CharleyL

Higher and dryer? No ocean salt air either. You are getting much closer to me. Have you joined NCWoodworker.net yet? I'm in Kannapolis near I-85 Exit 60. Charley

I was looking for this photo of my central vacuum in my shop attic, but couldn't find it. Now I found it. The exhaust pipe to outside is above the vacuum. I had left the top Dust Deputy to input for the vacuum tall because I wasn't certain what kind of barrel my son was going to get me. It has been shortened to a lower lout now, not that it matters much. The pipe below the vacuum comes from the lines in the shop walls and up into the side connection of the Dust Deputy. On the beam to the right of the vacuum is a power switch to remove all power from the vacuum when needed, like when changing/dumping the barrel or cleaning the bottom can of the vacuum. Charley it.

I came across, and then re-purposed a whole house central vacuum system. It had a bad control transformer, which I replaced with the right voltage door bell transformer from Lowes, then installed it in the attic of my shop with a Dust Deputy and 30 gallon former grease barrel ahead of the vacuum to collect the saw dust and keep the vacuum filter relatively clean. I installed the pipes and inlet ports downstairs in the shop where convenient. The vacuum came to me with the hose and attachments, and most of the pipe from a complete house remodel, so I only needed a few fitting and a couple of lengths of pipe to complete the installation. It's so quiet that I needed to add a light in the shop ceiling that lights whenever the vacuum is running. I left it running a few times before adding this light. I piped the vacuum exhaust out through the soffit of my shop roof, so if any micro fine dust gets past the Dust Deputy and the vacuum filter, it's not getting back into my shop air. I installed large ceiling hooks in the 8' shop ceiling in the usual hose paths, so when I want to change the point-of-use the hose is easy to reroute and off the floor. Though I don't use this vac for my larger chip producers, it has been fine for my scroll saws, sanders, drill presses, etc. I collect the chips from my planers and saw dust from my table saw via small trash cans and a small shovel to clean out the cabinets. I also installed an inlet port in the outside wall of the shop near my cars and trucks parking area, and the 25' hose and smaller attachments have been great for vacuuming out all of my vehicles. In about 5 years of use there has never been more than trace dust in the bottom container of the central vacuum. The Dust Deputy and grease barrel have been doing a fantastic job. Charley

A major step up in scrolling comfort. You are going to scroll more and produce better work now. It took me years to realize that the right chair for the job at hand made a big difference in comfort and work quality. Charley

I have been leaving them on, but set high and turned around backwards. This is because I have frequently taught newbies to woodworking how to use the saws, and made them start with the hold-down guard in place. When they start complaining, they have learned enough for me to allow them to turn it around and set it high. Then use their fingers and downward pressure to hold the work down safely. Charley

Maybe the snow could be provided with a "snow on/off button" next year, so everyone would be happy. Charley

This is the first snow that I've seen so far this year. It's been cold enough (8 deg F yesterday) but not a single real snow flake so far. I like snow a time or two every year, but don't want heavy snow, and want it to melt before it becomes dirty snow. Thanks Travis for giving me my first sight of snow in 2022. Charley

If you found a photo of the bird house in her book, the pattern for it should be there on that page or on the next page with it. Just copy that pattern on your computer or photo copier and you have the pattern to use. They are never located anywhere else in her books. Attach the pattern to your wood and cut it out. 3D patterns require a front and side view image that need to be kept attached to each other. You fold this line between the two views and then glue both to your wood, so the pattern wraps around two sides of the wood. You then cut one side view, while holding all of the pieces together. When that side view is completely cut, turn the wood so the other side view is facing up, again continuing to hold all of the pieces together. You then cut the pattern in this side of the block of wood. When you have finished cutting of both sides of the wood, you can remove the outside pieces, and the birdhouse or other item will be in the center of the block of wood. I have most of her books. Tell me the book name and page number. Maybe I can help more after looking at the page you are working on. Charley

