My Workshop / Garage

[wbrian63]

You're more than welcome to adopt the idea. That's what GJ is for.

If I did it again today, I'd do it a bit differently:
I'd drill the foot and leg at one pass before separating them. When the feet are cut loose from the leg, mark them as a pair. No matter where the hole is, or how parallel it is to the centerline of the leg, the foot will sit level on the floor.

As for the collars, they'll work best with milled legs. On my bench I know that all 12 legs are within a few thousandths of each other dimensionally. It will be easy to cut 24 faces and 24 sides and be relatively assured that I can have a good fit. Frankly, the way the design grew, they're not really necessary, but I think they'll look nice...

So, for your situation:
Cut the end of the 4x4 first - nice and square.
You can skip the guide block if you can hold a drill nice and square to the end. Drill deep enough to create the required pocket in the leg for the leveler thread. If you want to use my idea to thread the foot with the leveler, then make the hole undersized, and bore out the hole in the leg once you separate the foot from the leg.

Personally, I wouldn't use 4x4's for the legs. At least down south, 4x4's are some of the worst pieces of lumber you can buy. At my local big box stores, they're only available treated, and treated wood does nasty things to woodworking tools if left in contact. Also, treated wood is generally sopping wet when you buy it. As it dries, an otherwise straight and true 4x4 can twist and gyrate in ways that would make a salsa dancer envious. Not something you want with an assembled workbench.

I've had 4x4's installed in fences practically tear themselves loose from the rails as they twisted and contorted while drying out.

If you have the means and equipment, I'd mill some 2x4's and glue them together.

If not, try this on for size. But first, a little lesson in grading lumber (pardon if you already know all this).

There are many things that can be wrong with a piece of lumber. Most lumber being sold today exhibits one or more of the following flaws. I've seen pieces that had all these issues and more.

Wane - this is where the edges of the board aren't square and can even show evidence of bark. These boards come from the edge of the tree.​

Twist - like a barber-pole, the looking down the flat edge of the board, the far end of the piece isn't parallel to the end you're looking at.​

Cup - across the wide dimension of the piece, it's not flat.​

Check - splits in the end of the board.​

Warp - this deformation occurs along the thin edge of the board, across the face. A warped board, when stood on end with the broad face facing you will turn left or right.​

Bow - this deformation occurs along the face of the board, along the edge. A bowed board, when stood on end with the broad face facing you will curve towards or away from you.​

There are some definitions that make no differentiation between Bow and Warp. For the purposes of this discussion, I'll stick with my definitions.

You can identify most of these flaws in lumber before purchase, and predict when otherwise straight lumber will manifest these flaws at a later time. Sighting down the edge and face of a board is the quickest way to see Warp, Bow, and Twist. Checking is obvious splitting in the end, and wane is also easily visible, as is cupping, although cupping is harder to see in smaller lumber. Large knots that protrude through the edge of an otherwise straight board will cause the board to warp as the knot dries out. Twist is harder to predict.

To continue, for 2x4's that aren't milled, try this.

Get a pair of 2x4's that are free of twist and warp (straight when sighted down the edge). What you do want is boards that are bowed, preferrably evenly and not too severely. I think an ideal bow would be 1 to 2" along the length of an 8' stick. (Hold one end down - the other end should be 1 to 2" above the surface the held in is abutting.)

Take 2 boards and put a good quality wood glue (I like Titebond II) on the convex side of both boards. Use a nice thin coat, an old credit card with notches cut in the edge makes a dandy spreader.

Do not cut the boards to length yet - work with the full lengths.

Clamp one end of the boards together. Avoid using any sort of fasteners (screws or nails), as they'll just give you grief later.

With the convex sides facing each other, you probably won't need clamps in the middle - one on each end will suffice.

Take the time to correct any difference in the edges of the boards where they don't align - use a block and clamps to pull the boards into alignment. Put blue tape or use wax paper between the blocks and the boards to prevent them becoming part of the leg blank.

Clean up any glue squeeze out once it's had time to cure for 30 minutes or so - easier now than when the glue dries.

Let the blanks dry overnight. What you have now is two boards that by the grace of glue are more like one board. The flaws in each, directed against the other, cancel out the flaw and produce a blank that will stay dimensionally stable. They'll be 3" thick and 3-1/2" wide. Not as big as a 4x4 (which is 3-1/2" x 3-1/2") but more than sufficient for your application.

This idea does have a drawback. Drilling for the feet will be more problematic, as you'll be drilling into the area between the two boards where they're glued together. This will tend to make the drill bit walk or draw. If you use my earlier suggestion and drill the foot and leg before separating the two, any walk or draw won't be an issue.

If you're building a bench for pounding, you need something to prevent the legs being driven through the top of the bench as you hammer. Just bolting the legs to the apron (the rim of the table that the top attaches to) isn't sufficient. I'd cut a 1/4 to 1/2" deep rabbet in the face of each leg where it attaches to the apron. That way the apron has something solid to sit on and the hammering forces will be borne by that ledge, not by the screw that holds the leg to the apron.

For the leveler screws, you'll need to either use nylock nuts, or double-nut the leg end (assuming you'll thread the foot like I did). The pounding action will cause the nut to creep on the thread and change the length of the leg in doing so.

Also - a pounding workbench needs to be solid from table to floor. Any gap at all between the top and the apron, the apron and the leg, the leg and the floor will allow the frame to bounce when you hammer, stealing much of your hammering energy. Make the aprons nice and true, and bolt or screw the top down to the aprons to make sure there's no spring in the assembly.

Small ideas, long post - it's what I live for...

Good luck - post your completed bench up for me and others to see and admire.

 

[wbrian63]

Should-a not-a bragged...

In post #104, I talked about the remote-control system I'd been "using reliably for years" to control the Dust Collector (DC) and vacuum.

When I got to the shop Friday afternoon, only the lower upper vacuum would work. No matter where I stood, or what remote I used, I could not get the DC to come on.

There are some limitations to the X-10 technology used in the devices I noted, in particular how the signal must travel to reach a device that's not on the same leg as the transmitter.

To elaborate a bit, when I press a button on one of the remotes, the RF signal is sent to the receiver base on the wall. The base accepts the signal and transmits it down the common wire into the wiring "network." If the destination device is on the same leg of the breaker panel as the receiver, there should be little trouble getting the signal to the device. However, if the device is on the other pole, the signal must travel up the common line to the e-co transformer, then back down the line to the panel and out to the device. The farther the signal must travel, the more it degrades. Additionally, certain types of devices can induce electrical noise into the circuits that will also effect reliability.

Add to that the fact that the modules I'm using to control the vacuums are rated for 15a, but only 1/3hp motor load (didn't see that before), and the vac's are 5+ hp units (I know about peak hp, but they're for sure more than 1/3hp).

The receiver base has a button that triggers the internal relay, so you can cycle the device plugged into the base locally. That no longer works, so I'm guessing the base is fried. It doesn't smell fried, but the results speak for themselves.

As noted, the upper vacuum did work for a time on Friday when the DC and lower vac were offline, so to me, that means an issue with signal loss. However, by Saturday, nothing worked at all.

I did some investigating about changing the X-10 stuff out for more reliable Insteon devices, as they use RF and powerline signal paths, but Insteon doesn't have any key-fob remotes yet. Plus, I just bought 10 keyfob remotes... grrrr....

So - I'm ditching the X-10 stuff in favor of a hard-wired solution. I'll post a schematic at a later time, but the description of the system is as follows:

In the DC/Vacuum closet, I'll install a 24vac transformer.

At each machine, I'll mount a relay in parallel between the on/off switch and the motor. For the 220v machines (assuming the switch switches both hots), the relay will have a 220v coil, 110v for the lower voltage machines. When the power is turned on to the machine, the associated relay will "make."

There will be 3 control circuits, one for the DC, and one for each vacuum.

From the hot leg of the transformer, I'll split out to 3 separate 24v triggered solid-state delay-off relays.

From the neutral leg of the transformer, take one wire (probably using 22ga bell transformer wire) to each machine as appropriate for it's needs. The "return" wire will go to the neutral leg of the appropriate SS relay.

For example, the upper vacuum serves the loft, router table, drill press, horizontal belt sander and general vacuum port under the stairs. A line will run to the switched legs of the relays at each machine, one wire to each pole, and then on to the next machine in the line. For destinations that aren't a machine, a simple toggle switch on the wall will suffice. This is a parallel circuit - any relay or switch in the line, when closed, makes the circuit, and the circuit stays made until all switches or relays in the line are opened.

Each ss relay will pass 24vac out to a Definite Purpose (DP) contactor, one for the DC, and one for each vacuum.

So, for example, I turn on the drill press. The relay there makes, completing the trigger circuit to the SS relay for the upper vacuum. That relay makes, passing 24vac to the DP contactor for the vacuum, turning the vacuum on.

