31 Jan

FWIW, Jan 2014 was the most popular month on Stu’s Shed of all time (which means “for the past 6 1/2 years”)

In addition to the 1800 direct subscribers (who received each of the daily posts directly to their inbox, RSS reader, Facebook etc), the site received a record 46884 visits – an average of 1512 a day.  Friday Jan 3 received 3553 visits alone!

Pretty cool!

Compressed Air Supply

Compressed air and woodworking definitely go hand-in-hand.  There is a whole collection of air tools to use, and they are typically quite a bit cheaper than their electric powered equivalent machines as the energy conversion from electricity to mechanical is done by a single machine (air compressor) rather than each and every tool doing the same (there is a small step of converting the potential energy in the compressed air to mechanical kinetic, but that is pretty simple).

That concept does harp back to the workshops of old, with line drive, belts and pulleys etc, but compressed air is a lot easier to move around the workshop!

Other than nail guns, impact wrenches, sanders etc, there is always the convenience of a burst of compressed air to clean out a cut, clean off a tool, and even to sweep the workshop floor!  I also have a few vacuum clamps that use compressed air to generate significant grip on the component. (Using a venturi effect to produce low pressure, then the atmospheric pressure does the rest).

Getting air around the workshop can either be with long hoses, or in my case I am going to use the RapidAir setup from Professional Woodworkers Supplies.

The initial kit provides the tubing, and a bunch of quick-connectors, so running it around the workshop is a ‘breeze’

After running what will effectively be a pneumatic ring main around the workshop, at strategic points there will be individual tap points, to plug the tool straight in.

These come with the valve, and aluminium mounting block, so will fit in very well with the workshop layout.

This is an approximate layout for the air run, with the air compressor in a shed near the top right corner.  The red squares are air outlets, the circle is an air outlet then connected to a hose reel (which then allows air to be used elsewhere in the back yard)

I might put an outlet up on the mezzanine, and probably one by the drill press.

The ring main then allows a balance of air to each outlet (especially if there is more than one demand on the circuit at the same time), and for others to be easily added for future design changes or needs.

Will probably start installation next weekend.

The Boris Goldberg Kerf Chair

This is pretty cool – a chair created on a CNC machine using kerfing as the technique to give it shape.  Opens one’s eyes to all sorts of possibilities.

Setting up the SawStop

It has been a while coming (sure I could say that about a number of things at the moment!), but I finally had an opportunity to put the SawStop together.

Shot some video of that at the same time, so hopefully that will go into the details more.

First impressions are good, very similar to the TS10L in a lot of ways.

Once it was up, I tweaked the layout a little more.  Still plenty of room for the few machines yet to be moved in (bandsaw, drill press, DVR lathe).  Some things are still not quite in their right place, but as has been observed, lots of room around each machine.

Starting to feel like a workshop out there, especially now with the tablesaw set up.  After I get the current video of the assembly done, there will be more to follow, including finetuning the setup.  One little surprise – despite being a 15A machine (technically 13A), I was surprised it came with a 10A plug  Not that it will make a difference – I still have a 15A circuit available for it.

TS10L

First, apologies to those who have emailed me about the TS10L – sorry that I haven’t gotten back to any of you as yet.

I haven’t seriously investigated what it is worth – new it would be around $3000+.

It is significantly superior to the TSC10HB, both in function and build quality (not that I am saying the TSC10HB is necessarily a bad tablesaw!)  It has 52″ rails, left tilt, biesemeyer fence, quick release low profile fence, weighing 220kg.  Arbor lock for ease of blade change, and dado blade capable (18mm or so capacity) (not to mention the power to drive one easily).  I’m not removing the extra insert to the right of the table, ready for a router on a router mount to be dropped straight in.

It has an impressively small amount of runout – a really accurate machine.

Anyone wanting to have a look before deciding if you seriously want it are welcome (and encouraged)-I prefer to know you are confident in what you are buying! You can also see the saw throughout this site obviously, including videos.

Offers are welcome, as are questions.

Day of the Machine

After taking much of the day to do some family things (beach before, and BBQ after) for Australia Day, I also moved a number of machines into the shed, now that the electrical was completed and therefore the machines wouldn’t get in the way.

Heavy buggers, especially over soft, churned up dirt the backyard has become.  The pallet jack is such an asset – able to lift the heaviest machine easily, and with reasonably wide wheels, can even manage the ground to a certain extent.

Even so, it was too much to move the thicknesser on my own (230 or so kg), so with a brief assistance of a couple of neighbours, it flew across the back yard.

Paying the price for it all now though!

Never-the-less, a good number of moves was achieved – slowly emptying the garage, and the shed starting to take on real character.

Placement/layout is by no means locked in (never is in my shed!), but am roughly placing them still in accordance with the original plan.

What was moved in this time was the Jet lathe (still uncertain about its long term plan), Jet 14″ bandsaw, Torque Workcentre, the workbench, thicknesser.

Power to the People, part 2

I will give a better tour of the shed, and the electrical layout in the near future, but in the meantime – here is a sneak peek.

Power is entering the shed from under the slab (through a conduit I put in place during the slab pour).  It is coming from a 63A breaker on the main switchboard, to a second 63A breaker on this panel located near the roller door.  There are a number of circuits running off this, including lighting circuits, multiple 10A circuits (5 or 6?), 15A circuits (3). When the electrician comes back after the long weekend, I will get a run down of each circuit and breaker.

