CharleyL

I made 3D reindeer for almost 20 years and gave them away during the Christmas Season for every one of those years. I have never sold any of my projects as I don't want any part of running a business anymore either. Even my photography/videography is never done for money. It's for me and my extended family, or something that I just want to do. I haven't been in my shop (in a separate building) for the past two and a half years because I'm taking care of my invalid wife (broken back and pelvis) and handicapped son with MD (in electric wheelchair). My other serious hobby is photography, and I had built my own digital photo/video studio upstairs in my home 5 years ago, so that is where I go when I get the chance. From the studio I can still hear them when they need me, but I'm usually here so seldom, and for such short times that not much progress happens. I have a ER Paramedic grand daughter who is helping me a few hours a week while she is on maternity extended leave, but otherwise it's up to me to do everything. My cooking is improving, laundry acceptable, grocery shopping is also acceptable. My grand daughter usually cleans the house for me and, sometimes helps with the laundry, and makes lunch while here and helps with anything else in need including taking care of me. At 83, and with 8 heart surgeries, a pace maker, 2X cancer survivor, metal knees, and other metal and plastic all through me to keep me together and functioning, I'm not all that quick about getting things done anymore or moving heavy things. I consider myself to be Bionic, since BATTERIES ARE INCLUDED now. Yes, I need an extra electric shot every once in a while to keep me running at speed. These last 2 1/2 years have been quite an experience. Maybe some day I can make sawdust again and the shop is still there, but my time isn't. But I still try to check in here at least a few times a week, when I can though. Charley

You will fully appreciate the need for VERTICLE BLADES when you begin stack or 3D cutting. Charley

We all do this, but usually don't admit it publicly. I set up a saw for a student once, and wondered why he had not made any progress when I checked back. I had put the blade in backwards so no teeth in his cutting direction. Putting them in upside down is easy to do for me now when using the very fine blades, so I have learned to slide my finger along them to see which way the teeth point as they are being installed. "Old eyes" can't see the teeth of the finer blades unless with magnification any more. Charley

When using a hole saw, keeping the teeth of the hole saw blade cool keeps them sharp longer. With the repeating circular motion, there isn't any place for the saw dust to go and the teeth get filled with saw dust, then become more of a friction cut than a saw cut. This heating will rapidly dull the blade teeth of all blades, regardless of if they are on a hole saw or straight cutting blade, or even a scroll saw blade. If the blade teeth can't be kept clear and build up with saw dust, this will happen. Most straight cutting or scroll saw blade cutting dumps the saw dust as the teeth exit the wood at end of stroke. A hole saw doesn't have this capability and continues to fill the teeth with saw dust with no where to clear them. An air gun aimed at the cutting point and frequent backing out of the hole saw blade will allow the compressed air from the air nozzle will blow the teeth and the cut clear of saw dust every time the hole saw is backed out of the cut and keep the teeth cutting well and not dulling rapidly. Saw blades of any kind can't cut if the gullet between the teeth are plugged up with packed in saw dust. They become friction saws and the heat built up from continuing to try to use it will destroy the blade teeth. Charley

Look in your local Blue or Orange big box store, in the masonry area, for "Backer Rod" of the diameter that you need. It's a long round strip of foam plastic insulation in a poly bag that's used to fill expansion joints in masonry building walls, and it is available in many diameters. I cut these into strips of the length needed, glue a piece of the velvet to them to cover their surface (hot glue gun glue), and then hot glue them into the jewelry box side by side. The rings are then held in rows in the slots between these rods. Charley

It's a Beam (Electrolux Mfgr.) and I believe it's a 2 stage. For suction capability, when I first installed it I was using a plastic 5 gallon pail under the Dust Deputy, and collapsed it within the first minute of use. I had heard that the pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs were stronger, so I purchased some of them. They proved to be only slightly stronger, mostly because they have additional molded in ribs around the top 1/3 of each. I solved the collapsing bucket problem by stacking 3 of them together. This not only tripled the ribs, so the top bucket basically had ribs all the way to the bottom, but tripled the bucket wall thickness, and I had no trouble with the vac collapsing the buckets after that. A few months later my son brought me the metal barrel and I made a top for it out of 3/4 cabinet birch ply, two layers, with the bottom sized to just fit inside the barrel and the top layer 2" in diameter larger than the lower layer. I used a latex caulking compound as adhesive and to seal any voids in the edges of the ply. The bolts holding the Dust Deputy were 1/4-20 and also served to permanently hold the plywood layers together. The center hole in the plywood for the Dust Deputy was sized the same as the bottom hole of the Dust Deputy. I added a 1/2" thick by 1" closed cell foam Weatherstrip to the underside of the top layer of plywood, up against the smaller layer of plywood. It makes a good tight seal to the top rolled edge of the metal drum. Vacuum holds all this in place, so latches, etc. weren't needed. Charley

