Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share my latest project, my rolling tool cart which I built using plans I got from Woodsmith Plans. Officially it’s the “Slant-Front Tool Cart”.

As with all magazine based plans, they want you to use cabinet grade wood, $50 casters, $25 accuglide drawer slides. Well, I didn’t. If I’d done that, I could have bought a HF tool box instead. As you can see, I used BC grade ply. I almost bought AC, but the BC sitting right next to it looked really good, so I saved the bucks and went with that. I also used more conventional drawer slides, saving money there, and went with knobs for my drawers instead of sash pulls.

All in all, I am pleased with the final product. I don’t know if it was me or the cutlist, but I ended up having to cut down some of my drawer height to make everything fit, particularly for the small top tool chest. I built the carcass and drawers first, so cutting the finished drawers down was really not that big a deal. I am still not sure were the error lay though, me or the plans. Probably me.

I thought the top tool chest was designed poorly. It was a PAIN to put together. I think a simpler box would have worked a lot better. If you consider making this, really look at the top tool chest plans carefully and consider doing it another way. Carcass and Drawer design was pretty straight forward though.

All in all I am pleased. I plan on loading this thing up with everything I need and getting rid of a lot of duplicates and substandard stuff I have.

Hope you enjoy,

Milo

Please read about my pie safe adventure at:

http://lumberjocks.com/Milo/blog/30815

Thanks!

Here is my finished Horizontal Table Router that I made from Stumpy Nub’s plans. I was really intrigued when I saw his show about this table (I think it is show number 16), and I bought the plans.

The plans were very nice, and really complete, and the only problem I had was routing out the rabbits for the router platform in the table back. If you make this table I suggest using a dado blade to route your rabbits in the back panel rather than a router. The bottom does NOT have to be square, since the router plate rises and lowers and is held in place by screws. Just dado the rabbits slightly past the bottom of where the router plate sits. I had trouble routing the rabbits by hand, and the rabbits are not as smooth and flat as I would have liked them to be.

Also, I made the handle that lifts the router plate different. I did not use any epoxy to glue screws in place, my handle is removable. The bottom is just a nylon lock nut and a washer.

I used threaded inserts for the locking knobs on the arms, and added sleeves for the bolts that are in the table so it angled more easily. It’s for the bolts you see under the table sled.

Picture three is my crappy Ryobi router. I hope it holds up for this purpose! ;)

All and all I really like it. I can’t wait to experiment with it. I want to test it for floating mortise and tenon joints as well as raised panels.

Thanks gang,

Milo

Hey Jocks,

Just wanted to upload this Tail Bag I made for my motorcycle over the winter. Sorry I don’t have any in process shots of when I covered it.

As you can see all I did was make a simple box of 1/4” plywood, then cut the lid at about 1.5 inches from the top. There is some batting (or is it quilting? I forget) material surrounding the box, and waterproof vinyl covering the whole thing. The latches are simple brass.

When I got the bike the PO had a milk crate zip stripped to a frame on the back of the bike. I really wanted something nicer.

Things I’d do different.

MEASURE TWICE. My helmet ended up not fitting in the tail bag. :(

I wish I knew how to do internal stitching so what I did wouldn’t have shown so much. Three of the sides look really good, but as you can see, the last one is so-so.

IF you every do this, make sure you drill ALL you whole in the box first. WHAT A PAIN that batting is when it wraps around your drill bit!

Special thanks go to dakremer for his advice when I was making it.

Milo

Hey Gang,

I’ve got a Pie Safe project going, but one of the problems I encountered was the antique barn pine I was using. I was having trouble jointing the long boards on my 6” jointer. I wanted to start with long boards to work with, rather than starting by cutting down the boards. But what to do?

I made a jig I saw on Charles Neil’s 1st YouTube video on, what else, building a pie safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJkp0GFeMKg&feature=relmfu

This things worked GREAT. Took me about an hour and a half to make the jig and joint 8 long boards. That’s MDF with the holes in it, and the white guide board up again the pine in picture 4. The base the MDF is screwed into was an old piece of finished edging I had laying around. Routed a 3/4” dado slot for the MDF to sit in.

Simple, simple, but works oh so nice. I have a BUNCH of those boards left from the barn they came from, so I was thrilled to find this jig. I hope to get some non-kilned cherry wood soon, fresh cut, and I hope this jig will help with that wood too. The stack of boards in picture 5 all now have nice, long, straight sides now.

Picture 6 is when I jointed the… hey, wait… that’s my other hobby! ;)

Try this jig, and watch the video on how to use it. You won’t be sorry!

Milo

Excuse me, that’s Frahnkindooster! ;-)

Ok, here’s Frankenduster, the illegitimate stepchild of Lumberjock memLance’s much more successfully designed “Converted HF DC” from a couple of months ago. His project can be found at:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/58457

The reason I made Frankenduster was I had already made a Thien separator last year, and it worked fairly decently. I just had tubes running all around the shops, and that affected the cyclonic action of the separator. When I saw Lance’s project, I thought it might work for me. I liked the idea of moving the separator to the machine. Less distance for the suction to travel.

btw, the connection between the motor and separator is not in these pictures.

MISTAKES I MADE.

I didn’t think about the output from the DC motor properly. I had the local metal shop guys weld a mount on the motor for me. The problem is I didn’t think ahead to make sure that the alignment from the motor to the dust bags was STRAIGHT. So it has those two crazy 45 degree angles in it.

I LUCKED OUT with the mount. Again, I didn’t plan proper and didn’t explain EXACTLY what I wanted from the metal shop guys. I thought I had explained I wanted two brackets made to go on. Unfortunately, the fellow who did the actual work only heard “4×4” post because I was going to use some 4×4s I had for the mounting frame. Ugh. Luckily the mount worked out properly, and made for the fortuitous use of the extra 4×4 to place the motor over the separator a little better.

I may have to add extra supports over motor and dust bag holder later.

And it rolls crummy…

So, BEHOLD, FRANKENDUSTER!

May your projects turn out better then mine… (and that won’t take a lot of work, believe me… ;)

http://www.eaglelakewoodworking.com/post/Super-Sled-Crosscut-and-Miter-Sled.aspx

I finished my crosscut sled. I found the plans for it over at Eagle Lake Woodworking. I’m pretty sure I saw John Nixon, the owner of Eagle Lake Woodworking, is a Lumberjock.

It was a very straightforward build. The runners gave me the most difficulty. Took more planing and measuring than I anticipated. Also, I did not use the double sided tape John suggested. Probably should have. Otherwise it went better than most of my projects. ;-)

In my copious free time I will make the miter cut braces. But that will be a while, since I’m hoping to go back to school this summer.

Have a GREAT day!

Milo

This is a portable clamp rack I put together the other day. The folks in environment services were getting new equipment, and I was able to snag one of their carts. It’s on wheels, has a small storage compartment, and a quick access top to commonly used items. It really took a minimal amount of work to add the frame to hang the clamp on. I can roll it anywhere in the shop, and into a corner when I am not using it.

I posted this project to not show off my awesome woodworking skills (ok, stop laughing now… seriously, stop.), but to remind everyone to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. You never know what you can use that’s getting ready to be thrown now.

If I can do this, ANYONE can!

Hope it helps!

Milo