Some of the conduit running away from the switchboard and off around the shed.  All wires potentially susceptible to damage are encased in conduit to protect it.  That is to stop any being damaged, and then causing the metal shed becoming live.

The lighting circuits run to GPOs at each lighting position.  As these light tubes are wired with a standard 10A plug, this makes it very easy to connect the lights, and unplug and remove (and replace) any that ever become faulty.

If you look closely, you’ll notice a GPO on the main cross-beam in the second picture…..

This is specifically placed here, as it is for the roof-mounted air filtration unit.

Then, there is power all around the perimeter (and on the one support post), all double GPOs. You’ll notice the wood trim all round.  This is an alternate to running conduit everywhere, as instead the power is run inside the top hats, and then this is faced with the pine.  I chose skirting board for this – Masters had it on special and it was exactly what I was looking for.  Rounded top face, exactly the right width.  It is screwed in place, so very easy to remove for access to the wiring if ever needed (installing additional points for example?!!!?)  I also chose it because it looked a bit classier than just MDF.  It is raw, so I can always apply a finish if I feel so inspired.

In the back corner where the lathe will go, you’ll notice an additional switch in between the two GPOs.  This is an additional isolating switch for the external GPOs on the rear corner of the shed.

These are installed to allow an air compressor (and lights) to be plugged in from another shed, so I don’t have to put up with the noise of an air compressor in the main shed.  The isolator switch means I can turn off the air compressor at the end of a session from the main workshop, without having to go out to the other shed.

So that is a bit of an overview.  As machines are rolled in, the number of GPOs becomes better explained, as there are a lot of machines to plug in, without having to resort to power boards and extension cords.

The Mezzanine

Took the opportunity (and the willing participation of my FIL), to make some progress on the mezzanine floor.

Dennis (one of the site regulars) and I tried a few combinations with the attic stairs yesterday, unfortunately finding it a little trickier than expected, and took them down again.

So last night I used some 90x45s to box around the outside of the stairs’ frame, then took down the two flooring beams that the stairs will attach to, and reversed the process, attaching the beams to the stairs on the ground, rather than in situ.  A few bugle-headed hex bolts today to really lock the whole structure together, and we raised it all up back into position, and screwed it all down in place.

Much easier, and a really good outcome.  The stairs (almost) reach the ground – so much closer than I possibly expected, and it will only need a small step (about 50mm high) under the bottom of the ladder for the lower legs to rest on.

With the stairs in place, access to the mezzanine becomes significantly easier.  We then started on the laying of the redtongue.  Rather than just going with the sheets simply going between the end beams (conveniently the same distance apart as the boards are long – 3600), we are instead maximising the floor area, and with some short vertical panels, separating the mezzanine from the lower section completely.

This requires every sheet being cut down in length, so it stops midway on one beam, and leaving 3 beams (including the half-beam) for a shorter section to finish off and sit fully stabilised across all 3.  These are alternating left and right.  It does mean I am short two sheets of redtongue now.  It also means I am making more use of the Triton Circular Saw freehand than I think I ever have before.  Heavy, powerful, good on the plunge cut.  Still, I’d prefer if I had a Festool circ saw and a rail.

The first section needed some significant tailoring to fit it in among the combination of posts, and electrical conduit.  With the first piece down (and the silver builders paper underneath), it did get easier, but still it took a lot longer than expected.  We only ended up 1/2 way across the floor before having to stop for the day.  Still, a good start.

The Festool Ti15 has been getting a good workout in all this – has been really beneficial.

I don’t have any of the Centrotec bits though, and it is obvious this is a ploy used by Festool, as normal bits are not positively retained and fall out often, which becomes frustrating.

The first view out the mezzanine window.

And the workshop floor gets its first real taste of sawdust.

Winging It

In preparation for securing down the mezzanine floor, I headed down to the local hardware store to purchase some wood to metal screws. These are the ones with a drill bit built into the tip of the screw, and a countersink phillips head.

They had bags of 250 for $36, and boxes of the same – 500 for $37. Pays to look at increased bulk I guess, but still it reeks of something.

These need a predrilled and countersunk hole in the redtongue, otherwise they tend to damage and crush the top surface, pull themselves through the timber, causing it to lift until the drill tip penetrates through the steel, and by that time the screw head had buried its way deep below the surface.

What I wasn’t aware of is there is a better way, and these are the screws the electrician was using. Guess it shows how often I deal with steel structures.

These screws cost $23 for 500 from Peninsular Bolt, so a significantly better deal, for a superior screw.

These are still made with the drill bit tip, that primarily is designed to drill through metal. At the other end, the conical top had ridging on its underside, so this screw self-countersinks. Already a bonus.

Where the screw gets clever is those two wings near the drill-bit-like tip. They are initially larger than the hole being drilled. While passing through the initial layer of timber (such as flooring), these wings cut a hole that the thread doesn’t get to touch.

However, that would be no good for us if that went all the way – what would the threads bind on?! What happens instead, is those wings once they have passed through the timber, they snap off when in contact with the metal.

So they work well, with no requirement for predrilling, countersinking etc. These will do it all.

They will be a real timesaver when I get to screw down the mezzanine flooring.

The Sharpest Edge

Just what you can do with a sharp chisel, and a sharp imagination.