Mopar / Wood Shop Cave

[moparfreak]

The work continued in the other direction of the grid.

More broken bits.....

But I persevere!

Install caster blocks (fixed in the back, removable swivel in the front, all to clear the roll-out CNC drawer that comes in the future). Now this 250lb behemoth is mobile.

Big 40" drawer slides for the two monster drawers (top for clamps / jigs / assembly aids, bottom for routers and all related jigs).

And just for fun, pushed into final position. It's tight but perfectly sized. Very secure fit with the tables and machines around it. I need to bring it out and do a final cleanup sand of the top surface to get rid of marks and scratches and give it an even sheen. Also will do a couple filler pieces in the back where it transitions over to the tablesaw.

The height level ended up perfect with the assembly table so it acts almost like an extension of that table surface. I like having infinite ways of holding things down, and I suspect I'll use this surface just as much as the other bench for glue-ups / fixturing / sanding / routing. Next up would be now that the case is in its final form, to measure and build the drawers to size, and then the lower CNC rolling platform. Hope to knock those out pretty quickly so I can check this into the done column and start up on another project (as I've learned multitasking isn't the best idea if I want to get projects into the DONE pile).

 

[moparfreak]

Did a sanding session last night, had to go down to 120 to get through to the deeper scratches and get an even tone, which matches quite well with the MDF top of the assembly workbench. Then hit it with 220 to give it a glass-smooth finish. This Richlite is super hard but finishes really nicely.

Tonight hopefully I can start up on the upper drawer.

 

[moparfreak]

Made a bunch of progress over the last week and weekend. Built the massive shelves, which add a ton of storage utility. Having such large wide shelves takes away some of the strength of rigidity of a bench, but I have other rock solid workbenches throughout the shop, and I wanted the nice large storage trays.

Typical pocket hole construction, using my pocket hole jig station again, this has come in mighty handy. Super quick and clean setup.


Then a straightforward install. It's a bit tricky cause the shelves are so large and misalignments make a big difference, so a bit extra time on adjusting things into place so that everything slides nicely.

Then ripped a few quick drawer fronts.

Handles go on with a useful but hokey handle jig.

Here's the final look with the upper two drawers done. The top one will be clamps, assembly stuff. The lower deeper one is going to house all my router stuff which up until now has been stuffed into a cabinet shelf and very difficult to sort through and find what I'm looking for (or remember what I have).

The lower deeper one is going to house all my router stuff which up until now has been stuffed into a cabinet shelf and very difficult to sort through and find what I'm looking for (or remember what I have). I've started staging it all and beginning to fill the drawer in so that stuff is clean and easy to see and access.

Throughout this week I'll finish organizing and then also build the lower sliding CNC platform. Even though I don't have a machine to put in it yet, I'd like to get that space finished up, and call the project done, as I've got others coming up in the queue.

 

[Jgaz]

Then a straightforward install. It's a bit tricky cause the shelves are so large and misalignments make a big difference, so a bit extra time on adjusting things into place so that everything slides nicely.

You sure have this right.
I just finished 6 kitchen cabinet pull out shelves, several 23” deep x up to 35” wide.
For clearances the drawer slide directions say you want 1” clearance -0” +1/16”!

I found this a bit more difficult than drawers I’ve made in the past.

 

[moparfreak]

You sure have this right.
I just finished 6 kitchen cabinet pull out shelves, several 23” deep x up to 35” wide.
For clearances the drawer slide directions say you want 1” clearance -0” +1/16”!

I found this a bit more difficult than drawers I’ve made in the past.

Yep - these drawers are 43" x 51" or so, and so the slides need to be aligned front to back and side to side. At this point for stuff like in the shop, I go with the cheaper traditional style slides, but if I ever want to do anything inside the house, it's way worth it to go with the undermounts, as I find those easier it's easier to get those aligned properly & sliding nicely.

 

[loganb]

Hope the shop time is treating ya well!

