chillyspoon

[chillyspoon]

I can’t be the only one hearing Karen Carpenter in Amelia Murray’s lovely voice. Jennifer by Fazerdaze from 2017’s Morningside album https://open.spotify.com/track/6uFXA44CcLLWbNY5kYSOK6?si=C54VlltrQjS45fAE7mPBXg #shoegaze #postgaze #alternative #flowerwave #synthwave #dreamwave #Fazerdaze #Jennifer #AmeliaMurray #TheCarpenters #KarenCarpenter #makermusic #madeinireland #maker #wicklow #ireland (at Wicklow, Ireland) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9H6ihhHtEc/?igshid=1tg32408w2j3f

[chillyspoon]

I really should be driving a neon Porsche 944 Turbo listening to this one.. Next Five Percent by Scuta Scalamanta, Damon Bexter and Peter Diggens https://open.spotify.com/track/0e5s4B43WKNubNG2T0qKSw?si=l9gjWnzkQjKvb19NrWlFMw #shoegaze #postgaze #alternative #flowerwave #synthwave #dreamwave #1980s #nextfivepercent #scutascalamanta #damonbexter #peterdiggens #makermusic #madeinireland #maker #wicklow #ireland https://www.instagram.com/p/B9AKBW8nbwM/?igshid=982yzpm4aw2k

[chillyspoon]

Listening to @swervedriverofficial, The Lonely Crowd Fades In The Air, while getting some finishing work done in the #workshop. Danish Oil all over the bloody place. #nowplaying #swervedriver #shoegaze #postgaze #alternative #indie #makermusic #maker #wicklow #ireland #woodwork #woodworking #cabinetmaking #woodcraft #wwmm https://open.spotify.com/track/1acZaKwhUFK212Om3o3sdB?si=Qz0maSg9T8OwYLO6dvgIPA https://www.instagram.com/p/B4FF4mZghfQ/?igshid=1sj0hw65d1dgv

[chillyspoon]

Another lathe stand commission finished and ready to be delivered to its owner. This one’s for an Axminster Craft AC240WL (AWSL). Full details in my Instagram profile social link. #woodcraft #woodturning #woodworking #woodwork #cabinetmaking #cabinetry #axminster #lathe #lathestand #workshop #maker #Ireland #Wicklow https://www.instagram.com/p/B3QG9OJgmZ6/?igshid=1ucv0cajscdms

[chillyspoon]

Tablesaw stops mid-cut so after checking and finding that all the fuses and jumpers were fine, I opened up the plugboard and this is not what you want to find .. that said, I’m glad that it stopped working so that I didn’t carry on using unearthed tools! #woodcraft #woodworking #woodwork #joinery #carpentry #workshop #electricity #workshopsafety #maker #wicklow #ireland https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rgigJgKIl/?igshid=1u3b2i12e751h

[chillyspoon]

Back in the workshop at last but got to do my least favourite thing after #sanding.. #sharpening.. well at least I’ve got some good tunes to go with the pile of blunt gouges, knives and chisels! #nowplaying #slowdive #shoegaze #indie #postshoegaze #beyondshoegaze #maker #makermusic #ireland #wicklow #workshop #woodwork #woodworking #cabinetmaking #carpentry https://www.instagram.com/p/B2pHsHrAu2M/?igshid=3yqtzjar7fi1

[chillyspoon]

The slow part.. beginning the process of stabilising cracks in the bark and sapwood in this chunk of live edge, oak stool seat. The smaller ones I’m flooding with plain, transparent CA, and I’ll be using a coffee ground mix for the larger areas. #woodcraft #woodworking #woodwork #furniture #design #maker #joinery #wwmm #carpentry #ireland #wicklow https://www.instagram.com/p/B1zb81bAtiy/?igshid=xd121tz6ocjr

[chillyspoon]

There’s a certain level of surprise reserved for turning around and finding one of these 6 inches from your face. I believe my exact words were “holy mother of f**k!” #spider #arachnid #starshiptroopers #facehugger #headcrab #skincrawling #ireland #wicklow #countrylife https://www.instagram.com/p/B1zbWQ_ArGA/?igshid=1eu4xo373h4gc

[chillyspoon]

Making some quick workshop aids

No detailed builds here. Just three quick aids that I made for my workshop this week. None of the designs is my own although I can’t recall where I saw one of them because it’s so darn simple.

