FrankEV

I have the Epson ET-16600. Looks a lot similar. I got mine over a year ago at office Depot for a significantly highr price. It works great. I print a lot of 11x17 and I only recently had to add new ink. I like the ink tanks much better than the cartriges. I bought a ream of the 13 x 19 paper on line and it will last me a long time. Don't use too much of it but it sure is nice when you need it. it is great for utilizing the full 12" project panels I use. I often need just that extra 2 inch width you can't print on the 11" wide paper.

Great for solid wood projects like statues, puzzles, toys, etc. IMHO, not practical for fretwork type ply panels, with or without backer. I like lacquer because I can get a nice, quite smooth, finish with no, in between coats, sanding needed. Multiple coats with only a short dry time in beween, tends to get smoother and smoother. I prefer poly for finishing stained wood frames, but don't take it to the extreme Ron does. Still experimenting with clear acrylic coatings.

Ace

Even Clear varnish tends to yellow over time. And, I personally do not like oil finishes because even when they feel dry to the touch it will attract dust to the work. For the same reason I would not use any kind of wax finish. Most appropriate choices for uncolored or stained wood include Clear Spray orWipe-on Ppolyurathane and Clear Spray Lacquer. I use rattle can lacquer but it is available in bulk at much lower cost per use as long as you have the equipment to spray. For wood that you add color to, it depends on the paint type. Clear acrylic sprays are best for pieces painted with Acrylic (water base) Paints or stains. Polycrylic is a name brand that tends to be expensive, but I have found Krylon and some store brand maufacturers have Clear Acrylic protective coatings at much lower costs. I use Clear Spray Laquer over acrylic painted pieces also, with out any problems. A craft store, like Hobby Lobby here in the USA, has the acrylic spray cans at much lower cost that the hardware stores that only handle the Polycrylic brand. For any oil based painted pieces I would stick with polyurethane or lacquer. Both Lacquer and Poly create a hard durable surface. IMHO, if it good enough for most furniture manufactuers, it is good enough for Scroll work. Clear Acrylic coatings are also good, but, again in my opinion, not quite as durable as Poly. Lacquer and the acrylic coatings have the advantage of a very fast dry time, while poly takes forever to dry just to be able to handle, especially if the humidity is high. For me a BLO finish takes too much work and time, that to me is not warrented for the product our hobby produces. And, last, Poly is the only protective coating I will use for any piece that will hang outside.

I went on the WEN website yesterday and filled out a warranty request. And, after sending a follow-up email to them providing Proof of Purchase and a photo of the broken base as requested in their auto reply, their auto reply said they woud get back to me in 1 to 5 business days. I found an email from them early this AM asking me to confirm a $0.00 purchase order for a new base. I confirmed the order and it should arrive in 5-7 days. Now, that is what I call customer service. If I reinstall the DP on the base and once again try to use the 1/2" bolts to attach to the bench top, I will shim up the void area under the base so it can't break again.

What kind of wood? How thick? What size panel (W & H)? Backer? Frame or not? Love to see what sombody else does with a pattern I provided. Just need details!

I've posted about my upside down dremel a while back. I just flipped the press on the shaft and mounted underthe shelf. This arrangement allows me to drill blade holes in boards up to 22 inches wide. The shelf is level so It is close to plumb and square. Accurate enough for tiny blade holes, which is all I use it for. AND, that is also why I bought a real drill press.

Yes and the base for the sanding station, more than 18 years ago,

NOT ENOUGH!

The good news. The replacement WEN 4212T arrived today (10/18/23) and putting it together for the second time was a snap. Even the table up/down crank seems to be less sloppy than the one I returned. Again, I’m very happy, everything is working well, and it runs quiet and smoothly at all speeds. I built a fixed, 32” high, mini bench in the corner of my shop for the drill press. Although I had to rearrange some wall hanging tools and dust collector hoses, it fits like a glove. And although the shop is getting a little more cramped, its location does not interfere with any of my operations. Only my trash bucket had to be moved closer to the Scroll Saw. Now the bad news. I wanted to bolt down the DP with some 1/2” dia. bolts as recommended in the instructions. Well as I tightened them down, I obviously cinched down too much, and the cheap thin sand-casted base cracked/broke in half. I salvaged the situation by removing the base and using four 3/8” Dia. x 4” long bolts, I mounted the collum directly to the bench top. I like it better as the base just got in the way anyhow and now there is room to lay down bits and tools as needed. So here are a bunch of pics that show the DP installation and my shop. Most were taken standing in one spot and just turning around for each pic as I don’t have very much room to walk very far. Close up of DP Broken base Feel free to snicker all you want!

The same paste wax you use on your scroll saw table should work. The speed handle is changing belt engagement. The DP must be running while changing speed. I would not atempt to mske it easier to operate. Might mess up the internal changing mechanism.

