Festool Stack

While making a decision about which Festool sander would be the best for me, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to try each out and give you a bit of an insight into my decision process.  Ideal Tools sent over this interesting stack, which also includes the wheeled base I needed for my rapidly growing collection of Systainers, as well as a Systainer set up to hold my random orbital sanding disks, which will keep them all together, and with the sander (as I do with the dominos).

A Stacka Festool

Unlike some other reviews, this will be rather interesting because I’m not comparing different models and brands in their ability to do a specific task.  I’m comparing models that are all at the top of the game, to see which will fit best with my requirements, not which has deficiencies in itself.

The three I am looking at are the ETA 150/3, the ETA 150/5 and the Rotex 150.  It will be particularly interesting to see if I can find a difference between the 150/3 and 150/5 – does that extra 2mm of throw really result in improved performance, or a decrease in finish (that I can notice)?

A mate hangs up his chisels

Sad to hear, but for a number of reasons a friend has decided he has to sell up the majority of his workshop in East Melbourne.

He’s selling a number of shop power tools

Near new (and basically unused) TSC-10HB $1400 – this is a very popular 10″ tablesaw among Aust. Forum Members
Unused 12″ Triton (Scheppach) Bandsaw $600
6″ Carbatec Benchtop Planer $250
Triton Spindle Sander $250
Gifkins Dovetail Jig w H20 template and cutters $150
Triton Belt & Disk sander $250

In the descriptions on the Aust Forums, all bar the Gifkins are basically unused.  The Gifkins is a superb dovetail jig fwiw.

Contact David directly on 0433980421.  All his prices are ONO

Pop’s Shed Lathe

PS Lathe

With all the (non shed related) happenings this week, I haven’t been able to commission the PS Tools lathe yet, but hope to rectify that shortly.  I did get to plug it in and push the on button!

I could really become a fan of variable speed lathes – the ease of changing speeds (without having to change belts) is really refreshing.  The speed readout is also not based on the controller, but the actual speed of the shaft.  This means that if turning a larger item (or placing more load on it with aggressive cuts), the speed readout reflects the actual RPM being achieved.  It does this with a toothed wheel inside the lathe head mounted directly to the shaft, and a light sensor circuit that counts and times each tooth.  The same principle was used in computer mice pre optical and laser days.

The lathe still has 3 belts, so you can get 3 ranges of variable speeds, from the slowest around 650RPM right up to 3000RPM.

Sitting on top of the Torque Workcentre is not it’s usual position (too high), but the juxtaposition is deliberate even so.  I have an idea about using the lathe, with the overhead router for turning helices, and also for cutting evenly positioned flutes.

Something to mull over.  In the meantime, I will get to a better introduction to the lathe, and all the accessories it comes with shortly.

A visit to Costco

Had an interesting first visit to Costco over the weekend (the place seems like a Tardis – much larger on the inside than it certainly appeared from the outside)!

Didn’t expect it to become a shed-related activity, and there was a very limited number of tools there (did spot a Lithium-Ion GMC cordless drill (guess there are still some GMC tools out there)), and a stack of ShopVacs.

ShopVac 20

Given the GMC vac I have been using occasionally is already threatening to turn into a molten lump of plastic in the middle of the floor, I thought I’d grab one of the ShopVacs (think they were about $70).  The other reason I picked one was because of comments made in the past on this site when discussing dust collection from Festool power tools.  Someone mentioned they used a ShopVac as the nozzle size was pretty suitable for Festool.

ShopVac to Festool

Ah well, it’s better than nothing.  In a perfect world…….

Festool Vac with Dust Deputy Cyclone

……I’d have a Festool Dust Collection system, and even more ideally, with a cyclonic dust separator such as this commercial one from Oneida.  That sucks

Coming to America

This March, Stu’s Shed is having a flying visit to America (specifically Denver, Colorado), to appear on the DIY Network show Cool Tools, demonstrating and providing an independent perspective of the Torque Workcentre!

It is a long way to go to be a guest on Cool Tools, but getting an opportunity to appear on the show is, well TOO COOL!

The show is seen in over 100 countries (including Foxtel in Australia).

(And a big “Gidday” to the Producers of Cool Tools – turns out they occasionally visit Stu’s Shed, and is how they discovered the Torque Workcentre in the first place! How cool is that!)

