So I got my shop smith set up today at my in-laws (since Tami convinced me that my neighbors would not appreciate me using it so close to them). After finding a good branch to turn into a candle stick holder I started it up and started going to town. After about 15 minutes or so I found that it was having a few problems. Then the completely stopped spinning. Not only am I brand new to using a shopsmith I never have done anything with motors or even much anything electronic.
So over the next couples hours I had to learn how to take it apart, how everything fit together and how to fix it. Once I got the drive belt off the motor I was able to diagnose the problem that the motor itself was the problem. Looking inside I was able to see that it was all clogged up with sawdust. After cleaning it out with a can of compressed air I found that the motor was running just fine again, maybe even a little better than when I bought it.
Out of all the ways to learn, this is not my favorite. It is stressful not knowing what you have to do to solve a problem and not really knowing where I could learn the proper thing to fix the problem. I much prefer learning something and then doing it, not doing it and then learning.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Equal spacing trick
I just learned a quick trick used for spacing things out at an equal distance without having to do any complicated math. For example if you want to space out banister for a porch rail. Take a long piece of elastic from a fabric store and use a permanent marker to mark every 2 inches (or another even distance) on the elastic. Now you can stretch the elastic so that two of the marks reach the ends of your length or banister. If you want the banisters spaced farther out then stretch the elastic a little more and eliminate a banister post.
Moving!!!
We are moving this week. And from this move I have learned a lot that I wish I knew before we moved. Some of it we learned in time some of it was a little late. I want to compile everything that I learned so you can be informed before a move. If you have any other ideas or suggestions please comment so that anyone who reads this later can also learn from your experiences.
First of all we are moving from Arizona to Virginia. I imagine that some of this information will only apply to long trips. Also it really only applies if you have to pay for the move yourself and do not have a job paying for you to move.
How to move your stuff:
We chose to use ABF freight. They have a self pack option that is very similar to PODS. They drop off large containers that you fill up yourself and then they come and put it on a flatbed and move it for you. We looked at pods but found that ABF is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 the cost of PODS. Also my in-laws just moved from Nevada to Maryland with PODS and were not quite happy with the service, not to mention the price.
We also looked at U-Haul as another option. Not only would we have to deal with the hassle of driving a large truck with a car on a trailer behind it, it would also cost more. Between the cost of about 300 gallons of gas and the cost of the U-Haul for 5 days plus 2300 miles of driving it works out to be about the same price as ABF. So I will let someone else drive my stuff out and will just happily drive my car out.
Boxes:
We got most of our boxes for free which was nice. Yesterday though we started to run a little short so I went out and bought a few. I searched online for the best price but found nothing better than what Tami knew about. Apparently Harbor Freight in Tempe (and maybe other locations) sells the used boxes that their merchandise comes in. All of the ones I saw were about the same size of roughly 24" x 18" 10". Now that won't work for everything but it is large enough to hold a lot of stuff but small enough to not be too heavy as long as books do not go in it. Now here is the best part. They sell them for 4 for a dollar. There is not a better deal out there when it comes to buying boxes.
Packing material:
Most of our packing material was newspapers that we got from my grandparents (since they are one of the few people I know that still gets papers. However we had a brilliant idea when phone books got delivered while we were packing. It is amazing that they still get delivered and for a lot of people they go straight to the recycling. But if you cut off the spine of the book you are left with a neat and rather thick pile of packing material.
I hope that this helps someone sometime and that I do not have to do this too many more times in my life. Please leave comments of your ideas and experiences to help others.
First of all we are moving from Arizona to Virginia. I imagine that some of this information will only apply to long trips. Also it really only applies if you have to pay for the move yourself and do not have a job paying for you to move.
How to move your stuff:
We chose to use ABF freight. They have a self pack option that is very similar to PODS. They drop off large containers that you fill up yourself and then they come and put it on a flatbed and move it for you. We looked at pods but found that ABF is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 the cost of PODS. Also my in-laws just moved from Nevada to Maryland with PODS and were not quite happy with the service, not to mention the price.
We also looked at U-Haul as another option. Not only would we have to deal with the hassle of driving a large truck with a car on a trailer behind it, it would also cost more. Between the cost of about 300 gallons of gas and the cost of the U-Haul for 5 days plus 2300 miles of driving it works out to be about the same price as ABF. So I will let someone else drive my stuff out and will just happily drive my car out.
Boxes:
We got most of our boxes for free which was nice. Yesterday though we started to run a little short so I went out and bought a few. I searched online for the best price but found nothing better than what Tami knew about. Apparently Harbor Freight in Tempe (and maybe other locations) sells the used boxes that their merchandise comes in. All of the ones I saw were about the same size of roughly 24" x 18" 10". Now that won't work for everything but it is large enough to hold a lot of stuff but small enough to not be too heavy as long as books do not go in it. Now here is the best part. They sell them for 4 for a dollar. There is not a better deal out there when it comes to buying boxes.
Packing material:
Most of our packing material was newspapers that we got from my grandparents (since they are one of the few people I know that still gets papers. However we had a brilliant idea when phone books got delivered while we were packing. It is amazing that they still get delivered and for a lot of people they go straight to the recycling. But if you cut off the spine of the book you are left with a neat and rather thick pile of packing material.
I hope that this helps someone sometime and that I do not have to do this too many more times in my life. Please leave comments of your ideas and experiences to help others.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Masks
I started carving my last wood project for the semester today. I started by tracing the outline on the face of the wood and the profile not the side of the wood. Then using an angle grinder I started to take material out of the back of the mask.
In fear of taking too much out I stopped with about half an inch more to be removed from the hollow. Next I used the bandsaw to cut out the profile and then the out line.