Remember that I said the ss relays are delay-off? When I turn off the drill press, the local relay unmakes, and the countdown on the ss relay begins, and at expiration, the vacuum turns off. If I turn the drill press on before the cycle ends, the timer resets.

This has a couple of advantages. First, it prevents constant cycling of the collection equipment, and this is particularly important for the DC, which has a huge, heavy impeller. It's far better to leave it running than to constantly turn it off and on. Second, the delay off allows the pipes leading to the collector (vacuum or DC) to be fully purged of contents before turning off.

The biggest issue with implementing this system post-build is running the control wires. Hopefully that won't involve too much pain and suffering. The chop saw and planer will be a challenge wiring wise, as all the wires I need access to are enclosed. All of the other tools have exposed motors with lead wires coming from an exposed switch.

 

[peelman]

It’ll be a while before I build anything. We’re hopefully buying a house in May or thereabouts, and depending on how much room we have in the garage, I may build it for there, or i’ll have to wait until the following spring when we put up my shop / garage.

I can get untreated 8' 4x4s at several places around here, Menards, Lowes, etc. Its the 2x4 stock that generally blows, unless you buy a whole unit fresh off the truck. As soon as they break the bands, people pick through’em and leave them however they throw them, so you end up with a pile of warped boards, rather than a stack of usable lumber. (I used to work at a lumber yard in high school, I know my way around lumber).

And I thought about your suggestion, of drilling the ends first, then cutting the foot, but I would worry too much about splitting the feet under load, as you were about threading them. IDK, I may end up experimenting, a lot of it depends on the grain of the wood in the 4x4 too. My next thought was to weld the allthread (or rather get my dad to weld the allthread) to a set of metal feet, but i definitely like the idea of the wooden foot better, from a looks standpoint.

 

[peelman]

RE: your comment on treated 4x4s:

I would ***** out your lumber yard. We always tried to have enough treated stuff on hand where we could keep a dry unit in the autostak. When they can dry out while stacked in a cool dry barn, banded together so they can’t warp themselves stupid, it makes a big difference in the results when you finally cut the bands and let them sit (or use them). It can take weeks to try out, but I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have at least half a dozen or more bundles of 4x4x8’s in our storage barn. And we were a fairly small hardware store.

And one more question; what did you use to drill the pocket holes for securing the top? Did you use a Kreg or do you have your own jig made up?

 

[wbrian63]

The last fence I built I used 2" schedule 80 galvanized pipe for the posts. Expensive, but they don't warp or twist, and this fence will be here when I'm dead & gone.

The pocket holes were done with a Kreg jig. Works like magic.

 

[wbrian63]

wbrian63. Very nice work on the saw table. You are giving me good ideas.
Nice dust collection you have too. I am envious of that. I clean more than I work it seems. Where did you get the fence extension for the table saw??

Here is a pic of my mobile saw cart. Same saw as yours.

Nice mobile kart. I had something like that for years that I had a Delta chop saw on. Finally wore that unit out and upgraded to a Dewalt 10", which I still have mounted on a Rigid mobile miter saw stand like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001W0ZIBS/?tag=atomicindus08-20

(Didn't pay anywhere near that money - it was a Black Friday deal at Home Depot a couple of years ago). The stand is nice - slide the saw to the wheel end, collapse the frame and it will stand on-end over in a corner.

I upgraded to the Hitachi when the Dewalt began to show it's age - accuracy was declining. Plus I really wanted a sliding unit. About that time, Hitachi came out with the Digital-Read-Out setup, and I thought that was too cool. Frankly, for how I use the saw and what it does, the feature is wasted. It is equipped with a laser indicator and that works fairly good. Dust collection isn't as good as the Dewalt, as the table on the Hitachi is sealed at the bottom where the Dewalt was open. Below-the-saw dust collection plus a vacuum attachment to the saw works well.

Now I'm in love with the Bosch articulating sliding compound saw. Oh well.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "fence extension" on the table saw. It came equipped with a Delta 52" Unifence. I swapped the fence out for an aftermarket unit that has a HDPE insert on the face. Stuff feeds better through the saw with the fence, and it's actually stiffer than the Unifence unit. Plus this one allows for t-track mounted accessories.

 

[wbrian63]

Updates for January 29 thru February 1.

Saturday AM, I finally got to go and finish the last items at the old workshop. It's all DONE!!!

Here are a few pictures. My old landlord had a drywall crew come in and do a knockdown texture on the walls. Really turned out nice - nearly completely disguises the low-quality plywood walls.

The bathroom turned out nice. He picked out some peel-n-stick tiles for the floor and that really dresses up the space.

A "**** the *** out of a cat" toilet will provide years of good service.

Nice size vanity and mirror complete the look.

Here's a couple of views out to the front of the space, showing the double doors and the loft.

And from the outside - the buff color with the hunter's green trim looks tidy.

The landlord hired a painting crew after the drywall guys to come in and finish up the painting. Start to finish was 2-1/2 days. Would have taken the landlord weeks to complete on his own.

Got over to the shop around 2pm, after loading all of the stuff up that we'd left at the old place. As we were breaking down the scaffolding, I noticed something strange - it seemed shorter. When fully disassembled, I verified that some sorry ******* had cut about 6" off the top. Pointed it out to the landlord and he was furious. Offered to pay for more lumber to fix the issue - I declined. It was more than tall enough to begin with, and losing about 6" isn't going to affect the performance of the unit.

Still, it pisses me off that someone would think it's OK to modify (butcher) a "tool" that belongs to someone else...

After getting to the shop, and finally getting some lunch, we made a list of the items to be worked on. Spent a couple of hours cleaning off the counter where the fence for the chop-saw goes. Tin worked at slicking up and putting stuff away (which means I'm now looking for what he stowed away...).

Got the fence installed for the chop saw.

Worked on a few more unimportant items and called it a day.

Sunday, more this-n-that, plus we started on the side table for the table saw. Currently, left-of-blade capacity stands at just over 35" (if I remember correctly). Cutting to the middle of a 4x8 piece of plywood means the left-of-blade sheet must be supported by a helper - which is VERY dangerous, or risking having the sheet bind or fall. Adding 15" to the side will mean a far safer setup for large-scale work. The table will run from the front of the saw, to the end of the middle table. Part of it will pass over the jointer, but I made sure the fence can still be adjusted, when required.

One thing we did for the first time was to bring Cody to the shop. What a "treat" that was.

He's a mutt of the first order. 80# of fur, feet and love. He has energy that should be put to better use than being in a dog, but he's basically a good kid. Seriously attached to Tin - like feathers on a duck. We think he's part blue-heeler, part sneaky neighbor dog.

Tin was certain Cody wouldn't follow him upstairs. I was sure he would. Should have put money on the deal. Took Cody exactly 30 seconds to figure out how to climb the stairs.

Coming down was another matter entirely. Much whining, yapping and panting. About 20 minutes of that noise and I was expecting we were going to have to go up and carry him down. Tin decided he needed a smoke and stepped outside. Next thing I see is Cody coming down the stairs, but not as gracefully as he went up. I would swear his legs turned into noodles he was shaking so bad. Didn't have the camera, or I could have shot a video. I don't know how it would have turned out, I was laughing so hard. He made it down, and after that there was no stopping him.

All we got done (after family obligations for Tet) was the frame of the table assembled. Monday, I built the legs and prepped the table for topping today.

Tonight, I finished putting the top on the table. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the laminate in place.

It's gonna be REAL cold here tonight. It was already below freezing before sundown, and right now - mid 20's. That's COLD for Houston. I think wind-chill will be in the single digits in the AM. They're even forecasting snow on Thursday and Friday. What fun that will be...

 

[peelman]

Man, such a cool space. And i wanna hear no bitching about the weather. We just got like a foot of snow and nice dumped on us, with more possibly coming tonight. Was enough to make Purdue cancel classes, and that’s saying something.

 

[wbrian63]

Snow and ice - that's cause you live north of the Mason-Dixon line. It's supposed to be cold in the winter where you live.

Down here in the South (and that's pronounced with 2 syllables - "sawath"), 3 nights in a row of 20-ish weather is bleak.

When I got to the shop today at 3:30, it was 44 inside. Salamander heater and $6.00/gal kerosene heated the place up nicely.

 

[wbrian63]

Update for Groundhog's Day.

I don't know if the rodent saw his shadow or not - it never seems to matter what he predicts anyway.

I spent several hours over several days reading A_PMech's thread on the rebuild of his massive DoAll bandsaw, and inside that thread was the following quotation:

"A craftsman is someone who builds things better than anyone else thinks they need to be. When everyone else thinks it's good enough, a craftsman still looks for ways to perfect it further."

While I won't call myself a craftsman, that title should not be self-bestowed, I think the quote is apt, so I printed it out on ledger paper and found an old frame in a closet. Today, I made a set of brackets to hang the quote on the wall adjacent to the main light switches. I could have just hung it on a nail or two, but that would be too easy.

