What did you do in your shop today?

Got the presentation frame for the old telegraph key completed and delivered. The customer like it. Made from pine crown moulding with the CN cherry recipe dye applied, coated with spray poly.

Did some preliminary dye work on the stock of a Romanian AR. Customer wasn't sure of exactly what he wanted, so before I did any sanding I did half the one side in green dye, half of the other side in red (his colors) then the front half of both sides of the stock was done with cherry dye and I also put that over 1/2 the colors. He decided on the green under cherry, but wanted the green to show up a bit more.

Got about 1/2 done with a flip top tool stand. The planer and the scroll saw will go on this one.

Got the replacement security camera mounted. Now I get a good look at the falling snow.

Oh, and added reinforcement to the new battery/propane frame for the camper. Adding both a second battery and a second propane tank. Still need to do a bit of wiring to hook the batteries together and get the charge controller set up for the solar charger, but it's looking pretty good for now.
 
Got about 1/2 done with a flip top tool stand. The planer and the scroll saw will go on this one.

Now that's something I'll be interested in seeing a thread on once you get it made.
 
Now that's something I'll be interested in seeing a thread on once you get it made.

Well, it's a little late to start taking pictures, but I can start doing that now. The first part isn't much more than cutting up the sheet of plywood anyhow so there's not a lot to show there. Sure most folks are familiar with gluing and screwing plywood together anyhow.
 
I was going to do some wood turning today, but thought.......gee I sure could use some new chisels. So I decided to start making some on the ole south bend. So I oiled her up and had at it. It was a fun day in the shop doing a little machining, had so much fun running the south bend that I made a bunch of extra blanks to sell as well. Running the south bend is just an absolute joy! This was the longest I ran her since the restore, I ran it about 5 hours straight and the bearing caps never even got warm. It tickled me to see oil running out of the shafts and dripping on the machine, that told me it was getting properly lubed. I put the 4 jaw independent chuck back on and ground up a hss cutter and set it up in the tool holder. I played with the speeds and depth of cuts as well. I love the smell of cutting oil! :yipee: It's like gun oil and solvent, or wd 40, or marvel mystery oil. I know that's weird. :dunno: So here's a few pics...........

First three pics are of the lathe running and making a cut. Turning square stock round for the handle end of the chisels.
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I said I was going to use this lathe and get her dirty, it's not an art or museum piece. She's covered with oil and chips and being used as it was meant to. I think it's as close to running a brand new 1949 lathe as you can get. It just flat out works. :biggrin:
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I used this cart during the restore of the lathe, now it has been re purposed as a machinist cart. Some of my machining tools are on it, oils for the lathe, some steel stock etc. I can pull it out when I want to use the lathe or mill and push it back between the mill and lathe when I'm done.
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This is what I am starting to work on, 3/8" square cold rolled stock.
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If I turn the ends round it will make it easier to handle them when they are done. Just drill a 3/8" hole in the end of the handle and epoxy them in.
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Was a fun day in the shop. :biggrin:
What did you guys do in the shop today?

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Well after the shop is not bad here

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So here are a couple of pictures on the flip top table.

This is the state it was in when I was asked about showing it.

There will be a drawer in the bottom. Have to make a run to get the slides for that yet.

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Here is what those two notches in the sides are for. That's just a couple of pieces of oak that I happened to have around.

Those will get screwed in later.

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The plans call for a routered groove, but judicial use of the table saw seemed to work just fine.

The layers are glued and screwed.

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To lock it in place just takes a couple of barrel bolts. In the plan they're mounted directly to the table top and a hole is drilled into the support. I added a spacer block and put the catch on the outside.

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Now to finish building the drawer and mounting the tools.
 
Building the boss a new sewing table ... This is what solid surface is like when you put the router to it .....snow everywhere !!! Bottom pic is my hand ... Pretty much entire body covered with same amount ... image.webp image.webp image.webp
 
I cleaned and organized my turning corner last night - one handed. Found out this morning that, while I didn't break anything, I did partially tear either a ligament or a muscle in my left shoulder. Healing time of at least 4 to 6 weeks. Really light duty the first part of that. But, doctor did clear me to do some small projects in the shop when I start feeling up to it - said the movement and work will be good for helping my shoulder heal. Thankful it'll only be another week or two out of the shop!
 
Here is what I got done Yesterday and this morning. Finished a coupe dozen 2 color Teacher Pens (This is just one of the trays), got some Seam Rippers done, and stated setting up some stamp blanks for my fist castings. Have some great sheets of stamps from the mid 90's on plus some blocks of 4 that were from 1959-63 Hoping to get to casting on Monday if I can get my molds built. I have a single 2 pocket for these but figure it'll be easier if I have it set up to do a bunch at once.

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I know it isn't because I saw the description in another thread, but in that light the frame favors purpleheart in color (although you can see the pine grain). You might want to consider installing an additional lower shelf and laying 4 or 5 bags of sackcrete on it. You will love the difference. A lightweight bench can be a real pain for handwork especially a top-heavy one (with tools & clamps & project/s it will be top-heavier even). Nice work on it.
 
Yes sir, just a little one! Next up is the drum sander. Hopefully with your excellent advice I'll get that going soon! Tony
Tony, if you have problem with a grizzly drum sander with the paper staying on, Grizzly has a kit to cover the steel rolls with velcro so you don't have to use those clips to hold the paper on the rolls. Made a big improvement in my sander.
 
Tony, if you have problem with a grizzly drum sander with the paper staying on, Grizzly has a kit to cover the steel rolls with velcro so you don't have to use those clips to hold the paper on the rolls. Made a big improvement in my sander.

Thanks Curt, I have a few other kinks that I need to work on, but I do plan to upgrade to the Velcro package after everything else is ready. Tony
 
Worked on using up some of my odds and ends and made a bunch of bookmarks. Then took the older kids to see Deadpool at the theater.

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Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time opening up lots and lots of little zip lock bags :sarcastic: Then glued up almost 200 blanks for an order. I'll get them all milled to length today and start turning. The only kink is they don't want delivery until late March so it'll be a bit before I get paid.

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Wowzerz man......are they going to be laser engraved also?
 
I cleaned and organized my turning corner last night - one handed. Found out this morning that, while I didn't break anything, I did partially tear either a ligament or a muscle in my left shoulder. Healing time of at least 4 to 6 weeks. Really light duty the first part of that. But, doctor did clear me to do some small projects in the shop when I start feeling up to it - said the movement and work will be good for helping my shoulder heal. Thankful it'll only be another week or two out of the shop!

Welcome to the rotator cuff club....
I have the same thing cept chipped pieces parts floating around. Also I just found out there's a couple of pinched nerves in my neck from the last surgery....oh...yay.

Don't over exert it. If it hurts, stop.
 
Almost finished a couple of Model Ts.

Still need some ¾" dowel for headlights.

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There's also the question of color.

And yes, it's a crappy picture. The workmanship also leaves a bit to be desired. These were done so I could see how difficult they are to make and whether or not it's worth making them for the craft fair. Learned a lot by doing them, little tricks to make it easier in the future.

I did the truck second and I used an air nailer with some small brads from the bottom to help hold the pieces in place. I used it for the axle holders as well. Luckily I figured out before the glue dried that having small brads through the middle of the hole the axle goes through might make future assembly a bit more difficult than it ought to be.
 
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