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Anyone made a DIY router table before? How hard is it, and what kind of tools do you need? I have a 3/4 hp trim router I'd like to get some more use out of, and I'm wondering if I could make a simple router table for working with stock up to 1" thick or so. I don't have much in the way of a shop, just like, a circular saw, miter saw, palm router, hand drill, and dremel. I have a small desktop CNC mill that I could use to make a mounting plate out of aluminum (can handle up to a 4 x 5 stock size.) Think this is feasible?
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Apr 5, 2020 21:51
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Elder Postsman posted:I made my daughter a little desk with a couple pieces of edge-glued pine. Basically just a box that hangs off the shelf rails on her bedroom wall, but it works. All dovetailed together; Thanks! Looks simple enough. Now I just need to find the plunge base for it and see how I'm going to attach it. Incidentally, do you think a 3/4 hp palm router with a 1/4", straight-flute carbide bit would be able to cut 1" hickory if I go slow? I want to try my hand at freehand routing using a printout taped to the stock. Would I have to do multiple depths, or could I just take slow, shallow radial passes? e: also, that desk is lovely!
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Apr 7, 2020 21:06
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cakesmith handyman posted:I went through this problem a while ago, I decided to make something out of bb plywood hoping to veneer it later. I ended up painting it as veneering would have been very difficult at that scale and ended up more expensive than buying veneered plywood in the first place. My recommending for a beginner is to make whatever out of normal plywood, then have another go out of pre-veneered ply when you've made mistakes in the cheaper material. fwiw, baltic birch or maple multi-ply (appleply?) are a joy to work with, if you're into the striped edges (or you do mitered edges).
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Apr 19, 2020 21:18
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Meow Meow Meow posted:All done the jewelry cabinet. Very very happy with how it turned out. Holy poo poo  That's a bookmatched veneer on the doors, I'm assuming?
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Apr 29, 2020 03:57
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Has anyone made a miter saw fence before? I'd like to make a few for doing really small cutoffs at 0, 30, and 45 degree angles, and it would be lovely if I didn't get small cutoffs getting sucked in/ejected (god that poo poo is scary) How hard is it? My first thought is to drill holes through the frame for mounting, and just make a long L-profile to stretch across the fence.
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May 21, 2020 01:01
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BrianBoitano posted:He's saying this doesn't have good support for small cut-offs That's the one! OK, so pretty easy to make. I don't think mine will be quite so long. edit: cat tax 
HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 06:38 on May 21, 2020 |
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May 21, 2020 06:35
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Any free or cheap programs it there that helps you draw out woodworking plans? I used fusion 360 for a room I'm building
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Jun 2, 2020 21:17
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Bob Mundon posted:Time to redo a few sections of my fence. Luckily the fence poles are metal so the hard part is done, just have to replace rails and pickets. What kind of wood should I go with? Mahogany
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Jun 4, 2020 04:02
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Elysium posted:I just called my local lumber yard to ask about plywood prices, and they said they had 3/4 Baltic Birch in 5x5 for about $60. Is that a decent price? Actually I can’t remember now if he said 49 or 59. Looks good to me, but it depends on your location and the quality. My lumber yard of choice (hardwood & cabinetry specialist) has 5x5 sheets of 1/2" baltic birch for like $38 for a 5x5 (~$1.50/ft^2) and 4x8 sheets for $90 ($~2.80/ft^2). I think they do 3/4" for about the same as what you got quoted. I've used both (same machines, cutting tools, setups, toolpaths, feeds/speeds, etc.), and I can say that the results from the more expensive stuff are *vastly* superior. Far less tear-out, better surface finish, much less directionality to the edge finish. e: this is in the bay area, so probably towards the high end of the price spectrum HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Jun 6, 2020 |
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Jun 6, 2020 00:50
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Does anyone have experience building a door and frame from scratch? I'm building a shop/chillout room in my basement. I've got the framing and walls up, and I just need a door. It's a weird size, so I gotta go custom. My plan was: 1. Cut/attach doorjambs 2. Measure, make simple door out of plywood and kiln dried 1x4, cheap handset, and strap hinges (don't wanna deal with mortising) 3. Place hinges and catch plate, hang door How much of a gap should I leave between the frame and the door? What are some common pitfalls to watch out for?