My scroll saw/ drill press/ sanding table vacuum is a repurposed whole house central vacuum with a centrifugal dust separator on a 20 gallon repurposed grease barrel, a true DIY system, since I repaired the broken vacuum, saving it from the dumpster. It needed a new motor and a control circuit transformer. This vacuum has frequently been run for 8-10 hour periods non stop. The unit is located in my shop's attic, so I added an indicator light on the shop ceiling to remind me that it's running, as it is very quiet. Only the noise of the air flowing into the hose end is easily heard. Dust removal from the 20 gallon barrel is usually done once per year and it has usually only been 1/2-3/4 full. The dust container on the bottom of the central vac has never had more than a trace of dust on it's inside, but I clean it when cleaning the 20 gallon barrel. The exhaust from this vacuum is vented outside my shop just under the roof soffit, so even the micro sized dust never makes it back into my shop. When I got the vacuum from the dumpster, most of the in-wall pipes and inlets, and the 25' hose and it's attachments were also in the dumpster with it (from a major home renovation) so I didn't need to buy much, other than the motor and transformer, to complete the installation in my shop. I even installed an inlet outdoors next to the passage door into my shop so I can take the hose outside, connect it to this inlet, and vacuum my cars and trucks with it. The motor and transformer were the biggest expense, but I have less that $200 in total cost for this vacuum system, not counting my time and donation of barrel to this project by my son. Charley

My dad showed me a way to get 90 deg corners in frames that nobody uses any more (not even me), but it does work when you absolutely can't manage to get perfect 45 deg cuts and are on a tight budget. There are 90 deg picture frame clamps available (You really only need one of these for the cutting, but having 4 is better). You do need the two side pieces of wood to be exactly the same length, as well as the top and bottom of the frame pieces. If they aren't identical, you will never have success. To use this method you make your cuts at as close to 45 deg as possible and then place the two pieces that will be joined together in each one of these clamps, as close together as you can get them. You then run a hand saw down the joint between the two pieces, trimming off the inaccurate cuts until they have the same blade kerf width gap between them the full length of the cut, and the two angles on the pieces are complementary to each other. This does not necessarily produce perfect 45 deg cuts, but the joint between these two pieces will make a true 90 degree frame corner that fits tightly together. This link is mostly intended to show what these clamps look like. There are plenty of other versions and sources (probably cheaper too). https://www.amazon.com/Corner-Degree-Woodworking-Framing-Drawers/dp/B0CSN5MGY5/ref=sr_1_15?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SN439hxZkv8dgqpHOtDv3nLQR-118pIqwDUonYka7W1jkCEifF30zLXRLb3zJRoH6RgvNbBFzxWLy6HLl8QqMZlEM-gEk3Pp-d8oUXPIU2hFtghvW_d9OdTFron1Nl_z3GzTVpgv80cYgETaeK9OXeaW5NefO46xCA7TWdQgiDY010PnvfiItcp1lH_y3Xbycdxd2eXdqkymwyeop7QmdtIPX81DzKT-FMKJfUSYwSbL3KN2eM1SlTjrBxENznUdzvOC1saBtis3w3sSETdTjRsBxIF1YIxuCNRkeH10wZI.qS0jC4x-SxIgosOqvsEE8x8aphxxwDIbvL4yKpPY90I&dib_tag=se&hvadid=580673590016&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1021166&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=4032859852090508229&hvtargid=kwd-939433024701&hydadcr=29042_14560085&keywords=90%2Bdegree%2Bwoodworking%2Bclamps&qid=1721323505&sr=8-15&th=1 Charley