 

[moparfreak]

Another long break from posting - fall gets busy and project work often slows down. But, even so things are always going on in the shop, even if a bit slower. I think maybe it's time to catch things up here on GJ.

Had several days off due to the holidays, and was planning for some nice leisurely non-time-pressured projects, but instead I had a fun mix of auto repair projects that all jumped up at once.

To start with, our family van, a '09 Dodge Caravan, is about to be replaced. But, a week ago the driver's side rear caliper froze and it's making an awful scraping noise. I need to at least be able to put this up on Marketplace, and so ordered new pads and dove in. Upon inspection, the pads were completely toast, and the piston in the caliper was out all the way and pretty much stuck. I tried to pry it back in, but I needed to get it back on the road, and ran to the Advanced Auto and got a new caliper 15 min before they closed right before Christmas.

Rotor was a bit scuffed up, but I figure the new pads will wear it back in OK-enough. Oddly the other side was totally fine, plenty of pads left. New caliper went in without too much trouble, but I will say the HF Earthquake HD impact wrench is a god-send for getting break and suspension bolts apart without any fuss.


Next up - my son's '17 Buick Encore needs all the repairs while he's on winter break and doesn't need to drive it much. First up is the front pads and rotors which have been pulsating under heavy braking, so likely some warp in the rotors and they are original so due to be changed.

These rotors have those annoying flat-head screws. I've stripped those out on prior vehicles I've owned. I find the manual hand-impact driver helps to start the process of loosening up, then after a few bangs with that I feel more comfortable using the impact wrench. At least these were Torx and not the philips head style!

These brakes went on pretty fast on the Buick without any real incident. Man, two quick brake jobs and I had them both done with time to spare on Thursday. Am I going to be able to do some actual fun stuff this break? Hmm, well the worst was yet to come.....

Adam

 

[moparfreak]

No, I was in for several frustrating days over this past weekend. I bought the Encore as I wanted a cheap fuel efficient vehicle for my high school boys to drive. I didn't want to get a complete beater but also didn't want to spend a ton. I settled on a bit of a compromise. A low mileage Encore (30K miles) that was a salvage title as it had some front end cosmetic damage that was repaired (cracked bumper, hood and headlight). Due to the salvage condition it was quite cheap. But, I've since learned that the 1.4L Turbo I4 that GM put into pretty much every small vehicle during the 2010s has turbochargers go out like clockwork pretty much every 50K miles. They've got a special bulletin to cover outside of warranty. A month ago it starts throwing all the codes related to this issue. Dealer can't do anything cause it's a salvage title and GM won't do any warranty on it. Great. Quoted $3K to replace at the dealer. On a car I paid $7.5k. Guess I'm doing a turbo swap!

Ordered all the replacement parts in, including a GM turbo and surprisingly it was all only around $650 or so. I won't go into super in-depth detail on this one. Since it's a common engine and a common failure, there's actually a number of really useful repair video tutorials on YT for this. Spent a few hours on research and felt reasonably confident. The best of the videos are this one and this one.

As you can see down into the work area, access is EXTREMELY tight, and the turbo has a ton of hook-ups. 8 manifold bolts, 4 of which are quite shrouded, oil inlet and outlet lines, coolant inlet and outlet lines, intercooler inlet and outlets, exhaust outlet to the cat, etc. Just a nightmare where accessibility is about as bad as you can imagine.

After MUCH pain and suffering, I had the old turbo finally out.

Now, I figure, putting the new one is just the reverse, it should go pretty quick and smooth, right? WRONG!!!!! getting some of those shrouded fasteners properly installed and threaded into the block was a terrible chore. I needed to call family members in to help give me third and fourth hands to try to get things lined up and into place. But, sometimes after 5 or 6 tries I got things put together.

Torqued everything down wherever I could fit a torque wrench. Broke one of my torque wrenches, which made me mad. Filled the coolant system back up, burped it, no leaks. Plenty of smoking right off the bat and was worried I had exhaust leaks, but it was mostly just spilled coolant that was burning off all the hot surfaces and that went away after a few mins of running. I have a ton of tools, and still felt like I needed more to accomplish this job. Here's my worktable surface by the end of it all. So much for being one of those super efficient organized mechanics, lol!


