What did you do in your shop today?

Had a little problem with curved, warped plywood. Oh well, just a little design adjustment. My planer will go on the flip side.

Gorgeous day, almost 50.
 

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Turned this and hollowed it. Then drew some lines on it.

PXL_20230114_213409087.webp

Got out my Dremel with a bit and did this.

PXL_20230114_215343968.webp

Then got a different bit and did this.

PXL_20230114_221723919.webp

Don't really know what I'm doing, but will figure it out along the way. Next step is pulling out some rasps and seeing what kind of damage I can do with them.
 
I got lucky in the shop today. Had a piece of 1/8" hardboard kick back off the table saw - piece was about 12" x 24". My right pinky stopped it from nailing me in the gut. Just got a very small chunk of skin taken out of my finger and will have a small bruise - a band-aid and some tape and I was back in business.

It was entirely my fault. Pieces that thin will sometimes go under my fence on the table saw. So I usually clamp a board to the fence that goes down to the saw top, with no gap, when cutting thin pieces. When cutting one piece, I will sometimes not put the board in place and haven't had an issue with that until today.

I did clamp a board to the fence to cut a new piece.
 
Just so I don't sit on my butt all day watching football.....I went out and put my new blade on the bandsaw. All ready to cut some bowl blanks now!
Amazing how full sunshine makes it feel a little warmer.
 
Today I finished up the 72 pieces of what my customer calls spheres 4 x 6" in Poplar. The picture I'm showing only shows 9 parts, but there are 27 more under the 9, plus there is another box with 36 in it.


I used 8/4 poplar sanded down to 2" thick on both pieces to make 4" thick. Each piece was 6 1/4" wide x 6' long. I set up my clamps and proceeded to apply glue and get them clamped.
IMG_4530.jpeg

The next day, I cut each one to 6 1/4 square, and then headed over to the drill press to drill the center hole. I used a 3/8" Kreg bit. IMG_4443.jpeg

After the holes were drilled, took the pieces over to the miter saw and cut the corners. This was a dangerous situation as I tied up the guard so I could pull the saw down into the wood. The guard hinge was defective from the factory which causes the saw to be difficult to pull down into the cut. After it passes that bad spot, it works great. I only cut myself about 8 times. The worst was I actually made contact with the blade while it was still turning, but it was just about stopped and only got a 1/2" long scratch on my forefinger. All the other cuts were when I would reach up to grab the handle and trigger and got scratches from the teeth. IMG_4426.jpeg


The parts are now ready to be turned. .

IMG_4446.jpeg

The next 3 pics are of my mandrel I made with one of the parts ready to be turned. Both of the mandrel parts have the same end. If I would have been a little more intelligent at the time, I should have made the head stock end with an MT2 instead of having the mandrel fit into a chuck.
IMG_4432.jpeg IMG_4429.jpeg

These two are the first and I'll sand the centers later. These need to get over to Missouri so the customer can send them to Florida so they can be chrome plated.
IMG_4422.jpeg

Here it is. This is a sample for the actual recipient to look at and determine whether that's what they envisioned. Of the 72 I'm sending to Florida, 62 will actually be chromed, and the others will be plated with different colors of chrome.
1673817648324.png
These are going to a Marriot Hotel. I don't know where yet, but will get that info when they get installed. I will also recieve 2 of these pieces for myself. ................ Jerry (in Tucson)
 
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Cool project Jerry! Had no idea that wood could be plated like that.

Do you have a specific tolerance on the shape/size of the spheres? If they will be hung(?) separately, I'd guess it would be less critical.

Wonder how the seasonal expansion/contraction affects the plating. Maybe before plating process they are held in controlled environ, plated, and the plating completely seals the wood making movement a moot point?
 
Today I finished up the 72 pieces of what my customer calls spheres 4 x 6" in Poplar. The picture I'm showing only shows 9 parts, but there are 27 more under the 9, plus there is another box with 36 in it.


I used 8/4 poplar sanded down to 2" thick on both pieces to make 4" thick. Each piece was 6 1/4" wide x 6' long. I set up my clamps and proceeded to apply glue and get them clamped.
View attachment 236339

The next day, I cut each one to 6 1/4 square, and then headed over to the drill press to drill the center hole. I used a 3/8" Kreg bit. View attachment 236343

After the holes were drilled, took the pieces over to the miter saw and cut the corners. This was a dangerous situation as I tied up the guard so I could pull the saw down into the wood. The guard hinge was defective from the factory which causes the saw to be difficult to pull down into the cut. After it passes that bad spot, it works great. I only cut myself about 8 times. The worst was I actually made contact with the blade while it was still turning, but it was just about stopped and only got a 1/2" long scratch on my forefinger. All the other cuts were when I would reach up to grab the handle and trigger and got scratches from the teeth.View attachment 236350


The parts are now ready to be turned. .