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Jun 10, 2020 02:53
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eddiewalker posted:The drill chuck will pop right off and probably break your foot. They’re just a pressure fit into a taper. Was surprised to discover this the first time I assembled a drill press. Once I discovered this, I made drat sure all my heavy cuts were perfectly vertical. Never use a drill press for anything that exerts any significant radial force (endmills, turning... anything designed for a mill, router, or lathe)
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Jun 10, 2020 02:58
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I built a custom door for my workshop: Thanks for all the tips. Thankfully, I have a husband I can conscript to help me hang the door. And good thinking on giving the door a little extra, I guess you can always trim a little. I'll be sure to keep the fasteners away from the edge.
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Jun 10, 2020 07:16
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Anyone have experience making furniture? I'd like to make a reasonably quick-and-dirty loveseat for the room I just built. Cheap and comfortable are my two big goals. Not too concerned about aesthetics or nice materials (as long as nobody gets splinters in their wrists/rear end). Are there any books or design references folks would recommend? Advice? Recommendations?
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Jun 18, 2020 07:07
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Mr. Mambold posted:I'd still seal the wood because the way salt preserves is by dehydration. Maybe oak flavored salt is a cool thing, idk. My mouth is watering at the thought of hickory salt...
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Jun 20, 2020 02:30
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Anyone ever mill up a log into slabs ( e.g. Matthew Cremona)? I may have a line on some fallen redwood, madrone, and oak and I am considering putting out tentacles to people with the infrastructure to mill and transport a few of them so I can make things like live edge tables and whatnot.
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Jun 20, 2020 22:21
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Hypnolobster posted:Custom sawing is somewhat expensive, but if you're after slabs in particular it's cost-efficient vs buying outright. One of the best things you can do is to have a lot of very good logs all ready to go before calling a mobile sawyer, because you're paying time for setup and break down, so the more logs you can jam through the mill, the lower the effective cost per boardfoot. Awesome! Thanks for the advice everyone, I will investigate further. Can anyone tell me what they paid to have logs milled? Or where I can find such info? I have zero idea how much this would cost, orders of magnitudes would be nice
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Jun 21, 2020 18:27
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Anyone have a good venue for us to convene when this site goes down? I hate dealing with craft forums, too many assholes named Jim that have the troll baby as their avatar
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Jun 25, 2020 07:02
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shovelbum posted:Lowtax livestreaming with alt-right guys and "live-banning" trans ppl Jesus gently caress. ok you folks are lovely, but I am never reloading this site again. Say hi if you hop over to b&r.
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Jun 26, 2020 04:14
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What are folks' experiences with panels of multiple species? What should I watch out for? Under what conditions do you tend to run into problems with them moving at different rates? I'm thinking of making a bread board out of hickory and cherry, both of which have been kiln dried and sitting in a shop around 60%-70% humidity for the last few months.
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Nov 23, 2020 06:32
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I got a cheap table saw recently (ridgid 4514). Apart from the obvious adjustments (square blade to table, square fence to blade, line up riving knife), what components might need tuning or adjustment right out of the box?
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Dec 2, 2020 22:16
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I strongly considered buying and refurbing an old table saw with a cast iron table, but nobody on CL posts model #s, so you don't know if the one you got is a candidate for retrofitting with niceties like a riving knife. That, and I don't have space to permanently install it somewhere in my shop, so it needs to be mobile (read: less than 200 lb). Idk, maybe I'll refurb old iron next time, but for now I just wanted something safe that works
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Dec 3, 2020 03:53
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Blistex posted:I've known people who have bought craftsman table saws (1950-60s) and have dumped enough money in aftermarket parts to buy a new Grizzly cabinet-style table saw. If you're going the vintage route, read up on the parts you need to make it safe and useful. (belts, riving knives, fence, inserts, guards, possibly a new motor, etc.) When you're done all you might have left from the original is a table top. This is one of two things that made me stop looking on Craigslist for old iron. Of all those table saws on CL, few of them came with a fence, none of them had a riving knife or guard, and who knows what kind of shape the motor, spindle, bearings, arbor etc. are in. Would rather not buy the Table Saw of Theseus and pay for the privilege. CommonShore posted:What I'm not sure about is whether older table saws are any good in the first place. From what I understand, the motor is going to be very heavy and underpowered compared to a modern counterpart, and a lot of them can't be retrofitted with a riving knife short of re-machining the table to accommodate it. HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Dec 3, 2020 |