Yes, dryer sheets work well, especially dryer sheets that have "already been used" in the dryer. The "already used" ones actually work better because they don't leave a coating that will affect your vision through the lens. Static charges build up on the plastic lenses (even your eye glasses) and will attract fine dust. Wiping with a used dryer sheet will leave a very thin but clear film of slightly conductive coating that will bleed off the static charges, significantly reducing the rate of sawdust attraction. After a bunch of uses it's probably a good idea to get some more "already used" dryer sheets from your laundry. They don't last forever. Charley

Dianna Thompson's Books contain the plans. Buy the book and you get the plans with permission to make them for yourself and friends. All you need is a photo copier or computer scanner to make the patterns needed. Read her preface to be clear about any copywrite concerns. Charley

I never did well with the magnifier lights either. I guess I move my head around too much when sawing. I use one of the magnifier headbands 2.5X and my reading glasses under it for the really small work. The reading glasses alone work fine for most work. For light, I use two gooseneck LED lights. I made a mounting bracket that attaches to the upper arm of my DeWalt 788 saw and the gooseneck part of these lights attaches to the bracket, one to each side of the saw arm. In use, they are positioned just ahead (toward you) of the blade and pointed down at about a 45 deg angle at the blade. Using two lights positioned like this, eliminates almost all of the blade shadowing and makes it easier to see the blade and exactly where it's cutting. You will be amazed at how much better your accuracy will be after you begin using two lights positioned this way. Look back to my very early posts to see photos of my lights. They came from Lowes and were the clip-on type. I removed the clips to install them on my light mounting bracket. Charley

Does the shaft turn in the body? If not, it's likely a seized bearing. The fan blade coming off is likely because of the sudden stop. The inertia of the blade unscrewed the nut and freed the blade from the shaft. I once built an electronic brake for my table saw motor. The first time that I used the braking function, the motor stopped so suddenly that the blade nut unscrewed, and the blade was wobbling about in the table slot. That was 4 table saws ago. I now just let my present Unisaw coast to a stop. If you can find the seized bearing part number and get it off the shaft, replacement might be just a few bucks. No reason to replace the whole vacuum for just a bad bearing, if it's removeable, but I would replace both while it's apart. Charley

Putting a Dust Deputy, or similar in the line between the saw and vac will eliminate almost all of the sawdust from the air going through the vacuum and the air filter in the vac won't plug up, so full cooling air through the motor all the time, and not gradually reducing as the filter plugs. Keeping a large amount of air flowing through the motor will keep it cooler and less likely to burn up. Checking the brush wear often is a needed chore too. Charley

I say "Do it !!" Though I've never had a ceiling mounted drill press, but I have taken a bench mount version, turned the base around backwards, and let the drill press itself hang off the front of the bench. This was to done be able to drill the center holes in lamp columns before I bought a floor standing drill press. Several stackable boxes placed on the floor, provided the support for the work, with box re-stacking when the max depth of the spindle and bit was reached. The drill press table was still useable for short work in this arrangement. I now have a floor standing drill press and two bench mounted. The one mounted backwards is long gone. I recently mounted a photography tripod on the ceiling though. It was done to digitize large posters. I placed them on the floor with tape markings on the floor for corner positioning, so I could put all of them in the same position. Then pointed the camera straight down and zoomed the lens to fill the frame with the poster, and used a wireless trigger to take each shot to minimize vibration. Please take photos of your ceiling mounted drill press. They will be interesting. Thinking Outside The Box is sometimes necessary. I think you've got a winner there. Charley

I have an 1/8" dowel rod about 6" long that resides in my shirt pocket when I'm cutting reindeer. I sharpened the ends with a pencil sharpener to a dull point, and use it to push the little pieces out from between their legs and antlers. For the ones that I tape together, the dull blade gets used to push the little pieces out. The pattern for my reindeer is available on Marcus Wendell's website www.woodgears.ca. I cleaned it up a bit and resized it in Photoshop, then placed as many copies as possible on full sheets of paper. I have 5 sizes, and full sheets of each size that I cut apart and fold as I need them. Charley

