new woodworking inventions - help me!

[Jacob]

[.........
HI Argus,

Unless you are ugly, like me, you could prop up a mirror behind the saw. It's great for checking you are holding the file at the right angle. Just the occasional glance keeps you on track.
HTH

Or do it blind by feel. I can't see much at 10tpi or smaller so I just file away in a regular sort of way without stopping if possible. Black felt tip will show you where you (haven't yet) been if you have topped it first.

 

[Graham Orm]

How about an invention to stop employees bog dwelling.

Clear-glass doors?

Mirrored floors!! I remember being summoned with the rest of the shop floor to peep into the gents in silence shortly after the cleaner had mopped the floors. One of the lads had taken a mag to the loo and his 'ahem' actions were clearly mirrored for all to see. When enough bodies had been
assembled a huge cheer went up. He came out later redder than any beetroot I have seen since.

 

[Jacob]

Found the snaps. Well I did say it was a crude prototype.
Conventional jigs have several problems.
First and formost they have no handles of any sort. This has always struck me as a really stupid omission - designing a holding device which is itself difficult to hold. Mind you it took millennia before they moved from lump if stone to ditto on a stick, as a prototype axe, so we may get there eventually!
The second major problem is that the wheel is on the wrong place. As it is, the slightest tilt forwards will start to give you a steeper bevel than you want, the slightest tilt backwards lifts the edge off the stone. So they have to be held very carefully with downwards pressure to maintain the angle. This means that a proportion of the effort put in, is wasted on the wheels. Unless of course you can scoot the thing along precisely with zero force on the wheels, in which case you clearly don't need a jig anyway.
The third problem is that the jig and the edge have to be very precisely aligned, on a flat stone, or the edge will be honed unevenly.
A fourth problem is that you have to reset the angle if you are going from one grit to another.
All these issues are dealt with in this prototype below. I won't expand on it, you can work it out for yourself. NB a wheel could be inserted in the nose but maybe it isn't really necessary. As it is it works perfectly well with this blade but could be developed to hold other blades etc. I wondered about a rare earth magnet holding device worked with a cam - like a cap iron.
NB this did actually work really well. But I prefer freehand anyway.

 

[adidat]

How about an invention to stop employees bog dwelling.

:lol: :lol:

adidat

 

[nanscombe]

Rather than Badger's Ar*e just use Izal toilet paper instead.

 

[Graham Orm]

Hi guys
i am currently doing my A2 levels and my product design subject requires me to design a new product to fill a need
my hobby is woodworking so naturally i want to design a product related to that
but my problem is what should i design?
what problems do you have with your workshops that a new invention could resolve?
it needs to be something substantial so i can go through the development process through the year but not so large i wont be able to build it in time (wood metal plastic etc nothing electronic)
any jigs you have made that are not currently on the market to buy?
please help, thanks

Lot of effort and thought gone into these replies Mike, any feedback? Have you made a choice?

 

[rafezetter]

In the heavier end of woodworking I can think of two tools I sorely miss:

-A safer way of drilling peg holes in log walls. A gigantic slow turning hand held drill with a 1 1/2 inch auger bit is fairly efficient but it all too easily converts itself into a one man merry-go-round and that is not very funny when it happens 3 or 4 metres above ground. There must be a way to make some kind of light portable drill guide that would steer the drill straight down and prewent it from rotating.
-A kind of combined cant hook/pry bar with the lower end of the bar shaped as the straight end of a crow bar. I have a prototype on the way as soon as I find some time for a little forging.

if you are doing it vertically surely a simple inverted U shaped jig with deep (long enough to hit the central part of the log) expandable sides (for width) with a separate central crossbeam at the top with a hole in it (few inch thick block maybe with a tough lining of some type) to guide the auger would suffice? The sides sections need to be say 4 inches or so to resist the torsion of the auger digging into the timber.

I can sketch it up for you if you needed.

here you go - 5 mins in paint:

if you need something to stop the drill rotating make the sides much higher on the top portion so they go either side of a drill and add some t nuts in both sides, add bolts with block on the ends and bring them so they brace against the side of the drill and voila a non spinning vertically guided drilling jig. something like that you could practically set it up put a weight on it - clamp the switch on and let it run itself down while you stay safely on ground level.

lol pay my airfare to finland and I'll make it for you too!


and that badgers toilet paper made me really LOL!

 

[Benchwayze]

How about an invention to stop employees bog dwelling.

Clear-glass doors?