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Dec 3, 2020 05:07
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What have you found to be the most broadly useful jigs/equipment to make for a table saw? I'm working on a crosscut sled, miter sled, jointing sled, assorted push sticks/blocks, zero-clearance insert, and project-specific workholding jigs this weekend. Projects immediately over the horizon: End grain cheese board & coaster sets, side grain dough board, plywood/hardwood bookcase, picnic table, kitchen cupboard, and hopefully prod/entice my housemates to replace their jacked-up back deck stairs. My biggest issues usually revolve around getting safe, repeatable cuts in comparatively long/thin workpieces, getting jointed surfaces in long/thin stock, and getting precise cuts in small workpieces. Oh, and how do you get a no-slip workholding surface that doesn't introduce too much squish/unevenness? I've been cutting up no-slip carpet pad and putting that under clamped stock, but I want something I can just apply to a crosscut sled or push block. I'm wondering if there's like thin-coat rubbery paint or spray-on rubbery surface or something like that. Stultus Maximus posted:Dilute bleach is what I've used. I remember seeing something about how traditional wooden cheesemaking equipment is far less likely to produce cheese with harmful microorganisms when starting with unpasteurized milk. I can't imagine how wooden cutting boards can be sanitary for anything but cutting up stuff that's going to be cooked immediately after, but this wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong about stuff like this. HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 07:35
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Well I got injured at work so now I have more time to stop and plan out my projects. For a table saw sled, what's good material for the base? I was thinking of picking up some combi-core plywood (hardwood veneer, mdf underneath, softwood veneer core). The alternative is 3/4" baltic birch. My thinking is the combi-core is likely to stay flatter and more consistent as time goes on, but the rest of the BB is more broadly useful. Also, does anyone have a good resource for starting out with hand planes? I want to be able to properly flatten everything from tabletops to coasters....
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Dec 11, 2020 08:20
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Nice! looks like a ton of great resources. Yeah until I have free use of my thumb again, this seems like a great time to bone up on basics....
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Dec 11, 2020 21:53
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On the topic of jigsaws and the like, how useful is a jigsaw? What can it realistically do? Can you cut curved profiles in 4/4 HW or 3/4 BB? And is a bandsaw useful for cutting profiles without a drill press to relieve corners? Can a cheap bandsaw be tuned well enough to resaw?
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Dec 13, 2020 19:31
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JEEVES420 posted:I bought my drill press many years ago for the purpose of using it as a Mill. I wouldn't exactly call it accurate but for rough milling it works really well. For everyone in the stands, be very careful with this. The spindle bearings and the chuck taper are designed for axial (up the centerline of the tool) force only. Using end mills or router bits in a drill press can cause the chuck & taper to dislodge from the spindle while running, flinging a 3 lb chunk of steel in any direction at high speed. It'll also wear the poo poo out of the spindle bearings. Drill presses are designed to handle some radial (sideways) force from surprises and uneven surfaces, but only so much. E: ughh I dread shopping for power tools. Short of spending hours on YouTube searching for up-to-date teardown videos where they look at the product in detail (mold quality, bearing fit, play in precision surfaces, etc.), it's hard to stay informed on this stuff. Anyone got recs for finding this kind of stuff out? HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Dec 17, 2020 |
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Dec 17, 2020 22:46
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JEEVES420 posted:Yeah, I should of said I bought a drill press for metal not wood and took extremely < .5mm passes. I wouldn't exactly try it with a Wen or porter cable. The biggest issue is that drill press tapers (where the spindle transmits force to the chuck) tend to be press-fit. This works because the forces of drilling keep the taper firmly pressed into position. Heavy radial loads (heavy cuts/accidents) can break this press fit. Milling machines usually have tapers that are bolted into the spindle. They also have bearings that are made for heavy combined axial/radial loads (angular contact bearings on cheap/high speed spindles, tapered roller bearings for the rest). I'm not going to tell you what to do in your own shop, I just want newcomers that are considering this to think twice.
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Dec 17, 2020 22:57
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When building jigs and whatnot with extrusions, how do you deal with straightness? The ones I'd get from mcmaster for work were kinda wavy (a few mm in any direction over a few feet), and I'm wondering if you just use them to support a precision surface or what. Do you just build framing with extrusions, then use turnbuckles/jackscrews to fine-tune the flatness/coplanarity of an overlying precision surface?
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Dec 19, 2020 23:22
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How much does a decent starter set of hand planes go for? What are some OK brands to start with? I want to get a set instead of spending $600+ on a jointer & planer, but from what I was seeing, a good set of 3-4 hand planes can cost that much or more.
