Spackle & Sawdust

I had the distinct honor of hosting the DuPage Woodworkers as they toured my shop this past weekend. I had a great time talking about the shop and sharing ideas with the club members.

I had a blast meeting you all! Thanks!

On Friday afternoon I arrived home to find a package containing 10 freshly-printed copies of the Oct/Nov Woodcraft Magazine which includes the feature story on my shop!

It went something like this:

Navin R. Johnson: The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here!
Harry Hartounian: Boy, I wish I could get that excited about nothing.
Navin R. Johnson: Nothing? Are you kidding? Page 73 – Johnson, Navin R.! I’m somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity – your name in print – that makes people. I’m in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.
[the Sniper points to Navin's name in the phone book]
Sniper: Johnson, Navin R… sounds like a typical bastard.

I was especially happy to see this issue includes an article comparing the Saw Stop and new Delta Unisaw…should be a pretty popular issue.

I’ve finally had a chance to clean the shop…so I took some time this evening to “photosynth” it. Click the image below for the result and let me know what you think!

What a blast!

Last Friday, Woodcraft Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jim Harrold spent the day visiting my workshop to supervise a photo shoot of the shop for an upcoming issue. With him was Chicago-area photographer Mike Crews, his assistant John, and numerous road boxes filled with some pretty slick photography gear.

Left to right: Mike, photographer; me; Jim Harrold, Woodcraft Magazine, assistant John(?)

A Dust-free Dust Collection System

The process actually began the day before the shoot. Thursday afternoon, Jim stopped by, followed shortly by Mike. After introductions, they surveyed the space. Mike was pleasantly surprised by the lighting situation and they continued to plan for the next day. Though I had spent nearly every spare moment the previous week preparing the shop, I still found myself working late Thursday night, per their request, vacuuming dust off of my dust collection piping! Seriously.

My shop hasn’t been this clean since the day it was completed!

Shooting the drill station

Wide Angle

After a couple “welcome” shots of me standing in the entryway, Mike shot some overviews of the shop. While I’m not completely unaware of modern photography, I’d never before realized just how effective a good wide angle lens could be. My shop is only 14′ x 22′. In the past when I’ve attempted to capture a general “overview” of the space, I’d been frustrated by my inability to get much of the shop “in the shot” from within. Typically, when I think of a “wide angle” lens, highly distorted images come to mind. I think “fish-eye”. Consequently I was seriously amazed at how he could include all of the machines on the North wall in a shot with the camera aimed mainly west/northwest, with no obvious distortion. Brilliant! They then moved on to close shots highlighting some of the specific fixtures Jim plans to highlight in the article.

Outer Space

After lunch, the morning clouds had dissipated and we were enjoying a gorgeous, sunny afternoon. One of the shop’s features I’m most pleased with is its external dust collection closet. By keeping the monster in it’s own heavily-insulated cell, both me and my neighbors are spared the bulk of the noise generated by its 3HP motor and the resulting rush of air. Shots of the way the shop and this system integrate into my modest suburban home were next on our list.

Mike carelessly ignoring the high-voltage warning stickers on the side of the power box on the corner of our lot.

Dressers

From there, it was back indoors. This time, we moved Mike’s gear to the kid’s rooms to shoot some of the pieces I had built for them. Sadly we only had time for two of the three dressers — Annalise’s Butterfly Inlaid Dresser and Nathan’s Cherry and Walnut Dresser. My comment to Mike: these pictures look nicer than the pieces!

I sure do wish I could have shots like this take of everything I build. Sigh.

It’s a Wrap…

By 4PM it was “in the can” so to speak. Mike loaded his gear and Jim packed up for the airport. I had a great time with this. Jim is a very down to earth and incredibly interesting guy with a long list of accomplishments — and the stories that invariably go with them.  Mike’s knowlege and skills were impressive, though what impressed me most of all was the way Jim and Mike worked together as if they were longtime partners, though they’d just met for the first time the day before.

Thanks to Jim, Mike, John and the folks at Woodcraft Magazine for this experience!

