Wednesday, October 28, 2015

planer stand

I recently aqcuired a new planer and built a rolling stand for it. Here's how it turned out:

Unfolded and empty

Folded and full, including storage and wedges

The planer is a DW735, which now has a Shelix head in it. I've got some more photos showing the details. of the stand and the setup, and how I got there.

I got plywood and some clear riftsawn construction lumber from the local home center.
With the planer set up on another surface, the parts were milled to size.


Here's the basic planer stand. the casters are on plywood triangles that are not easy to see. I hid many of the screws.
I eventually installed the Shelix head. Here you can see the reflection of the little carbide blades. I am  very satisfied.

The Shelix head is a little smaller, apparently. Masking tape to the rescue.

Here's a dowel notched to hold the folding tables up.
Shelf in two sections. This should make it easy to remove, sweep, etc.





Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

I'm really enjoying flat concrete

The concrete repairs went really well. I watched a professional do it while I puttered around the shop and built a paper towel holder for french cleats. I was impressed with how it could be thin and runny enough to level itself out, but also thick enough to stop at a certain point before flowing downhill under the mats in the other part of the basement.

Here's a pretty boring picture of a nice smooth flat floor. But I'm excited about it.

 Once the floor was dry I started taking full advantage of it. I wheeled my tool chest into a perfect working position. I cleared off half my sharpening station and put a shiny new planer on it, then wheeled it and a shop vac to the new section to start making a mobile planer stand (but that's another post).

Stuff with wheels shows the floor repair's reason for being.

The other benefit I noticed is that I now feel like sweeping. I think I'm doing it about once every 2 hours I'm down there, and that's several orders of magnitude more often than before.

I am definitely not going to cover the whole floor with squishy mats again. Wheeling and sweeping are just too nice to mess up. If I need to reduce leg fatigue I'll put a localized mat in front of my workbench or double up on insoles.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Taking a break for concrete improvements

Today one of my largest impediments in the workshop is going to be removed. A rough, pitted concrete floor in part of my shop will be repaired. I want to be able to wheel heavy things around, like my tool chest, drill press, etc, but the floor has been making it very difficult. It also has been annoying to try to sweep.

Swept clean and ready to go
So today a concrete repair crew is showing up. I've spent the last few evenings clearing that part of the shop. My workbench is collapsed, and I covered the walls with a drop cloth to protect from dust or splatter. My friend Kevin came over a couple nights ago to help move my drill press and the ballast-boards under the workbench (Thanks, Kevin!), as well as some other miscellaneous preparatory tasks. 

You may recognize the top of my workbench from a recent post. Here, it is sitting upside-down on the lumber rack.
I'm really excited for the floor to be smooth and flat. Combined with french cleats on the walls, and a generous helping of casters under the massive objects in the shop, this will allow the space to be totally reconfigurable, and allow me to make the best use of space.


Sunday, October 4, 2015

I crammed 3 more saws in my toolchest

Unpacked.
I found/made  a few more spots for saws. I made spots for a fretsaw and a veneer saw in my saw till, and put my bow saw in the small remaining gap. All this needs to be removed when the tool chest is in use. The saw till already comes out, and I was able to hang the bow saw on one of the chest handles to keep it handy and out of the way.
Packed in the tool chest.


These grooves hold the fretsaw in place

magnets hold the veneer saw in place