I have a 5" Dewalt that I use with sandpaper from Klingspor, which seems like an improvement from what Home Depot sells. I use 80, 120, 150, 180 and 220 but not every time. I stopped at 180 for most of the sanding pre-finish/paint. If things are flat and smooth enough I will start with 120.
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jar944
Well-known member
I don't go above 150 for painted items, and don't start below 120 90% of the time. If I need 60/80 it's usually better to hit it with a hand plane. I'll go to 220 after primer and usually hand sand.
What's the orbit on the dewalt? I have a 2mm orbit festool ets 125 that I strongly dislike because it's so non aggressive. A 5mm orbit is my go to for everything.
I've been able to skip 80 a lot lately. Hoping the new planer also allows to happen more often. I need to get some hand planes and sharpening stones and learn to use them.
The orbit is 3/32" or about 2.4mm. It's why I'm looking at a 6" 5mm orbit.
Office Built-in Cabinets Part IX
At the start of the year I was whining about sanding. Back then I finished sanding the 4 larger drawers and once that was complete, I jumped onto the top. Since you only see a few inches on the top and I was out of maple, I decided to burn up some scrap. There's at least 3 kinds of plywood in this top with the front lip being some scrap cherry and the right side a scrap piece of maple. No reason to make a solid top as it will be covered.
Top assembled and I brought it upstairs to get painted while I coated the drawers in shellac. My first time using shellac, I think it went pretty well. The inside corners were the hardest part. With 4 drawers completed, I installed them into the cabinet.
Installing the drawer fronts brought it's own set of challenges. The face frame needed some straightening. I cut more scrap plywood and screwed them into the horizontal pieces. From there, I really struggled with getting the drawer fronts lined up. Every time I removed the cards I was using as spacers, the drawer fronts seemed to shift. I finally bought some new screws and installation went a lot easier for the final drawers.
It was around this time life started kicking out butts. We had a few weeks where someone was sick, the kids got lice, a weeklong virtual kickoff at work and our fun Snowcrete took a lot of energy.
Somewhere along the way I started sanding the final two drawers and got them installed. Hardest part may have been the drawer outlet installation, but really with a second set of hands it went quite quickly.
I replaced the outlet with a conventional outlet instead of the 4 USB-A one that came with it. For some reason it was significantly cheaper to buy it with the USB-A charger. My first time using Wago connectors as well.
Here are a couple of pictures with the bottom drawers installed and I'm test fitting the top fitting.
More to come.
At the start of the year I was whining about sanding. Back then I finished sanding the 4 larger drawers and once that was complete, I jumped onto the top. Since you only see a few inches on the top and I was out of maple, I decided to burn up some scrap. There's at least 3 kinds of plywood in this top with the front lip being some scrap cherry and the right side a scrap piece of maple. No reason to make a solid top as it will be covered.
Top assembled and I brought it upstairs to get painted while I coated the drawers in shellac. My first time using shellac, I think it went pretty well. The inside corners were the hardest part. With 4 drawers completed, I installed them into the cabinet.
Installing the drawer fronts brought it's own set of challenges. The face frame needed some straightening. I cut more scrap plywood and screwed them into the horizontal pieces. From there, I really struggled with getting the drawer fronts lined up. Every time I removed the cards I was using as spacers, the drawer fronts seemed to shift. I finally bought some new screws and installation went a lot easier for the final drawers.
It was around this time life started kicking out butts. We had a few weeks where someone was sick, the kids got lice, a weeklong virtual kickoff at work and our fun Snowcrete took a lot of energy.
Somewhere along the way I started sanding the final two drawers and got them installed. Hardest part may have been the drawer outlet installation, but really with a second set of hands it went quite quickly.
I replaced the outlet with a conventional outlet instead of the 4 USB-A one that came with it. For some reason it was significantly cheaper to buy it with the USB-A charger. My first time using Wago connectors as well.
Here are a couple of pictures with the bottom drawers installed and I'm test fitting the top fitting.
More to come.
I've been shockingly bad at taking pictures lately. Towards the end of January my dad had his knee replaced. Since he wasn't going to be able to shovel the impending snow, I borrowed his snowblower and put my kid to work.