I've had a Dewalt 735 for about 10 years. A word of caution - even though it has handles, it isn't portable at 95 lbs. unless two people (one on each side) are holding the handles. The built-in blower works great at removing the chips from the planer, but the first time that I ran it in my shop, the chips coming out of the planer hit the opposite wall at about the same height as the planer. A hose and collection method is an absolute must have. Since that first use, I bought the hose and barrel cover accessory that was being offered back then (discontinued), and I use the planer outside my shop in the driveway with the barrel cover attached to a 60 gallon plastic barrel. To make it easy to move the planer in and out of my small shop I bought a Delta Miter Saw / Planer stand (Dewalt now makes an improved version, the 736 model). The mounting holes in the planer base didn't match the rail spacing of the planer stand, so I made an adapter base from 3/4" cabinet Birch ply, and drilled holes in it for both the planer and the mounting rails of the stand and bolted the adapter to the stand and then bolted the planer to the adapter. This stand is easy to move with the planer attached, and stands on it's end like a hand truck with the planer still attached, in the corner of the shop when not needed. It wheels out of the shop easily like a hand truck and opens to working height with the help of built-in gas springs. The model of the DeWalt stand is 736. Inside in my small shop, this stand/planer combination only requires about 2 sq ft of floor space for storage. I keep the barrel upside down, outside and behind my shop until it need it. Don't try to use a shop vac as a chip collector for the 735. It is far from adequate and will plug the planer with chips in less than one pass. You need a 4" diameter hose to a big barrel as a minimum for chip collection. Black & Decker make a leaf vacuum with an accessory hose and barrel cover that looks identical to the original hose and barrel cover that was offered for the 735 planer. It may work without modification, if you want to try it. Here is a link for it https://www.homedepot.com/p/BLACK-DECKER-Leaf-Collection-System-Attachment-for-Corded-BLACK-DECKER-2-in-1-Leaf-Blower-Vacuums-BV-006L/202045620 Again, it looks to be a workable alternative and is nearly identical to the one that had been offered for the 735, but I haven't tried it. Charley

Wax free shellac is alcohol based, so it dries quickly. It's mostly used to lock the surface so a different kind of stain or finish can be applied without it being diluted or being affected otherwise by a finish already on the piece. For instance, a water based stain applied first, and now you want to apply an oil based stain over it. Applying the wax free shellac over the water based stain will prevent the oil based stain from being absorbed and mixing with the water based stain, if the wax free shellac is applied over the water based stain. It seals the surface preventing the two stains from mixing as the second is applied. Charley

Original Carousel Horses are all carved from Basswood and they are painted. Some have been stripped and re-painted many times to refresh their appearance. I have never been involved in this, so I can't offer any advice, except to suggest that you should do some research into how they do it. Charley

Whenever I am nesting patterns to minimize the amount of wood used, after the patterns are all in place and attached to the wood, I make my first cuts between the lines of each pattern or follow the edge line of one of the patterns, but then out the other edge of the wood. This separates each pattern piece so that I can go back and finish cutting each pattern one at a time on the smaller pieces of wood. Why are you trying to cut patterns while they are still all attached together? Am I missing something? Charley

Well done. Many here should be able to make good use of these tables. If the bearing manufacturers hadn't standardized bearings like this it would have been impossible to manufacture replacements for machinery unless a special new bearing that fit the need could be made to order. Standardization made it easier to stock spares and to design machinery, like our scroll saws that could use the ready made "off the shelf" spares. Standardization of screws, nuts, and bolts was a good thing too, for the same reason. In the early 1800's and before, blacksmiths hand made fasteners and other hardware for wagons, lifts, etc. and every one of these mechanical contraptions had their components made by the local blacksmith with no standardization at all, meaning that the only person that could make you the exact replacement that you needed was likely that one local blacksmith. What a fix we would be in today if standardization hadn't changed this. Charley

I'm glad you are at least trying my suggestion. When I need to move my camera outside the range of my 25' tether cable, I have an extension cable that I can use. With this additional 25' I can even work into the next room and still be connected to the PC. You should be able to get an extension for your oxygen hose and do the same thing. I like this arrangement, because there is very little to no cabling ever on the floor, unless the extension is in use. With it in use it does drag across the floor and I need to be careful to avoid tripping over it or tangling it up with something, but I only used the extension once in the past 2 years, so not a very serious problem in my situation. Charley