UPDATE

I forgot to mention that I was informed that the issue these shots will appear in will be out sometime in October/November timeframe.
See also: http://tenonandspline.com/blog/archives/188

Over the last couple months things in the shop have been fairly quiet…mainly due to things in the house being more noisy! Of course, our now 5-month-old son Nathan’s an absolute joy and easily the least-demanding baby of the three. This weekend I snuck away for a bit to put the finishing touches on my new hide-away blade storage rack.

Hidden Blade Storage

When I originally designed the shop cabinets, I kept the drawer sizes and placements open figuring I’d work the final dimensions out during the build, letting their ultimate contents dictate their sizes. This worked very well, with one notable exception: two tall and narrow openings on either side of the RAS base cabinet. Early on I was thinking that I might mount some narrow drawers for router bits in this location…but the RAS counter overhang made that impractical and they wouldn’t be in a terribly good location for these frequently-accessed accessoies. Early on these holes began attracting my table saw blades and accessories. So I hit upon the idea of a tuck-away blade storage rack. And here it is….

The design is based on this one I found online from Wood magazine. That plan calls for a 60-degree angle, which looks fine in their photos of 7-1/4″ blades/dado chippers, but wouldn’t work in my cabinet as 10″ blades at that angle take up more width than I had (8″). I built mine at 80-degrees — and, even if you don’t need the “tighter” arrangement, if you plan on storing 10″ blades, I’d advise an angle closer to mine. I’ve uploaded my Google SketchUp sketch for my version in case you’re interested. The article also suggests cutting the slots with a bandsaw or jigsaw. I made a quick jig for the router table and cut them with an 1/8″ straight bit…which made for much straighter, smoother and more consistent cuts than you’d ever get by these other means.

Roll-away Jointer

From the beginning I designed my jointer to “tuck” underneath the shared RAS/CMS counter. This was definitely a good decision, but walking the jointer in and out of its cubby was a bit awkward. A few months back I built a mobile base for it based again on plans I found online…this time from a fellow lumberjock. Instead of swivel casters, I mounted rigid ones on my version that would help track the based appropriately. The early version of this used a simple outrigger in the back with a “pin” that rode in a track in the floor. Unfortunately, this was unsatisfactory as the pin would frequently hang up on the floor at any high point — which meant it required more force to  more the tool than I’d originally envisioned. A couple weeks ago I set out to remedy the situation. I wound up replacing the pin with a small caster. This did the trick, and I can position the jointer with one hand.

I’ve been informed today that my entry into the WoodCentral.com/Woodcraft “America’s Top Shops Contest” won third place!

Be sure to check out the other entries — especially the first and second place winners. Truly impressive!

Thanks!

I love craigslist.

Around the same time I begain the planning for my new shop, I started using “igoogle” for my browser homepage. I also discovered a couple cool “craigslist” widgets for igoogle that display search results for preconfigured searches on your homepage. So, for example, if I’m considering the purchase of, say, a new dust collector, I’ll add a craigslist “dust collector” search widget to my igoogle homepage. Since I basically live online weekdays it’s unlikely I wouldn’t catch a new relevant post within, say, the first hour of it being posted. This is how I got my rather old but very competent 3HP 2100CFM dust collector for $225.

This is also how I found my latest workshop addition: A Grizzly G1066 24″ Dual Drum Sander for $400. Brand new these machines run about $1,500 delivered. Now the machine I got is not even remotely new — the copyright on the original manual (yeah, the seller had the original manual) is dated 1992 and the “Grizzly” logo is an older variety — but the insides were all there and it runs beautifully. Included with the machine were 2 new 150 grit rolls and 1 new/1 half used 100 grit roll of sandpaper. Considering these cost >$40 each, I figure I actually paid less than $300 for the actual machine. I consider this a very good deal, indeed.