Fine, she barely lasted two minutes. We did use it to get most of our neighborhood but the snow turned to snowcrete and impossible to use a snowblower on. Had to resort to a flat bottom metal garden shovel. Around that same time I replaced my parent's microwave door switch, fixed their laundry room door, and cleaned/replaced their whole house humidifier filter. All in 40 minute increments while my daughter was at dance class.
My wife's car needed a safety inspection and oil change. When I put away the receipts I realized it was 5k miles overdue for new spark plugs. Had to order the correct size spark plug socket. Might as well add some more to the order to get free shipping.
Wanted to get some locking extensions and these were all I could get in time. They're wobbly, but they lock.
Also found a cheap Milwaukee reciprocating saw so I grabbed that while I was waiting on spark plug and air filters to come in.
My daughter turned 11 and had a birthday party at our house. Figured I would rather not have 7 girls bouncing around in our family playing Just Dance so the rush was on to get our basement presentable. Moved the upper cabinets for our built in back upstairs and I reinstalled the flooring I ripped out in December when our water heater was replaced. Been getting some help from my 8 year old son lately, which has been awesome. We replaced the flooring, transitions and molding. Just one piece left to replace, but much more presentable.
My lunch break on the Friday before the party was replacing the air filters and spark plugs. Super quick on the 2.5L 4 cylinder Mazda engine. While the girls were making a racket I went on our deck and replaced my son's bike tire, which blew up two days prior.
More and more house projects are piling up and I'm not keeping up. Trying to keep getting the important stuff done and still make progress on the cabinets.
Fine, she barely lasted two minutes. We did use it to get most of our neighborhood but the snow turned to snowcrete and impossible to use a snowblower on. Had to resort to a flat bottom metal garden shovel. Around that same time I replaced my parent's microwave door switch, fixed their laundry room door, and cleaned/replaced their whole house humidifier filter. All in 40 minute increments while my daughter was at dance class.
My wife's car needed a safety inspection and oil change. When I put away the receipts I realized it was 5k miles overdue for new spark plugs. Had to order the correct size spark plug socket. Might as well add some more to the order to get free shipping.
Wanted to get some locking extensions and these were all I could get in time. They're wobbly, but they lock.
Also found a cheap Milwaukee reciprocating saw so I grabbed that while I was waiting on spark plug and air filters to come in.
My daughter turned 11 and had a birthday party at our house. Figured I would rather not have 7 girls bouncing around in our family playing Just Dance so the rush was on to get our basement presentable. Moved the upper cabinets for our built in back upstairs and I reinstalled the flooring I ripped out in December when our water heater was replaced. Been getting some help from my 8 year old son lately, which has been awesome. We replaced the flooring, transitions and molding. Just one piece left to replace, but much more presentable.
My lunch break on the Friday before the party was replacing the air filters and spark plugs. Super quick on the 2.5L 4 cylinder Mazda engine. While the girls were making a racket I went on our deck and replaced my son's bike tire, which blew up two days prior.
More and more house projects are piling up and I'm not keeping up. Trying to keep getting the important stuff done and still make progress on the cabinets.
nicholam77
Well-known member
Nice work, it's really coming together now!
It's always a bit of a struggle. My method is to screw through the drawer front so the screw tips are poking through the face a little, place the drawer with cards as spacers, give it a whack to leave impressions from the mounting screws, then remove the drawer face and pre-drill the holes. Then hope and pray it goes back in the same place.
Your gaps look pretty dang tight, though. Not much room for error.
In the future you could look at these Blum drawer adjuster thingies. Never have tried them myself, but they let you make small adjustments after the fact.
I feel that! So far this year I've had Covid, norovirus (stomach flu), and a string of colds, and my daughter just had lice a few weeks ago. Work has been busy as hell, we keep getting snowed on, and the kids have too many extracurriculars. Feels like I can't catch a break!
Amazing work!
Installing the drawer fronts brought it's own set of challenges. The face frame needed some straightening. I cut more scrap plywood and screwed them into the horizontal pieces. From there, I really struggled with getting the drawer fronts lined up. Every time I removed the cards I was using as spacers, the drawer fronts seemed to shift. I finally bought some new screws and installation went a lot easier for the final drawers.
It's always a bit of a struggle. My method is to screw through the drawer front so the screw tips are poking through the face a little, place the drawer with cards as spacers, give it a whack to leave impressions from the mounting screws, then remove the drawer face and pre-drill the holes. Then hope and pray it goes back in the same place.
Your gaps look pretty dang tight, though. Not much room for error.
