Puget Dude’s creations and fabrications (Random project thread.)

[PugetDude]

Just a quick little project; I had a few scraps left over from the big charcuterie board, so I made a little cheese board.
I am now officially out of the hardwood stash I have been dragging around for 10+ years.
Really like the cutting board oil, it goes on really smooth, dries quickly, and isn’t greasy like regular mineral oil.

 

[1967ChevyRagtop]

Just a quick little project; I had a few scraps left over from the big charcuterie board, so I made a little cheese board.
I am now officially out of the hardwood stash I have been dragging around for 10+ years.
Really like the cutting board oil, it goes on really smooth, dries quickly, and isn’t greasy like regular mineral oil.

What glue did you use?

 

[PugetDude]

What glue did you use?

Titebond II- had a bottle of it already. It's always held up well for me.

 

[PugetDude]

Took on another wood project this weekend, a simple chair repair for a friend who is now completely paralyzed. We visited them last week; his wife mentioned that they had a rosewood dining set they bought when he was stationed on Guam; she wanted to sell it, but one of the armchairs was broken. I took it home with me, thinking it was going to be a simple glue repair.
First step was disassembly and removing the old glue. Looks like someone used Gorilla Glue sometime in the past. It foamed into the voids. I was able to remove most of it with a razor knife, a sharp chisel and a sanding block. This is a 3x21 sanding belt that fits snugly around a piece of 3/4” plywood. Stays nice and flat. Turned out that the obvious split was just the tip of the iceberg. Needed to repair/ re-glue 7 different places to get this back together. Luckily the tenons and dowels were still intact. After carefully masking all the glue joints to deal with the inevitable squeeze out, it was time to put it back together. I decided to use slow-set epoxy on the Rosewood, so I wiped all the joints with denatured alcohol, then mixed up a batch of glue.Used a flux brush and a sharpened popsicle stick to get the glue where I wanted it to go. Re-assembly was straightforward, but clamping it was a bit of a challenge, except for one place on the back of the seat there were no flat surfaces for my bar clamps to grab. It took quite a few clamps, ended up using spring clamps to support the bar clamps in some precarious positions.
Didn’t use all my clamps but I did open up a lot of space on the clamp wall when I got going; I was grabbing them right and left trying to maintain pressure on the glue joints. Really glad I opted for the slow-set epoxy. It went back together really well, I was able to close up the gaps from the split and the old glue jounts.
Wiped all the excess epoxy with a damp acetone rag, then walked away from it for 24 hours. I’m sitting here typing on my phone, itching to get out there to strip the clamps and the tape but I want to let it sit for a while longer. It apparently had been broken for many years; a few more hours isn’t going to hurt.

 

[rattle_snake]

Quite the chair repair, nice work 'dude!

 

[RivennHewn]

Fun project!

 

[PugetDude]

Finished the repair up this AM, had a bit of glue squeeze out to deal with, but I was able to pick it off with a razor sharp 1/4” chisel without damaging the finish. I suspect the dark filler in the joints was installed when they built this at the factory in Taiwan ~1985; I know I didn’t add any filler. Final step was to wipe the joints down with the miracle finish.This stuff works wonders on scratches, blemishes, etc. It really helped even out and blend the finish; there were a a few existing scrapes from the previous repair and general use- they are gone now. , My wife uses this stuff to spruce up any scratches or gouges on our alder kitchen cabinets and interior doors about once a year.

This one is done; we’re going to try listing the set for them on Chairish, will try a local consignment shop if we don’t get any action on Chairish. If it doesn’t sell there last step would be to donate it to Sunshine Acres, a local charitable organization that runs a resale shop that funds an orphanage.

 

[Bears Fan]

"One can never have too many clamps"

 

[PugetDude]

"One can never have too many clamps"

Tony, I've probably have another 50 clamps stashed in other places around the shop- welding clamps, Vise-grip Clamsp, C-clamps, etc. I like the bar clamps on the wall, easy to grab and see if I;ve put them all away when I'm done working with them. I'm trying to force myself to get more organized and put stuff back where it belongs so I don't have to search for a tool every time I need it.

 

[Bears Fan]

Scott, Merry Christmas to you and your family Keep posting

 

[Bob Heine]

Scott, so glad I found your thread now. I expect it will be a long read in six weeks. I have a suggestion for the Portaband switch. I bought the Harbor Freight foot pedal switch and mounted it on a leg on the bench. I turn the saw on and off with my knee and haven't once tripped over it. Like you I have the Zip nation speed adjuster app on the Portaband trigger. Zip ties have gone from a luxury to a necessity in my garage and shop.