View attachment 236344

The next 3 pics are of my mandrel I made with one of the parts ready to be turned. Both of the mandrel parts have the same end. If I would have been a little more intelligent at the time, I should have made the head stock end with an MT2 instead of having the mandrel fit into a chuck.
View attachment 236345 View attachment 236348

These two are the first and I'll sand the centers later. These need to get over to Missouri so the customer can send them to Florida so they can be chrome plated.
View attachment 236351

Here it is. This is a sample for the actual recipient to look at and determine whether that's what they envisioned. Of the 72 I'm sending to Florida, 62 will actually be chromed, and the others will be plated with different colors of chrome.
View attachment 236356
These are going to a Marriot Hotel. I don't know where yet, but will get that info when they get installed. I will also recieve 2 of these pieces for myself. ................ Jerry (in Tucson)
How fine do you sand it? 220?
 
Well I actually got in my shop today, but not for wood working, lol. I'm working on my ebike, fabing up a new front fender for it. Yesterday was exactly 1 year since it was delivered by ups. No pics as I was shooting video with the gopro. When it's done I'll post the vid if anybody interested.
 
Interesting. Never seen wood chromed like that. Must be some sort of ceiling / lighting fixture?
If it's anything like the last job I did like that, this is a room divider, possibly in a lobby of the place it's going to. Marriot is on the drawing of this new job.

Below is a drawing of the last job I did like that. It went into the Fremont Hotel. I thought it was in Fremont, Ca., but it could be the one in Las Vegas. That's the only one I found. Below is what the concept was, and when I went to Missouri to set it up for shipping, it was put together just like the concept. Those that look like a saw edge are individual pieces stacked to achieve a certain look. Originally they were going to be one piece with all that turning to achieve the look, but I convinced them to go with stack-able parts. Worked much better that way. A television was installed where "Option B" is printed.

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Below is what this job is supposed to look like. The grey balls are the Chrome parts, and I suppose the other colors are what the rest will look like. I'll get Derek to send me some pictures after the install.
1673825502767.webp

In his message to me, if you read the second to last sentence where he states he thought I was done and ready to ship. I was done and ready to sand all to 220, but he made a statement that the recipient thought the pieces were to be 3 1/2" thick instead of 4". I stopped what I was doing and waited until he gave me the correct thickness, 4" before I continued. Anyway, got all done and will ship tomorrow. .......... Jerry (in Tucson)
 
Cool project Jerry! Had no idea that wood could be plated like that.

Do you have a specific tolerance on the shape/size of the spheres? If they will be hung(?) separately, I'd guess it would be less critical.

Wonder how the seasonal expansion/contraction affects the plating. Maybe before plating process they are held in controlled environ, plated, and the plating completely seals the wood making movement a moot point?
Apparently, Spectra Chrome is the only one doing it because they were the only company to come up in my search.

My post above has a concept of what it is supposed to be. All thread rod through the pieces with 3/4" tube spacers different lengths.

As far as the finish holding up over time, that's something for me to see. But, time better hurry as I don't have a whole lot left, I think. They do several things to seal the wood, and I know Epoxy is one of the things, and then the final is a spray. ........... Jerry (in Tucson)
 
Apparently, Spectra Chrome is the only one doing it because they were the only company to come up in my search.

My post above has a concept of what it is supposed to be. All thread rod through the pieces with 3/4" tube spacers different lengths.

As far as the finish holding up over time, that's something for me to see. But, time better hurry as I don't have a whole lot left, I think. They do several things to seal the wood, and I know Epoxy is one of the things, and then the final is a spray. ........... Jerry (in Tucson)
The epoxy will lock the moisture level into a stable place. Even if it can change, it will do so very little and very slowly.
As far as time left, I doubt too many of us here are able to promise anyone tomorrow...
We take what we are given, and use it, sometimes well, and sometimes we just use it up...
Looks like you are still finding interesting projects to get stuck off into so, I reckon that would be time well spent.
 
Hard to get one to look like I want, can’t imagine 72.
C'Mon, Bill, you can do it if you put your mind to it. It's 30 hours of pure boredom, after the second or third piece. I have 8 more to make that will go to Missouri, and should have done them and been done 2 hours ago, but, there is always tomorrow. .............. Jerry (in Tucson)
 
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