Then I finished up putting the laminate on the left-hand table for the table saw. I spent nearly an hour chasing down the glue. Tin had put it away in a place where I would not have ever thought to look - and he didn't think of it either, even after exchanging a series of text messages about where it might be.

I originally purchased 3 4x8-foot sheets of laminate, and used 95% of one sheet, and just a corner of the second sheet. I had hopes that even with the corner removed, that the remaining laminate would be enough to cover the 15" x 86" long table. It did, all but a small 2" triangle on one corner...

So, I ripped two 15" wide strips from the sheet, and used the nice heat from the salamander heater to help me flatten the sheets. Ideally, I'd like there to be no seam on this side table, especially one that runs perpendicular to the blade, but a little testing revealed that properly done, a seam like this would be completely flush, with no edge to snag a board and cause issues.

There was some chipping in the factory edge at the end of each strip, so I needed to true two ends so they'd meet with an nearly invisible seam.

The trick was to clamp the two sheets together, with the edge protruding just past the already-complete main table edge.

Then, using a flush-trim carbide bit in the laminate trimmer, trim the ends, both a the same time.

The ends needed just a tad dressing up to make sure the seam is as flawless as possible.

Here's the table laminated. Tomorrow I'll level it and attach it to the other tables and to the saw.

You can just see the seam in this picture.

The stack of lumber next to the saw fence will become the edging for the saw table and other counters in the shop. They're just a few of the tongue-and-groove pine that I got from my Great Uncle. The paint has to be sanded off, but that's what's great about the horizontal drum sander.

I'll post some more pictures as I put the edge banding in place.

Thanks for reading...

 

[peelman]

If you're looking for votes to secure the title of craftsman, you have mine. Nice job on the laminate

 

[wbrian63]

Mamma always told me it's impolite to fish for compliments, but even more so to ignore one.

Wasn't going fishing, but it does read as if I was casting a line.

Regardless, thanks for the nod. I do try. Sometimes I succeed.

Of course, what's posted here on the forum is the final edited cut...

One thing I forgot to mention about the table legs. I didn't count the # of legs required properly with my initial calculations. I built 12 which was enough for the 3 large tables, but none left over for the long side table. So I had to build 3 more.

This time, I took my own advise. I rotated the table on the drill press to where I could stand a leg on end under the quill and bore the hole for both the leg and the foot at the same time. I jointed two edges of an 18" 2x4 to get a nice square corner, and clamped it standing on edge to the press table with 3" sticking out. All I had to do was clamp the leg to the brace and nudge it up to the edge of the table. A quick check with a level to make sure it was plumb and then a 3-3/4" deep hole with the same "Q" drill.

I cut the foot loose from the leg after drilling the hole. Then I enlarged the hole in the leg to the full 3/8" for the threaded rod, and threaded the foot with that assembly like the previous 12.

Results were far better in terms of consistency. These 3 feet are dead-on aligned with their companion legs.

This method would work even if the primary hole isn't perfectly plumb to the leg centerline. So long as the foot stays matched to the leg, any inaccuracy of the drilled hole is moot.

Stay warm in Indiana and elsewhere...

Regards

 

[peelman]

The back three legs of the bench in my head will be 5.5’ or 6’ tall to facilitate a shelf overhead (and a place to mount some lights, power outlets, possibly pegboard, etc) so I’ll most likely end up making a jig and drilling those out with drill by hand. The shorter legs I’ll probably take over and put on dad’s drill press, just for accuracy. But I do understand your point that if you drill them together, it shouldn’t matter if the hole is perfectly down the center axis.

Based on my experimentation in the garage now, I’ll definitely be needing to pick up some traditional long bits, and not use spade bits. Its far too hard to do a freehand, straight bore with a spade, even with a jig. The three test holes i drilled into the end of 2x4s were not only crooked, but curved slightly. It’ll be so much easier to do stuff like this with a real workbench...wait...doh!

 

[DaleJR88Fan]

I hope the weather is a little warmer there in houston next week when I am there 4 UL training wednesday - friday. Just driving home from New Orleans to Indiana for work today to miss the ice storm. We were supposed to fly home friday morning but were afraid to we would get stuck in new orleans because of the ice. How far is your shop from Hobby Airport? I would love to stop by 4 a visit while Im in town.

 

[wbrian63]

DaleJR88Fan - PM sent.

 

[wbrian63]

Update for February 3, 2011.

As I sit here on early morning February 4 waiting for my office to decide whether I should risk my life to come to work, where else would I be but updating the workshop thread on GJ. I mean really, one MUST have priorities...

As noted in previous posts, there is a 16x25 loft at the back of the shop. Possibly not noted is the fact that there's a 4'wide x 3' deep hole in the floor of the loft that opens into the finishing room. "Eventually" there will be a lift installed there to transport bulky items from downstairs to upstairs (like my tired old **** when the stairs just look too menacing...)

Now that we're in the mist of "winter" here in south Texas, the physical laws of convection are raising their ugly head.

Specifically, heat rises and cold falls. When you've got a lot of heat rising, a lot of cold is going to fall. Until we get our furnace (which will probably be just in time for summer...), we're using our trusty old 125,000 btu kerosene-fired salamander heater to make the space livable. It sits on the floor in the equipment alcove, where it's more-or-less out of the way. I set a floor fan about 10' out from the heater blowing across the path of the exhaust to help move the heat around the larger 25 x 36 space. The problem comes in with the 16' ceiling at the edge of the loft and the open doorway to the loft and the hole in the floor.

As the heat is "stirred" around the space, it rises. The loft is uninsulated on the ceiling, so the cold just radiates into that space. The warmer the downstairs gets, the more pronounced the convective current. I try to block the doors to the finishing room closed, but you can still feel a stout breeze coming between the double doors. The double doors are really just two single doors we modified to work as a double, so there's no parting rail between the two doors to allow them to latch together.

Here's a picture of the two doors closed. It's amazing the breeze of COLD air that comes rushing through that gap as the main room warms up.

So - yesterday I built and installed a parting rail. (That's what I call it - it probably has a more proper name.)

Found some old pine 1x4's in the rack. Planed one down to 1/2" thick. Skimmed the other down to make it square and true. Cut the 1/2" piece down to 1-3/8 + 5/16 (1-11/16") to allow for the thickness of the doors, a 1/4" dado in the other piece and a small projection of 1/16" from the face of the door. Cut the thicker piece to 2" wide and plowed a 1/2" wide x 1/4" deep dado to accept the thinner piece. Glued the two pieces together.

Here's the assembly in the clamps

Here's a close-up of the relationship of the two pieces previously described

Back to the side table for the table saw...

While I waited for the glue to dry, I finished attaching and leveling the side table on the table saw. Because this table only has 3 legs along the outside, it's more willing to move in relation to the other tables. Even though I've got it bolted to the main saw table at 3 places and clamped to the saw with a block at the front, a swift bang with your hand can change the relationship between the two surfaces, either at the saw or between the two tables. Since the gap between the two runs parallel to the path out of the saw, I'm not terribly worried safety-wise. However, one surface projecting above the other will eventually result in a gouge out of something that shouldn't have a gouge when it catches the lip, or a chip in the laminate. I have a few ideas of how to deal with this problem, if it presents itself.

A few more tasks remain to have the saw table complete:
Edge banding to protect the laminate. I've got some old-growth pine from the rack that needs to go through the horizontal drum sander to remove the paint and prep it for proper planing - that's on the to-do-to-day list. After that, the collars for the 15 feet under the table, plowing out the miter slot grooves in the main outfeed table, finishing up the plumbing for the vacuum outlet, and adding some plugs around the rim of the table, as I know the saw table will be used for large-scale assembly work, etc. (Even though I don't like it much.)

After the glue dried, I attached the parting rail to the normally fixed door - the right-hand one. It attaches from the inside, with screws properly piloted into the edge of the door.

From the outside of the room

From the inside of the room.

Today, I'll install the passage handle set in the left door, with the striker in the parting rail. I've got another passage set for the right door, for balance and appearance. That will be installed without the latch mechanism to act as a dummy knob. All that remains after that is a couple of door sweeps to help seal the doors to the floor. That will be important when we install the exhaust fan assembly for the finishing room, plus it will keep the cool breezes down.

Just got the word that opening the offices has been delayed until at least 10am. What I've heard on the radio is most higher bridges are closed or severely iced over. I know there's about a 1/4" sheet of ice on the storage shed outside. Surface streets are clear, but Houstonians aren't equipped, nor are most of them smart enough, to drive in weather like this.

So much for getting my to-do list at work whittled-down today...

More as more comes.

 

[wbrian63]

The powers that be decided work was wash today, so I got to go play at the shop early.

When I got to the shop, it was 36 degrees inside. The trusty salamander heater had it up about 10 degrees when it ran out of Kerosene. Unit is supposed to run equally well on #1 Diesel, but that's not readily available. On a lark, I tried some #2 Diesel, and had no issues at all with the fumes. I think this new ultra-low-sulfur diesel is the reason why. I'd always heard the fumes from burning diesel would make your eyes water - not with this stuff. Devil of a lot cheaper at $3.29/gallon vs $6.08 for kerosene.