Bench Dog Extractor

Hand Sanding Pad

Bandsaw circle jig (update)

Bench Dog Extractor

I wrote a small section about Peter Parfitt’s Parf Guide System MkII in my July 8th 2019 post about putting a new top on my little workbench. I’m a big fan of this system, which is marketed under the UJK brand by Axminster Tools & Machinery. It produces an MFT bench top with close tolerances, which is accurate and makes the perfect tracksaw station.

One of the side effects of the close tolerances is that it can be very difficult to remove the bench dogs from their holes particularly the lowest ones such as the UJK Guide Pups.

In one of Peter’s own New Brit Workshop videos on YouTube he describes making a simple tool for extracting 20mm dogs more easily. I followed his approach relatively closely and made the little tool shown below.

Hand Sanding Pad

Peter Millard’s (10 Minute Workshop) Hand Sanding Pad design is so simple that it’s all but self-explanatory. In Peter’s case he uses Festool sander heads with a handle directly mounted. In mine I have the head from a broken Aldi Workzone Random Orbit Sander. I fixed this to a disk of 9mm plywood using the three screw holes that are used to attach the head to the main body of the sander. I added a small wooden drawer pull as the handle fixed with some CA glue and a single screw . Peter’s video describes his approach clearly so there’s little else for me to say.

Bandsaw circle jig (update)

Technically I made this jig back when I re-enforced the lid of a soft plastic bucket for my cheap alternative to an Onedia Dust Deputy, described in Buy another Oneida Dust Deputy Deluxe or go east?

As you can see from the original photo used in that article, it was simply a piece of plywood clamped to the table of my bandsaw after being passed about half way through with the blade.

My update was to add a runner and a fence stop.

I’m honestly not sure where I first saw jigs of this type, it may even have been my Dad when he got his bandsaw many years back. At some point I’ll make a new jig which doesn’t require a pin in the workpiece but I’ll wait until I have a project needing that difference before doing so.

The runner was made in the same way as any runner for a mitre slot on a table saw, router table or any other piece of machinery.

I rip cut a piece of timber (hardwood if it’s for a high use jig such as a cross cut sled) to a little wider than the slot and then gradually reduce its width a fraction at a time until it just about moves in the slot with a little friction. The piece must be shallower than the depth of the slot, so I usually take care of that before addressing the width. With those steps done, I placed the runner into the slot on top of a few washers to raise it just above the table surface. I added alternating drops of CA glue and PVA wood glue, then fitted my existing jig carefully over the bandsaw blade and brought it gently down into position on top of the table and the waiting glue of the runner. When the CA cured (15 seconds or so), I slid the jig horizontally back towards me and clamped the runner in place until the PVA cured another 45 mins or so later. I didn’t even bother adding screws, and later verified that they weren’t necessary by dropping the whole damn thing.

With the saw running I ran the jig back into position horizontally, to clear up any minor catches in the blade slot. I turned off the saw and brought down the blade guard. Then I ensured that the blade teeth were lined up with my axis line on the jig (in place from when I originally made it) and clamped the unit to the table of the bandsaw. I measured up and then cut an L shaped block of softwood which I clamped into position and then screwed into position beneath the jig to act as a stop fence.

These changes make it more accurate. When the circle jig is slid onto the table, it will always stop with the teeth in the right position relative to the axis of rotation. There’s also an additional measure of safety due to the runner and fence stop keeping the jig locked from two horizontal positions. A single clamp to the table and the jig is rock steady.

Lastly a rub of machine wax to the ugly underside of the jig meant that it is ready to use once more.