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Dec 21, 2020 02:32
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How are folks handling the obscene price of wood? What kind of price increases have you been seeing in your area? I was going to buy some ACX plywood for a minor construction project, and it is current up 2.5x - 3x from last year (retail, norcal). Softwood at least 2x. Hardwood plywood more or less stable, oddly enough
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Apr 6, 2021 02:07
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Chiming in on prices as of this weekend, my local (expensive, bay area) California lumber shop is still about the same prices on all of the fine woodworking stock (hardwood dimensional lumber, higher quality hardwood plywood), up 10% at most. Cheaper stuff for cabinetry is up 30 - 50%
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Apr 27, 2021 20:41
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I've got access to a cnc router again, which I am very stoked about. Has anyone done much with cutting dimensioned hardwood lumber on a cnc router? I've done a fair bit of cutting in BB ply, which is generally easy and predictable. I have a bunch of hardwood lumber I wanna cycle out of my What kinda issues should I watch out for? Less consistency w/r/t flatness & thickness is an obvious one. Would grain direction & knots be a pitfall? Is a bed leveling bit likely to produce a decently level surface without too much tearout on a board's face? E: to clarify, the scale I'm thinking is 4/4 or 5/4 stock, maybe 7"- 12" wide, with workpieces 2' - 4' long. Woods probably hickory, maple, oak & cherry HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 20:38 on May 28, 2021 |
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May 28, 2021 20:24
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Can wood movement from seasonal changes in indoor humidity break glue joints if you're using water-resistant glue? Where I am, humidity ranges from 15% - 100% seasonally (dry summers, wet winters). I ask because I'm about to assemble a table from a scrap of edge-grain butcher block countertop, and I'm debating whether to glue or pocket screw some of the parts.
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May 31, 2021 05:34
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Holy poo poo, good to know. Is this just an issue with glue joints that are more likely to see relative moment between the joined components (dissimilar woods, non-aligned grain orientations, etc.) or do you have to watch out for this in like panel glue-ups?Bloody posted:Bear in mind that your wood cares about absolute moisture, not rh, if you're working across temperature ranges Oh wow. The difference between the usual swings we see here (95% at 58F indoors vs 12% at 100F indoors) is only a factor of 2.
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May 31, 2021 07:51
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Went to the wood shop yesterday and it looks like prices for specialty ply are finally catching up. Pretty much all of the hardwood-veneered cabinetry ply I saw is up 2x or more, maple multi-ply & cheap BB up maybe 50-60%. HW lumber seemed more or less flat. Oak seemed like it went up a bit, but pretty much all hardwood lumber they stock hasn't moved yet, though some stocks were depleted. (bay area, so expensive, but still)
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Jun 3, 2021 06:23
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I haven't been following the thread for a long while. I'm curious if tools are still expensive and difficult to procure, particularly hand planes. A few projects I'd like to work on involve planing either individual boards or larger surfaces for gluing, and any combo of power jointer or planer is out of the question (shop space if not money) I have a table saw, miter saw and router table that serve most of my needs, but I'd like to add hand planes to my arsenal. I'm curious what I can expect to pay to own a starter set of decent (above harbor freight grade, below professional grade) hand planes. Would I be well-served to start with just a jack plane and jointer plane? How much could I expect to spend? I don't think buying used would be a good option, since I wouldn't know what I'm getting, and I don't want to get into tool restoration before learning how to use the tools.
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Oct 24, 2021 03:30
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Thanks for the advice, all. I'm going with a new Stanley No. 5, will see how that goes.
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Oct 24, 2021 22:55
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Leperflesh posted:Did you already buy this? Because if not, the thread would like to caution you about brand new Stanley planes. I considered it, and went with new because: 1. I only buy used when I have experience using the tool and can assess the price/quality/etc. 2. I looked for it on CL/Ebay/FB and the buying process itself is a ton of work and uncertainty (extremely picked over market locally) or it's $120+ for a tool of (to me) unknown condition or waiting for an indeterminate period of time for a "deal" to pop up, which I'm not willing to do before every actually handling the tool I know what everyone is going to say but tbh I don't think it's reasonable to expect everyone that's fresh out of the gate to deal with that.
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Oct 25, 2021 19:33
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Leperflesh posted:No that's all quite reasonable: it's just that Stanley isn't one of the brands this thread recommends for new tools. I'm afraid you may wind up with a new tool that takes just as much work to clean up and use, as a used tool of ultimately better quality. I'll keep it in mind. At the end of the day, I'd rather constrain the range of potential problems to those of buying new (quality control, shipping damage, etc.) than those of buying used (waiting poring over listing , not knowing what I'm looking at, tool has dings or rust from negligence, dealing with sellers, etc).
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Oct 25, 2021 20:08
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