Not needing oxygen, yet. But I have my own complete photo studio. It's small by comparison to most, so I have had to come up with ways to make it safer. I had way too many trip hazards in there, with cables and tripod stand legs making trip hazards everywhere. So I built a ceiling grid to hang the lights with power running along the sides to the grid. Now, all power is within 5' of wherever I hang a light and all of the power cables and lights hang from the ceiling instead of being trip hazards on the floor. I'm thinking that hanging your Oxygen extension hose from the ceiling, centered over where you usually work in your shop might work for you in a similar way that I have set my photo studio up. For me, only one communication cable hangs from the ceiling with enough slack for me to move the camera around the usual half of the studio where I use the camera. From that point above it runs along the ceiling to where my computer is located and drops down along the wall to the computer table where the computer is located. In your case, this would be your oxygen system. My cable connects my cable to my computer so every time that I take a photo, the camera sends the photo to the computer within 2 seconds. Though the cable hangs low between the camera and the point on the ceiling, it stays off of the floor no matter where I use the camera. I think running your oxygen hose across the ceiling in this same way would keep you connected, yet free to move around in a 10' X 10' or so area without "hanging" yourself in the process. Make this hose a permanent installation in your shop and switch to it whenever working there. Have another shorter hose to use when carrying your oxygen tank around with you. Charley

Improving the lighting on your scroll saw to minimize the blade shadows will do wonders to improving your ability to follow the pattern lines with your scroll saw. When the blade shadows and the pattern lines are about the same shade of black it can be quite a problem for your eyes and reflexes to keep the blade following the pattern lines. I did this to my saw almost 20 years ago. In fact, one of my earliest posts on this website talked about this and the lights that I had installed on my saw. Doing this is a lot less expensive than buying a laser too. I still use an old HP Laserjet 4 printer for printing my patterns, because it produces very nice lines using a high temperature wax based ink like most photocopiers. I still prefer this over inkjet prints. Charley

Rick, My wife had a fall last year that resulted in 2 broken vertebrae in the center area of her back and two more breaks in her pelvis. After several X-Rays and even more MRI, she had surgery in mid January of this year. Some of the delay before surgery was to get a special surgeon to do the work. This surgeon is the only one in North Carolina performing this type of surgery. He travels around the State doing this, so we had to wait for him to be here. Through injections, he used a medical version of 5 minute epoxy to glue my wife back together. She is now recovering, is in much less pain, with no surgery knife wounds to heal, and much less pain. Since you are likely already scheduled for your surgery, this may be the wrong time to change directions. If not, you might be able to find out if this type of surgery would help you, and if there is a surgeon who does this somewhere near you. It's only been about 3 weeks since my wife had this done for her and although she spent considerable time in pain before her surgery she is now up and doing things in the kitchen again, but with occasional rests in her recliner between. The best of luck to you in your surgery. I hope it is the solution that you need. Charley

I do all of my planing outside my small shop in the driveway. To be able to wheel the planer outside and back in, and also have a stand that would raise my DeWalt 735 planer up to a comfortable working height I settled on a Delta Miter Saw / Planer stand. DeWalt now makes a better version of this same design . This stand is the DeWalt 726. Since the mounting hole spacing of the planer did not match the rail spacing on the top of the stand I made an adapter plate from a piece of 3/4" cabinet birch plywood, drilling holes in the plywood to match the hole pattern of the planer and also the rails of the stand. I leave my 735 attached to the stand. When it's being stored in my shop, it is folded and standing on it's end in the corner of my shop requiring only a couple of sq ft of floor space. When I need to use it I wheel it out to the driveway like a hand truck, then lay it down on it's handles. Then a lift of the bar behind the handles raises it up to either of two working heights where a latch prevents it from folding. Gas springs in the stand assist in the lifting, removing about 50% of the effort that would be required without them. When I'm finished with the planning, I lift the stand slightly, and release the latch, then lower it back down to the driveway. I can then wheel it back into the shop and stand it up on end using the handles, again leaving it standing on it's end in the shop corner. The DeWalt 735 planer weighs 95 lbs, but it has handles, implying that it's a "portable tool". When I was 40 and younger I might have considered it "portable", but at twice this age and with a heart condition and metal knees now, it would likely end my life to try to lift and carry it now any distance now, yet with this stand I can move and use it without anyone helping me any time that I wish to use it, unless it's raining. Charley