[chillyspoon]

Another quick project yesterday evening, pinched from Peter Millard (@10minuteworkshop) - one knackered Aldi orbital sander + some scrap ply and a redundant drawer pull = useful sanding pad that takes standard velcro disks. Neat. I was too lazy to chamfer the ply because I wanted to use it immediately - that’s my excuse. Here’s the URL for Peter’s video describing these useful little tools, his channel is great: https://bit.ly/3269RZt #woodworking #woodwork #sanding #workshop #carpentry #joinery #maker #ireland #wicklow https://www.instagram.com/p/B1quE5bg1oY/?igshid=a71k4mlzv4yu

[chillyspoon]

I never tire of this song. “Under My Skin” by SPC ECO (http://spceco.com/) from 2015’s Dark Matter album. https://open.spotify.com/track/2NjNkyvUvlKWXXqAwC0WPj?si=4lB5b2l5QEuWz-t071S1FQ #nowplaying #spceco #synthpop #synthwave #shoegaze #postgaze #alternative #indie #makermusic #maker #ireland https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Mb48kApz3/?igshid=jllzli3j8tua

[chillyspoon]

Record Power (@recordpower - thank you Darren) extractor rebuild complete! - working perfectly again and finally has exhaust hoses to reduce the noise from those two hefty motors. Full details & photos the “/social” link in my profile as usual. #dustextraction #recordpower #cyclone #woodcraft #dustextractor #shopvac #workshop #woodworking #woodwork #maker #Ireland https://www.instagram.com/p/B1LNg1iAtH5/?igshid=o9wf711f8wdn

[chillyspoon]

It's alive!! Rebuilt Record Power extractor almost back together! #dustextraction #recordpower #cyclone #woodcraft #dustextractor #shopvac #workshop #woodworking #woodwork #maker #Ireland (at Wicklow, Ireland) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1JJsCRouVb/?igshid=1u3wsvp7tt8gx

[chillyspoon]

Buy another Oneida Dust Deputy Deluxe or go east?

Background - ONEIDA

Dust cyclones are used in many workshops as a means of saving your vacuum/extractor’s filters by removing all but the finest particles using a cyclone of air.

Last year I invested in the entry level Oneida “Dust Deputy Deluxe Cyclone Separator Kit” system, which comes with 2 buckets, the cyclone separator itself, a short length of hose, a couple of 90 degree hose connectors, jubilee clips and some other bits and bobs. It works well and was easy enough to integrate but at the premium of being a well known brand and with the additional cost that buying a system from the USA always incurs when purchasing in Ireland.

E.g. in the USA at the time of writing this article in August 2019, the system above costs $99.95 purchased directly from Oneida’s online store. The same system from the cheapest online store I can find available to me in Ireland (which is a UK tool retailer) costs 153.95 euro for the same package, which is $173.19 at the current exchange rate. This is a staggering markup and means that a system that is great value for money across the pond in the USA is not economic over here unless you have the financial capacity to absorb the massive delta in cost. So while I would happily have another Dust Deputy, when the time came to add another cyclone I looked for cheaper options.

Banggood.com again..

I quickly found multiple sellers on Banggood.com offering cyclones in varying sizes for significantly less cost. I chose one about the same size as the Dust Deputy for $18.99 and bought 2m of narrow gauge hose for $10.11 to use for bench tool (e.g. tracksaw and random orbit sander). When the cyclone arrived, I found it just as robust as the Dust Deputy and the size is spot on.

I didn’t need additional hose of the right diameter for the cyclone itself or castors but I could have sourced both of these for under 30 euro. I ordered three lidded bucket locally for 11 euro each even though I only needed one. Remaining paraphernalia are some jubilee clips for 7.99 from Lidl (for a box of clips, not just two!), and four bolts, washers and threaded inserts from my general stock. The financial savings for someone in my situation are clear.

*Side note: I once had to contact Banggood.com’s support when a bulk order arrived without one of the items. They asked for further information and then sent me a replacement without quibble. They were polite and efficient all the way and I have zero reason to be concerned about customer support.