"I like your idea of putting them back together and taping them for gifts. However, I need to make reindeer from a different pattern for that." Why? I keep all of the pieces together while cutting, and then add the tape as I remove the clamp. This should work with your reindeer pattern as well as mine. The pattern that I use came from Markus Wendell's website www.woodgears.ca, but I cleaned it up a bit and changed the size. I now make 5 sizes, with the largest being direct from his pattern size. Charley

I have taped the completely cut blocks together and given them to relatives, along with a dull blade, so they can see what cuts them as well as seeing all of the pieces fall away. When taping, I fold the end back on itself, to make it easy for them to find and un-tape the block in the correct sequence. One cousin called me and then un-taped the block while on the phone with me, so I heard her surprises and excitement as each piece of tape came off. It's worth doing for friends that you can't be with as they are discovering what you made them. Charley

Ray, I have two friends, who I used to drive the train in my Avatar with. It's a train in the Village Park just across town from where I live. Neither of them knew me before I drove the train. We are all retired from all of our jobs, and the train now. Perpetual vacation called retirement from now on. These two friends now get me to go to lunch with them every week, along with my wife and their wives, partly so they can get me to tell stories about my life experiences. I guess I've done quite a bit in this past 80 years. You, unfortunately, are a bit too far away to join us, but you are invited, if you ever visit on the right day. We meet on Wednesdays, usually, and mostly just 3 miles from my home here, usually at a fast food burger/chicken/ice cream restaurant called Culvers. I have always had an interest in learning things, and if I saw a way to get involved in something that I wanted to learn, I jumped in and learned it quickly. Many ventures in learning new things resulted from this method for me. In school, I wanted to learn more about auto mechanics, so I was asking questions of a friend whose father owned a gas station/service shop. It wasn't long before he asked me to come to his dad's garage and help him. His dad's friend had a 33 Ford race car and my school friend was doing many of the repairs on it for his dad's friend. I ended up helping my friend and his dad to keep this race car going and ready for Friday night racing. They took us with them to the races as thanks for what we did to get the car ready every week. I learned a lot about cars and racing, and I was still in high school. Be open minded and willing to learn new things that you are interested in. Find someone doing it and ask if you can help them. Learn as fast as they will teach you, but pick up every tid-bit that you can about this new venture. If working with them every day and learning quickly, you will suddenly realize that some other friends are coming to you when they need help. Pay isn't always in the form of money. Sometimes this knowledge is more valuable than money. The more you know, the more you can apply to a new job, new hobby, etc. One of these guys that I go to lunch with now, worked for the Post Office most of his career. For some reason, I have to drag him kicking and screaming into anything new, even if he needs to know it for something that he is doing. Learning to solder wires for his train set was one of these things. When I refused to do it for him and offered to sit with him to show him how, he finally let me teach him. It took a few hours of 1 on 1 instruction and trial and error, but then he went home and did it, with me critiquing his work via cell phone photos of his solder joints. That was a year ago and he is doing fine now, but is having similar problems with some other subjects that he needs to know, and is unwilling to learn, at least so far. I'll win, eventually, and force the knowledge into him somehow. Be open minded, and do whatever it takes to learn whatever it is that interests you. Take classes somewhere to get you started, if it is necessary. I went to night classes because I wanted to know refrigeration. Then I installed a complete HVAC system with air conditioning in my former house and then serviced refrigeration and heating systems as a part time business for over 10 years. A few years later I received a US Patent for a special cooling manifold that was needed for a job that I was working on (but I was the electrical engineer on the project). I now have 8 inventions formally patented or applied for. Because two of my uncles were carpenters and cabinet makers, I spent time watching, then helping them. My mom's brother taught me the most, and I worked for him for 2 Summers while still in high school, building cabinets and whole houses. I also took several woodworking classes and jewelry making in high school and worked on the stage sets, lighting for the shows, and movies in the auditorium. Just before graduation, the principal called me into his office and he was with another gentleman. They talked to me about stage work and then the gentleman offered me a Summer job, running the stage of his Summer Stock Theater. So, for 6 nights a week there was some kind of entertainment on that stage. A feature movie one night, Off Broadway entertainment another night, local plays, dances with music provided by rock groups who had recent hit records, local talent music shows, etc. So, with my high school experience, this job came looking for me. I've been a volunteer fireman since I was old enough to join. Why, because my uncles, 4 of my father's brothers and my father were all volunteer firemen. Also, my mom's dad was a paid fireman, so both sides of my family were firemen. When I was 2, my grandmother made me a fireman's uniform and hat just like my grandfather's, probably from his old uniforms, and I rode in the fire truck with my grandpa in several parades. As a volunteer fireman, I went to training sessions, and later taught the sessions. I learned fire investigation and became one of only a few in the county who were trained for that. I trained for, and then became an Emergency Medical Technician and then trained to be a paramedic for the fire company rescue squad. After moving to the Charlotte, NC area, I joined the local volunteer fire company, but was later asked to be the Fire Marshal of the company that I was working for. A 3.8 million sq ft research and manufacturing facility with 4 fire technicians. We didn't fight fires, except to contain them until the outside fire companies got there. Our job was mostly to keep up with the required fire equipment testing of all of the fire protection equipment and sprinkler systems, and meet with the County, State, and insurance inspectors and officers to prove compliance with the regulations and to learn about any changes or new requirements. Never turn down a chance to learn something that you think you are interested in. If the interest is strong enough and you can't get involved another way, maybe there are some night classes to get you started. Learn as much as you can, and in no time at all, people will be asking you for your help. That tells me that I have learned it, at least better than they have. An expert? Maybe not, but you will be better at it than them. I'm 80 and still learning. Never stop learning something new and interesting. Then do it the best that you can. Soon you will be even better at it than most others. Sorry to give this original post a sudden left turn. This was only intended as a response for Ray @OCToolguy, but I thought others might be interested too. I've left out a lot, but he will need to come here to visit or email me to learn more. Go back to 3D scrolling and the special clamps needed for it now. Charley