This is what I made for Valentine's Day this year. I know It isn't made of wood, but the table is. I haven't been able to get out and work in my wood shop, but I can get into my photo studio upstairs (my other out-of-control hobby) so I made this photo. You are all free to print this if you wish (no copyrite) . Good Photography is more about controlling the light to get the result that you wish. A box camera or cell phone won't work for this as they are designed to give you the best image possible, which is not what this type of photo is about. The dark mystery part is important to set the mood. Most any camera with manual controls can be used for this. I used my Canon 90D, a 2 year old 34 Megapixel Pro Camera (kind-of way overkill) for this shot, but even film cameras with the needed manual controls could have been used. The light for this was from a standard studio strobe with a 7" diameter reflector. To get the size of the light beam from it down to a small enough diameter to only light the rose bud area, I added a honeycomb filter, in this case a very fine honeycomb rated at 10 degrees, meaning that the light coming through it can only deviate 10 degrees from straight or it hits the sides of the black holes in the honeycomb filter and is blocked. I took two shots of this at 1 F-Stop less of light (adjustable light level for the light is needed) . The other shot shows much less of the light spill on the table and I decided that I wanted the table dark, but easily seen in the photo, so I chose this shot as the keeper. It shows in the other photo, but just barely. I hope to get back in my wood shop again soon. I broke my 19 year tradition of making 3D reindeer for this past Christmas too. Charley

You might want to check this link. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/set-screws/?s=set+screws If that can't be matched, please remove the screw and post a photo of it by itself. If you can identify the thread size that would help too. Charley

Yes, you can remove the broken piece and a hair dryer is a good method to soften the links (if you don't overheat them) for removal and replacement. You can get more links as spares from DeWalt or parts distributors like www.ereplacementparts.com, or from a local industrial supply like Grainger, McMaster Supply, etc. Even Amazon offers them. Charley

Are you all aware that Home Depot now sells small stills? Maybe you could make your own alcohol for future projects and party enjoyment since the result is Not Denatured. (DIY Ever Clear!!). I guess the alternative is to have a woodworking buddy in Arizona meet you at the State Line for a picnic and exchange. Charley

"Also, pots are rated linear or audio. Generally, audio pots are more precise." Not correct. Audio potentiometers do not have a linear taper. They are labeled "Audio Taper" because their resistance is more expotential, meaning that the resistance from end terminal to the center terminal changes faster as the slider is moved across it. You won't be happy if you use one of these. (Accuracy and quality do not change because they are labeled audio taper). The quality of construction is usually affected by the price. There are other special purpose versions with different tapers out there too. Just be sure you are about to buy one that has a "linear taper" label on it when replacing your speed control potentiometer in your saw. If not a DeWalt 788, then the 10 K resistance may be different in your saw. It and the shaft size will then likely the most important information needed. Charley

You will need to know the old potentiometer resistance stamped on the side of the body of the old one and it will need to be a "linear taper", meaning that the resistance between the center terminal and either end terminal changes at the same rate as the shaft is turned. In a DeWalt 788 the potentiometer is a 10K ohm (meaning 10,000 ohm). The biggest problem in finding a replacement is going to be it's physical size and it's shaft size and configuration. DeWalt wanted to sell the whole circuit board and the potentiometer when I needed one for my club's 788 for something like $58 plus shipping, so at the time Radio Shack was still open and I bought one the right physical and electrical size, but with a 3" long shaft, then cut the shaft to the needed length in my shop. Another source that caters more to the home hobbyist and small business is Jameco Electronics. When Radio Shack closed I was doing business with Jameco by mail order but I haven't needed electronic parts in quite a while now. A Google Search will find their website and contact numbers. Charley

You might want to search for "Banana Hook" or "Banana Holder". If no plans are available, just looking at the photos should allow you to make your own version. They are quite simple in design. Charley