POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

[mattthemuppet2]

Looks better than my system of baggies in a box

 

[extropic]

You have too much time on your hands!!
Looks great though!!

He has time because he's so organized.

@erikmannie, did you build the drawer cabinet too?

 

[francist]

I made an awl. I’ve been thinking on this for a while and had gone through various design permutations before finally settling down to try one out. In many ways this was an exercise to prove a design, test a process, and verify a comfortable shape and size. So, really a learning exercise more than anything else.

I started with a little scrap of teak left over from my recent shelf project. Rather than use the bigger wood lathe I opted to turn everything on the Atlas. I started with the blank for the handle, necked one end down to accept a ferrule, and drilled in a ways for the pokey part.




Then I flipped it around and gripped from the neck to turn the handle to shape. The plastic washer just spaces the blank off the collet a little. I also slipped the future pokey part into the hole so the neck wouldn’t collapse in the collet.




Then I pulled my small bearing centre out of the drawer and this happened! I don’t know how you can put something away in perfect order and then take it out later only to have it literally come apart in your hands but that’s what happened. Anyway, no harm done, and I put it back together and got back to the job at hand.



The handle would be a simple taper— I chose five degrees included angle so I set the compound to 2-1/2 degrees and roughed the first pass.



I knew my compound wouldn’t have enough travel to do the entire length of the taper in one shot so I did each pass in three segments. Here it is down to my final design size.



I made the ferrule next. I had originally intended to use aluminum, then I thought maybe brass, but when I looked in the scrap drawer the only thing that was really close to size was some black acetal. So, black acetal it is. The pokey part can be seen on the table in the background. I made it from a salvaged box spring mattress frame — it has a decent amount of spring to it and throws whitish sparks so I think it’ll hold up okay. I just shaped it by hand on the belt sander.




Here are the three components prior to assembly. As you can see, I blued the pokey bit. Not sure if I like it or not but again, it’s a proving exercise.



And after assembly. The shaft extends into the handle by just over an inch and is a snug fit. The ferrule is five-thousandths press fit on the handle but between the slight give in the acetal as well as some slight compression in the teak it pressed on nice and clean.



One last coat of varnish on the handle and it’s awl done. Thanks for looking!



-frank

 

[f350ca]

Nicely done Frank.
I've tried turning wood in the metal lathe a few times and never got a cutter ground that would cut cleanly, always seamed to tear.

Greg

 

[pontiac428]

I don't think you told us what type of steel you used for the aptly-named pokey-part.

I went through the same moment of not sure if I was liking bluing the scribe. Now that I'm used to it, yes, it is nice and helps with contrast!

 

[Janderso]

After I bought a large lot of endmills, they wouldn’t fit in the existing drawers. In order to stay organized, I measured, sorted, put away & labeled all of the endmills in the shop. This took about 6 hours.

View attachment 431167

Golly, I have 5/16, 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4” end mills.
I guess I need to expand.

 

[francist]

I don't think you told us what type of steel you used for the aptly-named pokey-part.

I actually don’t know what the steel alloy is — it’s salvaged from an old box spring mattress years ago. When I first used it I didn’t expect it to be anything other than mild steel but when I tried to bend it (some garden thing I was working on) it was really tough. At that point I realized it was some kind of spring steel and had I thought about it beforehand it made perfect sense.
The steel formed a rectangular “hoop” that ran around the top perimeter of the mattress and made it keep its shape. It was stitched into the corner seam between the side panels and the top of the mattress. I don’t think it’s as springy as a real spring spring, but it does not like bending and throws whitish sparkler sparks when I grind it. We’ll see how it holds up, however the awl will not be seeing heavy work. It’s more of a steering implement for manipulating fabric in tight quarters as it under the presser foot of a sewing machine.

never got a cutter ground that would cut cleanly

Thanks Greg, I just got lucky. It’s just a regular grind I have for turning metals so maybe 6 degrees rake on the top or something like that. I hone them pretty sharp though, and I think that helps a lot. That and sandpaper!

 

[erikmannie]

He has time because he's so organized.

@erikmannie, did you build the drawer cabinet too?

The wooden door cabinet was an epic father/son project. Just the bottom section took 4 weeks.

What Should I Do with All These Wooden Drawers?

These wooden drawers belonged to the late Byron Wilson, a successful jewelry designer. He had them lined along shelves & on top of cabinets. I don’t have shelves (or room for shelves) in my shop. I would like to make a chest for these drawers. I work with metal, & not wood. I would have a...

www.hobby-machinist.com

My Dad no longer has the manual dexterity, but he sat through the whole thing & directed my actions. When he did have the manual dexterity, he was a woodworker, as was his father before that.

We did it in his shop because I won’t have sawdust inside my shop.

 

[jcp]

Finally got around to building the eye forming tooling for my Harbor Freight bender. The shop I worked in had a Hossfield #2 and that's what I used for inspiration. Working from memory I also wanted to make it from materials and tooling I had in the shop.....Southbend 9A, Clausing 8530 and a Vulcan multiprocess welder. The largest taps and dies I have are 1/2" so I had to do the threading on the lathe. It works so I'm going to call it a win.

 

[brino]

It works so I'm going to call it a win.

The design looks great (you obviously have a better memory than I do!)
The results too!

Thanks for posting.
Brian