Yes it does, Badbob. Most of what I cut are 3D Christmas ornaments and reindeer. When cutting chess pieces, I use a similar clamp, but slightly larger. My 2D work usually doesn't need clamping, but if it does I may use one of these, or design a special clamp for it. I don't use springs, but have developed the habit of tightening the clamps often, especially after making long cuts roughly parallel with the clamps. Even a .010" thick blade kerf will remove enough wood to loosen the clamp. My smallest version of these clamps is 5" long. I needed this clamp to cut 5/8" tall 3D reindeer. My most used size is 7" and I have several, because I sometimes teach and demonstrate for the woodworking club that I belong to. Given the chance, I'll be starting my Christmas production soon. I never sell, but give away everything that I make to friends and family, and also to waitresses, doctors, nurses, cashiers, sales girls, etc. Every woman that helps me in some way during the Christmas Season can have something that I've made. Most men don't appreciate what I do, but if a woodworker friend expresses interest, he can get one from me too. I do cut 2D occasionally, but my real interest is in 3D scrolling. I do other things beside scroll sawing. I have a cabinet/furniture shop and the scroll saws kind-of sit in the corner of it. I have made many pieces of furniture, kitchen tools, and items for my Pro Photography/Video Studio that I built myself 3+ years ago. I also donate my time and sometimes my workshop space to design and build exhibits for the North Carolina Science Museums. For these, I do everything from design through completion, except for the graphics. They have a department for that. I'm a Retired Automation Engineer, once worked on NASA hardware, and also designed and built high speed, high precision manufacturing machinery. Roller Coaster control system? I once did that too. I'm not one to sit around, even at my age (now 80). Charley