The negatives of not buying an off-the-shelf system are equally clear:

long shipping time from the far east

insecurity about ordering *exactly the right thing

needing to research, to source and then match the various components to put together a viable and robust system that will last over time

timezone, distance and language potentially become issues if there is a *problem with delivery or the product.

I found some difficulty sourcing lidded buckets in Ireland that are both robust enough to withstand the vacuum pressure and to mount the cyclone on. Here I had to compromise and I ordered sealable food safe buckets knowing that I might need to reenforce them. This meant a mini-project to get this stuff working with the same level of effectiveness as my existing Oneida system.

Cyclone and Lid

I decided to bolt the cyclone to a piece of plywood with the plastic bucket lid sandwiched between the two as a means of providing support.

I measured the internal diameter of the non-moulded portion of the lid and cut a square (almost) from a scrap of 12mm plywood with same approximate side length as that diameter. I drew a circle on the plywood using my UJK Bandsaw Buddy as a compass. I cut it out using a quickly knocked together circle jig on my bandsaw. They’ve got to be one of the easiest jigs to make, comprised of a piece of nasty looking piece of scrap 6mm plywood and a nail, clamped to the table of the bandsaw. The actual cut takes seconds with this kind of jig. Here’s an example from Mike Waldt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afGNbVrBiFE.

I marked up the base of the cyclone onto the plywood. I drilled holes for the four bolts to pass through and then discovered that my tiny Parkside drill press does not have sufficient reach to drill the central hole that will allow dust to drop through to the bucket!

I shrugged, switched to a hand drill and used a 68mm hole saw to cut the hole in the plywood. Then I used kitchen fitting spacers to centre the plywood circle onto the lid, and with it in position, I marked and drilled holes for threaded inserts in the lid. These will take the bolts passing through the cyclone flange and lid to join all the components.

I used the same hole saw to cut a matching aperture in the lid. Lastly I fitted the threaded inserts by tapping them into position with a mallet. I put it all together ready to test!

Body

When I fired up the vacuum I was really pleased with the level of suction compared with the Triton DCA300 dust separator that it is replacing. There’s a simple reason for that. The Triton passes through a fine filter so it’s a cleaner device in isolation but the filter clogs incredibly fast and requires constant cleaning. I use a one micron air scrubber for that purpose so it’s a reduction in filtering that I’m willing to take in the overall context of aiming for a healthier working environment. The Triton will be re-purposed for any mobile sanding I need to do around our ramshackle, on-going project of a home!

As expected the soft plastic of the bucket couldn’t cope and crumpled under the air pressure around it, so the body needed extra support, which is easily done with a ring of plywood held by friction within the bucket.

I cut another piece of plywood the same size as the first but this time drew two concentric circles, the outer one matching the diameter of the bucket about half way up its height and the inner forms a ring about 30mm wide. I cut both circles on the bandsaw using the same jig I made earlier. Using a bandsaw for this means that you have to cut through the final plywood ring in order to reach the inner circle but also gives a cleaner result than drilling a hole and using a handheld jigsaw and it’s damn fast - seconds. I glued and brad-nailed to fix the cut in the ring and it was ready to press into the bucket.

A quick test showed that it’s working well and it is straight into service for the bandsaw and belt sander. As it happens, I was already using the new cyclone as the bandsaw dust extractor while cutting the plywood ring because the bandsaw isn’t well sealed enough to cause the bucket to crumple when unsupported but with the ring in place, it is now more sturdy and is crumple free.

This approach saved a little money versus buying another Oneida kit at Ireland/UK prices and was probably two hours work for me, making it worthwhile in my book. I expect I’ll halve that time when I next do it because I won’t need to stop to experiment at various points.

Getting this done leaves me with no excuses left to avoid rebuilding the Record Power twin motor dust extractor that I melted - yes melted - last year and has been eyeballing me every time I walk into the workshop.

