Friday, July 6, 2018

Setting up Grampa's workshop

Well, with all that heat wave is bringing, my yard works is really slowing down.  Time to retreat to the shop downstairs and setting it up for the grand kids.

I just need to clear the floor, tidy up and set up a few human powered machines and voila!

There you go, floor is cleared, and the beam went to..??

Another good reason to get into hand or foot operated woodworking machinery, is that it is a lot easier and safer for the kids :-)

First up to bat was that 6X6 beam lying on the floor
Took some quick measurements and cross cut both ends.  Hopefully I cut enough to get rid of some of the worse twist.

My first idea was to cross cut it using my circular saw, but I negated that because it would make quite a mess in my shop. I do not need bigger messes right now, thank you.
So I figured, lets go old school, using a Disston D7 cross cut saw

Tracking pretty good

And done. According to my phone time stamps, 
that took about 1 and a half minutes. Not bad

Cutting the other end

Nice square cuts, effortlessly.
A well sharpen and set saw is a lot easier...

And what about less messy?  Well, it may had been if I did not steps into the saw dust piles and track it everywhere… it seems... Oups!

That done, it was easy to prop up the beam by myself, my measurements paid off

First location I tried.
Too close to the door

Where it is located from previous pic, have room to move it 
on the other side of joist blocking

Where it is currently moved to.
I like the clearances around it

And it is boxed in between the floor joist and the blocking piece.
Should be plenty strong to hold on. The deep slot in the bottom cement block 
makes it pretty secured as is, but will of course fasten the top with lag bolts or something

Well, once clamped on top, the bottom of the post twisted inward to the left
But there is enough of a flat surface on the side I need (RH)
Will see when I test fit the backboard

Next up is to move the Post drill from the garage to... eventually the shop in the basement.
I would like to strip it and repaint it, lubricate it and yadi yada but I want to set it up pretty well as is, it is after all in good working condition.  So for the sake of expediency, I am simply going to take it out and address a few issues., before hanging it up

Can you see it??

Yes, that back board has developed quite a bow introducing twist

Will make a new board for it out of a piece of 2X6 or 2X8

The back board was fasten to a post by two lag bolts on top, and...

One at the bottom.  May be I'll put two at the bottom also 
to prevent or minimized further twist (??)

So for now, I will take it off its board, do a quick degunking/cleaning with Krud cutter (outside :-)
Maybe this week-end ??

I will source or make a large container to gives the parts a soaking in Evaporust later on.

Up to bat next was my little scroll saw from Delta. That should be lots of fun with the kids, but in order to use it properly, it need to be secured down.

Found a leftover piece of glued up maple of a suitable size.
Again, my first thought was to run to the base woodshop and quickly crosscut it to size on the table saw.
BUT, again, keeping with the theme :--) decided to cleared the saw bench and went at it with a Disston D8 ripping beast. Not the fastest in hard maple but it made quick work.
Did not bother with lines, just quick scribbles on the board and saw...

Well, I'm pretty sure a line would had been a good thing caused I went out in La La Land and veered off. OK no sweat (said the man in a 32C workshop), I will just comes in from the other side and a quick plane pass would erase all...

Well, not really, quite a la la land distance

OK, screw it, just split the difference :-)

I may be blind but I can follow a line blindly, without any line... all bets are off :-)

I want to screw in a batten on the underside, so I can secured it in my leg vise or on top of the bench with one holdfast

Screw to that piece of wood, it should be less prone to tip off.

Found a suitable piece of hardwood for the batten


But that is were I quitted, the humidity is getting to me and I'm running out of clean T-Shirts...

Next I would love to find a foot or hand operated mortise machine, a pedal powered scroll saw and such :-)

First project for now in Grampa's shop would be to make or find some proper stands for the little ones to stand on at the proper height at the bench and drill press and so on.

And since I made my Super HD saw bench as a mortise, drilling and  etc. bench, I should be able to let them work on it more easily. It is currently resting on removable shoes, since I have yet to settled on a "proper height for me".
Translation: When I built it, I goofed and somehow transposed the height as 16 inches instead of my planned 19 inches... Oups.  I simply add a pairs of shoes under to raised it, but I found that I can work at 16 without much problems.

Bob's Grampa workshop, opening soon


2 comments:

  1. Man, I love the look of that hand-powered scroll saw. Would love to know how well it works!

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  2. Hi Matt
    Well actually it works pretty darn good, once you secured it down. Otherwise you need three hands :-)
    Look under my label Delta, there are two blog entries on that little saw.
    Some saw I'll say! :-)

    Bob, about to go on a road trip with the little ones, and Rudy, and Jean :-)

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