Ray, The pieces are cut from 3/4" thick plywood, the more layers the better, but standard 7 ply cabinet birch will work fine. When assembled in the clamp they are 1" high and 3/4" thickness, by whatever length you need. So position the plywood pieces so the edges of the plies face up and down. The wood is slightly more flexible that way. Then the all thread holes go through the 1" sides horizontally, 1/2" from each edge (1/2" + 1/2"edge to edge gives you the center). I place the holes about 1" from the ends as well, and it's best to tape the two pieces together for drilling in your drill press, so the holes are straight and the same spacing in both pieces, just like the early photos posted. I drill larger holes than the size of the all thread chosen, so the ply pieces will slide easily on the all thread, even if cocked at a slight angle to the all thread. I use flat washers to protect the wood surface from multiple tightening and loosening of the nuts. Some like to cut the all thread shorter, but that limits the size of the piece that you can cut, so I leave mine the full 8" length. I have used sandpaper to keep the parts from slipping in the clamps, but keeping it in place became a chore, even with glue. You need to use very fine grit paper and of a type like machinist's fabric backed, like crokus cloth, not woodworking sand paper, because grit falling off the paper will leave scratches in your saw table. It doesn't take much grit size to reduce work piece slipping. Keeping the grit off the table is more important to me. I like a smooth waxed table, so the work piece and clamp will move and turn easily. Charley

Have you tried cutting with it yet? Would be good to hear and see the results. My first scroll saw was a Dunlap (Sears Brand) given to me in the early 1950's. After using it, I have no idea why I still liked scroll sawing. The blade clamps were terrible, used pinned blades, and spring return in the up direction, so broke blades rapidly. It would have been totally impossible to use blades as small as I do now. It became my shop door stop and it it's second job very well for many years. Charley

I don't. I use my central vacuum nozzle to catch the sawdust under my scroll saw table, and have a fan blowing roughly sideways across the surface of the saw table to blow the top sawdust away from me. I stick to non-exotic wood cutting most of the time, so for most projects, I don't even wear a mask. If I do decide to wear one, it's one of the disposable high efficiency styles made by BNX that fit me well around the nose and chin with no leaks. I get them from Amazon. Charley

Lucky you! If my daughter had decided on this, I would have had to make one of these for each couple attending. Kind-of glad she didn't have a wedding theme. Charley

My clamps for 3D cutting look like the Steve Goode clamp design, but I've been using this design for about 50 years, and I didn't even know there was a Steve Goode back then. No springs in my design, but I learned long ago to use fine threaded stainless all thread. The finer threads allow tighter adjustment and the stainless doesn't stretch and bend like the mild steel all thread does over time. A long saw cut through the project roughly parallel to the clamp side does remove wood, no matter how small the blade, so after each full length or near-so cut, it is always necessary for me to retighten the clamp wing nuts. I also have several lengths of these clamps for different size projects. I found that making the wood pieces from 3/4" hi-lam birch plywood with the layers showing face up provides a bit of springy-ness that seems to keep the clamp tighter. I have used several kinds of solid woods and I always go back to the birch ply. So, most are 3/4" X 1" X the length needed, with the 3/4" side facing up/down. The stainless all thread is available at Lowes in 8" length, in their "hard to find" hardware section of stainless hardware. I usually go with 10-32 stainless all thread. Standard steel nuts, washers, and wing nuts work fine, and actually seem to wear slower because of the dissimilar thread metal. With the stainless, I think the thread surfaces remain smoother, resulting in less wear of the nuts, but that's just a guess. It just seems to work that way. Charley

A small aquarium air pump works great if you can't find a replacement bellows for your saw. Wire it and the saw to both run from a foot switch and it will only run when you are running the saw. Charley