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Just wanted to pass this along, as I figure you all are partly responsible. This lady saw a mantel I had done for a relative and hired me to do an entertainment center. Also wanted to say thanks to the group for the encouragement you show to novices. It has made me think I might be able to do this as a paying hobby when I retire from the fire service.
Thanks.
Mike
Replies
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kind of "out of the fire and into the frying pan", so to speak.
good luck, man, take it nice and slow in transition - keep thinking of it as a 'paying hobby' for as long as you can. once it becomes necessary to sell your work in order to eat, you may not stop loving it, but you will be forced to stress over it from time to time.
Let us know if we can help you through this job - those big tv closets can get unwieldy in a hurry!
Kirk Schuly and I just bid a big one together - four big doors - bifolding pocket doors - oy, I'll take a set of chairs anyday. Once the Hafele catalog is pulled from the shelf, I know I have to act like I live in the 21st century again. I hate that...
sb
*Congratulations, Mike! Good luck with the commission, I hope many more follow...Dano
*Thanks guys. This is a nice little oddball one. Just a lowboy with a couple of shelves and a turntable. Thanks again for the encouragement.
*This would be a good time to carefully keep track of expenses - consulting time, time/mileage collecting materials, hours of actual construction, etc - and see what you actually net - best of luck to you from a (very) small businessman, DOUD
*I think that is one of the main things this will force me to do. I actually sat down and made up a cut list, materials list, and wrote up a "formal" bid. The time spent will be well worth it, as I didn't have to waste time in the shop figuring and refiguring math, etc. Keeping track of my time is what scares me. I figure if I make minimum wage I'll be doing pretty good. But I know that speed comes from efficeincy, which comes from experience. And you hafta start somewhere.Thanks David.Mike
Hello Folks:
I am currently working as an apprentice for a woodworker/artisan in doylestown, PA. A Jeffrey Greene. As such, I am gathering information on various types of tolls for my own shop, including either a wide belt sander, a performax drum sander a and /or a stroke sander. To be honest I had never heard of a stroke sander before but they seem to combie the performax and the wide belt with some of the features of both, though not as effective as a wide belt for thickness work.
Anyone out there in the first years of their own shop who may need/use a wide machine for table tops and other broad surfaces? I would appreciate comments, feedback and opinions.
Jeff does not like Performax drum sanders as he had a "performax-type " cheapie years ago and was not happy with the results. That company is no longer in business either ( name not known but it was "blue and red")
Wide belt sanders are big bucks and I am not sure if I shall make a living with diming room tables or wides cabinets, but wanted to get some idea what's out there.
Anyone looking for a good assistant/partner in the central NJ, eastern PA area in about 1 year?
Brian
I vote for the stroke sander, I sand all parts before assembly. It's also faster than the thickness sanders and in my opinion depending on the condition of the belt the thicknessed parts are not finish sanded. On the stroke sander they are virtually done...
Don Kondra - Furniture Designer/Maker
Don:
Thanks for the input. What brand do you have and did you get it new or used?
Brian
Hi Brian,
It was built by a woodworking friends farmer father... lots of experience with welder and metal lathe but..... changed the drum mounting to new shaft and pillow block bearings and back to work.
3 hp motor and 60" long sanding capacity. Rarely have had to go to town to sand something longer...
If you look around you should be able to get something in the $1000 to $1500 range... or there is a couple of articles in the mag about building them.
I just can't tell you how handy this machine is. I used to do kitchens and after hand sanding my 36th door on my 12th? set of cupboards actually thought about going back to my office job. This puts the fun back in work and pays for itself.
Control is not a problem, I do a fair amount of veneering and sand my panels with it, I also sand all door and flat carcass parts before assembly. Hand sanding is basically down to edges, curved parts and ends. BUT I do give the stroke sanded parts a quick swipe with 220 to match the hand sanded surfaces.
I also have a 18" wide thickness sander built from a kit from Viel Tools but from there the blanks go to the stroke sander... Thickness sanders still leave the same marks a thickness planer does but without the chips..... :)
You can see the tail end of the stoke sander behind me and Max!!!
http://image.photoloft.com/opx-bin/OpxFIDISA.dll?src=/PhotoLoft/Asset17/2001/07/11/7277/7277956_0_7007.fpx,0,0,1,1,512,384,FFFFFF
Don Kondra - Furniture Designer/Maker
Please describe a "Stroke Sander"
Edited 3/14/2005 9:57 pm ET by MIKE
Hi, Mike,
A stroke sander ia a big mobile table outfit that has a 6 wide by maybe 200 inch belt that rides above it. There is a pressure pad that allows you to contact the belt to the surface of the work that is on the table. You ride left and right with the pressure pad as you move the table toward and away from you. It effectively creates an xy axis that you can sand in a 4x8 ft. panel.
Thanks for the education.
Mike
A stroke sander Go to Grizzly web and you can see a PIC of one.. Sorry of late post..
