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Monday, February 10, 2014

Setup to rout cabinet door lips with the SRK

Im still working on an appliance garage for our kitchen (this has been a long project due to many conflicts and the complexity of the cabinet). I needed to rout the cabinet door lip on the bottom doors, and wanted to use my EZ Smart Router Kit (SRK). Since there could be no vertical movement of the bit, I knew I would have to firmly hold down the router. But since I would need both hands to feed the doors, the SRK needed to be held down by some other means. Usually, the EZ guys screw down the SRK once it is adjusted for the cut, but I couldnt do this since I wanted to make the cut in multiple passes to get a very clean cut. My final setup is similar to the "router tunnel" that the EZ guys normally use, except that there is not a fence opposite the bit, only one on the bit side. I have created the following presentation as a test using Google Docs, but you can also see the photos of my setup here.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

One Down One To Go

I ended up laying a total of six coats of amber shellac on this block of wood sanding in between the first couple with 220 grit and between the remaining with 320. I left it a couple of days to set and then I had a good look at it. I wasnt so happy. It had great colour, the finish was even, but it lacked depth and had way too many brush marks. I decided to just sand the hell out of it, starting with 220, moving to 320 and finishing with fine steel wool. I figured if I sanded through the finish it didnt matter as I was going to have to lay on more coats anyway. While I didnt end up sanding through the finish, I did cause some serious differences in the colour.

While I was working away on this I got an email from a friend who had viewed the last post and he wanted information about applying shellac. I told him it was easy, forgiving and fast drying, all the things guys like us want in a finishing product, among other things. He mentioned how he had bought a French Polish kit from Lee Valley, but after reading the instructions, he though it was probably too difficult. Now theres a word that makes me sit up and take notice, "difficult".

Back on line I read about four or five articles about this process and he was right, it did sound difficult, not to mention time consuming. From what I gathered, building up the finish was the worst part of the process, but hey, I already had one didnt I? Out came the shellac and rags. I didnt have the suggested type of alcohol, but they said it was what Rubbing Alcohol that is used to clean monitors is made from, and I sure had some of that. I mixed up a batch; two parts shellac to one part rubbing alcohol, made myself a paddle from a rag and went to work. Wow. Incredible finish. The rag allows you to get it on evenly and without brush marks. The finish was beyond belief, so I was sold. I rubbed on three or four coats, let it dry, and I was ready for the final run.

Have you ever noticed that the smaller the job, the more Murphys law kicks in. Im sure it is because we get cocky - hey, its a small job, right? No big deal.

The next day I rubbed the entire block down with extra fine steel wool and Minwax Finishing Wax. I laid that stuff on like it was a buck a gallon, rubbing, laying on more wax and rubbing some more. I let it sit up for about a half hour and then, with a couple of the softest rags I could find, I started polishing. As I polished off the first bit of wax this incredibly bright, deep, highly glossed surface came through. It absolutely blew me away.

Once the wax was buffed I had an objective look. I shouldnt have done that, but looking at things objectively forces you to face your mistakes. I should have corrected that difference in colour before I continued on with my faux French Polish job. The colour difference was still there, but doubled. The finish was smooth, man, was it smooth. The surface was shiny, but the colour was blotchy and inconsistent. And therein lies the lesson - believe what the book tells you.

The shot at the top shows the rubbed out finish. You can see the differences in colour, especially on the right side and along the front bead. The three vertical faces, however, were even and smooth so I went with it. Its a drill index after all, and the top is just going to get drilled with a whole bunch of holes.

Once, when my son was visiting and we were checking out the tool cabinet, he said that when I was done, anyone will be able to follow the process of the build just by viewing the quality of the different pieces. The first piece I put the beading plane to was a disaster, but they eventually got better the more I did. My first set of hand-cut dovetails looks more like sloppy finger joints, but over time, they improved too. So now, when someone looks at this thing in the future, they will be able to say, "...and here is where he started to learn French Polishing".