Heavyweight

Finding the machine was the easy part. Since this machine weighs in at over 400lbs., getting it home and in place was a bigger challenge. I was lucky that the seller had a couple pretty big guys pickup up some other equipment a the same time as I.  The 4 of us (seller, two “big guys” and me) basically muscled the thing into the back of my minivan. I nearly passed out on the last push and am fairly certain that, were anyone looking, they’d have seen my eyes bulging out of their sockets. I’m not kidding. Fortunately, lowering it out of the van, with the help of my brother-in-law and a couple of his football-player sons turned out to be a bit easier than I’d feared…and my load-in ramp for the shop easily supported the weight. It was in!

Power

When designing the shop, I saw fit to have a total of (4) 240V circuits installed. Two 15A and two 20A. One is for the dust collector, a second for my Grizzly 17″ bandsaw. This leaves one 15 and one 20A circuit available. The 5HP motor on this monster demands 240V @25A minimum. This meant installing a new dedicated 240V/30A circuit in the shop. Since I already had the 10ga. wire on hand, the expense was minimal (some 1/2 conduit and a breaker) and in about 2 hours yesterday afternoon I installed the new line.

Test Run

Much of the comments I’ve read on drum sanders dealt with frustrations over either burning wood like cherry, or tracking issues. These left me a bit apprehensive about what I would encounter when using this tool.  I decided to track down a current owner if I could and solicit some advice. Based on some of his prior posts, it appeared that a fellow “Lumberjock” (Todd A. Clippinger)  who’s work I’ve admired (and partially ripped off) had at one time owned this exact model. Todd took the time to provide me with a weath of information that I was able to put to immediate use. (Thanks!) So, after loading up the drums, per Todd, with some new 100 (front roller) and 150 (rear roller) grit, I picked up the first >9″ (minimum length per docs) piece of scrap I had at hand — a ~6″W  x ~10″ long piece of cherry. I fired up the dust collector (a must) and then the machine and ran this piece through, cranking up the table until the piece just made contact with the drums. It was a beautiful sound and after multiple passes without any burn or apparent strain on the machine, I eyed the cherry and walnut side panels I’d recently completed for my current project.

Beautiful! A few passes and the joints were dead flush and looking gorgeous. I’m hooked!

Did I mention how I love craigslist?

UPDATE: Todd responds here with some additional helpful information and photos.

My original design for the shop included multiple compressed air outlets scattered about the shop. At the heart of this system would be a 60gal Ingersol-Rand 2-stage compressor providing at least 15 SCFM@90psi. Now months later, I’ve significantly revised and downgraded my plans. Part of it was financial, but most of it was a realization that all that I really needed was to be able to use my nail guns without the hassle of dragging out the compressor every time and tripping over hose.

Retractable Air Hose

To that end, I revised my plans and settled on a much simpler setup. I would put my existing 17gal Husky in the crawlspace below the shop, and run a hose through the floor next to my main assembly table. To this I would attach a combination regulator/filter/oiler and a retractable hose. This is precisely what I did.

The air filter/oiler unit is a $20 special from Harbor Freight…well, I got it for $20. It was down to $15 last time I checked…sigh. Unfortunately it only occurred to me after I had purchased the filter unit that I don’t really want an oiler. While most of the time I’ll be using a nail gun, I do occasionally wish to use the air hose to blow off the shavings from a piece in progress and I doubt that misting it with tool oil would be very good for the finish. I’ve mounted the unit anyway and plan to keep the oiler empty. Perhaps someday I’ll move this device to another location on a separate hose and reserve it specifically for tool use. Or maybe not.

The hose reel was $30 for 20ft. It was the cheapest I’ve seen and while not as “industrial” as some of the more expensive units, I kinda preferred the compact size and appearance of this one. It also included a swivel mount. It works great right now…hopefully the mechanism will prove more reliable than the price would imply. We’ll see.