Stopped by Home Depot on the way to the shop and picked up a couple of door sweeps that look like small brooms. Installed those and the door handle sets. No more strong convection breezes!!!

After that was done, started working on the materials to do the trim-out of the saw table. I had 6 or 7 10-foot pieces of old pine t&g house siding that I pulled from the lumber rack. Painted on one side and bearing the rough mill marks loaded with dirt on the other. Neither is good for planer blades, so I ran the boards through the horizontal drum sander.

Tried to make it all the way through the surfacing exercise on one sand paper strip - didn't quite make it. The paint - surprisingly after all these years, tended to get a bit gummy in places. Plus, a few of the boards had sections of flat grain that really loaded up the strip.

I have one of those giant gum eraser sticks and clean the strip regularly, but once the strips dull down a bit, they start to load up.

Here's a before and after set of pictures.

Before

After

Originally, I thought much of the siding was quarter sawn, but most of the pieces I worked with today are flat sawn. What's amazing is "how flat" they are. Some of the pieces when viewed on-end show rings that are nearly flat. Usually you see some arc - but across a 3" wide piece there was probably no more than 1/32" arc. That and the rings were t-h-i-n...

A fair amount of sanding, and the lumber was still over 3/4" thick.
Here's the stack of ready for final preparation siding-to-table-edging:

Final dimension after planing - about 11/32" thick.

Wrapped the table with the pine. It looks real nice. I glued it and used small 20ga finish nails to hold it in place. I want to avoid having to use screws - to make it look good, I'd need to counter-sink the screws and cut plugs - much more work than just for a saw table.

Tomorrow I'll round off the edges and sand the faces a bit to make everything neat.

 

[Boosted1]

wbrian63
I'm loving that table. Looks really nice. I assume you resolved the side table attachment since it looks like the trim spans across to the main table.
Nice work on the door trim. What was the second, smaller channel for?

 

[wbrian63]

I assume you resolved the side table attachment since it looks like the trim spans across to the main table.

Actually, if you look closely, there's a miter cut at the seam point between the side and main tables. I want to be able to separate the 4 tables when it comes time to move in a few years, so the trim gaps at the points where the tables attach.

What was the second, smaller channel for?

The second smaller channel is what happens when you're stupid and miscalculate where to cut the groove. I solved it by cutting a single 1/8" wide strip and ripping it to make two filler blanks. (There's a matching wrongly located groove hidden on the other side of the vertical piece...) A little glue and sanding and the assembly can continue. The piece I chose for the filler was a tad shorter than required, but the main assembly was about 1-1/2" long, so these flaws were were trimmed off anyway.

You've heard the phrase "measure twice - cut once" - for me it's measure twice, think about it some more, check the figures, then proceed to still screw it up... then fix it and hope nobody notices the difference.

If you look closely in the picture, you can see the difference in color that identifies the filler.

Thanks for reading...

 

[wbrian63]

Saturday 02/05 and Sunday, 02/06/2011

On Saturday morning, I finished up putting new edging on the counters adjacent to the chop saw, plus a few more little items.

After Tin got there, we worked on installing the ceiling fans I purchased at a "fantastic" price from another GJ member. These will come in handy with climate control in the cool parts of the year - moving the nice warm air from the ceiling down to the inhabited spaces of the shop.

From the angle of the picture, it looks like the rear-most fan will hit the wall - it's actually mounted about 48" out from the wall, and with a 52" sweep, it's got nearly 2 feet of clearance.

That was slow, fiddly work. Had to come up with a method to hang the fans that provided more support than just the cover of the conduit box. Ended up bolting a piece of 3/16" flat bar to the cover with the same 1-1/2" U-bolt used to hang the fan. The flat bar passes over the edge of the box where two 3-1/2" 5/16" lag screws hold it tight to the ceiling joist. Fans are nice and secure now.

Sunday's work was more small projects. The day was sunny bright and warm, and there were cars to wash back home, so shop work was curtailed.

In order to make the table saw fully functional, the miter slots must be carried forward onto the table to allow the cross-cut sled to be usable.

A piece of 3/4" square stock provides the key to reference a pair of t-track's as the guide for the router. The t-tracks are bolted together at the end with a strap maintaining the 3/4" spacing of the slot all the way down the length of the groove. Clamped a piece of lumber across the table to pin the tracks to the table so I wouldn't deflect the channels while routing the groove.

Setup for routing:

And two tidy grooves are plowed in the surface of the table.

In a previous thread, I talked about the lumber used for the edge banding on the saw table. Here's a couple of up-close pictures illustrating what I was talking about:
Face of a piece of flat-sawn pine:

End grain - notice the flatness of the rings, and how thin each layer is:

I would guess that modern yellow pine has rings approaching 1/16 to 3/32 in thickness, and I've seen boards that have rings that are curved enough to nearly arch the thickness of the board across the 3-1/2" width.

Thanks for reading. More as more comes.

 

[Boosted1]

Oh yea, I do see the miter. Nice work on that table.
I thought the channel on the door trim piece might be for weatherstrip or some kind of seal. Speaking of which, you can get peel and stick weatherstrip to make the doors even more air tight if that is what you are after.

 

[wbrian63]

Eventually, the room those doors lead to will be our finishing room - where we do final finish work on cabinetry, furniture, etc. There will be a ducted fan system with "paint pockets" to pull the vapors/fumes etc out of the room and exhaust them outdoors. This will create a negative pressure in the room, so we'll install some furnace filters in the doors themselves to allow clean air in.

We don't do any solvent-based spray work. When I started doing cabinet/furniture stuff as a hobby, I was put off by the results I achieved while using oil based finishes. The climate here in Houston tends to be a bit unforgiving for that type of work, especially if the finish is catalyst-based at all. Frequently it's too hot, or too humid to get a satisfactory result in a semi-climate-controlled environment like our shop. I've never been any good at figuring out how to properly use retarders / dryers in paints & finishes.

The solution was to learn to use (and hate as well) water-based finishes. I used all sorts of water-based clear polyurethanes for years, and cussed madly at the grief of trying to sand between coats. No matter how long I let the coats dry, the sandpaper (even high-quality stearated paper) would load up and scratch the surface. Then I read somewhere that a user with similar issues to mine just quit sanding between the first and second coats. The logic he used was with water-borne finishes, the amount of fuzz created with the first coat which usually causes the grain to raise is enough 'tooth' to allow the second coat to bond. 3 coats are all I usually use, and swapping from sand paper to green scotch-brite for the sanding between coats 2 and 3 got rid of the other issues.

Then, I read about a company that had come out with a water-based lacquer. Lacquer finishes have long been the ultimate in terms of depth of sheen, for a sprayed finish. The great thing about solvent-based lacquer is that it's a solvent unto itself, so each layer partially dissolves, then bonds with the previous layer. No need to sand between coats, except to deal with dust nibs, etc.

Referring to my previous statement, for fear of explosion, etc and for the harmful effects to the human respiratory system, we use only water-based finishes. A water based lacquer seemed the logical solution.

Target EM6000 water-based lacquer is what we use. (http://www.targetcoatings.com/emtech-6000.html). It's not cheap by any stretch of the imagination - about $38/gal (gloss) when purchased in 5-gallon quantities. That's about double what Minwax water-based poly costs. Flatter finishes cost a bit more due to the flattening additives. It works a treat.

I once had a run in the middle of a large panel in a very noticeable area. With polyurethane, the only solution is to sand out the run, then recoat the entire panel. This can result in a panel that differs in sheen between panels adjacent. With the EM6000, I used a razor blade to carefully remove most of the run, then as a scraper to gently get the finish level. A quick buff with a scotch-brite pad and a little EM6000 in my touch-up gun and a small prayer. When I came back to the booth after a bit, if I didn't know where the fix was, I wouldn't be able to find it.

Target says the EM6000 behaves just like a solvent-based lacquer - achieving burn-in (the melding between layers). The largest kitchen we did about 5 years ago used this product, and it's going strong with no problems so far.

Anyway - the type of work we do isn't showroom quality work. The cabinets and projects we build are for our own (or family) use, and any flawless finish would quickly be hidden under the petina that day-to-day usage creates.

Some day, I do hope to have time to do some real quality furniture work. I think I have the skill, I believe I have the required equipment - now if I can just find the patience, and my pencil - - - where DID I lay that stupid thing???

 

[DaleJR88Fan]

I want to tell everyone here that this shop is every bit the class act it looks like from the extensive documentation wbrian63 has been painstakingly keeping up with. I just visited the little slice of heaven when I was in town for business and I will tell you the attention to detail is second to none and an inspiration for me to get back to work on my own shop after I finish up somethings on the honey do list in the house. The tables around the saw turned out great and the host is a fine gentleman to spend time with and talk about shops.