Mirrored floors!! I remember being summoned with the rest of the shop floor to peep into the gents in silence shortly after the cleaner had mopped the floors. One of the lads had taken a mag to the loo and his 'ahem' actions were clearly mirrored for all to see. When enough bodies had been
assembled a huge cheer went up. He came out later redder than any beetroot I have seen since.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Steve Maskery]

An effective chip extraction method for mortising machines.
S

 

[Nick Gibbs]

An effective chip extraction method for mortising machines.
S

Or effective dust extraction for chopsaws/mitresaws! Horrible things.

 

[Jelly]

An effective chip extraction method for mortising machines.
S

Or effective dust extraction for chopsaws/mitresaws! Horrible things.

That's a situation where "more power" is definitely an effective solution... The extraction on our chop-saws and RAS's at work is linked to the central extraction system and almost nothing escapes (with two 72,000m³/hr [42,380 cfm! ] dantherm cyclone units running, it would be really rather poor if anything did escape really).

 

[Bradshaw Joinery]

I've always wanted to see a sliding sash espagnolette lock operated by a traditional looking fastener, but with a spindle into the middle rail.

 

[dannykaye]

As far as drilling big holes safely, my hitachi 18 volt will happily drill 32 mm on the 22 clutch setting for the screwdriver settings. That means that if the bit jams I just get a lot of noise from the clutch...

 

[Jacob]

Jacob, where's your alternative grinding jig? I'd love to have a look at that [at the risk of sparking another epic]

Well I posted it but it went down like a lead balloon. Not even a hint of sarcasm or abuse!
It may not look much but it is a workable idea.

 

[monkeybiter]

Fair comment.
My first impressions were poor and I don't like to give negative comments if I can help it, hence the lack of timely reply. In retrospect my initial thoughts are probably largely a result of lack of knowledge and inexperience in the field of sharpening. I've just had another look at the piccies and on a second look they do answer some of my questions. I would imagine most of my other queries could be put down to it being a prototype.
e.g. the blade looks very uneven to me, should it not be uniformly straight or curved? Presumably this is for honing and would be no good for fettling an abused blade as the blade is guided by it's contact with the stone.

 

[Jacob]

My first impressions were poor....

It's just a quick rough prototype to see if the idea works. It does. Imagine it made of matt black steel with brass knobs on!

.....
e.g. the blade looks very uneven to me, should it not be uniformly straight or curved?

Yes it should be. Just a rough old blade I picked up - a victim of freehand grinding on a bench grinder - something I no longer do. But the point is is that it is improving

Presumably this is for honing and would be no good for fettling an abused blade as the blade is guided by it's contact with the stone.

The blade is guided by the device - it's set (pic with sliding bevel) so that the blade edge can only contact the stone at the chosen angle. It'd do especially well for fettling an abused blade* because you can tilt it back a touch to take off more of the bevel without touching the edge i.e. developing what is known as the "primary" bevel, on a coarser stone if required, without having to take it out of the jig or adjust it at all.

*PS and I forgot to say - unlike a conventional jig you can put a lot of force into it, which speeds things up, especially if you are trying to remove a lot of metal.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

](*,) Oh sh 1t - back to bevels again!

 

[monkeybiter]

Presumably this is for honing and would be no good for fettling an abused blade as the blade is guided by it's contact with the stone.

The blade is guided by the device - it's set (pic with sliding bevel) so that the blade edge can only contact the stone at the chosen angle. It'd do especially well for fettling an abused blade because you can tilt it back a touch to take off more of the bevel without touching the edge i.e. developing what is known as the "primary" bevel, on a coarser stone if required, without having to take it out of the jig or adjust it at all.

Ok, got it. So if made for prolonged use the leading edge would have to be more wear resistant. I might knock one of these up and give it a go, although I've just started using my Axi low speed water bath grinder since I bought my first decent plane, a Record No.5, at an antiques and collectibles fair. What an improvement.

Re the appearance, I'd prefer blued steel with some stainless springs thrown in, perhaps some cap-head screws in counterbores. You could always mount a laser on top for good measure. 8)

 

[monkeybiter]

*PS and I forgot to say - unlike a conventional jig you can put a lot of force into it, which speeds things up, especially if you are trying to remove a lot of metal.

Wouldn't that bugger your stone?

 

[Jacob]

....for prolonged use the leading edge would have to be more wear resistant. ....

A wheel in front in the nose would be the next step!

Re the appearance, I'd prefer blued steel with some stainless springs thrown in, perhaps some cap-head screws in counterbores. You could always mount a laser on top for good measure.

and a sock of course. Pigskin with silk thong and tassels?
I've always thought that the tool "sock" was one of the best things to come from the American novelty tool makers.

](*,) Oh sh 1t - back to bevels again!

Not just any bevels this jig does rounded bevels (only if you want it to). :shock: Should have caused an outbreak of mass hysteria by now.