 

[Monza Harry]

PD I use ratchet straps for large and odd shaped things needing clamping even for welding [I put the cheap dollar store ones there in case a stray spark goes rogue] May not have worked with the convoluted shape of that back hard to tell in 2D pic's, just an idea for future projects. Harry

 

[shortykorte]

Safety warning… don’t cut aluminum angle too quickly with a miter saw. If it binds, it yanks the angle over the fence …and it really hurts if your finger ends up in between. It jerked so hard it bent the arbor and broke the fence on my backup 30 year old Ryobi miter saw, I was really lucky it didn’t drag my hand into the blade.Still dealing with a mass of scar tissue under the finger tip almost 2 years later.

Forget electrical, someone is in need of attending one of Shorty’s North Florida Safety Seminars. I have you signed up for three!

Fantastic projects.

 

[PugetDude]

Will I get any stickers when I graduate?

 

[Bob Heine]

Will I get any stickers when I graduate?

Scott, I believe you will receive a box of Band-Aids.

 

[Toolfool]

I spotted your thread awhile back but didn't post or "watch" it. You've done some nice projects. I'll be watching now.

 

[PugetDude]

More to come...

 

[ODIS]

Thank you! This thread has lifted my spirits!

Happy New Year!

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Nice job on the chair repair. Nice chair. And a really really nice set of clamps.

 

[trek]

Great job, It is very helpful for us. Best of luck with future progress. Please keep posting.

 

[PugetDude]

Today was something a little different. My fountain pump quit and the GFCI outlet wouldn’t re-set. No big deal, I had an extra one in my misc. electrical drawer. When I opened the box and removed the old one I discovered this wasn’t going to be a 15 minute job…Murphy strikes again - the box had been leaking, was badly corroded, the wires were in bad shape and there was no ground wire coming out of the underground conduit- ( there was one going in) so apparently their answer was to jumper between the neutral and the ground to get the GFCI to reset. This is what I found when I pulled everything apart.


I was hoping to just use one of the existing wires to pull in a new ground, but the hot wire was so corroded it broke just taking the outlet off. In retrospect I am glad it did-,You can see where it was also completely bare in one spot in the photo, this was about a foot down into the conduit below the outlet box- out of sight and right about where the first 90 degree underground sweep was.

So, time to start over. I opened up the J-box on the house about 40’ away and used my little Ryobi portable air compressor to determine which of the two conduits was connected to the fountain box. (Just tucked a bit of paper towel in the end of both conduits, then hit the other end with a shot of air to see which one moved). Initially planned on using the neutral as a pull wire, but I lost the end inside the conduit when I pulled the ground and the hot wire out so it had to come out the other end.
I did get lucky in that I was able to PUSH a piece of solid 12-gauge THHN through far enough (with a lot of back and forth and wiggling) that I could just barely grab the end inside the 3/4” conduit riser with my Knipex electrician’s long needle nose Pliers, the first time I have ever been happy to have them, usually they are too flexible to do much with. My fish tape isn’t long enough and I really didn’t want to try to use the compressor to push or the shop vacuum to pull a piece of rag towing a pull string if I didn’t have to. Once I had the wire pulled it only took the 15 minutes I originally planned on spending to re-connect the wires in the J-box, hook up the new GFCI in a new weather tight single-gang box, and put on a new in-use cover; this one is actually deep enough to latch with the cord plugged in- the old one would pop the GFCI if you forced it closed on the cord end . (Why don’t they put right angle plugs on something they know is most likely going inside an in-use weather tight cover? )Didn’t have enough #14 black wire left so I used #12 red THHN/THWN for the hot wire; had about half a 500’ spool left from helping my friend Ron wire his old shop. Should be pretty obvious it’s the hot but I hit the wire with a black Sharpie and taped the ends with black tape anyway.

Fountain works great now, as badly beat up and corroded as the old wire was I am surprised it was even getting power at all.

Will get a picture of the finished installation tomorrow; forgot to take one after I finished this PM.

 

[shortykorte]

Scott, I believe you will receive a box of Band-Aids.

What Bob said. Stickers are extra.

 

[PugetDude]

What Bob said. Stickers are extra.

So, North Florida Online Safety Skool is just a diploma mill? I thought I’d at least get a hard hat or some snazzy safety goggles with the University seal.

 

[LXCam]

So, North Florida Online Safety Skool is just a diploma mill? I thought I’d at least get a hard hat or some snazzy safety goggles with the University seal.

You should know by now your diploma is inscribed as a permanent mark on your record...

Can you say tattoos for the brave

 

[BSWS]

OK PDude, I think there's an unwritten rule that says if you have such amazing metalworking skills you can't also be great at woodworking too. It just doesn't happen. It appears that you can build anything you put your mind to. So do you think you could put your mind to building me a time machine?

