Post a photo of the last thing you made

[Retired]

Hi,

A bit different but the last thing I made is a mower petrol tank from aluminium. I'd fully restored a Suffolk Colt petrol mower only to find the petrol tank to leak which was highly frustrating. It's an awful long story but I've arc welded steel for over 55 years but never attempted to weld aluminium so I was on a ballistic learning curve.

My lovely wife generously bought me a new Parweld TIG welder and I had to gather all the items needed to get me welding with it; Pure Argon gas proved expensive at first but then I opened a BOC account and now use high pressure cylinders; filler rods; tungstens and a £400 top of the range welding helmet and I was ready to go.

crystal2.0 - You won’t believe your eyes

TIG welding aluminium isn't easy to learn as I found out but with determination I completed the new tank including my first attempt at panel beating. I also made a second tank involving using my Graduate lathe for metal spinning.

Kind regards, Colin.

The new tank underway.

The new tank mounting plate.

Ready to be welded.

Original tank top right. New streamlined tank bottom and a second tank just for fun.

Gathering equipment.

Lots and lots of practice welds; I used three Hobbyweld Pure Argon cylinders before opening the BOC account and used two BOC cylinders now I have a third full BOC cylinder; not a cheap hobby by any means but highly interesting and a useful skill to have.

I made a pair of "Third hands" copying from YouTube; these are just wonderful and so useful for many projects.

First make every mistake possible but never give up; this is 4mm thick aluminium and it becomes increasingly difficult on thinner aluminium. This mower tank must be the most expensive tank ever it costing around £1,600 setting up TIG and learning how to use it. As I say it's a bit different.

I only bought the mower as a restoration project; I sold it a few days ago to a delighted new owner. I enjoy pottering around in my workshop.

 

[Davejo]

I have made 2 windmills in recent times, the second on was just a few weeks ago. The reason for the second one was because the original plans told me to use ply. After giving it 3 coats of exterior wood paint it then went through the recent winter and decided to delaminate and started to fall apart on the sails and other areas. I adapted the first one and added a motor that ran off a solar panel, but it was very difficult to get a really quiet motor and in the end it was disconnected.

As the wife liked the windmill so much I decided to build version 2. This is made completely out of pine and also have 3 coats of paint on it, this time no motor and as you will see in the photo I also changed the design slightly as the location of the windmill no one could see the back of it so instead of building the whole rear section I just adapted some of the design to have the fan tail is up higher.

If anyone wants to see the building of them it's on my website under 'Dave's Photos/My Hobby Photos'

 

[Cordy]

Builder neighbour gave me a couple of white

poles, would have gone to the tip otherwise
Made this planter, routed the sides which are 37 mm thick
Put some Radish and Rocket seeds in; late in the season, but may grow

 

[Davejo]

Last week I made my wife a cotton reel rack for her sewing room. Picked all the timber up in the morning and fixed on the wall in the evening.

 

[Droogs]

well done on having the patience to make one. I always find drilling sooooo many holes a complete mind numbing drag

 

[Davejo]

well done on having the patience to make one. I always find drilling sooooo many holes a complete mind numbing drag

Thanks Droogs

 

[pulleyt]

A couple of months ago I made a (tensegrity) stand which has got a lot of interest locally. So, I batched out a few more using various scraps of timber from the wood store.

The problem is that I've thought of improvements in the production process so I may have to do some more. Ah well, the gift giving season will be here before we know it - I just hope the family are as fascinated by them as I am

 

[Davejo]

That's very clever, I like that

 

[billw]

Boring stuff again - but I made a new shooting board (my last one was only a few pages back) complete with two 45 degree jigs, and a secondary fence for larger stock. The three additional fences all sit on the smaller one, snugly despite the appearance that I've cut them badly! I spent far too long checking 45 and 90 degree angles, but at least I can get on with making stuff now...... well more jigs actually.

 

[robgul]

Console table with drawer - made from 18mm birch ply with a variety of joints - rebated, pocket hole and biscuit. Obviously purchased the hairpin legs (and drawer runners) that match the dining table I made a few weeks ago. It's just waiting for another application of the finishing oil

 

[RickG]

Not as complex as some of the things posted here by others, but this was something I had a request for recently. My nephew is a vicar and he and his wife wanted a cross as a wedding gift.

 

[Bacms]

The 3 basic boxes from Andrew Crawford book. I doubled the dimensions of the Walnut one and next time remind me to never apply finish inside the groove of a lid

 

[wood_i_rather]

Not yet made, but close to finish

 

[Sachakins]

A busy week for me

 

[Davejo]

Another day and another new project, although this will be it for a while as I only finished it this morning. This time it is a bird box with a difference. I got some logs to make my wife a fairy door...and while I was doing that I thought about creating a bird box from what was left over and here it is. Took longer than I thought to cut out the middle and the pillar drill and bit only went in so far and it was burning the wood also, so I had to just use a chisel to finish it off. More photos as usual on my website.

 

[_lotusbleu]

Not sure if people are so interested in seeing fitted cabinets - but this is my first completed fit since lock down has eased. Bit of a mammoth! Also made the ladder.

 

[RattyVulcan]

Simple occasional table

 

[Coyote]

Alcove unit/shelves for a growing book collection. Must have passed my wifes stringent QA test as I've been asked for a matching one on the other side.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Yesterday and today I've made some sweat; I've just come out of the garden after a session rotavating, Doing anything even standing upright on our steep valley side is difficult. I'm getting the meadow ready for next year.

Kind regards, Colin.

The weather made a mess of the wildflower meadow flattening lots of the flowers.

My first attempt at strimming using my new Hyundai 52cc strimmer/brush cutter; a job I really enjoyed doing yesterday afternoon in the sunshine.

I've just finished rotavating; I'll rotavate at least two more times before broadcasting new wildflower seeds next springtime.

First pass with the rotavator; it sure is tiring working on the slope with a rotavator wanting to head to the valley bottom.

Horse shoes are considered lucky but not by me; this one jammed the rotavator tines. I'm 73 today and with lots of prezzies and time in the garden what a lovely day. Eventually I'll achieve my dream of quality workshop time but in the meantime I'll dream on.

 

[Dovetail]

Last week I made my wife a cotton reel rack for her sewing room. Picked all the timber up in the morning and fixed on the wall in the evening.

From someone with many spools of thread, I really appreciate this build. You're wife is lucky that you can build that for her.