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G5394
I have a 36" wide drum sander by Kuster which is now out of business. I certainly kicks up the dust, even with a dust collector. Problemis that even if you run it with 220, the surface is not like hand-sanded at all. It was about 3K, and I used it for thicknessing for many years till I broke down and bought a 20" planer. Now I rarely use it. Were you at Groff's a couple of Saturday's ago?
I was at Groffs back in June. If you saw a fellow from Jeff Greene, It was Doug, one of my fellow apprentices. He is from GA and has an apratment in PA. I commute from NJ so Groffs is a once in a long while trip!
Thanksa for the info on the thickness sander. We use a 27" unit at Jeff's shop and he would like to get a stroke sander if he could find a place to put it!
I am planning my first shop and I still have 1o months to go! I will probably start out making cutting boards and coffee tables until I can get a commission or two and get my name known. I still plan to move to VA in about 4 years, so this will be practice for the real thing.
Doug is probably who it was, as I do recall he was from Atlanta. I gave him a business card, have him email or call me. There is no woodworking club in the Philadelphia area of which I am aware, and I would not mind giving a hand in getting one going. There is always so much to learn from others. Woodworkers generally are a cooperative community.
i needto build a tool based on a mitersaw but with a router as the cutting tool
i have to produce 200 identical 4" pie cut squares to compleat the edge of a 7' circle alrenating colers in corian
any ideas welcome
lyc, Cut a blank 1/8" oversized with band saw.
Then, make a template exactly the size and shape of the pie shape needed.
Stick the template onto the 'blank'with carpet tape. Use a handheld router with a 1/2" carbide straight bit with a 1/2" ballbearing attached
The bearing will 'ride' the template and produce an exact copy of the template.
To keep the whole setup from shifting on the work surface, screw the template to the work surface with counter sunk screws.Stein.
Edited 11/1/2003 1:51:18 AM ET by steinmetz
no go to much chatter i cant seam the peices after they are cut
Lyc, How thick is the material? How deep are you cutting? How much is the workpiece wider than the template? One way would be to just cut in increments.
To do this, you must make the template a bit thicker than the workpiece.
Also,use a longer router bit, so the bearing will follow the template as you make one cut around then go deeper and go around again.
Continue going down in 1/8" steps 'till the last. This takes longer but results in a smoother finish.
If the vibration is caused by the router bit, try one with three or four flutes Or, a spiralcut bit( Upcut spiral or downcut.) Stein. Good luck.
Lycanthrope,
To make these, you can make a little pin router fixture for yourself. Or get the one that Lee Valley sells. Then it will just follow a template. I do this kind of thing all of the time with my Delta Inverted Pin Router but they have discontinued this product. If you contact me I will send you pictures of my home made pin router that I used for a couple of years.
If you want duPont's information on working with Corian visit the site below.
http://stonewood.safeshopper.com
Ken, please sent photos of your pin router set up. I have the working pin router motorized unit alas, not the column and table or cross arm/
Years ago I started to machine the base/ table/column and cross arn from steel and aluminum , but somehow lost interest.
Still have the head (Rockwell or Porter cable?) With your help ,(photos) I,ll give it a try in wood and phenolic. Thanx in advance Stein.
i have the lee valley catalog at the shop ill look it up really kind of want to make a versitil sliding tool designed off a radial arm saw type though
would like the photos as well i canbuild anything if i have a good idea
Sounds a lot like cutting segments for a bowl just bigger- how about making a sled to cut the angle for the table saw to cut the pie shapes once on the right angle flip flop the stock" check out segmented bowl making"-
make a jig to hold the sections together in circle then use a router with a circle jig to cut the inside circle " maybe scab 2 sheets of plywood side buy side lay on your sections in the circle then tack a small block outside each one to hold in all in place "-
glue them to the table and fix a glue block to the table top or do it on the bottom side" a pivot point for the jig" and use the circle jig to cut the outside dia.
RonWho Ever Has The Biggest Pile Of Tools When You Die Wins
you may want to look into a local die maker. They might have a computer operated laser die plate cutter. This way you can do a CAD drawing and the laser will cut each piece within .001 of your necessary tolerance.
Find someone with a CNC and see c how much they would charge you.
Try a good hand plane, they wook wonders.
I just purchased a Performax 22-44, got a great deal with lots of extra sandpaper. I used it to sand a 26x52 desk top that has Mahoganny in the middle with a band of 3" Jatoba and then a band of 1" white oak. I was not looking forward to trying to hand plane this as the grain direction goes two ways. The Performax did a great job in leveling all three types of wood. I then finish sanded it with a Porter Cable RO sander.
Highly recommend the Performax, it saved me hours.
What fire service are you with. I was with Orlando for 25 years and enjoing retirement.
PT
Good morning, all. Sorry to interupt. I was wonderin' if anyone might know where I can locate a scale drawing/plan and cut list for the Luytens garden bench that was featured in the August 2000 issue. It was made of cypress and I just hauled 500 bf from Fla. to northern WI. and would like to make this bench as one of my first projects.
Jump on it with both feet, build it and deliver it. Congratulations.
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