The Finished Kitchen

Got to see the kitchen I made before Christmas in its final, painted glory.  The model is my daughter at her friend’s birthday party.

Toy Kitchen

Inside Fridge

Sink & Stove

Making Dinner

Tools for February

Each of these will be looked at in more detail shortly, and put through their paces.

For Tool of the Month, I’m going for the Vac Clamp – another Aussie product.  It uses a very simple method for achieving a vacuum – using the venturi effect to draw down a vacuum from between the clamp and the item being held, resulting in a clamp that is strong, and releases immediately that the air is switched off.

V-Clamps

Seen pictured here are both the single-sided clamp (is screwed to the workbench etc), and the double-sided, which uses a vacuum on one side to secure itself to the workbench (non-porous), and the other side for the workpiece.

There are no moving parts to achieve the vacuum. Nothing to wear out (the rubber seal itself will need replacement in time), nothing moving, wearing.  You do need a source of compressed air.  The compressor does not draw air from the clamp, unlike many other designs.  Air is blown into the unit, which ejects from the nozzle, creating the venturi which pulls additional out of the clamp void resulting in the vacuum.

Vacuum creating venturi effect nozzle

Air passes in through the fitting on the side, and blows through the brass nozzle you can see in the hole, which is then ejected out the side.

Closeup of Nozzle

The other item to mention is a new router bit received from Whiteside / Professional Woodworkers Supplies.

Whiteside 2 Flute Replaceable Surfacing Bit

This is a significant bit, with a larger diameter than either of the others I have tried – at 65mm diameter it is going to be fascinating when I get a chance to feed it.  Of course, the rule is never feed a router bit after midnight – not that it will turn into a gremlin, but your neighbours will!

Replaceable Tip

The carbide tips are replaceable, and also revolvable, meaning you get to use all 4 sides before needing to resharpen or replace the TCT.

A Pop out to view a Shed

that is.  A brand new business that just started out at Chirnside Park, Lilydale (northeast Melbourne).

	Unit 10B
	Rear of 286 to 288 Maroondah Highway
	Chirnside Park 03 9727 0611

It has been open a whole 2 1/2 weeks, so very new!

As you pull up to the door (behind the shopping centre next to the Bunnings), the first thing you see is the timber – boxes of burls, Banksia nuts, and a wall of turning blanks – you KNOW you are at the right place!

Pop's Shed

Next door is Toodlebug Toys, so it can be a family outing (if you have younger kids!)

Timber Collection

There are lots and lots of sorted timber burls to pick and choose from,

More Timber

Banksia Nuts, slabbed burls and

Turning Blanks

a wall of turning blanks

Turning Tools, Pen Blanks & Consumables

They stock a range of pen hardware and associated turning tools and accessories, with a collection of pen blanks – mostly timber with a few acrylics.

Mini Lathe & Linisher

The company sell a few shop machines as well – a mini lathe, a maxi lathe, a linisher, bandsaw and drill press. All the things you’d need if getting started in turning. The mini lathe kit will get a closer look in another article shortly – variable electronically controlled speed, and comes with a mini chuck, drill chuck and a set of turning tools.  Now if you know nothing about turning, this is very much what Pop’s Shed has been to cater for – both getting you started, as well as keeping you supplied!  To get started though, nothing beats hands-on instruction, and at the back of the store, just behind the wood stove (failed project disposal unit) and where a Chesterfield couch and Flat screen TV will be going shortly, is the training room.  While you are wandering around the shop area, you can see what is going on inside the room through glass windows which is a nice element – keeping the noise and dust out of the sales area, but not separating the two completely.

Training Area

There are a number of maxi lathes in there to learn on, but what caught my eye (and some astute readers will have already seen it as well) – a very familiar colour…

Training Room

A Triton Mk3 has found its way in, for preparing timbers for turning!  There are 4 maxi lathes, one mini, a bandsaw, drillpress, and linisher, and each station has dust & chip collection dedicated to each machine, all professionally plumbed in (I could learn some lessons from how neat this job has been done!)

Dust Collectors

Behind the training room, there is the dust collection room, with 4 x 2HP dust collectors. As you can see, it is all brand new, just waiting for the courses to be arranged and begun, and I’ll publish here what courses they have once they are up and running.  So if you were curious about wood turning, or wanted to improve your skills, have a chat to one of the Pops (or Pops-to-be (grandfathers) as it happens!) Brian, who is there full time, or Chris.

