Pocket Screwdriver

I’m sure many of us have been there- needing to turn a screw when no where near your toolbox (or shed), or wanting the width of the screwdriver blade to more closely match the width of the slot.

Wasn’t that long ago that I tried the thumbnail trick -can’t even remember what on, and found a large piece of nail almost surgically sliced, and the screw having not moved at all.

So do you try a coin, work your ways through your keys? Or use the “Pocket Screwdriver” from Veritas.

Looking very much like a washer, the thickness of the “washer” increases all the way around the circumference, so you can easily get the driver to accurately fit the slot.

Being washer shaped (and as durable), it makes sense mounting it on a set of keys- means you always have it on hand.

It doesn’t get as thin as I’d like, but I could always grind on down I suppose.
The thickness ramps from 0.8mm to 2.3mm

At around $1.20/ unit (they come in a pack of 10) they are cheap enough to hand around to anyone you like!

Or seed them around your workshop on a bunch of nails, so you always have one close by.

Just happen to be brilliant for cap iron screws on handplanes…..

Available from Carbatec

Updated currently installed iPhone Apps

While commissioning my new iPhone4, and with the OS4 ability to group applications into folders, I had a chance to again review what woodworking applications I choose to have installed on my device.

My latest addition is the Woodshop app: a joint venture that The Wood Whisperer has been involved with.

I guess we are still a pretty exclusive market, but with the number of iPhone apps out there, I would have hoped for a better range of them by now.

If you come across any others (that are any good), definitely let me know!

Otherwise the main contribution the iPhone will make to the genre is the ever-increasingly rich content from woodworking podcasters out there.

AmbiCalc

Completely coincidentally, the very day I decided to have another look at the (limited) range of woodworking based iPhone applications still out there, I had an email from AmbiCalc about their free online calculator tool.  Looked kind of promising, especially some of the attached calculator functions (which I’ve included in a slideshow below – screen shots from their calculator tool)  You access these extra calculators by clicking the wooden “box” button on the calculator itself.

They have some info about how to get it onto your iPhone in its current form (as a web page), but I am more interested in their next development when it becomes available: as a full iPhone application.

From some info they sent through:

It works in any browser and we also offer an offline version for iPhone. Working on an App store version at the moment.

AmbiCalc features:
– you can mix metric/imperial calculations e.g. 1 inch + 2 mm
– it will calculate offsets for making router templates. And if you have an imperial cutter and a metric guide bush it deals with that as above
– calculates cabinet parts dimensions
– diagonal calculator to make sure boards/drawers etc are square
– includes a cubic foot/metre solid wood calculation

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Layout Schematic

With advanced shed-imaging software (Grizzly’s Shop Planner), and industry standard photo editing suite (Photoshop), I’ve been able to mock up a bit of an indication of the shed’s dust system layout, creating during some motivational programming (watching Top Gear).

Some brief explanations.

1. The dog in the corner is not a real shop dog, but it is occupying the leather Lazy Boy.

2. The Drum Sander is perched on top of the Thicknesser, in front of a representation of my wood store.

3. The dotted dust line leading across the TWC indicates it is actually underneath, leading to my downdraught section.

4. There are 2 bandsaws.

5. There is no dusty represented – it is housed in the shed at the right.

6. There is no fridge the shape of a beer can.  Yet.

7. The shed is 8m x 4m (24′ x 12′)

8. It isn’t quite as clean as it appears here.

Brief Update

Not much to show, or rather there is, but I want to do a big cleanup before doing the final reveal.

All the trunking in the main shed is complete, with all the machines I intended to connect into the 4″ collection system done, with blast gates isolating any machine not in use so there isn’t unnecessary loss of suction.

At the end of the process, I can only reiterate that

1. It is much harder to retrofit a dust system to a shed in use, especially when it is rather packed with stuff.  On the other hand, at least I knew where each machine would be located!

2. The Carbatec Kit worked well, although I probably could have made my life easier with a second, rather than trying to combine the kit with the 100mm stormwater fittings and pipes I have been using in the past.  A pity there are no converter pieces to allow moving from one system to the other easily. However, with a bit of fudging I have gotten away with using a combined system.  I also found that there were enough of some fittings for what I needed, there were some I ran well short of, especially the joiners, and there is no way currently of buying them separately.  I guess the kit was actually designed for a simple, minimal run, not the extensive one I’ve come up with (and having only 1 90 degree bend and 3 blast gates supports this). It takes a lot of fittings to get a dust system to actually fit in with a real shed, rather than some optimum, theoretical one.

