woodspar's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Shop Works #2: Box Fan Dust Filter

woodspar — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:04:06 GMT

Just built this quick project from an article in “Woodsmith” magazine. I made a few changes from the article.

There were incorrect measurements in the exploded drawing in the magazine. For example, the top piece was labeled 21.5 inches, when it clearly needed to be 20.5 inches, like the bottom piece.

When I determined that some measurements where reported incorrectly, I gave up on reading the plan in the magazine and I started making some changes to the design. I based the size of the inner components of the wooden frame on the size of the filters.

I also decided to remove the inner fan grid and screw the fan housing to my wood housing. It makes it solid and keeps the fan from falling out.

You slide two 20×20x1 furnace filters in the slot in front of the fan.

I used a fiberglass filter in front of a pleated filter. The pleated filter is not rated as high as I would have liked; there was a filter that claimed micron level filtering. It significantly more expensive than the pleated one I got. I wanted to see how the box fan motor handled the pleated filter to begin with before I spent more on the micron level one.

So far it seems to work pretty well. It is very portable, and the wooden frame makes the fan very strong. The frame also makes the fan extremely stable.

Shop Works #1: Introduction

woodspar — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:00:25 GMT

This blog will be about little stuff that I do to make my experience in the shop a little better. I will post jigs that I make, changes that I make in the organization of the shop, and shop “helpers” – stuff that is not quite a tool and not quite a jig.

I hope you find something here that you like.

Enjoy!

Hand Tools #2: The stud...

woodspar — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:55:11 GMT

Something sawdust2 said about a stud stuck in my mind…I couldn’t quite figure out what he meant, then I looked back at my pictures and I realized that he thought the two 1x’s together had been a 2x.

Here is the picture:

So tonight I thought, Could I do it? Why not?

First step is to cut the length down to a manageable size:

Not bad for a rookie, eh?

Ok, now for the rip. First I mark the center with my combination.

Marked and ready.

Then I work around the edge with my chisel to “prepare” the wood. Not too much though, cause the wood might split. Just an impression.

The rip cut.

Halfway through the piece…Those handscrews come in handy.

Flip it over and cut the rest of the way through. I am glad I marked all four edges.

Here are the fresh faces.

Tomorrow, maybe the last coat of paint on the shutters and maybe more hand work.

Enjoy!

Hand Tools #1: Watching Paint Dry

woodspar — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 19:53:15 GMT

While I was watching the top coat paint dry on my shutters,

(the acrylic based topcoat dries a good deal faster than the oil based primer!)

I got this crazy idea in my head to start working with hand tools. So I got out my planes and chisels and my pull saw and started hacking away at some pine I had laying around the shop.

At one point, (it must have been the caffiene in the coffee ice cream,) I dug up my copy of “Joinery Basics” by Sam Allen, and read his instructions on how to cut dovetails. I figured, I have to start practicing, if I am ever going to move forward.

The first set have fairly wide tails; I was using the angled rule method and set my tails to be the same width as the plank.

The second set I “winged” it and used a mark down the middle of the end grain of one of the board as a reference, and created a set of marks across the end grain of the pin board.

I used a 1:6 angle as recommended by Sam Allen for soft woods.

One of the requirements I set for myself for this exercise was to cut the board in half with the pull saw, true up the end grain with a block plane, and shape the wood with a smoothing plane.

I post this mainly for those of us who have a ways to go in our skills practice, and maybe, if I can encourage another person to “go for it” it will be worthwhile.