I went with the finish and covered the entire thing with masking tape. There is three reasons for this. First, I would like to be able to complete the piece and put it into the cabinet finished before I smack it with something and bugger the finish. I figured if covering it with masking tape works on American Chopper when they are assembling a bike, it will work here too. The second reason for taping is to help minimize tear-out when I start to drill all those holes. Finally, the third reason is that I have to tape the template to the top for drilling and I want to completely cover the top with good, old carpet tape so the template will be held down flat and smooth. I love carpet tape and use it for almost everything, but it has one drawback - it really reaps havoc with the finish. Stick something down to a finished surface with carpet tape and you can bet when you lift it off, the surface will come with it. By covering the surface with the easy release, 5 day, green 3M tape, I wont have that problem.

This is the template I made up about seven months ago. I put it together in Illustrator, an Adobe vector program that I find just perfect for this type of thing. I just made a document slightly larger than the actual size of the block, then started making circles with cross-hairs in the middle, one for every bit that was to go in the index. It took a day of playing with positioning and alignment, but it worked out very well. Printed off on 11 x 17 stock, I just cut it down to fit the top of the block and taped it down. I was ready to drill.

So here is the finished product. The block has four feet made with a 3/4 inch tenon cutter. I drilled into the bottom of the block with a 3/4 inch Fostner bit, glued the dowels into them then set it on a piece of 80 grit sandpaper that was stuck to the glass plate I use for lapping my blades. After a few minutes of that, the block didnt rock and was stable, but more importantly, it had airspace beneath it for circulation.

Drilling the holes took me two afternoons, about eight hours in total. The eleven largest brad bits have a shoulder that I wanted the hole to follow so that was twenty-two goes just for them. The twists were straight shafts, so they were not quite as much work.

Originally I thought I would drill the hole with the same sized bit that the hole was to hold, then pour some water down it, let it sit to swell the wood, vacuum it out and then re-drill the hole so when it dried, it would be slightly larger. Ya, I know, sounds like a lot of work doesnt it? Surprisingly though, all of these holes were drilled with the same sized bit as the bit the hole holds, and drilled only once I might add. While it was a hassle to load a bit, drill one hole, then start the process over again, it really wasnt that bad. The only bits that didnt like their same sized hole were the ones smaller than 5/16th. All of these smaller holes had to be reamed twice with a little "giggle" to the block during the second reaming. Once drilled I coated the inside with wax to give some sealing to the inside walls of the hole. There is a lot of holes in it and they are pretty much aligned with each other and all are 1 3/4 inches deep leaving only a 1/4 inch at the bottom to hold together. I still have to make an index card for it, showing a numbered layout of the bits with a list of sizes below it.

This piece sits on a shelf on one of the doors of the cabinet. I have to do something to keep it in place when I open and close the door and that is where the round feet come in. I plan to make a female piece to match the front feet and fix those to the shelf. This is the reason for the flush ring handle - to lift the front of the block up out of those holders and bring it forward so I can grab it and lift it out.

I have no idea how long this thing will last as I could wake up tomorrow to find it split down the middle. Overall, I am very happy with the results. I finally no longer have to dig for a needed bit in those frustrating metal boxes. As with everything in this cabinet, the next one will be better.

One down - one to go...

Peace,

Mitchell

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

An Alternative To Tin Can Carts Part II

Once the pieces were cut to size and shape with a combination of track saw, table saw and miter saw. To cut the handles, I first drilled out each end using a hole saw, then I connected them with the jig saw. The bottoms and can retaining pieces first had their curved outer corners cut with jig saw. They were then refined on an oscillating belt sander. Finally the can holes were cut with a hole saw.

Lots of Caddy pieces.

It was at this point that I realized that I had cut the bottoms as two (2) pieces which would have the handle between them. Unfortunately, I cut the handles to fit on top of a single bottom piece. Once I realized this, I then cut and fabricate new bottoms to make up for it. Two (2) of the mistaken bottom pieces were used to make additional can retaining pieces. With an additional handle and bottom, this allowed me to make four (4) rather than three (3) can caddies.

The next step was to cut out for the cans. I accomplished with with a hole saw. In order to hold the pieces still, I made an impromptu jig with scrap plywood. I placed each piece against the jig, and then used a single clamp to lock it in place. I powered the hole saw with my old Milwaukee ½” drill. This was the first power tool I received as a gift when I bought my first house. I can’t say I use it often, but when I do, I’m reminded what a nice drill it is.