 

[wbrian63]

Aw, shucks - you're making me blush.

It was a nice visit and I enjoyed showing off...

 

[wbrian63]

Updates have lagged as I work on getting the DC / Vacuum control system assembled and in place.

Last night, I installed and tested the control panel and everything works as designed. Now all that remains is to connect the wires from all the machinery to the control, and connect each wire to the trigger box installed on the respective machine. That should be finished tonight.

I'll post detailed pictures and such once it's up and running.

Based on the tests last night, I'm excited to see it working from the various machines. It will be nice to not have to think about turning the DC / Vacuums on and off all the time.

Regards

 

[wbrian63]

Well, with the exception of not having enough blank wall plates, finishing the drum sander and planer connections and the one switch for the vacuum outlet under the saw table, the vacuum/dust collection system installation is complete.

Now that I read that previous paragraph, it's apparently not done at all, but it's close enough to update the thread and add the all-important pics for those of us that like to see what we read about.

As a quick refresher, the shop has a dust collection system attached to a no-longer-available "Woodsucker" 2.0 (or 1.5hp 0 don't remember) 220v cyclone dust collector. It also has 2 separate central vacuum systems. Each vacuum is on it's own breaker, so no worries about tripping off when combined with a high-draw hand or stationary tool, like at the old shop.

In the previous shop, there was only one vacuum system, and these were controlled with an old X-10 based wireless communication system. I'd carry around (or usually set down and forget where I left it) key-fob style remote that had a pair of on-off switches. I could turn each piece of equipment on and off from any place in the shop.

New setup is a much larger shop, with one additional vacuum. That was no big deal - I had a spare X-10 appliance module, so I added that to the mix. That required additional controls, with some controls handling DC and Vac 1 and others handling DC and Vac 2, depending on the location of the tool. Fortunately, Smarthome had the remotes on sale for 1/2 off (which makes me nervous they're obsoleting the product), so I bought 10 remotes.

2 days after getting the new remotes, everything abruptly quit working. I think the heart of the problem was the RF base that also controlled one of the vacuums, which I noted previously had worked flawlessly for 5+ years in the old shop. Maybe it was homesick, or maybe there was powerline interference that hadn't been there previously.

I decided it was time to do something better and more reliable. I could go with wireless solutions that were more sophisticated, but they're also subject to RF interference, and little remotes get broken, or dust fouled too easily in a shop environment.

With the exception of the blank wall plates that are on order, and ignoring the cost of some connectors and the main control cabinet, which were "inventory" items, we're in this system just shy of $500. That's about 30% more than the options for a wireless system using Insteon technology (which is in use for lighting and compressor control without issue). This system is hard-wired and is basically bullet-proof.

Bill of materials:
Qty | Vendor | Part # | Description
4 | Grainger | 1YCW5 | 240v coil N/O SPST Relay
1 | Grainger | 6WU91 | 24vac transformer
2 | Grainger | 2UTT6 | DP contact single-pole 20a 120v, 24vac coil
1 | Grainger | 2UTR6 | DP contact double-pole 30a 220v, 24vac coil
5 | Grainger | 6C891 | 120v coil N/O SPST Relay
3 | Grainger | 5WML6 | 24v trigger voltage solid-state N/O delay off relays
10 | Digi-key | 377-1755-ND | Utili-box
20 | Digi-key | CP-011-B-ND | 2.5mm x 6mm power jack
20 | Digi-key | CP3-1001-ND | 2.5mm power plug
9 | Digi-key | EG4810-ND | SPST Toggle Switch
400' | H-Depot | 079407114344 | 28-ga 2-conductor HVAC control wire
2 | H-Depot | 078477466766 | 120v-20a single outlet
var | H-Depot | various | Boxes, covers, conduit, trim, etc.

Design intent. Turn on a machine - have the dust collector (DC) or Vacuum (Vac) come on as required for that machine. Once done using the machine, DC or Vac should continue to run long enough to clear the piping of material, and then shut down.

How it works. At each machine, there's a "trigger box". That box is one Utili-box, 1YCW5 or 6C891 relay (depending on machine operating voltage), and one 2.5mm x 6mm socket. The switched terminals from the relay are attached to the socket. The coil terminals from the relay are attached after the machine switch, so when the machine is turned on, the coil is energized and the relay "makes" to complete the circuit.

From each machine, as appropriate, the HVAC control wire is attached to one of the 2.5mm female plugs, and travels to the system control box, mounted in the DC/Vac closet. The control circuits are run in parallel, so that so long as any device along the circuit is in operation, the control on that circuit will power the DC or Vac, as appropriate.

In the DC/Vac closet, a Wegman (I think that's the brand) cabinet houses the DP contactors, solid-state relays and transformers, the 2 20a single outlets and some terminal blocks for wiring everything together.

As an example, I use the chop saw. When the trigger is pressed, the trigger relay makes, completing the circuit in the HVAC control wire. These wires end up on the trigger terminals of the solid-state (SS) relay for the lower Vac in the DC/Vac closet. That causes the SS relay to make, which energizes the DP contact for the lower vac, which sends power to the single outlet in the side of the cabinet where the lower Vac is plugged. Vac turns on. When I'm done cutting, the trigger relay releases, and the control circuit is opened. The SS timer begins its count-down, and when the timing interval is reached, the DP contact opens and the Vac turns off.

Simple, reliable.

I used the 24vac triggered DP contacts and SS timers because I didn't want to use line-voltage trigger circuits. As it turned out, I didn't need the low-voltage circuitry at all. To trigger the SS timers, you bridge two poles on the relay - no voltage is involved. When the connection between the two poles is released, the un-make timer starts. If you re-bridge the terminals during the count-down, the timer resets. I had assumed I'd need some power source as the trigger. I could have gone with 120v coil SS relays and DP contacts and saved about $20, plus some room in the cabinet.

I over-bought on the 2.5mm sockets and plugs because of a design error that in hind-sight wouldn't have worked anyway. It ended up being a good thing, because I broke a couple of the 2.5mm plugs while attempting to solder the control wires in place. Having spares is a good thing.

The next thread in this discussion will have pictures.

 

[wbrian63]

One of the "Utili-box"es from Digi-key. I later machined off the mounting posts inside the box for more room. The holes to hold the relay are already drilled.

Here's an unmounted relay with the jig I cobbled-up to make sure the holes are in the right spot without having to measure:

Relay installed:

Here's the first trigger box installed on the chop saw. I had to grind off the mounting tabs - easily done on the belt sander. I ended up having to move the power wires elsewhere in the chassis - I could never get the handle back together with the connectors where they are in this picture. There was plenty of room, just too many things that had to be exactly right before the handle would go back together

On machines where the trigger box mounted to plastic, no grommet was needed. On machines with a steel frame, I installed a properly-sized grommet in the machine frame, then drilled a larger clearance hole so the trigger box would sit flush on the frame.

Table Saw trigger:

Jointer trigger:

Band saw trigger:

This was a great opportunity here - I needed to add about 6" to the cord for the saw, and installing the trigger required taking enough of the saw apart to replace the power cord with a longer unit.

Belt Sander trigger (boy does that machine need a good cleaning...):

Drill Press trigger: This required reconfiguring the mounting for the work light. The other side of the press has a metal tag affixed, and I didn't want to cover that up. The housing is cast iron, so I had to drill and tap the case for the mounting screws.

Planer trigger. I think this one came off nice - looks like it belongs:

I was amazed when I opened up the switch housing to get at the wires how much saw dust was inside the housing. I would think the inside would be more sealed. Same issue with the chop saw - the handle was packed full of dust...

Drum Sander trigger:

Sharp eyes will notice that the socket for the control wire is facing the wrong way. I spent a lot of time fiddling with the box to make sure it was properly positioned, and still put the hole for the outlet in the wrong end... I've since fixed this - good thing I bought an extra box...

Router table trigger:

This one was a pain. There's not a lot of room inside the switch housing, and I had to drill and tap the housing for mounting screws, which had to be trimmed to length to make sure they didn't project to the inside - no chance of wire chafing here.

Triggers installed.

There are other places where control is required, but not auto-triggered. There are 2 vacuum ports for general vac work - one under the chop saw, and one under the stairs. A simple LV frame and a cover with a switch serve the purpose here. There will also be an extra switch to turn on the DC at the Chop Saw (not always required), the Vac at the router table - certain large cutters require vacuum help along with the DC, another switch adjacent to the table saw for Vac control should I ever get around to adding a dust-collecting over-arm blade guard, and one switch adjacent to the vac port under the saw table.

I had the cabinet left over from the previous shop, so I re-used it here. Mounted the DP contacts, SS relays and the 24vac transformer:

. All these items are mounted using #6-32 machine screws into tapped holes.

The terminal block provides a good means of bringing in the 120vac power for the transformer, and sending the 24vac transformer output to each of the SS relays.