[chillyspoon]

I’ve been unwell this week with almost no time in the #workshop but I’ve managed a few mins here and there to tidy up after the kitchen table project, with Dolly (@dollyparton) as good company; Sweet Music Man from 1977’s silky Here You Come Again album https://open.spotify.com/track/0tiHQhYilIH8w5R3zxmTlZ?si=tFIo4FlrTdWxHA6pJdQ6Jw #nowplaying #makermusic #dollyparton #country #bluegrass #western #cowgirl #woodwork #woodworking #cabinetry #carpentry #maker #ireland https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_1CEyg_Up/?igshid=1ht0fcq0witgc

[chillyspoon]

Making a kitchen table from a Workmate (knock-off) and a scrap of counter top

Recently I took on the challenge of repurposing a cheap folding workbench into a side table for our kitchen to give us a little more counter space.

Previously in Making a shelf from an off-cut of kitchen counter top, I tested part of the approach and the introduction from that build outlined the background and explained why I’m doing this strange bit of *upcycling:

We had several counter top and shelving off-cuts left over from when our kitchen was built …. The melamine is an off-white colour for the cabinets and has pseudo-walnut block-board for the counter…. At Christmas I attached the biggest counter top off-cut to a Lidl PowerFix portable workbench (think Black & Decker Workmate knock-off for a tenth of the price) as an extra work table for the kitchen and it has proved so useful that it’s still there six months later complete with exposed chipboard/particle board edges!

My plan is to edge band this as a more permanent fixture and make it a little more table-like in the process.

The test shelf was successful although I had trouble matching the contour of the milled chipboard beneath the curved edge banding applied to the melamine.

Thankfully the beech I have available is in keeping with the rest of the kitchen and has that “by design” appearance in place on the test shelf.

It’s time to bite the bullet and press on with the full table.

Counter top

The counter top had been cut on all sides for some reason and I still haven’t figured out why the contractor needed to do that since this piece was simply a straight offcut from a 4m counter blank. It wasn’t square and was heavily chipped out in several places so I had no choice but to address both of those problems.

I used the tracksaw to clean up one of the long edges and then used bench dogs at 90 degrees to the cleaned up edge along with the tracksaw guide rail to square it up. I still had significant trouble with chip out of the melamine surface and ended up taking multiple runs on two sides but managed to get it clean enough to use. I really struggled with this and was not as satisfied with the results as I had been with the test shelf where I used the table saw for this job.

I suspect the chip out was just due to my inexperience at cutting this material but since it has been sitting in the sun for a couple of years, as well as getting bumped and shoved around the place each time I’ve had to move it, it’s possible that the glue laminating the melamine to the chipboard has weakened along the edges where it is exposed — that’s a plausible factor too. Let’s blame that instead of the user! ;-)

EDGING (OR LIPPING)

I don’t need much edging for this so I cut a small section from one of my rougher beech boards in order to save the better stuff for bigger furniture. The section had a significant bark inclusion to work around, the edge of a burl and some figure.

The downside of using up one of my rough boards is that it has more ripples than a Viennetta and had to be planed down significantly. It also sprang out of square when it was rip cut along the grain. This is due to the release of inner tensions that have built up during the tree’s life as the wood grew and moved in reaction to its environment. It ended up at just 21mm thick after starting out with some sections being 35mm thick. The frustrating riving knife on my table saw really didn’t help here either. It’s a bad design and is difficult to keep it aligned with the blade. I ruined one of the long rip cuts as the riving knife pushed the timber away from the blade causing a slight curve. Luckily the plan is to fit these over sized and plane them down afterwards but it made it more difficult to position the mounting dowels.

joinery

The edging is glued into position and biscuits provide alignment, has mitered corners and after fixture each corner is splined with a contrasting timber.

An additional challenge was dealing with the inaccuracy of the cheap Parkside mitre saw I was using for the cross cuts. I fitted a CMT blade (worth as much as the saw), which gives perfectly clean cuts in the hard beech but the saw kept drifting off 45 degrees - the angle detents and the thumb operated table clamping grub screw on the Parkside saw simply cannot be trusted. These saws are fine for rough stuff like framing and decking but not for anything requiring real accuracy. You get what you pay for.