In the future you could look at these Blum drawer adjuster thingies. Never have tried them myself, but they let you make small adjustments after the fact.
I feel that! So far this year I've had Covid, norovirus (stomach flu), and a string of colds, and my daughter just had lice a few weeks ago. Work has been busy as hell, we keep getting snowed on, and the kids have too many extracurriculars. Feels like I can't catch a break!
Amazing work!
I basically did that but instead used screws to hold it in through the drawer handles. The wood screws I were using just didn’t hold that well. The new ones I bought worked great.It's always a bit of a struggle. My method is to screw through the drawer front so the screw tips are poking through the face a little, place the drawer with cards as spacers, give it a whack to leave impressions from the mounting screws, then remove the drawer face and pre-drill the holes. Then hope and pray it goes back in the same place.
I did put some weight in each drawer when I installed them so hopefully when the drawers are loaded up the bottom gap evens out with the rest of the sides. Sounds like you’ve been having fun lately too! I hope you’re all recovering and your back is getting a little better.
I forgot we all got a slight cold again starting with my daughter on her birthday. Survived my son in basketball and Girl Scout cookie season as well. Unfortunately, my wife and I have a work trip coming up once a month for the next 4 months so I‘ll lose another week each month to do stuff. Will survive thanks to caffeine and stubbornness.
When those 2 aren't sufficient I have found bourbon helps lol. Pour in a nice glass and stare wistfully at nothing and just tell the kids you're "pondering how many toys to give away" and things get better quick...for an hour or two!
Office Built-in Cabinets Part X
Quick update on the cabinets. A few weeks ago I spend some time tweaking the drawer fronts. Had to move a couple of the drawer slides back or back and down a smidge. Everything seems to be fitting a lot better. The bottom right drawer might need the top slightly trimmed, but we'll see how it does with some weight in it.
I also installed all of the uppers after scribing the face frame. Getting the face frame installed was challenging with all the pocket holes. Ended up taking out the drawers and sending my son inside the cabinet to secure the bottom part of the frame. He loved it. Said it was something he would remember for his entire life.
Both uppers needed an inch and a half trimmed from the depth. The upper left cabinet needed some modifications to fit the air return duct. Whatever goes up here will be infrequently used because I'm the only one who can reach it without a stool.
Here's how the return duct comes out at the moment. The foam and wood blocks are just temporarily placed there.
Quick update on the cabinets. A few weeks ago I spend some time tweaking the drawer fronts. Had to move a couple of the drawer slides back or back and down a smidge. Everything seems to be fitting a lot better. The bottom right drawer might need the top slightly trimmed, but we'll see how it does with some weight in it.
I also installed all of the uppers after scribing the face frame. Getting the face frame installed was challenging with all the pocket holes. Ended up taking out the drawers and sending my son inside the cabinet to secure the bottom part of the frame. He loved it. Said it was something he would remember for his entire life.
Both uppers needed an inch and a half trimmed from the depth. The upper left cabinet needed some modifications to fit the air return duct. Whatever goes up here will be infrequently used because I'm the only one who can reach it without a stool.
Here's how the return duct comes out at the moment. The foam and wood blocks are just temporarily placed there.
larry4406
Well-known member
Looks great!
+1!
Thanks everyone. Since those pictures, nothing has gotten done on the cabinet.
What has been getting done lately is a whole lot of trips. My wife was on a work trip for a week. She came home and two days later we left on another trip since it was the kid's spring break. We hit I-95 south and visited my brother and his family for most of a day, then back on road to go down to Raleigh, NC. Stayed with my wife's cousins for 2 days and back on the road up to Busch Garden's in Williamsburg where it was apparently pollen season.
Came home and still had no ice in our freezer. Took apart the ice maker, decided it was the water inlet valve, and ordered the part. Put it back together as until the part comes in and now it's working.
New part is sitting in the cabinet until it stops working again.
Yesterday my son and I went to our first Cars and Coffee of the season. Always some interesting things there like a Mazda pickup slammed to the ground with a Honda engine. Pictures courtesy of an 8 year old who stole my phone.
Later I took my daughter out to walk around a lake and get some ice cream. We watched this big snapping turtle swimming around for a while.
Got some books in the mail on sale from Klingspor. Looking forward to sitting down and reading them soon.
