Stuff you have made today

[brewdexta]

I had a couple of thin pieces of cherry that I wanted to rip in half so I made a tool to help me rip them accurately.

Here it is:

View attachment 266727

I guess you'd call it a kerfing saw or something like that. It's made out of oak, about 200 mm long and about 90 mm high; the spacers and clamp pieces are 60 mm high. I've made spacers in 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm and 8 mm thickness at the moment; I'll probably make some more in due course - they're very easy to make. The 8 mm one has more dramatically rounded edges than the others as I'll generally use that as the outer clamp piece when using thinner spacers and it makes it more comfortable in the hand having rounded edges.

The idea is that you fit a spacer about 1 mm thicker than the thickness of wood you want and then press the fence against the side of the wood while taking cuts all the way round the edge of the board. You then get a saw out and it's fairly easy to follow the pre-cut kerf.

Another view:

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and another:

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The flange-button head M5 screws you can see in this picture are held in place with 5-minute epoxy, so dismantling just involves the knurled brass knobs and no tools.

Finish is four coats of Shellac and one coat of paste wax. This was the first time I'd used Shellac. It isn't as nice to apply and doesn't look quite as good as the Tung Oil/White Spirit/Varnish mix I've used in the past, but I love the fact the coats dry so quickly so I don't have to spend several days applying finish.

It all started with this saw blade, which I spotted on ebay for £10 (someone had bought the wrong blade for their saw). I don't have the saw but I saw a potential use:

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I snapped off the tang and drilled four holes in it - I was a bit worried about how easy it would be to drill, but it was quite straightforward.

Here's what it looks like inside the saw:

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Here's what the result looks like with a 9 mm thick bit of cherry and the 4 mm spacer (this was done as a test before I applied the finish or made the knurled brass knobs - hence the nuts and washers):

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The saw then follows the cut easily:

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The result:

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Planed to 3 mm and looking good to me:

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I think this saw is going to get a lot of use, which is really satisfying, especially since I started and finished making it (including the knurled knobs and all four coats of Shellac) all in one day.

I like that a lot

 

[mr migwire]

Did a bit of metal mangling today...

Firstly, made myself a dowel plate out of 6 mm mild steel Tried it out on some oak and it seems to work:

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must practise getting number stamps lined up! To be honest, I wasn't being especially careful with the number stamps, ,so I'm not surprised they're a bit wonky.

Also made this out of a lump of 63.5 mm diameter 303 I found in a skip at work a while ago:

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The bottom bit is 20 mm diameter, the top is 35 mm square and 3 mm thick with two of the edges chamfered (at different angles). It's got an M8 thread going all the way through and the top is countersunk so I can leave a screw in the hole to stop little bits falling through. That leaves enough thread at the bottom to hold it down onto my bench if I want to.

Completely ridiculous to machine this from solid (especially a 63.5 mm diameter solid, when 50 mm diameter would have done) rather than fixing a bit of 3 mm plate to a bit of 20 mm round bar, but I had the 63.5 mm bar and I was quite enjoying using the lathe and mill...

Here it is in use as a planing stop:

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Should be useful for anything I want to plane that is thicker than 3 mm.

Also used a scrap of plywood to make a little storage thing for all my 20 mm dogs, including this new one.

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Just an offcut of plywood with lots of 20 mm holes through and a saw cut running along the length underneath so that it slots over the top of the angle iron that the drawers rest on. I would probably have preferred to make it two rows so there's some room for expansion, but that was the size bit of plywood I had and I've never yet felt like I haven't got enough dogs, so it's probably fine.

I tend to use a length of blue masking tape as a datum to keep the number punches lined up, works a treat.

 

[selectedgrub]

must practise getting number stamps lined up! To be honest, I wasn't being especially careful with the number stamps, ,so I'm not surprised they're a bit wonky.

It looks good to me.

 

[Dr.Al]

I tend to use a length of blue masking tape as a datum to keep the number punches lined up, works a treat.

I've done something similar in the past; I was just being lazy this time

 

[DAPPH]

I've done something similar in the past; I was just being lazy this time

Being a lazy git I'd only punch the whole numbers on the gauge plate along the side of a clamped on bit of straight wood .

 

[nickk]

In the 2.5 years we’ve lived here ,my partner has been reminding me to make curtain poles,this holiday I’m finally getting around to it!Only 3 more left.

 

[Barking Mat]

View attachment 266811 View attachment 266812 View attachment 266813 View attachment 266814 In the 2.5 years we’ve lived here ,my partner has been reminding me to make curtain poles,this holiday I’m finally getting around to it!Only 3 more left.

I like the gaffa tape support.

Seriously, nice curtain poles.

 

[MattF]

In the 2.5 years we’ve lived here ,my partner has been reminding me to make curtain poles.

Typical bloke rush job then.

 

[Moose McAlpine]

Finished the table legs. Welded, smoothed on the outside then painted quite badly.


The holes are offset so the rear wheels stay inside the table's footprint.

 

[Tangledfeet]

Stood on the plastic workshop dustpan a while ago and I've been meaning to make a replacement. Finding a 400 x 240mm sheet of 1mm cold rolled presented itself with the opportunity, not a single piece of waste.

 

[roblane65]

Nice table

 

[RichardM]

View attachment 266811 View attachment 266812 View attachment 266813 View attachment 266814 In the 2.5 years we’ve lived here ,my partner has been reminding me to make curtain poles,this holiday I’m finally getting around to it!Only 3 more left.

When you have a view like that it seems a shame to cover it up.

 

[KaneH]

Spinny bit and locking pins added to the spit.

Still to sort:
- frame connecting the chassis to the spit at both ends
- castors to add to both ends
- length of RHS to tie the two parts of the spit together.

any comments or suggestions welcome (Particularly hints on how to estimate the rough COG for making up the frames I’ve still to do!)

 

[Maker]

Anyone remember the octopus chalk bag my mum made me last year? My climbing partner needed a bag, obviously she couldn't just use a normal one so mum's been crocheting again...


Hope she likes it.

 

[decca]

View attachment 266811 View attachment 266812 View attachment 266813 View attachment 266814 In the 2.5 years we’ve lived here ,my partner has been reminding me to make curtain poles,this holiday I’m finally getting around to it!Only 3 more left.

You’ve just got to put the curtains on them and that’s the job done

 

[decca]

Engine stand for when I remove the moggy engine. Need a bit of 10mm plate to finish it if anyone in the North east has a bit I can buy off them 12x8ish. My normal steel place is shut.

 

[Tangledfeet]

@Maker That's one of the loveliest and most novel creations I've seen!

 

[Jan-DIY]

Today change a coolant pump on my Fronius.

 

[Brad93]

Today change a coolant pump on my Fronius.

I use one of those pumps. Very noisy. Need to try silicone hoses, as the vibration travels down the current pvc hose and vibrates the body of the cooler.

 

[Kram]

Stood on the plastic workshop dustpan a while ago and I've been meaning to make a replacement. Finding a 400 x 240mm sheet of 1mm cold rolled presented itself with the opportunity, not a single piece of waste.

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It'll hurt next time!

I can see the end! 6 more to go plus lots of small strips. I plan to get them all cut and stuck down before the end of the year.