BadBob

Hitachi NP35A I use it for pinning axle pegs on toys. They are great to use in tight places an places where you don't want to mar the surface. Nails are generally to large for my work.

I didn't catch that you were talking about a monochrome printer. I've worked wit a lot of color printers over the years. I've never seen red toner or ink cartridges.

Why not just change the color on the pattern? BTW There is not a red toner cartridge.

There are hoses that are smooth on the inside.

I think the replacement cost for all the little things might be greater than the cost of all my power tools.

You can get a paid web site for as little as $4 a month plus the cost of your domain name. I used Blue Host for many years and only left them because my needs changed. Blue Host support was excellent. Google has free web hosting, although I have not used it.

I have the same Delta 1hp dust collector that Stumpy shows in the video. Eventually, I learned that if reduce neck down a 4-inch hose to 2.5-inches, it doesn't work as good as my vacuum with a quality filter. I have a good many tools, and none of them have a 4-inch port. The dust collector sits idle most of the time.

The only people that make money on consignments are the shop owners.

Some of the better ones will let you add a second tray. They usually stack. They are pricy, you can expect to spend $200 or more for a second tray.

Brother HL-3170CDW is what I use. The lighting got my first Brother printer. It has wired, wireless, and USB connections and works with any operating system. A big plus because this is a 100% Linux shop. It works great and never has a problem. There are lots of 3rd party toner cartridges available for it cheap. I worked in IT for more than 30 years. I that time, I came to call printers semi-automatic paper shredding devices. I have never had a jam other issue with this printer. I'm not too fond of any combination printer scanners. What you get many times is an OK printer and a poor scanner, which may be OK for your purposes, but remember that if the scanner stops working, you have to replace the scanner and the printer. It also adds complexity. I have an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner purchased directly from Epson.

If you are using a wet/dry vacuum and you want to get the very fine dust, you need a different filter in your vacuum. I highly recommend the GORE CLEANSTREAM Filters. I have been using one of these for several years and highly recommend them.

@John B I have made quite a few toys from MDF. It holds up surprisingly well. You need to understand its weaknesses and build accordingly. MDF is surprisingly strong. I made a spider for my grandson with MDF thinking he would soon break it. Three years later, and it's not broken yet. I have made cars and puzzles too. One advantage it has over wood for toy making is that it does not splinter. Many commercially produced toys are made from MDF. My grandson has a toy hammer that has an MDF head. He has used it extensively. The hammer is beaten up but hasn't broken.

@Denny Knappen What method do you use to hold the pieces after you dip them in the shellac?

I make Halloween items every year to sell and give away. Sales are weird. Sometimes something will take off and sell more than I have time to make. Others don't sell at all but get lots of views and likes. One of these is currently my best seller. Can you guess which one? For me my favorite would be the skeleton, he is awesome. I would think the kids would go for the Bat just above Boo. He looks a lot like Batman. I love them all. Too many to choose from. Are those your patterns or where do you get them? We have two neighbors eac of which have two little children. Would love to make some for them. Love your work! I posted these in the wrong place. I intended them to go into the October Challenge. I bought some of them but the rest are from Patrick Spielman's books. I have almost every one of his books. The rest are from this set. Thanks. I'll have to check out his books. So, which one is your best seller? From the pictures they look small. I assume you know of choking hazards for kids or anyone else thinking of cutting a little pattern for kids. RJF I believe as long as it doesn’t pass through a toilet paper roll tube it’s safe. Does anyone have toilet paper? Use to subscribe to a newspaper. Now that their mostly gone and the news is on the internet I've had to go to used computer screens. RJF Hi Rick: Makes sense using your computer (screen) to read the news - Most of it is crap anyway Now, back to our regularly scheduled post Fab4 Some I recognize as Patrick Spielman patterns;

I just recently discovered the "Halloween Wedding." Its a thing. When posting videos on Pinterest, it's one of the approved tags you can add to your video.

If I had the room and the time to mess with it, I would have a laser and a CNC Router. I make toys. Occasionally, I need to make wheels. After you have made a 1,000 wheels, making wheels gets old. I find the idea of having a CNC Router cut 100 wheels while I'm doing something else very appealing. Not to mention carving some fancy wheels that I could not make on a scroll saw. I've have done extensive research on CNC Routing, and I know it is only a cutting tool. You still need to prepare the wood and do all the sanding and fining work. They don't make things for you that don't need any work. CNC routers precisely cut parts. When making toys, I see precision cut parts as a great thing. I can cut 100 parts and have all be the same size. If I did my prep work well, they would fit perfectly. If I cut 100 parts on a scroll saw, no 2 of them will be the same. I can get them close but nowhere near perfect. I think that this would eliminate a lot of sanding. There are things that I can't see any way you could make them on a CNC router. Puzzles, for example.

I make toys mostly, so my method is geared more toward larger holes around 1/4-inch and upward. I have a sets of very high-quality brad point and forstner bits, but I use a lot of twist drills. With the fractional, letter, and number size bits, I can get precisely the size hole I need. Use a Quality Sharp Bit. Dull bits do not cut; they tear. Use the correct speed for the bit you are using. It seems like most people never change the speed on their drill press. It makes a difference. Smaller the bit, the faster you spin it. Drill slowly. Most people tend to force the bit through the wood, which causes the bit to clog and not clear the chips and increases tear-out. If your bit is clogging and not clearing the chips, you are probably drilling to fast, or the bit is dull. Do not drill completely through. Set the depth stop or table, so just the point of the bit peeks through. Setting the depth is easier with good brad point bits because the point is longer than the cutters, but you can do it with twist drills. When using a twist drill bit, I adjust the depth stop to where it just touches the backer board. Now, turn the wood over and finish drilling from the backside, letting the bit find its way. Do this slow and careful. You will sometimes get a piece of wood that you can't drill a smooth hole into, no matter how careful you are or how sharp your bits are. I learned the hard way, making toys, to drill all the holes first if possible.

Rubber Stamp work pretty good and they are cheap. You can get ink that will stick to about anything.

Both Gimp and Inkscape will import directly from PDF files. You don't need to convert them.

Not a step backward.

Do you have a recommendation for tack rags? The last ones I bought left a sticky residue and little bits of lint in the wood. I usually blow the dust off with compressed air or a blower. I like 3M Painters tape because there has to be a lot of dust to make it not stick.

Did it work for you?

Why not use Blue Locktight?

Are these patterns pale grey? If they are gray, and the background is not pure white, Inkscape may not detect the lines. When this happens to me, I load the image into Gimp and edit it to produce a 2-bit image. Black and white only, not grayscale. Copy this back into Inkscape and trace it.

Their inventory system is terrible. I have learned that you have to go look yourself. Lowes is better but still has issues.