This week I'm traveling for work. Sitting in a hotel room outside of Boston. Tuesday I go to Minneapolis and get home late Wednesday night. Hoping I can spend some time Thursday and Friday on the never-ending project list at home. Desperately need to replace the brake fluid in my wife's car.
What has been getting done lately is a whole lot of trips. My wife was on a work trip for a week. She came home and two days later we left on another trip since it was the kid's spring break. We hit I-95 south and visited my brother and his family for most of a day, then back on road to go down to Raleigh, NC. Stayed with my wife's cousins for 2 days and back on the road up to Busch Garden's in Williamsburg where it was apparently pollen season.
Came home and still had no ice in our freezer. Took apart the ice maker, decided it was the water inlet valve, and ordered the part. Put it back together as until the part comes in and now it's working.
New part is sitting in the cabinet until it stops working again.Yesterday my son and I went to our first Cars and Coffee of the season. Always some interesting things there like a Mazda pickup slammed to the ground with a Honda engine. Pictures courtesy of an 8 year old who stole my phone.
Later I took my daughter out to walk around a lake and get some ice cream. We watched this big snapping turtle swimming around for a while.
Got some books in the mail on sale from Klingspor. Looking forward to sitting down and reading them soon.
This week I'm traveling for work. Sitting in a hotel room outside of Boston. Tuesday I go to Minneapolis and get home late Wednesday night. Hoping I can spend some time Thursday and Friday on the never-ending project list at home. Desperately need to replace the brake fluid in my wife's car.
Attachments
I've been trying to get some stuff knocked off my constantly expanding list of things to do. My wife's CX-5 has been making some noise lately that sounded like a brake squealer but not constantly. Was hoping to look into it last weekend but poor weather forced me to wait until late Tuesday afternoon. I pulled off all four tires and discovered the right rear brake looked like this...
The left rear brake had the pads on upside down. I swear I didn't install them like this. My father in law was here when we did them and there's no way we both missed this.
I went ahead and replaced all the brake fluid and rotated the tires since I had everything off. Decided to order a new right rear caliper as that side has chewed through brake pads before. Sadly this set only lasted 14k miles. On Saturday I attempted to replace the brakes at my parent's house while my daughter was at her dance rehearsal. Ended up having to take my mom's car to pick her up since I wasn't finished.
I had to get creative replacing the rear caliper without letting all the brake fluid out, but I found a way.
Got everything replaced. I spent a while cleaning off the hubs and left brake hardware. Hopefully this is the last time for a while I have to replace these brakes.
The left rear brake had the pads on upside down. I swear I didn't install them like this. My father in law was here when we did them and there's no way we both missed this.
I went ahead and replaced all the brake fluid and rotated the tires since I had everything off. Decided to order a new right rear caliper as that side has chewed through brake pads before. Sadly this set only lasted 14k miles. On Saturday I attempted to replace the brakes at my parent's house while my daughter was at her dance rehearsal. Ended up having to take my mom's car to pick her up since I wasn't finished.
I had to get creative replacing the rear caliper without letting all the brake fluid out, but I found a way.
Got everything replaced. I spent a while cleaning off the hubs and left brake hardware. Hopefully this is the last time for a while I have to replace these brakes.
Pretty sure I saw the Wound Care one in your thread. I'm 1/3 of the way into the Woodworker's Pocket Guide. It's interesting, but it was first published in 1949. Kind of like reading a cookbook from 1949. Ingredients have changed. I think further into the book there will be more I care to learn about.
Loved the Sharpening book. Only downside to that book is now I need to go buy stuff to sharpen my tools.
I see Lost Art Press has a book called Smalls coming out soon about using small scraps to make projects. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for any sales they or Klingspor have. Lost Art Press also has all of The Anarchist series available as free PDFs.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Nice shots....been there many times including their open house (3 times) where you get to walk the floor in the restoration wing and talk to the preservation techs. Very cool...ever make it?Picked up this PB Swiss screwdriver set, two Milwaukee penlights and another Craftsman V-series 1/4” toolkit. Will keep one in each car.
Was at the Udvar Hazy air and space museum and saw their restoration workshop. Thought you all might appreciate some pictures of it.
When I was dropping off the brake fluid, old parts and a bunch of things to recycle at our dump they were giving away some native plants and trees. The droopy looking tree on the right was getting too large for that space so I cut it down.
And replaced it with this hackberry(?) bush.