I’m particularly impressed with the training focus they have taken, and it is becoming a very nice little setup they have there. Pop in to Pop’s Shed if you are passing by

(PS, any similarity in the name is purely coincidental!)

The Fix

After the (kind of) successful fix on the Torque using graphite impregnated cloth, and some guiding comments I was inspired to try a more suitable solution.

Graphite Cloth

Rather than using a material with a built-in lubricant, I chose to use a slice of a thin plastic chopping board as a ‘washer’ between the two aluminium surfaces.

I don’t have a photo of it in place, but this is the remaining piece of the chopping board I used.  As you can see – very thin.  It has been working out perfectly – the tools angle easily, but without any tendency to slip.

Thin Chopping Board

The shadow (fwiw) is the top of Jessica’s trampoline – some reason I didn’t notice it when taking the photo!

A Torque Workcentre BEFORE I start modifying!

Toodlebug Toys

Had an interesting excursion today, to Chirnside Park, North East Melbourne where I was invited to see a new woodworking business that had just opened just two weeks ago called Pop’s Shed.  More on Pop’s Shed (inc a bunch of photos) in a post shortly, but ‘next door’ was a brand new business that had just opened today, so in honour of their opening, I’m going to briefly talk about Toodlebug Toys first! (The manager is related to the two soon-to-be Pops (grandfathers) next door!)

Toodlebug Toys

Might seem a little strange me writing about a toy shop, but this is one with a difference.  That difference is their very strong belief that parallels what regular readers of Stu’s Shed will probably have picked up on: I am a firm believer that wooden toys are a very special gift for a child.  They have substance, texture, presence, and longevity.  They are very tactile, and rather than high-tech, high gloss, complex plastic toys, a wooden toy doesn’t deny the child the opportunity for imaginative play.  So many modern toys have solved all the imagination challenges already, and as a toy they get boring quickly.

Ros, the business’ manager has a solid background in early childhood education, and the toy ranges she has chosen for her shop reflects this.

Shop Window

The shop has a really interesting range of toys, from the handmade rocking horse in the window, through to the baby toys on the back wall.

Aussie-made animals

Unfortunately it is cost prohibitive to source many Australian -made toys, but there are some – these animals made by a Victorian couple.

Toys

Baby Toys

Even the baby rattles, and “first reader” books are wooden. So that is a quick look around the shop.  If you are looking for quality wooden toys, or are simply looking for an alternative from the plastic junk out there these days, give them a call, or just drop in!

They are located in Unit 10a, Rear of 288 Maroondah Hwy, Chirnside Park. (03) 9727 0911

Triton’s Peak

While sifting through old photos for the new website, I found these, taken at one of the Bunnings Triton Demo evenings back in 2002/2003

How popular Triton demonstrations used to be

8 rows and more deep, standing room only if you were late

Those were the days.

Stu’s Darkroom

Took me a while to get around to setting up a photographic website again – longer than you’d expect actually, and in part it is the reason Stu’s Shed exists at all.

I even meant to start 1 Jan, but it took most of January for me to do so.

Back in 1999, made my first real moves to digital photography, setting up my first website and scanning images into the computer, primarily through Kodak’s now defunct Photo CD format.

After a while it became to cumbersome to continue – or in other words I got sick of writing HTML.  I made another half hearted attempt a couple of years back, but still my mistake was relying too heavily on processing the images with borders and titles and the like before uploading.

Stu’s Shed was originally a test bed for a new photographic site and became so successful that it became the focus (and will still remain so).  However, from lessons I’ve learned from this, I’ve created a new website, called Stu’s Darkroom where I am intending to publish a photo a day, either taken recently, or from my archive of well over 40,000 images.

If you choose to visit, cool, if not that’s cool as well – it is somewhere for me to actually have the images in the public arena, rather sitting in a virtual drawer. I’ve been adding comments for each image as well, sometimes on the technical info for the shot, sometimes on the thoughts behind it.  There are a month of images there already, dating back to 1 Jan 2010 (the images themselves date back as far as 1989 or so at this stage).

Topics are all over the place, but I have quite a lot of naval photos, natural history and landscapes, so they will probably make up the majority of photos.  Who knows – will see where the website goes

USS Lake Champlain