In the end of it all, it was a miserable job, but I am still proud to have done the job, and saved several thousand bucks. Keeps our family functioning the way it should with everyone being mobile as they need to be, saves some strain on the bank account, and only cost my time and frustration! Well worth it, IMO.

At least we know that in another 50K miles I'll know what I'm getting into when the turbo fails again....

Adam

 

[moparfreak]

So, automotive projects aside for the time being, and I'm getting ready to do some big woodworking projects finally. Going to make a maple kitchen table. Some more details on that to follow, but preliminarily, I would like to to use dominos - loose tenons - for the edge-to-edge joints of the main boards that will make up the tabletop. I think they add a lot of strength but more importantly ensure a good flush and easy glue-up. Biscuits don't have much actual strength for working with hardwoods - though they are great for casework. And, I don't have a spare $1600+ for the Festool Domino, as much as I'd love to spring for that particular tool. So, I'm going to build this little mortise jig from Tamar3x3 -

Along with an 8mm router spiral bit, I'll be able to use this to create the loose tenon pockets in the board edges. I purchased her plans for a couple bucks and proceeded with the build, all from scraps. Start by gluing up the main ledge where the router with template bushing fit.

Then I jointed and laminated a couple pieces to build up a 1.25" thick clamping base. The Matchfit clamping table works great for this. Then set up the matchfit dovetail router bit on the router table and routed a bunch of clamping grooves in both pieces per the plan.

Some long holes drilled at the drill press to mount the clamping base to the main router base. Setting up on the drill press cause I needed to come at it from both sides and wanted to make sure my holes were a perfect 90 degrees and would match up. Also made some slotted accessory pieces for adjustment side to side and clamping aids.

Then it just gets fully assembled!

Made an extension panel to be able to clamp in the workbench and keep the router up at a good working height. Added storage onto that piece for the loose clamping aids, and then like all other jigs and templates, made a ceiling hanger for it! Ready to use....


Adam

 

[moparfreak]

Here's the kitchen table design. All from rough hard maple.

All the maple sitting ready to be milled up. I think it's acclimated to the shop now and ready to go. Will be good to get it out from under it's hiding place underneath the Charger.


Adam

 

[moparfreak]

As I was moving machines around and setting up the router table and planer for milling work for the kitchen table, I sent myself on one of my many side projects and decided to move a few machines around and redo the tool stand that holds the bandsaw. Basically, I decided to put my frankenstein floor drill press where the bandsaw was, and then put the bandsaw in a little niche next to the back door. In order to do so, I needed to make a new bandsaw tool stand. Here's the one that it came with originally when I bought it from Sears (RIP).

It's got a pretty wide footprint, I can get that to be much slimmer, while also adding some functional storage. Here's whipping up a quick cabinet with scrap plywood I had on hand. Not 100% sure what I'll be storing in there, and whether I want it to be open, closed off with a door, build in some drawers, etc. I'll leave it open for the time being until I see how it gets used. But, much slimmer than before and adding capacity. The bandsaw I don't use super often, and when I need to all I have to do is pull it out on the mobile base (same as before just resized), plug it in and go.

Here's the drill press moved over to its new spot, fits nicely and I use the drill press more often so it's nice to have it closer to the main worksurfaces.


With that side project done, work goes back to the the kitchen table. I'm starting out with the leg base columns. They start with with a plywood subframe, and then slats of hardwood are tacked on to get the striped effect. Starting out by cutting and grain matching the maple plywood. It was one sheet and probably the most expensive part of this table. I use a combination of the track saw and table saw to get nice parallel and square cuts to size.

Then I start a multi-stage glue up.