Definitely didn't plant anything else by the road. Right after that was planted we had 9 or 10 straight days of rain. Glad I got it in when I did.
I've also been slowly chipping away on the cabinets. First the plywood was cut down then I added some Domino slots to help speed up the glue up. Left the trim long and trimmed it flush after.
Once the shelves were cut to the final dimensions, I sanded the edge banding and applied a few coats of shellac. I also made stops for the doors out of some thin scrap. Sometime since the last update I installed the door handles.
Very happy to say that functionally, the cabinet is complete.
As you can tell, it still needs work. The doors need to be repainted where they were trimmed and some touchup work on the face frame. It was a huge help to get this usable so my wife could put some things away and start going through things to sell/donate/trash.
May was very busy here. My parent's were traveling for 2.5 weeks so had to pick up the kids from school the one day a week they normally get them. Kids activities also really ramped up at the same time. Thankfully this is the last week for a bunch of activities. Tonight we have a chorus/band concert and this weekend my daughter has her 3 play performances and a ballet recital. Throw in the extra rehearsals for those, my son's flag football season and his swim team starting and I've just been a non-paid Uber driver this last month.
And replaced it with this hackberry(?) bush.
Definitely didn't plant anything else by the road. Right after that was planted we had 9 or 10 straight days of rain. Glad I got it in when I did.
I've also been slowly chipping away on the cabinets. First the plywood was cut down then I added some Domino slots to help speed up the glue up. Left the trim long and trimmed it flush after.
Once the shelves were cut to the final dimensions, I sanded the edge banding and applied a few coats of shellac. I also made stops for the doors out of some thin scrap. Sometime since the last update I installed the door handles.
Very happy to say that functionally, the cabinet is complete.
As you can tell, it still needs work. The doors need to be repainted where they were trimmed and some touchup work on the face frame. It was a huge help to get this usable so my wife could put some things away and start going through things to sell/donate/trash.
May was very busy here. My parent's were traveling for 2.5 weeks so had to pick up the kids from school the one day a week they normally get them. Kids activities also really ramped up at the same time. Thankfully this is the last week for a bunch of activities. Tonight we have a chorus/band concert and this weekend my daughter has her 3 play performances and a ballet recital. Throw in the extra rehearsals for those, my son's flag football season and his swim team starting and I've just been a non-paid Uber driver this last month.
I had no idea they had open houses there where you could do that. I will have to look that up for the future. I have been there a few times for different company holiday parties. Pretty cool having the place to yourself.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I belong to the National Air and Space Society at the museum. It gives me advance notification of lectures (free) and events like the Open House, among other perks. Over the years I’ve heard most of the Apollo Astronauts speak, sometime multiple times. For Alan Bean, I got front row seats. He spit on me, not intentionally, and I have never showered since…
I managed to survive last week with most of my sanity. My daughter did a wonderful job at her school play and she killed it at her ballet recital of Peter Pan. We didn't realize she was going to be on the stage for so much of the show.
My son also did an awesome job at his first swim meet. I only got to see one of his races, but for a kid who doesn't want to do it, he sure seemed into it. He got first in one of his races too which made him happy.
In tool related news, I picked up this set of no-name set up blocks. They're shockingly accurate for $25. Used them once on a picture frame I started and I really enjoy having something to reference instead of looking at an adjustable square.
My parent's trip included some time in Switzerland. I jokingly suggested they pick up some PB Swiss screwdrivers for me and they actually did. My mom said their tour director told her no one has ever asked where screwdrivers were sold on their tours.
I need to get back into the shop this week/weekend and finish a picture frame for one of our neighbors before they move. I think I'll make it, but we'll see.
My son also did an awesome job at his first swim meet. I only got to see one of his races, but for a kid who doesn't want to do it, he sure seemed into it. He got first in one of his races too which made him happy.
In tool related news, I picked up this set of no-name set up blocks. They're shockingly accurate for $25. Used them once on a picture frame I started and I really enjoy having something to reference instead of looking at an adjustable square.
My parent's trip included some time in Switzerland. I jokingly suggested they pick up some PB Swiss screwdrivers for me and they actually did. My mom said their tour director told her no one has ever asked where screwdrivers were sold on their tours.
I need to get back into the shop this week/weekend and finish a picture frame for one of our neighbors before they move. I think I'll make it, but we'll see.