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

[Larry$]

Trying to wrap my head around obtaining a cove

Like all skills it takes some practice. The shape of the cove can be varied by changing blade size, tilt and even shifting the angle of the guide a bit for the last pass. We aren't talking .001" here. Fudging a profile by wrapping a piece of sand paper around a dowel or a shaped stick can cheat a shape to close enough that it is not visually noticeable. I used to repair old furniture mostly for fun. Hardest thing to match was the hot pressed "carving". Had to resort to my carving tools or Foredom.

 

[twhite]

I am working on my little watchmakers lathe. Cleaned up the bed headstock and tail stock. I had a bit of black Rustolium Hammertone left. So this is what I will finish the can with. (Stinks that they no longer make any good colors)

Cutting oil is my blood.

 

[Gnpenning]

Fascinating. Trying to wrap my head around obtaining a cove with a defined 7/8" radius, precise location on the stock and a specific depth, cut by a 10" diameter saw blade. And finish scraping it by hand with my total lack of woodworking skills doesn't sound like a recipe for success. I'll sure keep this in mind if the need should ever arise again though!

And thanks for the advice on the molding head. The spinning saw blade is bad enough for this amateur.....

Different blades sizes and everything else mentioned will work. . Places like Rockler have guides you can buy or just make your own.

You can use your lathe and turn the perfect dowel to match what you need to sand. Oscillating spindle sanders arbors and drum sanders can get you the right size as well.

Plenty of videos if you are interested in learning more.

 

[rwdenney]

Thunderstorm rolled through a couple of weeks ago and blew a tree into power lines down the road. Our power was out for six hours, but something nasty happened when it went out, because most of the MOVs in the control boards of various systems exploded. Lost six power strips, a large UPS, the motor control board in a treadmill, all four control boards in the four Zap door openers in the shop, the shop’s radiant floor heating pump control board, the control board in the on-demand boiler for that system, and the battery charger for my power tools.

So, the project of the last couple of weeks has been to replace all those boards and take the insurance inspector on a tour. Total cost so far: $3000 not including labor.

The shop and the house are not even on the same meter, and attach separately to the power-company transformer, so it wasn’t a fault downstream from there. All my panels have the panel maker’s whole-house surge protectors installed, and those are still showing that they are functional. Many systems were not affected, including the major appliances in the house (except the treadmill). Other stuff in the shop is fine, including the DRO on the lathe.

I’ve been trying to figure out the pathology, but haven’t come up with anything. Exploding a MOV takes a longer transient over-voltage than the usual surge.



Rick “is something burning?” Denney

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Thunderstorm rolled through a couple of weeks ago and blew a tree into power lines down the road. Our power was out for six hours, but something nasty happened when it went out, because most of the MOVs in the control boards of various systems exploded. Lost six power strips, a large UPS, the motor control board in a treadmill, all four control boards in the four Zap door openers in the shop, the shop’s radiant floor heating pump control board, the control board in the on-demand boiler for that system, and the battery charger for my power tools.

So, the project of the last couple of weeks has been to replace all those boards and take the insurance inspector on a tour. Total cost so far: $3000 not including labor.

The shop and the house are not even on the same meter, and attach separately to the power-company transformer, so it wasn’t a fault downstream from there. All my panels have the panel maker’s whole-house surge protectors installed, and those are still showing that they are functional. Many systems were not affected, including the major appliances in the house (except the treadmill). Other stuff in the shop is fine, including the DRO on the lathe.

I’ve been trying to figure out the pathology, but haven’t come up with anything. Exploding a MOV takes a longer transient over-voltage than the usual surge.

View attachment 500803

Rick “is something burning?” Denney

Electrinics run on smoke, which is why, when you turn the smoke loose they don't work anymore.

 

[Mauzinette]

Filled a bunch of holes in the wall left there by the previous shop owner

When I drill a hole, it looks like this:



When the previous owner has tried to drill a hole, the result looks like this:



One in four accuracy, not bad.

The holes were three and a half inch deep so I modded a large medical syringe into a DIY filler administering tool. The tool worked quite well until it didn’t. Apparently quick cement hardens rapidly under pressure.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Filled a bunch of holes in the wall left by the previous shop owner

When I drill a hole, it looks like this:

View attachment 500813

When the previous owner has tried to drill a hole, the result looks like this:

View attachment 500814

One in four accuracy, not bad.

The holes were three and a half inch deep so I modded a large medical syringe into a DIY filler administering tool. The tool worked quite well until it didn’t. Apparently quick cement hardens rapidly under pressure.

I always use a dowel and glue unless its drywall and then I wound that my dowel cutter cuts that too.

