Archive for the 'Woodworking' Category

I’ve been working on my “Woodshop” (aka: the garage) in preparation for some larger projects (in particular, kitchen cabinets). Jason Beaver, who works with me at Apple, clued me into how bad it is to breath wood dust. So, I ended up getting a dust collector.

Here’s a picture of my current layout before I began work on the dust collector:

Grinder stand:

The dust collector — I purchased the Grizzly G1030 3 HP Dust Collector. I wanted something that could move a lot of air, and supported 6 inch ducting, which is better for moving fine dust away from the machine and out of the air. This is a non-cyclone dust collector; my intent was to vent the air to the outside. The machine was also much cheaper than a cyclone — it was only $395, plus $74 shipping to my door. A cyclone would have been at least $750 for the machine alone, and probably would have been 1.5 or 2 hp and not 3 hp.

Of course, this required rewiring the shop, as it needed 220 volt. But, that was okay, as it isn’t too hard to do, and I really wanted a larger circuit breaker box and to make my table saw run 220 too.

I wanted to vent the air outside, and not hear the sound of the machine. So, I built a shed out back. I poured a 3″ concrete slab, 3′ by 8′ in size. This was my first concrete job, and it turned out pretty good. I ended up having to spend about $200-$300 on plywood and hardware, but most of the wood was recycled from the deck project.

Here’s a picture of the dust collector peaking out from its new home:

After building the back shed, I could cut the hole in the wall and run ducting. I ran 6″ out and dropped in a T to fork off to two machines and a floor sweep with 4″ flexible hose. The picture below shows one machine not hooked up yet (the jointer — which I need a dust hood for).

Then, I ran the 6″ directly over to the tablesaw:

I need some 6″ flexible hose, so the 6 temporarily drops to 4″ flexible tubing for now.

Next up is to run some more ducting over to my “welding area” to suck away all the fumes generated by melting steel.

I’m also going to build a new router table, and table saw out feed table. The out feed table will double as a work table and down draft sanding table (also hooked up to the dust collector).

Here is a Picasa Album set of images for a new bunny cage I built a few weeks ago: (click on it to see the images):

Custom Bunny Cage

I finished box #5 a few days ago (for Stephanie). It turned out really nice! It is made of redwood with pine keys. This is the first thing I made with my new table saw (and using the old radial arm saw I have from my dad).

View all the pictures.

I really needed to upgrade my table saw, and a few days ago I got my order in from Amazon.com: a nice new grizzly 10“ table saw. I got this one: Amazon.com: Grizzly G0444 10” Table Saw 1-1/2 HP Single-Phase 110V: Tools & Hardware. It is excellent! I highly recommend it..of course, I’ve only used it for maybe one hour total

Well, I finished box 4 a few days ago. It is pretty nice! Some of the pictures are now on my pictures page: Corbin’s Pictures - Box #4. I used redwood; again it was from home depot, but I bought an S4S piece of wood that was pretty nice, although slightly bowed. It is a simple miter cut box, with a groove routed on the top piece to create a nice relief. The top was glued to the box, and I cut it off with the table saw. I think hinged it together after finishing the box.

Back view:

Open view:

Front view — notice the cool grain pattern as it flows around the box side:

Today, I finished box #3. It is a simple box, with a slight pyramid shape. The edges slant upwards at a 5 degree angle. It is made of redwood (home depot junk redwood!) that I resized to 1/2“ on my crappy table saw. The top fits on the base via a rabbet on underneath the lid. The finish is Danish oil.

Check out the four pictures in my gallery: Corbin’s Pictures - Box #3

In today’s modern day and age, making things seems to be a lost art. In junior high, and high school, I took a few woodshop classes. I’ve always enjoyed woodworking, and making things with my hands, so I want to get back into it. I’ve been slowly trying to acquire woodworking tools.

Box 01

I made the mistake of buying a cheap tablesaw ($100 on craigslist, but it had a $50 blade on it), and now I’m on the constant lookout for a good one. I refurbished my dad’s old radial arm saw, and I’m now using that to make pretty accurate miter cuts.

Here are a few pictures of the first box I made. It is a very simple miter cut box, with a slight rabbet on the top to allow the top to simply sit on it.