Small Part Storage

This was a quick project done in the 'one day build' style of tested.com.

The build itself was inspired by a video on that site that showed a simple solution to small part storage. (http://www.tested.com/art/makers/45036-inside-adam-savages-man-cave-the-tool-boxes/) That product was too expensive for me so I started looking for some cheaper options that served the same purpose. I settled on some relatively cost effective containers from Stanley and Mastercraft. They have many small containers and you can mix and match the sizes.

The cabinet was sized around efficient use of 1/2 inch and 3/8 inch plywood and the containers themselves. It's on wheels so I can move it around the shop easily and it's great being able to bring the parts to my bench when I need them. The clear container tops help too. It may seem tall and skinny but it's surprisingly stable. I don't think I'll have to worry about it falling over and even if it does, all the containers lock so nothing spills. I haven't bought all the containers yet but will purchase more as I need them.

The finish was just some left over outdoor stain from my fence.

Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

About 12 years ago a friend of mine from university approached me about building an arcade cabinet. It seemed like a fun project so for about a year we periodically got together and pretended we knew what we were doing and in the end we had a very presentable Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) cabinet for him to take home. At the time I had no interest in the electronics so he took it home to finish after we were done the woodworking.

Over the past few years the Raspberry Pi and the Maker culture has taken over and I begin to regret not having helped with the electronics. After a bit of research I realized there was a wealth of information on what to do and it looked pretty straight forward. I've started a tradition of making the kids a game each Christmas and although I was a few weeks late this seemed like a good project. (Let's just pretend I made this one for the kids.)

Almost every post I've found on how to make one of these things seems to include the line "I am not a woodworker so you'll have to excuse my construction methods." Luckily this is the one part I did understand at the start of the project. There are plenty of posts out there on the intricacies of creating a MAME controller so I'm not going to make this post be a step by step. Instead I'll detail the experience of going from idea to finished product.

I really had no idea where to start though I did know I wanted to do the following;
1) Try out wiring.
2) Not build the entire cabinet.
3) Try out a Raspberry Pi.
4) Keep things cheap.
As mentioned there are a lot of great resources out there for this kind of thing. www.PiPlay.org was a great location for the software for the PI and www.instructables.com had several good posts with the necessary steps.

I did spend a lot of timing trying to figure out the best place to buy the buttons, controller module etc. Amazon.ca had some packages for the buttons but it included a wiring harness and that seemed like cheating. I quickly learned there are very few local electronics stores anymore so online seemed like my only option. I eventually came across www.thepladiumstore.com which caters to the various Playdium's across the country and they had everything I needed. This was when I realized this was going to be a pretty simple project. The IPac2 is pretty much idiot proof.

The measurements for the case were a mix of online research and a cardboard template to figure out what I liked. The plan was for a two player game with joysticks and not too much clutter. I'm not much of a gamer so I didn't plan on downloading any 8 button arcade games or needing a trackball which was rather expensive. This gave me the general layout and a few random measurements for the height and I was ready to build. The case was finger jointed poplar and the top was baltic birch which is a high quality plywood. (I had a scrap piece lying around.)

The button install was very straightforward. I had to buy a pair of wire crimping pliers and I splurged on a better wire stripper. The automatic ones are way better than the manual pair I had. The Pi setup was relatively painless. The hardest part was trying to image the memory card from my Mac. Everything was locked down and it took a bit of time to figure out which security settings I had to turn off. The only issue I had on the inside was that I put in a full plugin and the PI DC converter was offset by 90 degrees so it didn't fit until I added a 90 degree adapter.

I put a few vent holes in the bottom though I don't expect the PI to get very hot. I also had to add an extra hole for the HDMI cord. I do plan on putting a proper HDMI port on the outside but haven't found one I like.

This whole project took about three weeks  of evenings from planning start to completion so it really doesn't take a lot of time to get something functional. So far I've managed to install Super Mario Brothers which was my favourite game as a kid. Now I don't have to share with my brothers.

The Book That Started Everything

There are three things that got me into woodworking. The first is that my Dad is a carpenter and I was around tools my entire life, the second was a simple finger jointed box that I used as a cash box when collecting money from my paper route and the third was a book called Box Making Basics that had this box on the front cover. I started woodworking in the late 90's in my third year of university as a hobby. Small boxes seemed like the perfect place to start since I didn't need a lot of material and they require all the basic skills you need to do fine woodworking.

I made a box just like this for my wife before we got married and now my daughter is old enough to have jewelry lying all over her bed room so it was time to make one for her as well. The construction consists of mitred sides on base that is glued on and the top is a solid panel with a lap jointed frame. This project took about a week of evenings and was made of Sapelle. The big lesson learned on this box was that I need to be more careful with how I store my velvet. It's gotten quite wrinkled and I"m not even sure how to get the wrinkles out. I don't know if I can iron it. The box still turned out great and was a big improvement over the one I did 15 years ago.

The One Day Bench

I wanted a quick project I could start and finish in a day. It just so happens that the older version of this bench had reached end of life and needed replacement. (I had made it with pine and 12 years in the Vancouver rain ended it's life prematurely.) I really like this particular bench for a few reasons.
1) It's sturdy.
2) It uses dimensional lumber you can pick up at the home centre.
3) It's construction is simple. You could make the hole thing with a hand saw and a hammer if you wanted to.

This particular bench design has some sentimental value for me. Portions of the original are at my Grandmother's lake property near Prince George. I replaced the legs on it about 15 years ago. The story I have is that several of them were made for a company softball tournament and she got to take one home. (I could have that story completely wrong.) As I mentioned, I built the whole thing in a day including the finish. This time I made it out of pressure treated so I think it will last a lot longer. The whole bench cost me $50.00 to make.