 

[Eyerelief]

Finally finished the Bison FPU vise I flashed a couple of weeks ago in the "What did you buy today" section. It is a 6" that had seen a little use, but not in many years. Here it is when I picked it up:

It was rusted and bound up (most likely from inactivity). It came apart surprisingly well. A little Kroil and some patience and everything ultimately came loose.

Some sandblasting followed by sanding and bondo

Passed the facing mill over the anvil and one of the jaws to remove some but not all the damage.

The blackening. As far as I can tell, the vise had a phosphate treatment on the hardware. I'm lazy. I had a half gallon of old motor oil handy so I heated the parts up and dipped them in the old motor oil to give them a little protection from oxidation.

Brush painted everything with Rustoleum hammered. I wanted to keep the original handle so as you can see, I cut off the end about .75" short of the ball. Drilled and tapped the bar, turned and threaded the ball. I lost that .75" of leverage, but I can find it again if I need it. Added a couple of rubber washers

Not wanting to drill more holes in my home shop workbench, I cut up a piece of a 2" laminated beam and made an "adapter" out of it. I made three nuts tapped 1/2-13 and recessed them into the bottom. Now I can put the POS vise back on the bench if I have some heavy welding to do.

Really wanted to mill off the top of the fixed jaw, but didn't want to loose the stamped info so I decided to leave it

Here are a few pics in situ showing the now black "adapter".


Once adjusted it opens and closes smoother and more true than my Wilton. There is no wobble, play, or end play in the dynamic jaw.
During assembly I discovered that the gib adjusting screws were not contacting the gib. The threads were damaged on all three adjustment screws. I don't know if the original owner damaged them or if they were not turned down enough when it left Poland. This issue may have been giving the original owner fits as the vise was pretty sloppy the way it was. By taking about .125" off the threads of all three screws, proper contact with the gib was achieved and everything works as it should.
A peculiar side note. While looking at images on the interweb I discovered that when new, these vises had a sticker afixed to the top of the dynamic jaw warning to not strike the vise or the anvil with anything. Not a problem for me, but they maybe shouldn't have put an anvil on the vise to begin with.

Date stamp shows 3/65 so its coming up 60 years old. I think I breathed enough life into it to get me to the end of the road......

 

[dkemppai]

Had to repot a plant in the house. So of course the project started with welding! (Don't worry, I'll get there...)

Then my most dreaded nemesis, paint!


Followed by a quick test fit o the pot to the new rolling base...



Not shown, cutting a couple of plywood rounds to support the bottom of the pot on the base.


Of course, how do you lift the plant, so you can knock the other pot off of it, and drop it into the bigger pot? You use a floor jack, a 2x6, 4 heavy dumbbells, some cardboard, and a sheet of plywood, of course! (By making a crane! Even faster than my last crane project...)


Which results on the plant being airborne, so the new pot can be slipped under it. Then a tractor bucket full of topsoil mixed with potting soil, placed under the existing root ball, and edged packed with soil. Repotting done! I hope not to have to do this again soon. There is about 4 times the soil, so hopefully the root ball can expand comfortably.



At about 500lbs, it's heavy to roll, but rolls pretty well. Next step will be to find a floor protector for under the pot, so we can rotate it occasionally to even out growth..

 

[woodchucker]

Had to repot a plant in the house. So of course the project started with welding! (Don't worry, I'll get there...)View attachment 500841

Then my most dreaded nemesis, paint!
View attachment 500842

Followed by a quick test fit o the pot to the new rolling base...
View attachment 500843


Not shown, cutting a couple of plywood rounds to support the bottom of the pot on the base.


Of course, how do you lift the plant, so you can knock the other pot off of it, and drop it into the bigger pot? You use a floor jack, a 2x6, 4 heavy dumbbells, some cardboard, and a sheet of plywood, of course! (My making a crane! Even faster than my last crane project...)
View attachment 500844 View attachment 500845

Which results on the plant being airborne, so the new pot can be slipped under it. Then a tractor bucket full of topsoil mixed with potting soil, placed under the existing root ball, and edged packed with soil. Repotting done! I hope not to have to do this again soon. There is about 4 times the soil, so hopefully the root ball can expand comfortably.

View attachment 500846 View attachment 500847

At about 500lbs, it's heavy to roll, but rolls pretty well. Next step will be to find a floor protector for under the pot, so we can rotate it occasionally to even out growth..

That's awesome... But the dumbells could have lifted, and someone could have been Wiley coyote... .
So how do you drain the water? Or no drain holes...

BTW all kidding aside , nicely done.