I became sad and dismayed to find that in my glue drawer, around 80% of my glue bottles are fubar'd. Maybe it's the cold, or the glue is just getting to its shelf life or what, but almost all the glue in custom bottles is basically not flowing anymore, and starting to set up. Pretty much unusable. Maybe I need to change how I store and where I keep my glue? I really like keeping my glue in these custom containers for project work, but might have to rethink this?

 

[zanyad]

That change to the bandsaw looks like it'll be useful, both footprint and storage-wise.

Had two questions about your new bandsaw cabinet:

1. Why the extra 2x4 alongside the edge?
2. Is the base still stable enough?

 

[moparfreak]

That change to the bandsaw looks like it'll be useful, both footprint and storage-wise.

Had two questions about your new bandsaw cabinet:

1. Why the extra 2x4 alongside the edge?
2. Is the base still stable enough?

The extra 2x4 is cause once I had the cabinet built, I had to make adjustments cause the bandsaw footprint itself is actually quite lopsided. The table sticks out a lot to the left hand side, and on the right side I needed to clear the swing of the door, so in order to scooch it over as much as possible to the left, I had to add a bit of overhang on the right side to cover the bolt pattern at the base of the saw. A non-elegant solution, but a solution nonetheless. I couldn't actually make the cabinet bigger, as it would push those casters into the way of the door, so overhang piece it is.

I was initially worried that it would become "top heavy" feeling since the previous metal base had a wider stance to it, but it's still pretty low, and wide enough that it feels quite secure. When I use it, I flip the caster wheels up and it sits on the pads, so it doesn't move at all. For the kinda stuff I do, I feel comfortable. That saw isn't even big or powerful enough to do much of a resaw operation either, so it's really just little stuff that goes through it.

 

[moparfreak]

Some more progress on the leg columns. Just glue, no fasteners.

Because this is plywood, putting on a coat of pre-stain conditioner really helps knock down the splotchiness when applying stain. I put one coat, but probably should have put two coats.

Here it is with the stain applied. It's a honey color, and is a match to our current kitchen cabinets. Oil-based stain. Once the table's all done all surfaces will need a protective top coat of something (yet to be decided).


I also had to stop at Harbor Freight to pick up a few things for our Engineering Lab at work, and couldn't resist. Had new 1/2" nano sockets on sale, as well as the slip-joint long nose that I've been looking at for awhile. I have the 3/8" drive nano socket set from Astro, and they came in real handy when I was doing the turbocharger project earlier, so I figured the 1/2" would be good to have too.


Next up on the table is milling down some of the rough lumber to use for the rest of the leg column details.

 

[moparfreak]

Been making more slow but steady progress on the table. I figured I'd start my milling process of the rough maple lumber on a part that is pretty hidden just to work out the bugs in my process. Started work on the two "Leg Mounting Plates" that assemble to the leg columns and can allow me to bolt it to the finished table top.

Start with crosscutting to a bit over length, and then running through the jointer + planer. General step here is joint one face then one edge, then run through the planer, then finish rip on the TS to final width. Always leave a couple extra inches of length because the ends sometimes see a bit of snipe / jankiness.

I try to keep my mitersaw tuned and to square, but I find it doesn't stay locked into the precision I want or need, so for fine finishing work I try to instead use the crosscut sled on the tablesaw.


Sanding and chamfering edges and I've got a couple nice looking boards.


I pre-conditioned and stained them, and I'm still not quite happy with how dark the endgrain gets when being stained. I know this is typical, but there are also some methods to reduce this. I thought the preconditioner might help. I've been inquiring about this on Lumberjocks forum and have some plans to try out thinned glue and mineral spirts as well as sanding to a higher grit level on those endgrain edges. Hoping to just not have it be such a disparity in tone and color when it comes time to do the actual tabletop end boards where it'll be quite noticeable.


Next, I carefully assemble the mounting plates to the leg columns. Also drilled them for the 1/4" threaded fasteners that will eventually be used to secure to the tabletop using threaded inserts. The fasteners are 1/4" and I drilled the holes to 3/8" to allow for expansion / movement (except for one 1/2" oopsie - good thing it's on the bottom side and covered by the head of the fastener).

