Shop projects

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.

A new year, new projects

For the last few months making gifts has been the focus in the shop and on the blog. But Christmas is over and all the gifts have been given. There are a few gifts I made and hadn't put on the blog to keep them secret. So here are some of the gifts I made and gave this year.
Of course there are the cutting boards from the "Cutting Board Crazy" post. These made great gifts, everyone who received one was very happy to receive one.

Walnut and Maple cutting board

3 Cherry and Walnut boards, and One Cherry and Maple

My sister told me my brother in law had played corn hole over the summer and that a set of corn hole boards would be a good gift idea for him. He is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan so I knew how I wanted to paint the finished boards. The game boards are made from 3/4 birch plywood and some 1x pine for the frame. I made a circle cutting jig for my router to make the holes. The frame is rabbeted to accept the plywood and mitered on the corners. I painted them with a high gloss interior/exterior enamel latex paint.

Assembled corn hole boards

Finished corn hole boards.

I wanted to build something for my wife since she puts up with me and my crazy hobbies.  She uses the cutting board that I made for her daily and it is stored on the counter next to the knife block.  I thought it would be nice to have a stand to hold the cutting board when its not in use. I found some nice looking walnut in the scrap pile, and decided to just make a simple stand.

Here I was mocking up a the design.

Here it is right after applying a coat of boiled linseed oil.

 Sadly I wasn't able to get it complete it before Christmas, it still needs a few coats of shellac. I always wait at least a week after applying boiled linseed oil before top coating.

I also started surfacing and preparing some maple for the next project. I was pleasantly surprised to see some spalting on the maple while processing the boards. I got about half the boards processed and will process the other half before I start cutting anything.

Spalted Maple

Surfaced Maple stacked waiting to be used.

Another up coming project is a air cleaner for the shop. It will be built with a old furnace blower and will use 20"x20" furnace filters. Hopefully it will capture the fine dust the dust collector can't capture and keep it out of my lungs and off everything in the shop. (I will still wear a dust mask.)

Future air cleaner

Cutting board is done

Here is the finished cherry and walnut cutting board.

The cutting board was a fun project, I will probably be making a lot more of them. 

Last night I started to mill the boards for my next project, a lap desk for my wife, built out of walnut. I bought a 4/4 (1") thick board and am trying to resaw it into two 3/8" thick boards.  My bandsaw doesn't have the clearance to cut a 7.5" wide board, and it is not up the job of resawing anyway. I made and attempt to resaw on the table saw by making a pass through each side, but that left a approximately 2" wide piece in the middle uncut. I am not Roy Underhill so my hand tool skills and collection left me looking for a better option to resaw these boards. My plan for now is to rip the boards in half then resaw them and then glue them back together. I have successfully resawn a board on the table saw by leaving a 1/4" strip between the two side and then hand sawing them apart. 

Dust collector update:

I am very happy with how well the dust collector works with the planer, before using the shop vac sometimes chips would come flying out the front because there were more chips than it could handle. With the dust collector this is now longer a problem. I am less than happy right now with hos it works with the table saw, but that is not the collectors fault. The table saw has large gaps between the table top and the saw body, by filling those gaps I should see an improvement in dust collection.

This thing sucks....

As I have been busier in the shop I have been creating a lot more saw dust and wood chips. My old shop vac is no match for the amount of chips and dust the planer makes, and the 1" dust port on the back of the table saw is joke. It was time for a real solution. Over the weekend I bought a 2hp dust collector. 

 Wow is this an improvement over the shop vac.  I also bought the required adapters and fittings to be able to hook the collector to the table saw and will be enclosing the open stand on the jointer to add dust collection to it. I plan to build a chip separator soon so I don't have to empty the plastic bag on the collector.

The first cutting board project is about done. I have put 2 coats of mineral oil on it and will give it 2 more coats for now. Wood cutting boards need new coats of oil applied with use as they start to dry out. Before I applied the oil and after sanding I used the new router table to round the edges of the cutting board.  I am very happy with how the router table worked.