Lockdown projects

[Paul H (admin)]

Talking of sheds, I've been sorting out all those useful pieces of wood we keep but never use.

So my helpful wife and myself emptied everything into the garden and I sorted out a large pile of softwood to burn and make a hedgehog nest with (a box with tunnel entrance).

A clear floor is amazing, the rule now is that everything should be on rollers - bandsaw, 6x4 sander, wooden workbench, except Evolution chop saw bench which has collapsible feet. All the above have wheels, but I find 50mm is too small on a rough floor.

So I've been building a rolling lumber cart:

https://woodworkingformeremortals.com/make-a-rolling-lumber-cart/

However, the challenge was to build it with the collected wood. Ha ha.
I sawed a 3x3 fence post for a 3x1.5 base frame screwed and glued. Sawed tongue and groove pine from my old shed door to make uprights, covered the base frame with melamine chipboard from a cheap 1980s bedside cabinet. The list goes on.

Haven't finished it but put a huge amount of wood on it last night, ahead of the rain. And it did roll! 🍾🎉

First problem is if a wheel hits an obstruction, the sheet material can fall off as the design relies on a 5 degree slope and gravity to hold the sheets in place. Clearly it assumes you have a super smooth concrete floor as in most American houses.

When I put on my heavy weather gear I'll go to the garage to take some pics. I maybe gone for some time.

Paul

[Paul H (admin)]

More pictures of the lumbar cart, not quite finished:







I opted to use 2x1 stringers to support the sheet material (at 5 degrees) and double up as shelf supports.

There is a design flaw - when a cart wheel hits an obstruction the wood can tilt out. I will add a 2x1 frame around the profile to contain the taller timbers. Maybe larger wheels (125+ mm).
There was no need to cut a triangle out of the 5 pocket dividers - they should have been left 2ft high then an enclosing batten could be added at 2ft.

However, a huge weight of wood can be stored in a compact space. Using wheels was a brilliant feature.

Stay well
Paul

[The Q]

I'm working on my garage workshop,  (slowly)  the main work bench has been built in a U 3 ft deep 6 ft wide.  The U is about 2ft 6 inches square.  At the moment the fill in board in in place while I build the keel.  However I have a stack of wood to turn into trolleys.  Each trolley will lock into the U, so there will be pillar drill,  band saw,  vice,  table saw,  router,  all on separate trolleys,  each trolley will have a cupboard / shelves / drawers beneath with the appropriate tools beneath.

The work bench is so arranged timber can stick out across the garage for another 12 foot from the power equipment on the bench.
Under the second window will be the wood lathe. I've just rebuilt that window and moved it up as high as possible away from rotating objects.
It's a double garage,  it will be partioned off down the middle to keep the heat in,  but with a hatch and doorway to give that 12ft of space when required.
The wood store is a shed next door, but there will be shelving in the garage, for ready use wood,  for hand tools,  and other materials.

For the last few days,  there has been much clearance of ground,  this is part one of a reorganisation of parking space for boats, trailers, the car and landrover  and access to the garage.  The old metal doors from the garage are going beneath the biggest trailer, to stop the undergrowth growing up beneath.

[Paul H (admin)]

Q,

I'd like to see pictures of your trolleys and workbench.

Mobile is definitely the way to go, especially if you like jigsaws ha ha

Paul

[Paul H (admin)]

Patriotic VE celebration:

[John P]

Well, I made one of my two workbenches with wheels at one end, its the right hand workbench in this picture. This used to be our dining room. Much better to have your machine tools in the house rather than in the garage if you want to keep them from going rusty. However, for boat building I could do with a MUCH bigger garage.  On second thoughts, maybe a good thing I have never had such a thing.

Having wheels on that workbench means that I can wheel it outside to do particularly dusty jobs.  I made the width of it about 10mm less than the width of the internal doors in the house to allow this.  

A feature of this workbench that I do find really useful is that the top overhangs the sides by about 3" which makes it easy to clamp things down on it.

There is a router mounted under the top of this workbench.  To use that, turning the handle just visible to the left of the square red cover over the emergency stop switch elevates the router so that the bit comes up through the top of the workbench.  When the router is not needed, which is most of the time, it is lowered and the top of the workbench covered with a sheet of plywood.   John

[Alan]

Thar's my kind of philosophy Paul, make it with what you've got.

[Chris Adeney]

My lockdown project is still ongoing. It is repairing the windows and painting the outside of our house as the person who was going to do it can now no longer fit us in this year and it cannot be left any longer. The upside of this is that I have spent some of the money saved on one of the modern electric outboard motors. The choice was between a Torqueedo or a n Epropulsion. I went for the latter as they are slightly cheaper, have a smaller motor bulb so clear the rudder on full lock and in their Spirit Plus model will go 40% further on one battery charge. So far so good. The motor breaks into two parts (battery and Motor) so is lighter and therefore easier to put on the boat though I did have to do some other modifications to get it to fit. It is easy to use and quiet, the biggest noise is made by  the water round the rudder and transom. It goes well giving nearly 5mph flat out which should be good for one hour and at half throttle will do at least 3.5 mph and the battery monitor suggests it should be able to do this for at least 3 hours giving a range of over 12 miles. I have still got to do a lot more testing but so far I am quite pleased with it. Hopefully with a back up battery I should be able to do a quite Thames trip next year.
Chris A.