The old Milwaukee is a workhorse.

The jig held two faces of the parts. A single clamp locked them in.
The clamp in the background hold the jig to the bench.

The hole saws left a bit of burning on the inside edge of the can holes, so I next took the can retaining pieces over to the oscillating spindle sander and cleaned up the inside of each hole. Unfortunately, I lost hold of one (1) of the pieces while doing this, and managed to break the fence lock-down nut on the sander. Shame on me for leaving it in place.

Be carefull of spinning can retaining pieces.

Now that all the pieces were completely cut to size and shape, I took out my trim router and put an ⅛” roundover on all the outside edges and the can holes and handle. ⅛” isn’t much, but I find it’s just right for easing a hard edge without making it too soft (especially in ½” material).

A simple 1/8" roundover makes the edges much friendlier to touch.

In order assembly the tin can caddies, I used 4mm Dominos to joint the bottom and can retaining pieces to the handle. Since the Dominos penetrated in more than ¼”, I ofsett them relative to each other so that the Dominos of each can retaining piece wouldn’t hit the opposite one in the handle.

Setting the Domino against a fence is an easy way for accurate joinery.

Lots of parts and lots of Dominos.

For glue-up, I simply used parallel clamps. I left the Dominos to keep the parts square. They did a pretty good job of this. All of the tin can caddies look square to the eye and are certainly close enough when put against an actual square.

The Dominos were all it took to keep the pieces square.

For the finish, I wanted to try something new (to me). I use boiled linseed oil. While I’ve heard many things about how heating your BLO allows it to penetrate better, I simply followed the instructions on the can and cut it 2 to 1 with mineral spirits. I then applied it heavily with a rag, and kept applying to keep it wet for 15 minutes. Then I wiped it off and let the tin can caddies dry. I’m still on the fence about how I feel about BLO as a finish, but for this project it was certainly a success. The tin can caddies have a nice warm tone to them.

The BLO sample is to the left (almost faded out by the flash).

The finished Tin Can Caddies.

With the caddies done, it’s now up to my wife to decorate some cans and give them to her crafting friends.

An Alternative To Tin Can Carts: Part I

Sunday, January 26, 2014

An Alternative To Tin Can Carts Part I

My wife is a crafter . . . she’s crafty? . . . she makes things and shops at Michael’s.

Before Christmas she pinned a tin can caddy on Pinterest and asked me if I could make some. She planned to decorate some tin cans for her crafting friends to use as storage and organizers. The caddy would allow them to take the cans to scrap booking parties and the like. Of course I accepted the challenge and set about looking at the tin can caddy my wife had pinned.

The original caddy.

The caddy on Pinterest has six (6) cans arranged in two (2) rows. Three (3) on each side of the center plywood handle. Based on the photo, it wasn’t entirely clear how the cans are attached to the center handle. My guess is either short screws near the top or glue.

When I discussed the can attachment issue with my wife, I explained that I didn’t think a single short screw near the top would be good enough (especially as it would allow the cans to twist and the screws would work loose). I broached the idea of embedding magnet in the center so the cans would be removable. This was vetoed, but the idea of removable and swappable cans appeal to my wife. I finally settled on having a bottom to support the cans and a top ring to keep the cans attached to the handle.

My design would be made from ½” Baltic Birch plywood. Each Can Caddy would have a center handle piece, a single bottom which would run under the handle and extend out on both sides and two (2) upper can retaining pieces (1 on each side).

Laying out the height of the can retaining piece.

I began by taking out a can and using it as a reference. By marking it out full scale on my bench, I figured out that ½” would be a good spacer between cans and for the width of the bottom and upper pieced to extend out beyond the cans. I simply held my hand above the can and determined how much higher the handle piece should be and where the handle opening should be.

Layout of the bottom with the curved corners.

Designing the upper can retaining pieces came next. I laid out the centers of each can cut out. I also used a compass to mark the curves at the outside corners, which were centered at the outside can centers.

The bottom would be the same shape as the upper can retaining pieces without the can cutouts.

With the design done, it was time for batch fabrication.