Automatic Drain Valve

Another Harbor Freight special. The plan was to locate the compressor in the crawl space, accessed via a trap door in the floor. Draining it regularly via the drain cock would be somewhat of a hassle. What I needed was an automatic drain. Thankfully I found this site in about 5 minutes of research pointing to a product from Harbor Freight. It was fairly straightforward to install — except that the inner diameter of the hose running from the unloader valve to the pressure switch on my compressor was too small for the included fittings. I ultimately wound up buying a different fitting which suffered from the same issue — but was setup in a such a way that I was able to coax the hose over the inner brass piece by applying a bit of heat. A bit of sanding of the outer tube was also required to get the connector attached to the tee. It was a bit of a chore, but ultimately I managed to get it all to work. And just like the author of the site above, my new drain cock valve was no good…so I also replaced it with a part from HD. The thing about the drain is that it only opens when the compressor starts and shuts off. So I can either leave the compressor on so that it “tops off” periodically (thereby activating the drain) or program the switch it’s on (see my other posts re: Insteon) to run it for a few minutes each day and give it a chance to drain any condensation.

Vertical Sheet-goods Pen

Finally, after filling the compressor, I used my new hose and old air nailers to build a 9′ tall x 30″ wide x 36″ deep vertical sheet goods pen just outside the shop door and install some cheap pre-primed moulding around the pen face and shop doors.

This is the start of my next big project: the Garage Remodel.

Over the past month I found very little contiguous time to make progress on the shop setup. Consequently I never felt like I had made significant enough progress in any given week to warrant a new post. While I’m still quite some distance from the finish line, I finally feel like I can actually say, once again, “I have a shop!”

Dust Collection Controls

I installed a half-dozen doorbell buttons around the shop, under bench tops near power tools, on the wall by the bandsaw and underneath the tablesaw fence next to the power switch. I installed a couple power outlets in the crawl space under the shop for the controller as well as my air compressor which I located in a corner of the crawl. I also programmed the air filter as I discussed in my last post to automatically switch on with the dust collector and off 2 minutes after the collector is switched off. I’m extremely pleased with how this has worked out.

Supplies Organized & Remaining Tools Installed

I finally managed to commit to drawer assignments for my tools and supplies. For the most part the drawers are logically organized, though a few of them are temporary “catch-alls” waiting for the day when I complete the upper cabinets. I enlisted the aid of my brother, sister-in-law and nephew to help wheel the 17″ Grizzly bandsaw up a ramp and into the shop. This turned out to be not as difficult as I’d feared it would be. I also unboxed the Ridgid oscillating sander I’d purchased nearly 3 months ago and connected both to the dust collection drops installed previously. All the tools are in!

Clamp Racks

Following some quick research at my favorite site, I assembled and mounted some clamp racks for my rather modest pipe, parallel and bar clamp collection. I still have a number of spring and “C” clamps to hang, but I’m satisfied with the arrangement for now.

A Number of Tasks Remain

No matter how much I manage to accomplish, the list never really seems to get any shorter. Some tasks that remain are setting up dust collection for my router table and building an overarm blade guard for the table saw. The router table will require installing some kind of enclosure around the hanging router…which will take some time to devise. I’m also working on a design for a tall thin “drawer” to fill the 2 spaces in the RAS cabinet. These opening are roughly 36″ tall by only 9″ wide. I’m thinking that I’ll create a sliding angled vertical panels in one to hold router bits and a vertical pull-out panel in the other for miter/RAS/table/circular saw blade storage. Next steps also include major improvements to the “large piece assembly area” — which my wife insists upon calling a “garage.” Improvements include an updated lumber rack and sheet goods pen as well as some custom cabinets for “non-wood-related” storage…though I can’t imagine what that might be.

The bottom line is that I’m just about ready to get back to spending at least some time working “in” the shop instead of “on” the shop! Hooray!

(This post is based on a LumberJocks.com forum thread.)

After completing my dust collection system installation, I turned to my air cleaner, the Delta 50-875. I had decided to install it just above my table saw — about 2/3rd’s of the way along the wall, where the intake would be in line with the front door and the outfeed inline with the ceiling mounted vent fan. After reading “Woodshop Dust Control” this seemed like the ideal placement and this location had the added benefit of not obscuring any usable wall space — which is at a premium in my small shop.