[inwe]

Well another lockdown, and just before I get my jab I've decided I am getting totally bored and need a new goal. Something that I have needed to master for some time. I can splice laid rope with no problem. I spliced up to B.S standard for harness lines. But never been able to splice braid on braid. So I got some odd ends and have started. I have completed two eye splices.






Not too grubby. Took me all afternoon and I have to say the first one went great, the second not so good , kept on falling apart until I eventually got fed up and tied it together. Black braid is something else, you can't see what you are doing , and marking is not easy. Well quite pleased with initial progress I've got another 7Metres of rope left. In the meantime I've some sinnets to make.

Richard

[Chris Waite]

Jolly Good Richard

Am I allowed to suggest white correction fluid for marking dark stuff?  I suspect it won't do, on the grounds that once there, it is indestructible, but I have several bottles around the place for repairing tiny 'dings' in white walls and any number of other bits and pieces.  The tyre pressures for my various vehicles are written in the stuff within the car door frames, or in the case of Ruthie's mobility scooter, on the axles.  One or two of God's smaller creatures have stopped me and asked if I have the pressures right, but otherwise the numbers go unnoticed.

It is possible to scrape off small quantities after your mark is no longer required and between you and Jeremy, I suspect you can probably identify a correction fluid solvent that doesn't eat its way even through the, er, 'inertia' of modern plastic.  The other way is a piece of white whipping twine - even a temporary stitch sewn through the rope's cover, or one edge of a strip of masking tape if your intended activity is not too vigorous....  

Just a thought

Chris  

[inwe]

Chris, as they are only practice pieces it wouldn't matter. Good idea, thanks, but I don't have any ! I can find something in the workshop but it was raining and I couldn't be bothered with a trip down the garden.

Richard

[Paul H (admin)]

Richard,

That's a nice bit of splicing, a good skill to learn.

Did you use a set of fiddles? Dilys found them useful.

"We" have only done 3-splice in nylon anchor rope and Dynema thimble extensions of shrouds. That latter was difficult, but after trials a longer splice was secure.


Chris - all modern EU vehicles have the tyre pressure on a plate, in the driver door frame or engine bay.

I highlight my engine type, tyre size and pressures in the owners manual, for quick reference in case I forget them.

Paul

[Port-Na-Storm]

Looks good to me Richard.

My thoughts have been heading in a similar direction as the Morbic creeps slowly towards the water. I'm going to need a fid or two. Did you buy yours or fashion them from an old coat hanger and some fuse wire?

Cheers Graham.

Sent from my Xperia by Sony smartphone

---- inwe [via UK HBBR Forum] wrote ----

Well another lockdown, and just before I get my jab I've decided I am getting totally bored and need a new goal. Something that I have needed to master for some time. I can splice laid rope with no problem. I spliced up to B.S standard for harness lines. But never been able to splice braid on braid. So I got some odd ends and have started. I have completed two eye splices.






Not too grubby. Took me all afternoon and I have to say the first one went great, the second not so good , kept on falling apart until I eventually got fed up and tied it together. Black braid is something else, you can't see what you are doing , and marking is not easy. Well quite pleased with initial progress I've got another 7Metres of rope left. In the meantime I've some sinnets to make.

Richard

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[inwe]

Hi Graham good to know your still around, hope Sandra is ok. I bought the set of four FIDS back in the day from Jimmy Green's, I think from a boat show, and no they're not rusty! I am. They are "Selma" fide and come with a very good instruction leaflet. I like many others baulked at braid after a first go. I will need a lot more practice to get efficient but good to try.
 As I said laid rope is like second nature. I remember a group of my pupils in Poole Harbour whilst waiting to have the radar fixed. What to do? Teach them to splice and make dog leads. So I went to buy up clips and they all sat making leads and drew a crowd. We took donations for charity.
Good luck I haven't been to the barn for over a month now.

Richard

[inwe]

The first day went quite well but after that it all went downhill .I struggled to get the core into the cover for the last phase. This morning it all came together and I realized that you can't do it in the house. You need a weighty bench to pull against for the final pull. Do this and the whole thing comes together. Bloody great.



Mind you this is in 12mm braid. I can only think that the smaller you go the harder it gets. I shall have to try.

Richard

[Paul W]

Is this still a hot enough topic to warrant further input?
I could upload a series of (annotated) pics I took when braid splicing an eye in a mainsheet.

[Paul H (admin)]

Paul W,

Yes every topic is up for grabs. Ropework and splicing are important skills.

Paul H

[Chris Waite]

I've just found you doorplate suggestion Paulie

Door plates are all very well, but you then have to find them, make sure you have the right glasses and that your vehicle is actually the V769(H)-A88 and not the A89 and that it is talking in PSI and not Marconis per Cubic Snodgrass, or whatever we're supposed to be working in this week.

Two numbers one in front of the other 30/33 where each relates to that end of the car is so simple and yes, this one's in black marker on light grey, because I couldn't find my whiteout either -



Chris