rash_powder

I think I managed to find a pattern! Searched for victorian stencil and that got me where I wanted to be.

My wife wants me to make her a cook book stand for when she is cooking. I've got material rough broken down, a solid plan in my head, and rough dimensions in Inkscape. I'm struggling with an embellishment. She loves Beauty and the Beast, but if I scroll the image I found into the holder you would see the hinge through it and there wouldn't really be anything terribly solid to screw the hinge too. So I'm trying to find some cool flourish (or whatever its called) to cut into the boarder of the holder. I'm thinking about 1-2" in from the edges and top so the mid section is solid for the hinge attachment. I just don't know what to call a negative flourish pattern. Any ideas? I hope I made it clear what I'm after; I often struggle to explain what's in my head. Thanks!

If a plastic part breaks, check at a local high school or university. There may be a shop/engineering class with a 3d printer that could recreate the part for you. In fact, that same school may have an electronics class that may be able to repair your control board.

Look this fella up if you have Facebook. He is in the UK, but very helpful and know Hegner's inside and out. Hegner, A Saw Subject (The Man for Hegner) Some trouble shooting that you may be able to do at home; if your skills allow. Test the capacitor on the electric motor. Its the little can mounted to the side. I haven't looked to see if its a start cap or a run cap. The cap on my Hegner is painted so I cannot see if there is a size printed on it, but if you have a voltmeter that can test caps it should read non-zero for sure. Related to the cap, you could also try turning the saw on and give it a 'kick' to help get it up to speed. If that cap is a start cap and bad it could be struggling to get the motor started, so a bit of help to make it spin quick may get it going. Blow the motor out with air. I'm pretty sure that there is a speed sensor in there to give feed back to the controller. It could have gotten dirty. The speed control on the board isn't terribly hard to replace, and not terribly expensive either. Best of luck to you!

Honestly I don't think the brand, age, or cost of the tool(s) really matters. What does is can you use it. You could have a shop with $40,000 of equipment and turn out projects that are crooked and full of gaps. I've seen a lot of maker videos on youtube, from people with every cost of equipment from scavanged to DIY to Laguna and SawStop. The people with the budget/scavenged/diy equipment turn out just as good projects as the high end gear. Cost in no way makes the user's skill. A skilled user can make a poor quality tool sing though.

The quality of Harbor Freight tools is a curious thing. When you get into the tool/maker/mechanic/repair spaces, there is a lot of get this, not that. One of the more common things I've seen and heard is the less moving parts the more likely it is to last; get nothing electrical. HF serves a purpose, some view it as one and done, others as cheap tools (to keep after) for a job, and others look at them as a source for work tools. Their tool boxes are on par or better than anything I've seen at Menards or Lowes. The air hammer I have from them is a beast and the same unit as a Mac Tools. Curiously, I just recently watched a how to video put up by TRQ auto parts. Their shop guy was using an Icon torque wrench. A shop with enough financial backing for Snap On chose the Icon wrench! That says something. HF is moving up in quality, it cannot be denied. You can still get a grinder that is good for 2 uses; but they stock one that is every bit as good as a Dewalt. I think if we sit back and watch, in the next 10 years HF will become something like Craftsman was. Incidently, I have zero affiliation with HF; I just scrape by and fix as much myself as possible and don't want to buy Snap On every time I need a tool for 1 or 2 jobs. Be smart with your money and buy what you feel is right and don't ding someone for what buying what fit their needs if it isn't up to your needs.

I like to use boiled linseed oil thinned about 50% with mineral spirits. I feel it gives the ornaments I make (mostly from Poplar) a vintage look. They darken a little with time and light exposure, but I like that antique appearance.

A drum sander is only going to remove a few thousands of an inch at a time. If you are looking to remove 1/2 inch, or 500 thousandths, you will be pushing a board through that sander for a long time. There will also be a phenomenal amount of dust generated. A planer is what you need for this task.

I'm a bit south of Barb. We've got -16F that feels like -40F. This morning when I left home it was -20F, but I didn't look for a wind chill. February is usually worse than January. Yay!

If you should decide to purchase a printer, my advice would be a Brother inktank model. We had an HP inkjet that would go through ink cartridges at an amazing rate. I think that their business model hinges on putting a minimum of ink in the cartridge and selling it for $70. The Brother we have is inkjet but uses tanks of ink. $100 of ink lasts easily a year. That HP couldn't go that long on 1 cartridge when we didn't use it - the ink would dry out.

I have a magnifier with light, two sewing lights, and a auto accessory light shining on my table. I've found more light helps greatly. There are no shadows, and the light is always even across the work space regardless of season or time of day.

If I was making gun stocks that stuff would be awesome. I want to make one, but a first go would absolutely not be from that stuff.

I have seen a few videos about birch plywood, and the quality that import birch plywood has. Not Baltic Birch, just Import Birch; which makes no sense since both are imported. I guess the import birch is from Asia or somewhere like that. Regardless, its competitively priced and of good quality. Might be something to look into.