3. The Rockler blast gate mounts are brilliant – no two ways about it.  Combining them with some basic U clamps to provide rigidity where I wasn’t using a blast gate has resulted in a system that feels very secure.

The next step for me will be getting the trunking from one shed to the other (a matter of a big hole), then finally joining it to the 2HP dust extractor.

Finally, once I have the system up and running, fitting my remote starter to the dust extractor.  Seems a way to go still.  And of course, I still have to try to restore some semblance of order to the shed again!

Hopefully this layout is again an overall improvement, and will stay in commission for a while longer.  What it has replaced had become very disrupted with the many layout changes. At least a great deal of the previous system was able to be reused.

Once the main shed is a little neater, I’ll give you a final tour of the new system, and we will finally get to test some of the assumptions I’ve had to make along the way (especially where I’ve gone overhead – still have no idea how that will work!)

Lutherie made a little easier

Interested in lutherie? It certainly takes a special breed of woodworker to produce musical instruments. The precision, the finish, and the end result is a constantly used tool, not something decorative on a shelf.

The latest edition to the CutSetter range is a pair of fretboard gauges. These are used by instrument makers/repairers to check the curvature across a fretboard. As well as being used when making a guitar, they can be used to find the radius of an existing fretboard. They are the first in a range of instrument measuring tools CutSetter are going to introduce.

Speaking of which, the CutSetter now has a “Professional” in metric or inch units, and a “Compact” in metric or inch units. The Compact has a size range suited for router table setup, and doesn’t have any angle markings.

The photo is taken in low light and as a bit of a test for the camera on the iPhone 4 🙂

Another Copying Method

The other designed copying method on the Torque Workcentre utilises the Copy Attachment.

This consists of a pin that follows the template, and the router is left free to move in the X and Y directions, so the pattern is duplicated into the surface of the workpiece.

Raised lettering is only one use of this technique (but it does quite a good job of selling the concept).  I’ve sourced some letters here from Bunnies, or from Spotlight (think it was Spotlight actually), and fixed them down to begin copying.

Where the previous method works well on both the TWC and Router master, the copy attachment needs the X axis travel of the full TWC.

Sign o' the Times

TWC have picked up on my suggestion for using bearings on the end of the copy attachment pin, so that development will be available in the near future.  When that comes through, it means in a case such as this, that I could rough out the pattern using a slightly larger bearing than the router bit, then switch to one that matched the router bit diameter for that final, smooth pass.

Something Familiar about that sign

This is just the first pass that I have done here, but already you can see just how effective the copy attachment is.  I’d refine how the letters (template) were fixed down – some kind of jig for the letters to be easily fixed, then moved/removed, but at this stage screwing directly to the top of the TWC works as well.

The outside border to the raised sign is very easy to achieve – simply set the stops on the Torque Workcentre!

I have a job on to produce some road signs for my daughter’s kindergarten, and this will be the technique I use for that job – raised letter road signs, with raised borders etc.  Should look great!  Wonder if they will be picked up by VicRoads for their road signs…? 😉

Developing the Dust System

Another small development – from the overhead system from the bandsaw, it now leads across the shed to above the thicknesser and drum sander.  This drops down, picking up the outlets from these two machines before heading off to the dust extractor.

Picking up the dust generators

The diagonal clear pipe is from the overhead trunking. The drum sander feeds into the top of the Y section.  The trunking then leads to a second Y section which connects to the thicknesser.  Blast gates on each inlet obviously.

It has proved significantly harder to retrofit a new trunking system into an already occupied (crowded) shed.  It means the system is perhaps not as optimised as it could be.  Even though there seemed an excellent selection of parts in the trunking kit, more is needed.  Some longer runs use up joiners that would otherwise be needed for the components.  But I can’t knock having a system where everything actually joins together without duct tape fixes.

Rabbit Run Fixes

I still find the Rockler blast gate mounts superb, and provides a very secure system.

Item Duplication on the Torque

There are a number of different ways of duplicating a pattern or item in woodworking.  A common method is to screw a pattern to the timber, use a jigsaw, scrollsaw or bandsaw to rough it out, then revert to a pattern copying bit on the router table.  This technique works well, but does have its difficulties, including keeping the template attached to the workpiece (or separating it afterwards, depending on just how strong the carpet tape is!)

The Torque Workcentre offers a couple of unique techniques and solutions to the problem.  The one addressed here is using a pre-cut track to follow a captive pin.  It has consistent results, and is difficult to get wrong.