 

[PugetDude]

OK PDude, I think there's an unwritten rule that says if you have such amazing metalworking skills you can't also be great at woodworking too. It just doesn't happen. It appears that you can build anything you put your mind to. So do you think you could put your mind to building me a time machine?

As long as I get to pick the year we go back to.

 

[PugetDude]

This came with a recent purchase …

 

[StormcrowAz]

"Recent purchase"....gonna make us work for it?

Let me guess...at an estate sale you scored a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Lathe manual was stuck in between the "K" and "M" volumes?

Or you picked up a new-to-you lathe? Inquiring minds....

 

[PugetDude]

Well, here’s the deal…
We hosted a neighborhood party a while back, some of the guys were out in the garage looking at the ‘32.
One of them was looking at my 2x72 belt grinder and asked me what brand it was. Told him I built it myself.
He looked at me kind of funny, asked the question a second time. When I told him I was serious he told me I needed to stop by his shop. I did a couple of weeks later and he told me he had an old metal lathe that he had never used and wanted to give it to me; I was the first guy he met that might actually get some use out of it.
So, we loaded it up.

I was now the proud owner of a Atlas 618 lathe, great condition with an original cast iron stand.
Got it home and unloaded it with my engine hoist.
Haven’t gone through it yet; will report what I find.

Cost: Picked up the lunch tab; he wouldn’t take anything for it; just wanted it to go to a good home.

UPDATE:
Traded the lathe to another GJ member in Durango, Colorado. Hope he's putting it to use.

 

[Monza Harry]

Well, here’s the deal…
We hosted a neighborhood party a while back, some of the guys were out in the garage looking at the ‘32.
One of them was looking at my 2x72 belt grinder and asked me what brand it was. Told him I built it myself.
He looked at me kind of funny, asked the question a second time. When I told him I was serious he told me I needed to stop by his shop. I did a couple of weeks later and he told me he had an old metal lathe that he had never used and wanted to give it to me; I was the first guy he met that might actually get some use out of it.
So, we loaded it up.

I was now the proud owner of a Atlas 618 lathe, great condition with an original cast iron stand.
Got it home and unloaded it with my engine hoist.
Haven’t gone through it yet; will report what I find.

Cost: Picked up the lunch tab; he wouldn’t take anything for it; just wanted it to go to a good home.

I think this far exceeds a "You ****" and goes straight into a "we don't like you much" maybe even a full on "we hate you", Nah, your too nice, we're just 37 kinds of jealous! Nice score pretty much goes without saying! Harry

 

[PugetDude]

In addition to the original Atlas Manual, he had 3 small totes full of tool holders, HSS tooling, a full? set of change gears, steady rest, dogs, faceplates etc.

This one has a 3-jaw Chuck mounted; I already had a 4-jaw from my old Craftsman 109 lathe (will get it listed for sale) - that has the same spindle thread. In fact, all the tooling and accessories will interchange; will probably get enough out of the Craftsman lathe to pay for the QC tool holder and tooling I bought for it- will sell the lathe bare and keep the peripherals to use on the Atlas lathe.

 

[RivennHewn]

I think this far exceeds a "You ****" and goes straight into a "we don't like you much" maybe even a full on "we hate you", Nah, your too nice, we're just 37 kinds of jealous! Nice score pretty much goes without saying! Harry

I’m thinking more like straight to F-you!
But then again, it did come with a Bible

 

[Toolfool]

Nice score !!

 

[StormcrowAz]

Exceeded expectations! And will also reiterate the “you ****” and “jealous” comments. It’s been my experience that the funny looks I get when showing my DIY 2x72 is more of a glazed and empty stare as they don’t really understand what it is or what it can do. It is now fairly evident I am inviting the wrong people over to my shop. That looks like a neat lathe, well done!

 

[shortykorte]

Definitely a You ****. Very nice looking lathe and a bunch of tooling.

How do you like the exposed ductwork?

 

[PugetDude]

Definitely a You ****. Very nice looking lathe and a bunch of tooling.

How do you like the exposed ductwork?

I really like the exposed ductwork; The diamond plate version was a little pricey but it is a great look for the garage. I went with a hybrid system- Mitsubishi mini split heat pump outside and a conventional air handler inside feeding the 14" diameter duct. I can post photos of the install if anyone is interested.

 

[bugnut]

Spent a bit today catching up. Wow a 2x72, a mill/drill and a free lathe! All very nice, well done!

 

[shortykorte]

I would be interested in more details of AC online or offline.

 

[MP&C]

How have I missed this picture of your roadster this whole time!?! Need to get out more..

 

[Toolfool]

I would be interested in more details of AC online or offline.

Me too.