able to get the carcases installed with a little help from a couple of family members. This was all done the week before Christmas. We also installed the countertop (which I don’t have pictures of), but they really look good.
As you can see from the photos, I have a bunch of drawer fronts as well as rails and stiles cut for the doors. I have completed all the drawer boxes as well. The next few days, I’ll be routing the profiles in the rails/stiles, sanding and scraping everything and then working on the finish. Hopefully in short order I’ll be ready for installation. More updates/photos to come…
Share on Facebook
I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago about picking up an HVLP turbine unit at Harbor Freight. I picked the unit up for somewhere around $65 (normally $89.99 but had a 20% off coupon and I think it was on sale on top of that) and as far as I can tell it is the exact same unit that Rockler sells for $120+. (**NOTE As I am typing this, I see that the Rockler unit is on sale for $89.99).
Now I am no expert on spray systems or even spraying for that matter, but I was looking to get into spraying and learn without making a big investment until I figure out what I am doing. I originally planned to buy the $340 Earlex Spray Station Pro and I probably still will, but I wanted to get my feet wet and make sure that was the direction I wanted to go before making more of a commitment. In my book $65 is a very reasonable cost to get started and if the unit wasn’t all that great, I wouldn’t have wasted a ton of money.
So this past weekend I finally put some finish through the thing. I was very pleasantly surprised. It came with 3 needles and tips (1.0mm, 1.5mm and 1.8mm) and after determining that the water based lacquer I was spraying needed the smaller needle set, I was on my way to spraying my test pieces.
I divided a board into two parts. On one side I applied water based grain filler followed by wb stain, a seal coat of shellac and then the lacquer finish. On the other side, I applied wb stain followed by grain filler, more wb stain a shellac seal coat and then the wb lacquer finish. I completed the extra stain step on one side because I wasn’t sure about the grain filler filling the pores and not allowing the stain to penetrate. The test piece turned out great and the gun sprayed flawlessly (to my untrained eye) as long as you cut down on the fluid control adjustment. I have posted some pictures of the unit along with the test board for reference.
I have sprayed another test piece in which I simply went with water based grain filler to water based stain and then straight to water based lacquer. It turned out great as well and will most likely be my preferred method for the finish job I have ahead of me.
I can only speak from my limited experience, but this unit was a joy to use and I will use it often. As I said previously, I will still probably buy the Earlex in the future mainly because of the stainless steel parts (compared to brass and plastic on the HF unit), but this unit might delay my purchase and allow me to focus funds toward other things like nicely figured wood for awhile. Overall I say if you are new to spray finishing, you can’t go wrong with this unit (or the Rockler unit for that matter).
Share on Facebook
I’m just getting back to working on the kitchen cabinet job after the holidays. I have worked on them a little here and there, but mostly been spending time with the family. I have finished the drawer boxes and all I have left besides the pantry is completing the drawer fronts and doors. I should have that done this week.
In the meantime, I have updated this site a little. Some of it is behind the scenes, but one thing I did add is an image gallery. It pretty much takes all the images from my posts and puts them on a gallery page according to what category they are in. I’ll probably make some more changes to that later on, but for now it’ll work.
Just hover over the link to the gallery page at the top and you’ll get a drop down menu for Projects, Shop Projects and Tools to take you to the appropriate gallery. They are in no particular order right now and that is probably what I will change eventually by making the grouping of projects more logical.