A Dremel sanding drum is quite often hard to get good results from due the tiny diameter of the drum and the crazy speed it spins at. With a lot of practice and maybe slow speeds it can be learned. My wife trims dog claws with a dremel successfully, but she was also a cosmotologist and has crazy steady hands. If you choose Dremel, it seems counter intuitive but lower/coarser grits cause less heat build up. Depending on the size of these statues the options mentioned above will work. Homemade sanding sticks and rods come to mind first, then needle files. Someone mentioned carving the bevels on these. If you look at the chicken's breast you'll see a series of small grooves that are too coarse and crisp for sand paper. I think the carving angle may be what was used. A cheap, readily available way to get setup for carving is utility knives. At least in the US, they are available nearly everywhere and very cheap when compared to other quality carving tools. Good Luck!

As JT said, all legs touching the ground firmly; bolted down if possible. 3 legs works far better than 4. Also, be sure there is no flex anywhere in your stand and that it is plenty heavy. I struggled to get my Hegner 22VS to run smooth. Accidentally discovered the trick for my situation this year. I had built a butcher block type table to mount it to and attached that to a 2x4 framed cabinet. I could park a truck on this stand it is so solid and heavy. Then for convenience it sat on a Harbor Freight moving scooter. No matter what I did it would vibrate at the speeds I wanted to run. This fall I set it directly on the floor. Vibrations are gone. No clue why. Keep the arm bushings lubed too. It seemed to help with my fight. Best of luck!

So, why couldn't a person use a quick clamp in the bottom arm? I am pretty sure that I test fit mine and it does fit. They are shaped the same too, its just how the grip the blade.

I make Christmas ornaments from 1/4" poplar and occasionally aspen; both kiln dried. No troubles with warping after the items are cut. Personally, I wouldn't really go thinner than maybe 3/16" with any wood. If I need thinner plywood is available in several sizes down to 1/64". Regardless of species, I would think you will want kiln dried and a piece with as much of the growth rings being perpendicular to the width as possible (I think I said that right - lay your stock on the table and the rings should all run up and down). Avoid the pith as well. I would let the material acclimate to your shop for several days too just to be sure its stabilized to its new environment. You could also use a piece of regular lumber and simulate live edge. I've seen a few wood workers on youtube do this. Cut a wavy edge and sand to an un-even bevel. That may get you a more stable piece.

When I got my Hegner from the pawn shop it had a quick clamp on top; the lower I don't know what size it is. The smallest blade I have used is an Olson #2 and the largest is an Olson #7 or maybe #9. They all seemed to work correctly - that is the project was finished in a way I felt acceptable given my skill and equipment. Give what you have a go and see what comes of it. No need to spend $$ on parts if what you have works.

I used whatever seemed appropriate from Walmart. The one I had was adjustable and dual output, so I combined the two outputs to one. Seemed to work well enough.

What kind of motor do you have? The central vac ( I assume central vac) motor I have is a 3 stage unit and its quite loud. I don't have it in a seperate location though - my little DIY dust seperator is next to my saw all the time. I've got an old tread mill speed control to power it and the choke coil from the same tread mill to help with noise (some LED lights on the same circuit acted weird when it ran).

I have read that for bending wood you are going to want air dried rather than kiln dried. I'm not sure why that is, never seen anything that explained the difference. It may be tough to find air dried in the size you want.

Our engineering department at work has a scanner that can scan very large prints. No problem to scan prints bigger than those inserts. Maybe hit up a print shop, or better still an engineering outfit that is local to you. They will likely be able to scan things quite easily for you. They will also quite likely have a plotter to print out things as well as big as you like.

Those Metrovac's use brushes. They will need to be replaced from time to time, as well as the springs that force them into the commutator. Also, the commutator will eventually need to be serviced (which is a DIY procedure as no one does it on these motors) due to the arc eroding the material and causing surface imperfections that then cause the brushes to bounce causing arcs that erode material etc etc. I've been using a blower from a water heater or furnace for my dust collection. I think its a draft inducer. No commutator or brushes as I believe its a shaded pole type ac motor. It prob would be quieter than it is if it had good bushings; but I got it used and there is a bit of wear going on. I've been questing for a quiet fan/motor setup similar to a full size dust collector. I don't understand why we can't have a small, quiet fan/motor like that.

Menard's for sure has this, and sometimes Michael's, and maybe Hobby Lobby. 1/32" ply wood. It would probably be difficult to cut unless you stack maybe 8 pieces, but it would bend quite easily and being plywood it does have a bit of strength to it. Honestly, for that material, I would use a Cricut or a laser cutter. It would be far easier, IMHO.

Get some pieces of your most commonly used materials. Maybe scraps, or small bits to make small projects from; regardless your going to be experimenting. Then get a sampler blade pack with many sizes or tooth configurations; or just buy a several packs of blades you think may be right. Cut something; but the same something with diff blades until you find what you like. I did this on the fly with projects and blades. Personally I've settled on Olson Mach Speed #3 for 1/4" materials, maybe even stacked. A five is a bit better for stacked. I think Denny has some multi-blade packs to get a good assortment to experiment with. Good Luck!