Drilling 2 1-3/8" holes in the side of the cabinet for the plugs for the vacuums (the DC is direct-wired), generated a huge amount of fine iron shavings. They get everywhere, so I came up with an idea for a shavings catcher:

Works a treat - it holds itself in place, and most of the shavings from the drill jump right to the magnet. I just chase the filings around to gather them in a big clump, then "pinch" them off and drop them in the trash.

Here's the backboard mounted in the cabinet with the output of the 2 120v DP contacts attached to the plugs.

Later in this process, I decided it would be good to have override switches for each device. There may be times we need to turn on the DC or a Vac without having a machine running, and override switches on the control cabinet allow for local control of the system.

Added a 6-post terminal block to the bottom of the cabinet:

And 3 switches in the door.
I don't have a full supply of striped wire, nor enough colors to differentiate between the 3 control circuits. Solution involved a Sharpie marker and a bit of patience. Viola - white/red stripe, and white/blue stripe wires... The result isn't durable enough for rough-handling as there appears to be some initial ink transference issues, but in this situation, it should work fine.

I've also added another switch on the same side as the plugs that interrupts the 120vac power to the transformer, effectively disabling the entire system.

The box is mounted on the wall in the DC/Vac closet. I added an extension ring atop each plug in the wall for the DC and 2 vacuums, and conduit to connect those together and to the control box. The 120v from each plug travels into the control cabinet, and to the appropriate DC contact. The 120v loads go to each single plug in the side of the control cabinet. The 220v load goes back up the conduit to the extension ring for the DC, where the power line to the DC is connected.

After all this was in and done, the fiddly business of actually connecting the control wires to the trigger boxes was next. For this I used my trusty Weller soldering station:

My Pana-vise - shown here holding the control wire for the Drill Press, while I tin the wires prior to adding the 2.5mm plug on the end.

Connecting the wires to the 2.5mm plug ends was a PITA. No room to work - easy to short out the connector because of the close proximity of the central pole to the outer ring. Having the vise, with its HDPE jaws was the only way for a lone man to get this job done.

Here are a few of the 100% complete setups. I'm still waiting on blank plates for the rest of the system.
Band Saw:

Belt Sander:

I used the black split loom to make it neat. Looks better than that dinky white wire.

I've got a bit more to do to finish the system up, then clean up the mess I made and move on to other things on the to-do list.

Thanks for reading...

 

[wbrian63]

The vacuum / dust collector control system is up and running, and boy is it sweet.

No more remembering to turn on and off the vacuums or DC when I use a tool. If I could just get used to having the vac's and DC run-on after the tool is off. I keep thinking I need to turn something off...

I had Presidents Day off (Feb 21) and busied myself with a few projects at the shop that require just one man.

The biggest from this list, both in effort, effectiveness and relative mess was adding plugs to the apron around the table saw outfeed table.

Yes - I know that saw tables aren't meant as work tables. However, having a plug close at hand from almost anywhere in the shop beats the devil out of having to drag out an extension cord. There's a wall-mounted cord reel up at the front of the shop, but around the saw, the only plugs are those on the wall.

On the previous incarnation of the tables, I added some conduit around the legs with boxes for plugs, but I wasn't crazy about that setup, so this time the outlets are going into the table aprons.

Because the apron is about 1-5/16" thick, a normal "remodeler" box won't really mount right. What I wanted to use was a standard "handy box", with two 1/2" EMT knockouts on the back side. Some 12ga SJOO (I think that's the right classification) cord, a few cable clamps and what results is a fixed extension cord with 4 outlets.

I made up a template out of 1/4" plywood that I could screw to the back side of the apron. The offset of the trimmer is just enough to have the outlet in the visible middle of the apron, when viewed from the outside.

The work was slow, hot, chip-filled and cramped for someone of my age and size. The godsend was the little red blower seen in the pictures. Proper placement of this device kept the stream of sawdust and shavings out of my eyes, nose, ears and mouth.

The work started with a cutter designed for cutting shallow recesses in surfaces using a top-mounted bearing. The total cutter depth is about 5/16", so a few light passes are required. To get through the balance of the apron, I had to switch to another top-mounted bit, but one with a 1-1/4" cutter length. This proved very hard to control, but I managed to get it figured out by the time I cut the last hole...

A few pictures - this is just a small fraction of the shavings generated by cutting out 4 holes for the handy boxes. You can see the laminate trimmer in the lower right-hand corner with the long tracing bit installed.

A picture of a neatly formed hole in the apron:

And one with a handy box installed with the outlet in place. I've already received and installed more chrome trims to match the others in the shop.

To mount the box, I built some blocks for the back that the handy box is attached to, and that in turn are screwed to the table frame. Had to cut a recess to allow the box to project from the back of the apron, plus two holes for the adapters to attach the cord to the box, and some side holes to allow the clamps on the adapters to be tightened down on the cord. Forgot to take pictures...

Also finished up the vacuum outlet under the bench. I've just got to install a trigger switch adjacent to the outlet:

I also worked on a rolling prep table for the former landlord. More pictures of that when I get it finished. Used an 8' piece of butcher-block counter he purchased from Lumber Liquidators, cut to 60" and 36". The 36" piece will be the base, with 4 casters. 4 legs will attach the top to the base. It's finished except for the oiling of the butcher-block and the final attachment of the top to the base.

Rest of the week was spent at the consulting gig...

Saturday AM I finished up the base for the rolling table, and Tin and I worked on rearranging the loft so we could finalize the ducting for the bathroom "stink sucker" fan, which shares a duct with a thermostatically controlled fan we installed in the compressor room. Last summer demonstrated handily how hot it can get in an enclosed room with a 60gal compressor. The vent is set to come on at 85f.

This was a lot of shifting around, but many hands makes light work. We got the fan installed by pulling up a section of the floor by the sink and working from above. With the blown-in fiberglass, that was a very good decision. It would have been pure hell to try to install the fan from below, plus route the duct.

We also worked on finishing up the vent for the bathroom sink and toilet. Rather than going up through the roof, we went out through the side of the building and then up. Proper pitch ensures a vent that will not get water logged.

Sunday, we buttoned-up the bathroom ducting and plumbing vent.

Then came the inglorious task of relocating more of the loft contents in preparation for permanent shelving and installation of a lift for the scaffold.

More on that in the next post...

 

[wbrian63]

When DaleJR88Fan was in town and we were "touring" the shop, he commented that the wall space above the entrance to the finishing room would be a good place to hang the scaffold. I had already built some hoist blocks on the west wall, but placement of some of the shop contents were making that location less and less ideal.

He even went so far as to suggest that I get an electric hoist to lift the scaffold...

Well, it just so happens that I already had such a device. It's your run-of-the-mill Harbor Freight Chinese-made 880# capacity winch:

It came from the old hoist setup at the old shop. The 880# rating is with a block-and-tackle. Without one, the rating is 440#, which is still more than the scaffold weighs, so we should be good to go.

To hoist the scaffold, we'll mount the host to a 2x6 block which will span at least 3 floor joists in the loft. The block will be lagged down to the joists. The cable will run up the wall, through a pulley block from vertical to horizontal, out through the wall, through another pulley block back to vertical and down the wall to where it will be attached to the scaffold.

I had several 1000# capacity pulley blocks left over from another project. They're even made in the US of A!

(anyone care to teach me how to get this stupid little Sony Cybershot camera to focus right???)

I bought a bunch of fasteners from another GJ member. Should have something in inventory to handle the loads - but the 5/16" inventory wasn't in great supply when I bought, so I've got tons of 1/4" and 3/8" stuff. 1/4" isn't up to the task, so 3/8" it is.

The pulley blocks are bored to use 5/16" bolts, so I need to drill the mounting holes out. How to you clamp something irregularly shaped into a less-than-crappy drill-press vise? Easy - use one of the holes to mount a nut and bolt, which are tightened securely. Then clamp the nut in the vise, position the block under the bit and drill-away...

This picture is actually one after the first hole had been drilled. The first mounting bolt was a 5/16"x1 bolt and nut, but after that, had to switch to 3/8" bolt and nut in the newly drilled hole...

And installed in the vise, ready for drilling...

The bearing blocks must be mounted to something secure to spread the load of lifting the scaffold. At this point, I don't think I'll need anything more than a good stout piece of pine behind the block. The hoist is only going to lift the scaffold. I'll fashion a pair of blocks that will be mounted to the wall where the weight of the scaffold can rest when not being lifted.

Found a couple of scrap 2x6 boards - 26" will give a good span across the studs.

Jointed, sawed and planed to 1-3/8" thick x 5" wide. Drilled 3 3/8" holes for the pulley blocks - 2 for mounting and 1 to pass the cable. 4 holes for mounting the plate to the studs. Counter-bored the 3 holes on the back of the exterior plate, since it attaches flush to the OSB-sheathed wall.

Now - how to get everything positioned while working by myself??