Well done. Taking nothing away from your work, however, when you use all CAPS of a somewhat Script Font it can be a little hard to read. I think if you had used both upper and lower case letters the names would have read better, or, a more simple block style font may have worked better if they needed to be all caps..

if you have access to some axle grease, pack it with some. it will help somewhat.

That was not the problem. I know how to seat a chuck onto a tapered shaft. Something inside the body that feeds the rotating shaft down or up, is not engaged. Feels like a drift pin, or key was not installed and the horisontal shaft, that the 3 handles turn, just goes around and around and did not do anything. Motor ran fairly quite and smooth, speed changing worked and the table cranks up and down, altough quite a sloppy fit that will require require some heavy grease. UPS picked it up for return today. The replacemnet will be here tomorrow.

Quick update: The WEN 4212T Drill Press arrived yesterday (10/16/23). Piece of cake to assemble. Not too heavy to put the head on. The DP size is perfect and it will fit in the space I planned nicely with out protruding too far into my tiny walk-around area. Only one problem...the drill feed on the one I received did not work. The feed mechanism just goes round and round with out the chuck shaft moving. I called WEN, and they said I have to send it back to Amazon. Amazon approved the return and my account will be credited the cost. So it is all packed up and ready to have UPS pick it up later today. I already ordered a new one and it will be here tomorrow (10/18/23). Lets hope this one in not defective.

Cute! Well done.

No, I did not care for, or find, the font he used.

I saw this Eagle Welcome Plaque by S. Good in one of his emails a while back and thought it would be a nice piece to make and add to my Eagle Collection. I modified his pattern slightly to make it as large as possible and still be able to fit on a the 12” wide precut panels I use. This resulted is the 1/4” thick Solid Core Red Oak ply cut panel being a nominal 14” x 11” mounted to a 1/2” thick painted premium ply backer being a nominal 15” x 12”. I rounded the perimeter top edge of the backer with a 1/4" round-over bit in tmy Router table. I also did away with his “WELCOME” third layer and cut the letters directly into the now single top layer. I use Pegas #3 MGT R to cut pattern and the perimeter of the backer. I would prefer using a spiral blade, but for this type of cutting, and as everyone knows, the regular blade produces a much nicer looking clean-cut edge. Just had to be a lot more careful keeping the blade from walking off track and to be extra careful making my sharp inside and outside corners. The backer was primed and then painted rattle can Brick Red. I then masked off the plaque to allow me to paint the area under the word “WELCOME”, white. After assembly I gave the entire plaque multiple coats of Clear Gloss Lacquer. Comments and critiques always welcome.

Well done and kodo's to the better half. Holly leaves are Greeen. Being very picky, I only wish the Gold color of the bells were a little brighter/shinnyer(sp?). A matalic paint may have been a better choice.

I think I will be able to handle putting this one together...only 57 lbs all together. I will not be using this DP to do my blade holes, I have a dremel DP setup for that that I use and works well. I needed this new DP for larger drilling using Fostner Bits and the like. It won't be getting a lot of use, but when needed, it will be there. I've cursed not having one more than once. Not sure exactly how I will set it up. Will not go on my WB. I'll build a stand (fixed or movable still TBD) that will allow me to use it while tucked away in the corner. Seat height or standing height, again, stil TBD. I'm thinking a semi-fixed stand connected to the wall, but could be detached and would allow me to move it out if needed for driling a long piece. Got to be creative, again becae of my very limited space. After I get it all setup I post some follow up pics. PS; Virgina Beach? Heck that is only about 12 hours away. We were up there last year for a family Vacation. Your welcome to come down anytime for a visit. We have a Guest Bedroom.

Well I made a decision so we can put this post to bed. First, however, let me say THANK YOU to all who replied with info and made recommendations. I liked the price of the WEN 4208T but did not like the need to change belt/pully combinations to change speed. I did a lot of research and would have purchased the WEN 4214T as a lot of you have done, but the size and weight was a concern. A drill press will need to be mounted on a movable base so it can be tucked in the corner of my small shop but be able to be pulled out when needed to use with larger material. I decided to buy the WEN 4212T which is a little smaller in size and about 30 lbs lighter but does have variable speed control and laser. It does not thave a work light but I can add a mag-light if needed. I ordered a Keyless chuck at the same time. It should arrive Monday. Thanks again to all.

True on both. Oh, what is that saying? That's right...practice makes perfect!

Your lineweight peoduced by Inkscape is actually .01" when a centerline trace was done. I use .005" red lines with a light grey (10% or 20%) fill. I prefer when I can cut away a grey waste area, but often the pattern forces me to cut the white waste area away. Here is my version of your pattern:

Only can say GREAT WORK. Beautiful..

Like Richard, I try to cut in a counterclockwise direction around a cutout area. Specifically, I will cut the inside of circle cut with the waste to the right of the blade using a large regular blade ( #3 or #5). Another thing that helps me. My pattern line work is very thin. I keep the blade cutting along the waste side edge of the line. Easier to control then trying to split a fat line.