An Awkward Arrangement

One of the selling points of this unit is the built-in infrared remote control that allows you to install it out of reach and control it from below. The problem is that the remote sensor is in the back of the unit. While the unit location is ideal for air flow, it’s rather awkward for IR control as I’d need to walk around to the back of the unit, and to a “far” corner of the shop, to turn it on/off. I’ve always thought that what I really wanted to do was to control it with a switched outlet. The problem with that scenario is that the control panel built into the unit is solid state and doesn’t “remember” the settings when you unplug the unit. That is, if you turn it on and then switch off the outlet it’s plugged into, when you switch the outlet back on, the air cleaner will remain “off” until you again manually press the “on” key on the unit or the remote control.

So, there was no way to make this happen…or was there? I reasoned that since it’s just an electric motor and a control panel, certainly there would be a way to re-wire the unit, bypassing the built-in solid-state controls so that I could hook to a switched outlet.

Exploration

The air cleaner itself is pretty basic. It’s a rectangular metal box with a blower motor/fan in a housing, and a control panel. The motor and control panel are both mounted on the back panel which is simply screwed into the metal box. Once the backpanel assembly, including the blower was removed, I began the process of working out exactly what needed to be done to re-wire the motor. Fortunately, the motor wiring connects to wires from the controller through a nylon connector that, once unplugged provided an easy means of measuring various voltages and resistance. As I knew nothing about wiring AC motors, I began the process with a google search…many of them. Unfortunately, none provided me with anything that I could really use to definitively determine how this motor worked. In fact, I was left with more questions than I’d had originally…who knew there were so many types of AC motors! Initially, as there were 3 colored wires (Red, Blue and Black) and one White (clearly “common”), I assumed there were 3 windings and each color represented one of the 3 speeds that the unit boasts. Based on what I’d read, however, I was now concerned that the large-ish capacitor on the red wire indicated that I might have a “capacitor start” motor which would require something more complicated than simply applying voltage to one of the wires. Perhaps an electrical engineer, at this point, would have provided me a definitive way to check this out…but there weren’t any in my shop, so I tried a different tack.

I reasoned that the best way to reverse engineer this setup was to hook up each of the colored wires in turn to my volt meter — using white for common — and turn the unit on, cycle through the various speed settings and note the voltages. This did the trick. Here are the measured results:

Clearly this was going to be as straight-forward as I had first hoped! Red = slow, blue = medium and black = fast. That’s all there was to it!

Let the hacking begin…

Now I was ready to start. In thinking through exactly how I wanted to wire this up, I realized that I might want to have the ability to change the speed at some point without opening the unit up. I also figured it would be pretty simple to install a switch that would basically allow me to “undo” this hack and use the unit as nature, and the Chinese factory had intended without having to un-hang and re-open the unit. The solution was a couple toggle switches. Since there’s an Ace hardware store right up the street from my office, I decided to stop by at lunch and see what they had. I was looking for a SP3T rotary switch that would allow me to cycle through all three speeds — but the only one they had was rated at 4A max. The fuse mounted in the control panel is rated at 5A, so I figured this switch wouldn’t do. The next closest was a SPDT switch, center off — and two speeds seemed “close enough.” For the “hack bypass” switch, I got a DPDT. While it seemed like it should be sufficient to switch only the “hot” wire, since I was going to essentially be supplying power to the output of the controller when using the hack (see drawing), I was concerned that a closed common connection might allow a circuit to complete and result in “who knows what”(tm) happening. So, I decided the safest thing to do would be to simply switch both common and hot.

The plan

Here’s a basic drawing of what was done:

Moving forward

So the whole point of this modification was to allow me to control the unit by a switched outlet. The switched outlet is managed by an Insteon SwitchLinc which will allow for event-driven activation, such as turning on and off automatically with tools and/or the dust collection unit and wireless RF remote control via an X10 keychain remote. I’ll be refining the programming over the coming weeks/months.