Step one is to produce the desired track.  You could cut it freehand (and in some cases that would work), but here we want an exact replica of an existing component – in the case a racing kangaroo.

Mount the item to be copied to the underside of the (blank) pattern

Take the object you want to duplicate and fix it to a board.  This may be an existing item, or one you have made up for the task out of MDF for example.  Add a couple of equally thick boards on either side so the pattern has no tendency to rock.  Flip the board over so the original is to the bottom.

Mounting the router

Mount a router bit of equal diameter to the captive pin diameter (which can be seen in the first photo, already mounted in the table)

It is worth noting here the ease for removing and replacing the router, including in this case a Triton 2400W.  The mount is different to that for Makita and Hitashi, but the actual attachment method is the same.  The router plunge base is removed (which is very easy), and the router mounts directly onto the Torque by using the plunge mount shafts.  It was one of the first things that made me sit up and pay attention to the whole Torque Workcentre – using the plunge mount, and especially using the plunge lock to secure the router onto the Torque was such a simple and clever solution that I was suitably impressed (not always an easy thing), and wondered what other clever ingenious things went into the TWC.  I’m a sucker for good engineering.

The router is mounted back into the Torque, and set so the router bit is directly above the copy pin in the table, and its position fixed (there is a lock for both the X and Y axis).

Creating the track

Plunge the router lightly into the surface of the blank pattern, and by holding the original (underneath) directly up against the pin carefully create a channel all the way around.  When you have gotten around first time it gets a lot easier, as you then know where the pattern is as you rout deeper.  Repeat until you have a track that is deeper than the length of the copy pin.  This is the captive track that will allow copy after copy of the part.

Depth Setting

Once you are ready to start creating copies, attach the blank on the top side of the pattern (you can screw it down, or use clamps (I use the Walko clamps on the jig))  With the router mounted directly above the copy pin and a router bit that matches the pin diameter (and the width of the track), plunge the router (turned off) so it goes deep enough to pass all the way through the blank and just into the top of the pattern.  Set the plunge lock to this depth.

First pass

Mount the pattern onto the pin, turn on the router and lightly plunge into the blank.  Run the pattern all the way around (you can see here that I’ve take the photo before completing the kangaroo tail).  This gives you a track to be able to follow visually when you plunge the router deeper for subsequent passes.  Plunge the router deeper and run around the pattern again.  Rinse and repeat until you are almost all the way through.

Completed part copy

With the final pass, the new part can be lifted free – a perfect copy of the original.  Repeat the steps to create part after identical part.  The track can be kept so the part can be made any time in the future.  This technique can be used for all sorts of things, including furniture, inlays, and definitely toys!  You could easily set up a little production run in your workshop to create toy after toy (wooden toys are some of the best presents – how many times have you seen an antique plastic toy?! (yeah, I know I’m being a bit facetious, but you know what I mean – plastic toys just don’t last, wooden toys get handed down from generation to generation)).  Fighting back against the plastic toy generation(s)!!

The Hall Table finds its way home

After leaving the Hall Table in the shed for a couple of weeks (or however long it has been), I found the table was still looking a lot duller than I was expecting.  On having a closer look, it appeared to have a wax coating over the whole surface, and rubbing through that revealed a subtle, smooth finish.

So out with the 0000 steel wool, and rubbed down the whole table, which took a while because the waxy layer was quite thick.  This left a nice finish, although a bit more matt than I was hoping.  So I picked up my Ubeaut Swansdown mop, mounted in the drill and gave the surface a good buff, and the desired shine became quickly apparent.

Ubeaut Swansdown Mop

Promo image of 4" buff

The mop is genuine swansdown, woven into a soft fabric, then layered up to 100 folds (the term for each layer), secured and cut.  Unlike a lambs-wool buff that puts swirls into the wax, the swansdown spins in the direction of the grain.  Instead of buffing by hand, this takes moments to get the same result that 10 minutes or more of hand rubbing the surface would achieve.

Now as pretty as the mop is in the image above, it isn’t functional when it is that new.  A well conditioned mop is a well used one, laden with waxes from previous jobs so it isn’t so dry and clean, with a tendency to strip the wax off the surface (a few non-critical jobs will quickly get it working, as will spinning it against the edge of a hacksaw blade to strip the initial loose fibres away).

Mine is a little more worldly-wise.

Swansdown in action

This one is a 6″, 100 fold mop.  The surface looks shiny, but not glossy.  Looking at it at quite an acute angle, and you can see a very good reflection in the surface.

In location

Just a drawer to go.