Its been a great week of articles for get wood working week. I want to that Tom from Tom's workbench for putting it all together. I read that Tom said yesterday his site had the highest traffic ever in its five year history. I know this blog had a lot more views than normal. Get wood working week has been a good time and I added several new to me blogs to my RSS reader. Looking forward to next year.
When using a powered sander it is easier to remember to put on the correct safety gear. They are loud and they make a lot of dust. But say you were going to hand sand an edge or a detail you can't handle with the sander would you think to put on a dust mask?
I didn't one evening last summer and ended up with one of the worst sinus infections I've had. Prior to then I always used the simple paper dust mask. Since then I have upgrade to a half face respirator that I use with dust filter. I don't use the cartridges that are used for fumes because I am just trying to keep my lungs and sinuses free from the dust. Looks silly but it works good for me.
So get out there and get wood working, and make some dust. But try not to breathe it.
This weekend before I started working in the shop I emptied the dust collector and replaced the bag. This gave me a good idea on how well the separator worked. I was very pleased with how well it worked.
Here is after I replaced the bag, the dust in here fell from the upper bag.
After using the table saw and planer
Inside the separator
I was very happy with how well this worked and look forward to easier disposal of the chip and dust without having to deal with the dust collector bags.
I spent my shop time over the weekend building a few items for the shop. I started on a Thien Separator for my dust collector system. Ever since I got the dust collector I've been meaning to build a separator. Taking the bag off the dust collector is always a chore and was having to be done about once a weekend lately. Also since getting the collector in July the amount of dust trapped in the top filter is surprising. Hopefully the separator will keep some of the fine dust from reaching the filter and I know it will be easier to empty the separator than the emptying the dust collector bag.
The separator is built from a container (trash can), a baffle, and some plumbing parts. I used my router and a circle cutting jig to create the lid from a sheet of 3/4 birch plywood. Next a jig saw was used to cut the holes, the center port goes to the collector and is a 3" schedule 40 pvc pipe connector. The inflow is a 3" schedule 40 street elbow. Both were a snug fit but were sealed with silicon caulk.
The underside of the lid has a rabbet that is sized to create a snug fit on the trash can.
Here you can see the elbow
The baffle inside the separator creates a trough for the debris to be able to fall down into. The separator acts as a cyclone to remove the debris from the air. Once again I used the router to cut both circles.
The inside radii is 1.25" smaller than the outside radii
finished baffle
I still need to attach the baffle to the top to complete the separator.
I also built a router sled to be able to flatten large cutting boards and pieces to large to run through the planer. It is built from 3/4 birch plywood. I will be rebuilding this because currently the side rails are too high on the base which limits the thickness that can be milled.
This is a piece of apple I was using for a test. The router left some small ridges but those would come off with a small amount of hand plane work.
I plan to use the router sled for leveling cutting boards, and eventually to level the top of a workbench.
Last night after cleaning my mess from the weekend I decided to make a short shop tour video and took some still pictures as well. I am not proud of how messy some areas are in the shop, but most the time I choose to build rather than organize.
Any way, My shop is a 20'x24' metal building (it is an enclosed carport). It has 1" foam insulation against the metal. I use a wood stove for heat. The shop is mainly for wood working, but has to store a lot of other stuff and is used to work on tractors/mowers.
Standing at the entry door looking in
My current workbench, a 4'x by 2' piece of counter top on a frame built from 2x4's and 2x2's all just screwed together. I built these back before I was woodworking and just needed work surfaces to tinker on. Hopefully A real bench will replace this this summer
3 file cabinets for parts storage and my shop fridge.
Looking across the shop from infront of the fridge
lumber rack in the far corner, router table burried in the fore ground
Looking back to the entry door from by the lumber rack.
While most of my fall wood working was consumed by making cutting boards for gifts now I am starting to make some cutting boards with the hopes of selling them. While waiting for glue to dry on the butcher block island I started two maple and walnut cutting boards.
I am using 8/4 stock to build these and I enjoyed working with the larger pieces. This blank will make two cutting boards with a final size of 12" wide by 14" long and 1.5" thick.