After having the basic shape I returned to the hollow to continue removing the excess material. This time however I started to use Tami's carving set. Once I figured out which chisels I liked the most ( at least for hollowing) I went to town removing material. Unfortunately as a student who works on a computer my hands do not have the calluses that they have had in the past, but I am sure that will change pretty quickly.
Pictures to follow.
In fear of taking too much out I stopped with about half an inch more to be removed from the hollow. Next I used the bandsaw to cut out the profile and then the out line.
After having the basic shape I returned to the hollow to continue removing the excess material. This time however I started to use Tami's carving set. Once I figured out which chisels I liked the most ( at least for hollowing) I went to town removing material. Unfortunately as a student who works on a computer my hands do not have the calluses that they have had in the past, but I am sure that will change pretty quickly.
Pictures to follow.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Earth Scrapper
Along the lines of several other earlier posts I introduce the Earth Scrapper. It is proposed as a 65 story sky scraper built below the surface of Mexico City. It is a gorgeous design that has some awesome potential.
Check out the video on yahoo, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/building-down-instead-161537141.html
Check out the video on yahoo, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/building-down-instead-161537141.html
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Shopsmith
So about a month ago I bought a Shopsmith. If you do not know what a Shopsmith is, it is an all-in-one shop system and mine includes a table saw, a drill press, a horizontal borer, a lathe, a disc sander, and a bandsaw. Today is the first day that I have had an excuse to use it. Normally I would use the school shop for most projects since it is available, but today I needed to help Tami with making a frame. So I got to try out the table saw and the band saw.
It was a little different to have to figure out how to change from one set up to another. It is not the most optimal set up, but it is definitely the best set up for me right now. Since I was able to get the entire set up for about the same cost as any one of the six different tools. This is a great option for small or inexpensive shop start ups.
It was a little different to have to figure out how to change from one set up to another. It is not the most optimal set up, but it is definitely the best set up for me right now. Since I was able to get the entire set up for about the same cost as any one of the six different tools. This is a great option for small or inexpensive shop start ups.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Carving
We had another day of lecture in Wood again. We learned about several different carving methods. There is the classic carving tools, adzes, and power tools as options.
Kestrel Adzes are made in Rock Island, Washington. They are an edge tool that is attached to a haft that places the edge of the tool at a 90 degree angle to the position of the hand. They are great at removing lots of material very quickly.
Pfeil chisels are the Ferrari of chisels. They are a high quality chisel that are worth every penny of their price. Not only will they last a life time if properly cared for, but they also can appreciate over the life of the tool. Addis chisels are antique chisels that have lasted so long that you can basically classify them as indestructible when properly used. They however can only be found used from places like ebay or antique shops. Another antique in the same realm is Stanley everlasting chisels, which as described in their name are everlasting.
Power chisels such as the Automach chisel work like a traditional chisel mixed with a 10,000 oscillation per minute jack hammer that fits comfortable in the palm of your hand. They can accept a wide variety of chisel tips that eat away at the wood as if it was no more that butter. Although expensive they are not all that much more expensive than a full set of Pfeil chisels. There are also rotary tools like Dremels that can be used with a variety of bits at various speeds to produce all sorts of effects.
Stepping up to a more aggressive wood remover you have angle grinders. These are more often found in metal working sections but with the correct discs they can be used to remove large amounts of wood very fast. There are sanding discs that use very coarse sand paper to abrade the wood. There are carbide burs that remove even more material quickly. Arbortech makes a disc that has three very strong teeth that will remove even more material than the bur. Last of all there is a disc called Lancelot that is basically a chainsaw on a grinding disc that removes as much wood as you want as fast as you want (sometimes a little too fast).
Then there is always the arena of just using a chainsaw by it self. Although this would be best left for very rough cuts or very large sculptures.
I may add more to the list of different wood removing tools as I start to learn how to carve. But for now I wanted to collect my thoughts and not forget any of the amazing tools that my professor presented to us today.
Kestrel Adzes are made in Rock Island, Washington. They are an edge tool that is attached to a haft that places the edge of the tool at a 90 degree angle to the position of the hand. They are great at removing lots of material very quickly.
Pfeil chisels are the Ferrari of chisels. They are a high quality chisel that are worth every penny of their price. Not only will they last a life time if properly cared for, but they also can appreciate over the life of the tool. Addis chisels are antique chisels that have lasted so long that you can basically classify them as indestructible when properly used. They however can only be found used from places like ebay or antique shops. Another antique in the same realm is Stanley everlasting chisels, which as described in their name are everlasting.
Power chisels such as the Automach chisel work like a traditional chisel mixed with a 10,000 oscillation per minute jack hammer that fits comfortable in the palm of your hand. They can accept a wide variety of chisel tips that eat away at the wood as if it was no more that butter. Although expensive they are not all that much more expensive than a full set of Pfeil chisels. There are also rotary tools like Dremels that can be used with a variety of bits at various speeds to produce all sorts of effects.
Stepping up to a more aggressive wood remover you have angle grinders. These are more often found in metal working sections but with the correct discs they can be used to remove large amounts of wood very fast. There are sanding discs that use very coarse sand paper to abrade the wood. There are carbide burs that remove even more material quickly. Arbortech makes a disc that has three very strong teeth that will remove even more material than the bur. Last of all there is a disc called Lancelot that is basically a chainsaw on a grinding disc that removes as much wood as you want as fast as you want (sometimes a little too fast).
Then there is always the arena of just using a chainsaw by it self. Although this would be best left for very rough cuts or very large sculptures.
I may add more to the list of different wood removing tools as I start to learn how to carve. But for now I wanted to collect my thoughts and not forget any of the amazing tools that my professor presented to us today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)