I used the Axminster No. 1 jig to drill the dowel holes for my test shelf. It’s useful in that it lets you clamp and drill both workpieces simultaneously but is slightly inaccurate and has a fixed distance from the holes to the edge of the workpiece.

I have another dowel jig from Banggood.com. This one is self-centering and I planned on using this for this table but I changed my mind to used biscuits instead at the last minute.

This u-turn came about when I realised that it would be complicated to drill the dowel holes in the correct positions on both workpieces when I needed to cut each of the mitred corners in sequence, in conjunction with fitting the given piece. There’s loads of glue area so I have no concerns about the reduced strength of the biscuits versus dowels.

I started with one of the short sides, used masking tape to mark up the counter top and edging for the biscuit jointer (or biscuit “joiner” if you prefer), and then I cut size 20 biscuit holes in both faces. I put the biscuits in place, dry fitted the edging and marked up the mitre positions for both ends. I cut one mitre only, dry fit again to check the other position, before gradually sneaking up on the second mitre cut, shaving off a tiny amount of material at a time until it was right. Then I applied a generous and even layer of glue to both surfaces and within the biscuit mortises before clamping with parallel clamps. To complete the edging glue up, I worked my way around the entire table top repeating that process, taking extra care to ensure to choose the best looking top surface for each of the edging pieces.

SPLINES & Planing

Using a biscuit jointer to cut spline mortises is something that had not occurred to me before July 2019!

I stumbled across Jason Bent’s quick tip on the subject and immediately heard the sound of a donkey braying inside my head at overlooking something so obvious. I set the fence height of the biscuit jointer to about 50% of the height of my edging. Then I ran some masking tape on the melamine near each corner and used a square to mark a 45 degree line straight in from the corner. I set the biscuit jointer to “M” size to achieve the deepest cut possible, then lined up the fence with my 45 degree lines and made each cut. The results were great, the only improvement would be to use a blade with a flat raking tooth to avoid the slight “V” shape in the cut profile.

My Dad gave me a few short pieces of Burmese teak left over from building a yacht in the 1980s, and I cut a strip from one of these for the splines using my crosscut sled, leaving a snug fit that required a mallet tap or two to seat properly. I worked around the table from one corner to the next, gluing in the spline strip and cutting off the excess with a flush cut saw.

Next it was time to level off the edging flush to the melamine top. I had to be careful not to touch the melamine with a blade or sandpaper. Rather than planing, I covered the melamine near the edges with 60mm masking tape and used my random orbit sander from 80 through to 240 grit to bring the edges flush-ish. I lazed out a little and stopped short from getting it perfect because other chores were stacking up.

Finishing Up

I planed a small chamfer around all of the table edges and lightly rounded over the vertical seam of each mitred joint to mitigate the inevitable head bump further down the line. Then I applied four coats of worktop oil to the edging, denibbing with 240 grit sandpaper between each coat.

I remounted the table top on to the knockoff Parkside “Workmate” and it’s back in the kitchen and in use. It’s sits well in the kitchen and is sufficiently small to be unobtrusive in the space.

Follow up plans are to make legs for this little table reasonably promptly because I’m still undecided about the workbench base. I need to mount the test shelf either below the table as part of the new leg base or on one of the kitchen walls, and lastly I need to create another shelf from the last remaining scrap piece of counter top.

*Upcycling: the process whereby a hipster ruins an otherwise restorable piece of furniture and charges an exorbitant rate for the result. Only joking - as with all things, there’s a spectrum from that negative definition to those who not only rescue pieces by giving them a new lease of life but create something interesting and original in the process.

[chillyspoon]

Can't beat a bit of @chvrches in the workshop in the morning! #woodcraft #woodworking #woodwork #workshop #maker #makermusic #music #indie #shoegaze #synthpop #Ireland (at Wicklow, Ireland) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0stOvIILsa/?igshid=l87akc448b82