I eyeballed where the lift point needed to be on the wall. Took the outside plate and screwed it to the wall with a couple of 2-1/2" truss-head screws through the mounting holes. Then I took a 3/8" aircraft drill bit and ran it through the hole that the cable is to pass through. Removed the drill and left the bit in block, poking through the wall to the inside of the loft:

(again with the focus...)

On the inside, the position of the holes from the screws identified where new studs needed to be added - those are the pink ones seen in this shot. You can also see the drill bit sticking through the hole. No guessing whether this block is in the right place...

Good thing is the lifting point is adjacent to an already existing stud. I won't have to worry about the plates bowing together under the load of lifting the scaffold with the center 2x4 adding strength to the setup.

Tomorrow, I'll mount the hoist to the mounting plate, and the plate to the floor. Then some wiring for a control switch downstairs, and a master power switch upstairs so the hoist can be turned off to prevent accidental usage.

Also plan to relocate the lift stop bail switch from the hoist to the outside pulley block plate. No worries about over-lifting when the safety switch is in place...

Then on to other fun stuff...

 

[peelman]

kinda curious to see where you're going with this...I got lost when reading your description of what you're doing. Looking forward to seeing more pics of the progress

 

[wbrian63]

I thought I'd post a quick "update" to the thread this AM. Didn't realize it's been nearly 30 days since I last posted...

A lot of activity at the shop since last update. Pictures to come later. Quick inventory of items completed:

Rail for stairs to loft. Initially had plans for rails, then decided not to, as the stair is kinda narrow (24" treads), but then I caught a heel coming down one afternoon and almost took a tumble. It's a long way down with lots of "hard stuff" to hit when you get to the bottom before you even reach the floor. Railing is up, and I feel safer for it.

Drawer to store battery chargers and batteries for cordless tools. Hangs below the wall-mounted tool cabinet.

Started work on the finishing room ventilator. Should finish that this weekend.

Finally got a level threshold poured for the overhead door. The concrete in the shop slopes almost 2" across the width of the space on the north side, so the door never closed completely at the bottom. The process went so quick and results were so good I wish I had done it some time ago.

Did our first "car project" in mid-March. A new convertible top on Tin's S2000. Car sold and "herd thinned." Had to build ramps to get the car into the space.

All of my fussing over location of equipment and cabinetry came to fruition with this project. Car in the shop, ample room with doors open to walk all the way around the vehicle without being crowded by anything. While we were waiting on the top to be delivered, the car sat in the shop for a full week. I was still able to do projects around the vehicle without having to move it outside. Woo Hoo!

Relocated the white board to the other side of the shop for better access. Build some racks to hold the eraser, cleaner and markers.

Finished the scaffold lift. Works really nicely. Added an angle-iron shelf to the top of the door frame where the scaffold can "sit" once it's lifted up where it belongs. I need to add a "catch arm" at the top to hold the scaffold to the wall. Once that's in place, when the scaffold bottom is sitting on the angle iron, and the top is held by the arm, even if the cable breaks, the scaffold won't fall. The angle just catches the edge of the caster frames, so it's still not completely safe. A couple of chains and hooks at the bottom shold solve this problem. - - - So I guess it's not really "finished..."

Replaced the casters on the scaffold as part of this effort with new larger ball-bearing total-lock units. Easier to roll, and no more having to chock the wheels to prevent the scaffold from moving.

Finished the ventilation fan ducting from the bathroom, and tee'd in the exhaust fan from the compressor room. That fan is installed with a line-voltage thermostat to turn it on when the room temp gets to about 90f. This will help the compressor when I'm using it hard, and make the refrigerator happy during the summer. The interior room of the shop (where the compressor closet is) stays cool even when we're not there, but the enclosed space of the closet heats up from the refrigerator, and it doesn't do so well in that situation. The makeup air for the closet will come from the interior room, so that should do the trick.

Finished the venting for the bathroom toilet to the outside of the building.

Finished the exhaust duct for the dust collector. Didn't have this in the previous shop, and it really does make a big difference in noise.

"I think" that's all. I'll upload some pictures this weekend.

 

[wbrian63]

As promised, here are some pictures to bring the thread up to date:

Finishing up the topic of the scaffold hoist - in this picture, you can see the cable hanging down from the pulley block (there's a pair of vice-grips attached to the end):

The hoist is bolted to a 2x8, which is lagged securely to the 2x12 floor joists. This is up in the loft.

Under the motor, there are a pair of bolts that come up from under the 2x8, and somehow, I was unable to find the other pair of bolts to do the frame under the spool, so I improvised.

Here's the entire assembly:

Down in the shop, I had to mount a control switch for the hoist, so I cut a hole in the wall above the light switches to the finishing room. I figured it would be no big deal to drill through the floor of the loft into the wall cavity above the switches and pass the 4-wire cable down. Not so - not so.

Turns out, there's a horizontal block in the stud bay where the wires need to pass. I finally got to use the Rigid remote camera Tin bought more than 2 years ago. It takes a bit of getting used to, but with it, I was able to find a spot to drill through the block without snagging any of the 6 EMT cables in the same area, then again to get the control cable through the drilled hole and down into the wall.

Once that was done, I mounted a flat plate with a single center-off momentary switch. That made it possible to control the hoist from downstairs, but required the user to stand under the load - not a place I prefer to be.

As an answer to this issue, I ordered a molex-type connector from some online site. Didn't get what I wanted, as the socket has exposed pins, and the pins carry voltage even when the lift isn't in operation. I went ahead and mounted the assembly, and then built a control cable extension to keep the operator out of harms way.

Here's the wall switch:

And the control cable:

I wish my hand were steadier - "etching" the UP & DN lables was tedious:

I had to modify the scaffold to make it more "liftable". First it had to be shortened, and made to bolt together more securely. While I was doing these modifications, I replaced the casters with some larger total-lock units.

I fashioned a "hook block" out of a reclaimed eye-bolt and a block of 2x8. The rabbets allow the block to sit evenly between the upper rails of the scaffold.

I put the block in place by eye, then lifted the scaffold until it was hanging free on the cable. Then I tapped the block left and right until the scaffold hung level on the cable. I then marked both the block and the scaffold.

Here's the scaffold up in place hanging from the cable.

The casters are about 1/4" above the doors when the scaffold is in place. You can also see a tug rope I added to the scaffold. To lift and/or lower the scaffold, you have to pull it out from the wall to clear the door frame, door knobs and hinges. Having the rope in place all the time is the best.

And we've got about 1" of cable pull left at that point. You can see the centerline mark for the lifting block in this picture.

One of the biggest risks in a setup like this is running the cable too far to the top. Bad things happen when that occurs. As a solution, I relocated the upper limit switch from the hoist to a block with a trigger switch that is actuated when the cable weight goes too high:

I've since added a 2" angle iron to the wall that sits on top of the door frame. The scaffold "sits" on that ledge and relieves some of the stress on the cable. Yet to come is a catch arm at the top to keep the scaffold from tipping out, and a pair of safety chains at the bottom to support the scaffold should the cable give way or the hoist fail.

On to other things...

The closet that houses the compressor is also home to the "shop fridge." During the summer, the heat from the fridge builds up, and the compressor just adds to that problem. As a solution, we mounted a 110cfm vent fan in the closet:

It is controlled by a line-voltage thermostat:

I have completed the railing and balusters for the stairs - although a picture of the stair rail seems to have gone missing:

One of the last major efforts is to install the ventilation system for the finishing room. I had planned to duct the system out through the roof, but cutting a hole in the roof is a risky proposition. As a solution, we purchased a 20" gable vent fan, complete with louver, and mounted it on the side wall on the east side of the building. In this picture, you can see the fan mounted and the "duct" in place:

Here's a side-long view of the interior of the loft wall where the fan is located. You can see the opening near the center of the image:

The fan will pull from the west wall of the finishing room, up through a chase and across the ceiling of the loft. We created a duct out of the space between two roof rafters, using 3/4" rigid insulation panels and the 3/4" angle used to hang suspended ceilings. Once everything is complete, we'll go back and seal the insulation board. We used spray foam to fill the gaps above the rafters, and caulk in areas where the foam wouldn't work:

This is a view up inside the duct, looking west:

This weekend, we completed cutting out the floor of the loft/ceiling of the finishing room, and built the filter frame for the finishing room:

Next weekend, we'll finish the chase up in the loft, and put the final piece on the vent fan chase at the other end of the loft.

In an earlier thread, I mentioned working on Tin's Honda S2000 - here are a few pictures of that car in the shop:

Viewed from the loft:

The ramps used to load the car in are made from 2x8's. They worked fine for this small car, but I've since beefed them up somewhat, as I believe there was a bit of deflection as the car rolled up the ramps:

In the last 2 pictures, you can see the tapering door sill we finally got done. No more breezes from the north (not that it matters now that spring is here...).

It's nice to be able to "use" the shop - as opposed to "build" the shop...