I don't have plans but I'll explain as best I can and detail the measurements and it should be enough. The size I made used 7 2x4's.
1) The bench is 48 inches wide. You can vary this up to 8 feet.
2) The front legs are 16 inches.
3) The middle stretcher is 28 inches. (This was the only improvement over the original. Gives it more lateral support.)
4) The piece that defines the back height is 25 inches with a slight curve at the top for aesthetics.
5) The back leg is 17 inches with a 15 degree cut for the bottom and a 60 degree cut at the top.
6) The seat supports are cut at a 15 degree angle with the long part at 21 1/2 inches.

Construction is very straight forward. Most pieces are simply cut to length. The only tricky pieces to cut are the 15 degree angles on the four seat supports and the back leg. The back leg starts with the angle cut on the bottom and the 60 degree cut starting from the long side on the other end. It's this angle that defines the angle of the back rest which is 15 degrees. I cut it with a chop saw but it's tricky since the saw only goes to 47 degrees so you have to shift the piece 90 degrees and make a 30 degree cut. A skill saw would work too. I assemble the inside half of each leg and attach the cross support before adding the second set of seat supports. Just remember that the projection beyond the seat supports of the back leg needs to match the projection of the front leg so that the bench sits flat. The location of the backrest piece becomes obvious once you have the back leg screwed on. The location of the seat and back slats on this version is 5 inches in from the ends though you would increase that as you make the bench bigger. I place the front seat slat with about a 1/2 inch overhang, the bottom right against the back and the two middle pieces equally spaced. The back slats start by adding the top one first and the bottom one about a 2x4 width up from the seat. The middle slat is then centered in the remaining space. Be sure to square up the seat when you assemble it. I also pre-finished all the pieces before assembly.

Giving a Christmas Tree a Second Chance

For the past 15 years we've had a fake tree. As a kid we always had a real tree but when I moved out my wife got her parents old tree and we've been using it ever since. This year we decided it would be fun to head to the Christmas Tree farm and get a real tree. My daughter wasn't too happy about cutting one down but she didn't mind 'saving' one from the tree lot. When Christmas was over however, sending the tree to the chipper wasn't a happy thought. Instead I took some time to hone my turning skills with a few simple projects.

The first project was pretty simple. A pencil holder. The centre was drilled out with a 2 3/8 forstner and the outside turned to about 3/8 of an inch thick. A bit of felt on the bottom and a shellac finish and it was done.

The second project was much less practical. A baseball bat made from a noble spruce isn't going to stay straight for long but it was a fun project. I wasn't sure on dimensions so I winged it by splitting it into thirds. One third for the thick part, one third for the thin part and one third for the transition. It turned out pretty well.

The final project was a simple vase for Valentine's Day. Centre was drilled out with a 3/4 auger bit and the outside was finished with wipe on poly and wax. I also had a small plastic insert so it can hold water for the flowers.

This was my first time turning green wood which is much more enjoyable. The only issue was the sap which was mostly in the bark layers. It left a film on my turning tools that was a bit of a pain to get off. Other than that, this was a great way to give a Christmas Tree a second chance at life.

A Shaker Style Kitchen Table

Our old kitchen table wasn't too exciting. It was round with drop leaves and a pedestal base and was a mass produced item. It served us well but needed to be refinished after too many hot dishes had been placed on it and several poorly supervised art projects had taken place without any thing to protect it. It was solid wood so refinishing was an option however this was a good opportunity to build something new.

Although we have a dining room, most of the eating takes place in the kitchen even when we have a couple of guests over. The 30 inch round table was a tight squeeze so this time we were looking for something a bit bigger. I've always liked the trestle table for it's ease of construction and it's timeless style. I didn't want something too contemporary that would look out of place in a decade. I also wanted to use good materials and proper construction so it would last a lifetime.

I can't really take any credit for the design of course since it's been around for a few hundred years. I took the base from a Fine Woodworking article and the finish technique from a table by Doucette and Wolfe. The top is solid cherry with bread board ends and the base is solid maple with pinned mortise and tenons. I had the most fun with the distressed finish on the base. A coat of red dye, followed by red milk paint, then black milk paint. The black milk paint was then sanded through enough to see the red before getting a few coats of a wipe on poly. I probably could have distressed the black a bit more but that will happen with time. So far I'm amazed at how stable this design is. There is enough play in the base that all legs sit on the floor without any wobble. So far the top has stayed nice and flat although I do have some concerns with how far apart I made the legs. At 62 inches for the top and a full four feet between centres on the legs it's a pretty long span and I'm concerned it may sag in the middle. If it does I'll just add a support immediately underneath. Even if it looks like an add on it will just be part of the tables history. Maybe it won't even be me that needs to do it.

A Pair of Gun Cabinets

In 1973 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police released a 100 anniversary gun to it's members. They were available to purchase and the first set sold out so quickly there was a second run. My father-in-law was a member at the time and purchase two of them from the first run. He moved a lot in the early years and the guns always came with him. He eventually had twin boys and decided he would give the guns to them. The only thing left to do was to get them mounted in a secure cabinet and that's where I came in.

The rules on gun storage aren't very strict other than that they have to be secured by a lock. The design is mostly my own and consists of a five inch deep dovetailed box with a spline reinforced door panel. Butt hinges and an older style lock with the two toothed key finish up the wood working. The interior panel is a red felt on 1/8 inch backer board and the mounts are simply two blocks of wood custom fit to each gun covered in felt. They keep the gun in position without being too invasive. It was a fun project.