That’s about it for now…hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is having a good New Year so far. I’ll post some new pictures after I complete the cabinet job and before I get started on the entertainment center my wife is bugging me about 
Share on Facebook
It’s been about 2 weeks since I’ve posted anything, so here’s an update on my kitchen cabinet job. I have all the carcases built, stained and topcoated. They have been sitting and curing for about 2 days now and I lightly sanded them with some wet/dry sandpaper to smooth everything out. I think they turned out great. Cabinetmaking is a lot different than building furniture, but it has been a pleasure to change things up a little. Looking back at the knowledge I have gained, I feel like I could reach the point I’m at now on another job in a week. But I guess that’s the process. Build…figure things out…get faster…build some more…figure more things out. I still have to make all the doors and drawers, but I have some helpers coming on Monday to help install the carcases. So I guess I’ll be working on doors and drawers next week a day or two and then again the week after Christmas. I’ll post another update somewhere in there…maybe after installing the carcases (I sure hope I measured correctly )
On another note. After staining/finishing these pieces I have done so far, it really made me think hard about getting an HVLP rig. I really like the looks and reviews of the Earlex SprayStation Pro. I think I’m going to pick one of those up in the next 6 months or so, but after researching conversion guns and turbine systems online, I pretty much determined that the el-cheapo Harbor Freight HVLP Spray System was the same as the system sold by Rockler. The Rockler system is listed (at the time anyway) at $122.99 and the HF at $89.99. There were very good user reviews of the Rockler system (I think out of 68 reviews, only about 5 were negative), but the unit is completely plastic and I just decided to wait and get the Earlex. Well, I do not get into Harbor Freight very much except to buy glue brushes and other small items, but I walked in today and took a look at the spray system. They were having a sale and I actually walked out of the store with it for somewhere around $65.00. I got home and unpacked it…it is definitely just about all plastic, but I was quite impressed. I loaded some water up in it and tested it in the sink and I was impressed again. The next thing I did was immediately place an order with Target Coatings for some water based stain, grain filler/glaze base and water based lacquer. I can’t wait for this stuff to come in so I can put it through its paces and see if it will surprise me or if I just blew $65.00. I mean come on…If it gives me a decent finish on one piece of furniture or a set of cabinets then it has more than paid for itself (and if not…I’ll throw it in the trash and chuck it up to $65.00 in education). That all said, I still fully intend to invest in the Earlex in the very near future…I’ll let you know how it goes. –J
Share on Facebook
So I finally got started on my grandmothers kitchen cabinets this week. We decided to go with pre-finished plywood skinned with 1/4 in oak ply and oak face frames. The drawer faces and door stiles/rails will be solid oak as well with flat panels in the doors. I’ve included a few preliminary pics for now and will post more later. After all the carcases are built, I’ll be going back and adding the doors and drawers as well as applying finish to everything. More to come…
Share on Facebook
All I can say is WoW! I received this via FedEx after ordering from Woodcraft on Black Friday. I have been looking at it for about 3 months or so, but I finally pulled the trigger. I honestly don’t know what took me so long… I wish I had ordered it the moment I saw it. Compared to the other guides, it is very reasonably priced at $120.00. After putting it together, it was dead on right out of the box. I absolutely love the flip stop that extends out to 42 inches, the longest I have found. I really don’t have anything bad to say at all, but then I’ve only used it for 1 day so far…if something comes up, I’ll be sure to post an update. Back to making cabinets for now…
Share on Facebook
While I’m sitting here waiting on my 7 ft rails to come in for my table saw, I decided to go ahead and come up with some type of outfeed table today. I’m going to really need good outfeed support for the cabinet job I’m getting ready to start. The old workmates with home made rollers mounted to them are getting old…I did a little looking around and remembered an episode of The Wood Whisperer where he built a new outfeed table due to changing his rail/fence system. It looked like it would suit me well and would be quick to make. Out to the shop I went. I didn’t use the walnut veneer plywood like he had lying around…I just used plain old pine plywood, but I think it turned out well. It is sturdy and should provide a lot of service. It only took about 4 hours from start to finish and I can’t believe I haven’t made one before, but I guess it’s better late than never.
It looks like it will be Tuesday before my new rails arrive as well as the new Osborne Miter Gauge I ordered, so I think I’ll make a panel sled tomorrow and possibly get started on the cabinets by making the smaller stack that goes above the refrigerator. I’ll post some progress pics as I go along.
Share on Facebook
Older Posts »