 

[wbrian63]

And finally, here's a picture of a table I made for my former landlord. He provided the top, a 24" x 96" monster he got from Lumber Liquidators. I milled up 4 columns from 2x4 stock (glued up), which have tenons that engage mortises cut in the bottom, and into a pair of stringers on the top. The top has 4 5/16" threaded inserts and the top is bolted to the stringers. Here are some post-construction / pre-finish pictures:

The table uses a pair of fixed casters, and a pair of total-lock units.

Here's the table with final sanding complete and a couple of coats of mineral oil:

The overhang on the table is to allow for better storage - it slides up under a commercial sink. He's added plenty of "ballast" to the lower shelf to prevent tipping...

Thanks for reading. I'll fill in the photo gaps and update when more is done.

 

[slimpickins]

wbrian63, you've got my vote for the title of craftsman as well! That's some impressive work you're doing! The original space didn't look like much but now you'd never know it was the same space. Looks like you're also pretty handy with electronics!

Mind if I copy your idea for the table saw table extensions? These are the best I've seen. I have a 10" Delta with an Incra fence. They are great for cabinet work.

I've dumped a fair bit of cash in Smarthome products as well over the years, and had a few issues with them. Those little keytag transmitters are nice but the durability isn't there. I've also had powerline surges take out a few Insteon switches so I've been re-thinking my plan to use them on a larger scale. Your wired remote system for the vacs was a lot of work but sound's like it was worth it in the end.

In regard to the vac piping that you put under the wood floor, can that kind of setup be installed under a concrete slab? Seeing your's has put the idea in my head to add that kind of setup in my shop when I get 'round to it! Any thoughts? or is this a bad idea?

Hey, great thread! Looking forward to more!

 

[wbrian63]

Slim - thanks for the vote.

Please use anything you see here to your heart's content. If you can make improvements or adjustments, I'm all ears. Sometimes what I come up with is "close" to good, and other views make it even "better." A lot of what I have in this shop is adaptations of what others have done, or what I've done before and have improved on this go round.

I've got a house full of Smarthome stuff, and I've been there on the power surge issues more times than I care to remember. However, they're the best thing going, and I can replace a lot of dimmers before I can even get close to the cost of a single item in some of the more "robust" systems.

I've even had halogen lights "pop" and take out a dimmer. Just like when an incandescent lamp pops (goes out) when you turn it on. I've lost 3 dimmers to this anomaly...

I had so much trouble with their X-10 dimmers that they swapped out like 10 of them for insteon devices, more than 2 years after the original purchase - warranty, plus gave me a 5-year warranty on the warranted dimmers. That kind of dedication to their product keeps me coming back for more.

So far - so good at the shop with the insteon stuff.

By all means, sink the pipes in the concrete. Shouldn't be any different than sewer lines... In my previous shop, I ran everything overhead for fear of clogs. 6+ years and bazillions of cubic feet of air, dust and debris through both the vacuum and dust collector systems with only one clog in the vacuum setup, and that was handled by reversing the hose at the vacuum to the "out" position and blowing the line clean. Did make a hell of a mess in the shop however...

Of course, I still get nervous any time something gets in a hose that I'd rather not vacuum up...

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the compliments...

Regards

 

[slimpickins]

wbrian - I doubt I could improve on your designs, everything looks well thought out and executed. Its a worthy goal for a weekend (shop) warrior like me to actually finish some projects.

One question I had - I must have missed something - what is the "scaffold" that you've hung over the door? I didn't see it in use in earlier pictures as an actual scaffold, (as something you stand on), but maybe I just missed it.

 

[wbrian63]

Your compliments are appreciated, but I suspect strongly the cold has affected your reasoning skills...

Here's a picture of the scaffold as originally constructed for the build-out. It's been shortened to allow it to be lifted to its current storage location. What you see on the wall is the "broken down for storage" version...

 

[Boosted1]

fyi. Those same red, double locking swivel casters are on sale at Woodcraft for 30% off.
Nice work as usual.

 

[wbrian63]

Thanks - I've already been to my local Woodcraft store. The supply of casters with the mounting plates was completely gone, but they've ordered in some more for me.

I've got them mounted on most everything portable of any size in the shop.

I've had trouble in the past with some similar casters where the "rubber" of the wheel hardens and actually breaks off. Those casters had black wheels, not the orange seen now, so maybe the formula has improved. To be honest they did last 5+ years before failing. I've retained all of the failed ones - the swivel bearings and hubs and hub bearings are in fine condition, so they'll serve as good spare parts.

Thanks for the head's up, nonetheless...

 

[wbrian63]

Updates through 4/27.

Some fill-in pictures - the handrail on the stairs is in place. Ended up joining two 2x4's with a half-lap joint to get a piece long enough for the rail.

Here are a few pictures of the "safety" items used to hold the scaffold up on the wall. First, a 2x2 piece of angle iron that's screwed securely to the wall. Acts as a ledge for the bottom of the scaffold to rest on.

I've added some safety chains to both sides of the scaffold. The upper screw eyes are into the 2x12 rim joist for the loft.

Finally got around to hanging all the templates I've accumulated over the years:

Cobbled together a hanger for the extension ladder:

We've had a blissfully cool spring here in Houston, but summer's a-comin'...

We did a bunch of work for our former landlord, and in exchange for all of the labor, he's setting us up with CENTRAL AIR AND HEAT!!!!

4-ton compressor. This is an R-22 unit, shipped "dry" (nitrogen filled). Cheaper than the R410 units, and the little use it will get, I'm just fine with that.

The copper tubing on top of the unit cost nearly 25% of the price of the compressor...

Evaporator - kind of a ho-hum picture here.

The former landlord's dad used to own a HVAC business, so he's the "brains" behind the layout of the system. Originally, I'd planned to install a horizontal unit at the right-hand side of the loft, and run ducts along the west wall. He convinced me that it would be better to install the unit vertically, the return would be far simpler, and the ducts can run inside the loft where they will be less of an eyesore, and won't collect dust like they would out in the shop.
Cut a hole in the wall to the left of the finishing room doors, and built a plenum box to sit the furnace on:

The furnace is gas, we'll run it on propane since there's no natural gas where the shop is. I really despise electric heat - gas is so much cheaper. Our plan is to take this unit with us when the lease is up, and it's easy to reverse the unit to run back on natural gas. Thought about a heat pump, but we don't have enough electrical capacity to handle the load of the compressor and the backup strip heaters running simultaneously during the thaw cycle.

Of course, an electric furnace wouldn't require the vent stack we'll have to install now...

The unit will be enclosed with 2 removable panels, so we don't have to worry about overspray or finishing dust fouling the works. We will duct combustion air for the furnace from an outside source into the cabinet. None of the finishing materials we use is flammable, so there's no risk of combustion with a gas furnace.

A little exploratory surgery in the ceiling revealed we had an obstacle to deal with - I tried to not do stuff like this with the wiring, always keeping the circuits in the walls, or just above the walls in the ceiling. Oh well.
This picture shows the results of cutting out a notch to remove one of the two floor joists that needed to come out.

There's already a double'd up header to the right of the plenum hole for the loft hoist, so removing the floor joists only required adding back enough structure to support the small section of floor in the loft. There will be shelves along the north wall of the loft, above the ducts, built to transfer the dead load away from the area of missing joists, so structurally, we're OK.

After I went through all of this effort, it dawned on me that I was going to have to cut the lines and add 2 junction boxes to extend and re-route the cables anyway, so why not just cut the lines now. I was 99% certain that the lines fed the circuit for the finishing room vent fan, and the finishing room lights, so I killed those circuits. I have a little voltage sensor gizmo, but it won't penetrate the armor, so I was on my own.

Got out my trusty lineman's pliers and cut the first line. POP goes a circuit breaker... No shock to me - I've got rubber-ish gloves on, and the pliers have insulated handles (not rated for what I just did, but enough to keep me from getting a zap), plus I was standing on a fiberglass ladder when I cut.

Checked the cutters - almost no damage. Cool.

Second circuit - same as the first one - POP goes a breaker.

Guess I didn't know what those lines were for after all... Pliers didn't fare as well with this effort - there's a nice 3/32 gap in the cutting edge now...

Last weekend we attached the plenum to the evaporator, and the evaporator to the furnace.

This week, I've been working on some shelves in the finishing room. These will take the place of the ill-placed wire shelves I've got crammed into the compressor room.
The shelves are just over 12" deep by 41-1/2" wide. The bottom shelf is tall enough to allow for 5-gallon pails, the remaining shelves are 12" apart. This is with just the shelf frames in place:

At the back of this image, you can see the junction box that used to provide power to one of the 4' florescent lamps that hang vertically on the wall.

To allow me to re-mount that lamp, and also to provide rigidity for the thin-profile shelves, I installed a center stile:

There will be two 8' doors about 17" wide on each side of the center stile. They'll use concealed hinges, and the doors will be have gaskets to seal the cabinet shut. I don't like overspray dust covering everything in sight, so when the doors are closed on the cabinet, it will be secure from dust intrusion.