Some metal work

I've been taking a metalsmith class at MHC and I attached a project we are working on. It is a 'memory' box, made from a piece of copper that was embossed in a roller mill then shaped in a hydraulic press to form an impression into a piece of plastic that we cut the negative design into. Does that make sense? anyway, we the cut a rim around the depression to form a flange, kinda like a bowl. I then cut a piece of brass to match the shape, laid out the design and cut the internal openings. Once that was done, I cut a 1/8" thick piece of acrylic into the same shape to sandwich between the copper and brass. After tapping the three layers, I drilled holes for the screws and put it all together. The layers did not quite line up, so I cleaned up the overhang with a disk sander so all three pieces match. It actually is a lot more work than what I just said. I put 2 fish-hooks in it to remind me of an earlier time when I would fly fish in the local rivers.

Since I had a thin piece of copper that was very soft, I thought that I would try spinning it to see what would happen, not having any of the proper equipment and no training other than to watch y-tube videos. I turned a form for the finished birdhouse, and a support for the tailstock. Well it didn't work, which was not surprising, but I did get an interesting shape and results. I tried to use an oak dowel to move the metal around the form, but a steel ratchet extension worked much better. You can see where the oak dowel caused it to fold, and I grabbed the steel extension afterwards and got better movement, but the damage was already done. Haven't decided if I should still try and make something from it or not. The curved portion of the metal is hard, while the flatter portions are still soft. An interesting project. Penn State has a kit for setting up a mini-lathe like mine for metal spinning, which I may have to get.

Enjoy and be careful of the splinters.

For the Birds, very small birds

I've added pictures of a birdhouse that I just finished, almost. Actually, there is no finish, which is what I need to do next. The main part of the birdhouse is turned, and hollowed to just below the peg. Since you can't get in it, I wasn't going to get too carried away. The top started as a 3-sided turning, but it was simply too small to see the difference between the sides. That and the spalted wood was soft and hard to get a good finish. So I grabbed the Foredom and carved the top. I tried to give it some character so it has 4-ridges along the roof-line, as you can almost see in the pictures. I also carved underneath the roof, so I added a picture showing that. I attached the roof to the body of the birdhouse with Kwik Wood putty (epoxy) that I picked up from Home Depot. I like this product so far as it was able to fill the gaps where I carved an opening for the roof and hold it in place. I understand that this is often used for setting eyes in carved animals, too.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Foredom Flex Shaft Mount

I got my last Christmas present mounted last night. I was looking at using 1/2" water pipes to make a holder for the Foredom, but by the time I added up the material costs it was cheaper just to buy a stand from Foredom. I took a shot that Harbor Freight might have one, since they often sell tools that are similar to other manufacturers. Didn't find one, but I did find a garden stake for plants that looked like a perfect holder for the flex shaft ($2.30 USD). In the pictures you can see it mounted, with 2 clamps holding the 2x3 to the carving table. Once I decide on the height and position I may just screw the 2x3 into the legs. Until then, it's adjustable.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Dust Collector

Last Saturday I went and visited all of the local wood working stores in the local area to see what they had for dust collectors. On Sunday, I bought a new Steel City dust collector model 62500 from the local Woodcrafters store. The price was good and they had it in stock. I opted to go with a bag filter instead of a canister as a cost saving and for the small size of my shop I thought that it would be sufficient. They spec the bag as 1 micron and 1200 CFM, which is what I need for my current tool set. The ShopSmith DC3000 just didn't cut it after 30 years of use. I have pictures showing the DC connected to my thickness sander and a second shot showing the fittings between the DC and table saw. I picked up a quick disconnect kit at Rockler and added the fittings to all of my 4" ports. I just drag the hose to whatever machine I'm using. The hose will reach up to 21 feet, in theory. At this point it works great as I get no blow-back on any of the tools I've used it with.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

New Cabinet for the Shop

I have finished a new cabinet for the shop. I used particle board scrap for the main box, trimmed with Myrtle wood and sized to fit in the opening of my lathe stand. Pictures show a lot, so I'll try to hit jut the highlights. The drawer sides are popular, the bottoms are 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood. The front of the drawers is Myrtle wood that I cut from a single board into 3 layers, each piece finishing into a 5/8" thick piece. That's how I got the bookmatch effect across the face. I used wood guides and an over-sized bottom to separate the shelves, picture included. The drawer face is rabbited to hide the plywood bottom and I used pocket-hole screws to hold the sides and face together. The finish is BLO (boiled linseed oil). Inside one of the drawers I placed all the different adapters for my Nova chuck, to help get an idea of size, about 13.75" across on the inside. The back of each drawer is a thin piece (about 3/8") of Myrtle wood that I cut to fit and is not attached but sitting in a dado I made to hold the back in place. One picture shows the oversized drawer face, where I kept the sides short anyway, and some of my push blocks I use on my table saw.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Corian Handle - Not.

I've included a couple of pictures of the corian handle I was turning, but the contrast of the white makes almost impossible to see. What it all boiled down to, While I was able to turn the corian, I did not have the pieces stacked correctly and when I tried to screw in the insert that the pizza handle screws into, the whole upper portion I had drilled out broke off, even with an over-sized hole drilled. I did not have enough time to try again, but it does point out the necessity to have a jig of some kind to keep the pieces in line and vertical. Also it showed the impossibility of tapping the corian since it is such a hard and brittle assembly, the way I made it. Bummer. I skipped the corian and went to Myrtle wood which looks great and is much easier to insert the fittings.

I also am showing two of my Christmas gifts, one that will help in holding my tools while I work on the lathe, the other so I can keep track of how late it is while I'm working. Clever idea on the first, though I may remount it directly on my table so I can easily pull the lathe tail-stock off. The other as you can see is hanging on my wall already.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.