All finished and ready for the next step! Move next to the leg column end plates, which will be a similar set of steps.

 

[moparfreak]

Alright - back to it. And of course, I get distracted into a side project. I was doing a lot of thin cuts and everytime I do, I keep battling the stock blade guard dust collector that comes with the sawstop. When I want to get the fence closer than ~1.5" I need to pull it off and stick it into the nearby tool caddy. I saw in a YT short somewhere that Loc-line, which I'm used to seeing in much smaller diameters, comes in larger 2.5" size to be used as a dust collector. The kit shown comes with 24" of line and some adaptors. I figure I could make this work.


I removed the flexible hose, installed a 45 PVC elbow and 2 feet of 2" PVC to mock things up. Looks good but the next item to tackle is the fact that it needs support. At first I thought maybe a hanger from the ceiling, but realized quickly that would be not only pretty floppy but also just plain obnoxious. So, I took a plywood offcut and added some angle reinforcements.

Then installed it to the post that holds the blast gates. Between the angle brackets and the pocket hole screws it's quite strong, no noticeable sag despite the 24" length. Some 2" pipe straps with some backing supports for the pipe work well for fastening to the plywood.

Here's the finished setup.

I decided to do this method for a couple reasons. 1st, those full coverage over the top shrouds are pretty complex, and need complex mechanisms for suspending them and sitting over the blade. I find that 90% of the dust is flinging off the leading front edge of the blade anyways, so I can position the collector in the best spot to get most of the dust. I can bring it down right over the top of it, and the loc-line supports itself, don't need any fancy springs, knobs, sliders, etc. It's also adjustable in all directions. If I ever want to try made the shroud type bigger to cover the back end or sides of the blade, I can just glue onto and build out from the nozzle. It also doesn't block too much of it, so I can still fit push blocks and things easily right next to it.

Anyways, that is all set so I switched back to my thick ripping 18T blade as I'll be cutting a lot of maple as I start milling up the rest of the stock for the table.

 

[moparfreak]

While I was cleaning up in the shop this evening, I took care of a couple more nagging things in the shop.

For quick stuff, I like to use a bottle of the Titebond Quick & Thick glue. I found that the cap had broken. It has a little flat tab on the inside of the cap that slides into the nozzle and helps keep the glue sealed up. So, I took the broken pieces, measured the dimensions with a caliper and for about 10 min of modeling in Fusion360 and 15 min on the 3D printer, had an adequate replacement.

I've also been slowly working on relocating and setting up my sharpening area. I put it on a spot of the taller workbench along the wall that is good for standing at. I got a silicone pad from Amazon for oil changes, and thought that would be good to contain any spray / water / swarf that comes from sharpening. Now it's a good spot for both hand and machine sharpening, and I hope will prompt me to keep a fine edge on my hand tools and use them more. Once some projects quiet down, I'll probably just spend a few weeks cycling through all my chisels and planes and touching them up and putting new microbevels on them. I also got the Katz-Moses sharpening jig, so I'm eager to try that out.



This past week at work we had revamped our engineering lab, and did some tool reorganizing and sorting, and a bunch of old tools went to the scrap bin. I took a few interesting ones home with me:

A nice set of long double-box end Craftsman metric wrenches. I don't have a long double set like that, so it'll come in handy. A couple Craftsman ratchets that are stripped that I plan to take to Lowe's to swap out on warranty for new ones. A 1/2" drive spinner handle from Blackhawk. And then the real gems - two nice beam torque wrenches. One of them is a real thick 1/2" drive that goes out to 500 in-lbs or so, and then a teeeeeny 1/4" drive that goes to 25 in-lbs or so. Nice to put some old tools into the working collection!

The shop is in good condition and reasonably clear of clutter. For this week it's back to work on the table. Going to continue milling up material to 3/4" thick and work on the leg column end caps and then all the 3/4" strips.