Post a photo of the last thing you made

[OCtoolguy]

First off this is not on the level of you guys, far from it but I thought I would just share with you my latest tinkering in my workshop build. Basically using what I had to hand , out of scrap. Our wedding anniversary was Sunday and as it is Steel, I bought my wife this hand forged rose which is very nice indeed and she loved it. It is designed to be in the garden and rust over time but no way was that going in the garden.

View attachment 136738

So had to think of a way to mount it but it is quite heavy so the stand would have been large to carry the weight but I thought it would be too bulky and tip over. So looking around the house I found an old Ikea desk lamp which luckily has a weighted base.

View attachment 136741

So came up with a cunning plan. Which involved demolishing the lamp for its base ! That was easy enough ..
View attachment 136742

So ended up with the parts I really needed. The metal base with slot, the cast iron weight and a plastic cover.
View attachment 136743

Then fettled the rose with a hammer to follow the bend of the groove into the base and drilled /tapped the stem so I could secure it .

View attachment 136744

Now the fun part, making a base out of some scrap CLS timber I had lying around. This proved to be quite challenging as I had to router out a recess the depth and size of the base so it could fit in underneath and also work out how to reveal the slot.

View attachment 136745

Took a little bit of head scratching , a huge mess and not exactly a perfect circle as no way of using a router jig as the radius was too tight but you will never see my terrible hand routing anyway

View attachment 136746
Finally you end up with this. All components ready to go back once I have put a finish on it.
View attachment 136747

Heavy base installed

View attachment 136748

And the end result .. I think she will like it , if not will give it to the mistress
View attachment 136749

I strongly disagree. This is a very nice piece and well done. Craftsmanship at its best.

 

[OCtoolguy]

I had to resurrect the old Black and Decker DN85 belt sander, but needed a rectangular to round adapter to connect my Dyson to the sander.

A bit of FreeCad design,

View attachment 136801

and 3 hours of 3D printing.

Perfect fit!!
View attachment 136802

I truly envy you folks who are adept at doing the "3-D" printing thing. I wish I knew how and I wish I had a printer. Next life.

 

[OCtoolguy]

I’m also interested to hear.

I have a Creality Ender 5-Pro and it’s amazing. Very consistent and easy to use so long as you can do the 3D drawings first.

Is there a very long learning curve for the software creation? I'm fairly computer literate but know nothing about how to go about doing this. I'd appreciate any leads on how/where to learn to do the pattern creation. Thanks for any help.

 

[Sandyn]

I truly envy you folks who are adept at doing the "3-D" printing thing

I'm not adept. I am just stubborn as hell when it comes to software. I will not be beaten by any software when I am motivated to learn it. Getting the motivation is key to learning. In my case, I wanted to make something for my Myford ML7. I knew what I wanted to make, so I found tutorials here and there. I use FreeCad. There are some really good tutorials at the FreeCad site, there are also on-line tutorials, but half of them, I just can't understand what the person is saying. Another problem I found was YouTube tutorials used slightly different versions of the software and the Icons were in different places, so following what someone was doing was very difficult at times. During my early learning stage, I might start a design dozens of times, then get stuck and have to delete the model and start again. The early stages were slow going, but then the penny dropped about attaching sketches to an existing face and either adding material (padding) or removing material )( pocket). Then I started making faster progress. I think the first stage of learning took 4 weeks. I now have about 100 different designs. I have made model jet engines, wheels and simple undercarriage for a toy plane. Escutcheon, gears for my lathe, measuring scale for my planer, handle for the pull start for my mower, a complete kit for removing and replacing the BB30 bearings on my bike, various adapters for dust extraction.
I decided on FreeCad. Fusion 360 is probably a lot better, but there are some limitations on the free version and I didn't understand how these limitations might restrict what I could do in the future. It looked like I would have to learn the program to find out what the limitations were and I didn't know the terminology or have the knowledge to ask.
So far, I have managed to do everything I want using FreeCad. Being freeware, it has some quirky behaviour and some bugs, but that hasn't put me off yet.
Seven months ago, I was in a similar situation to yourself. I envied people who could design things using 3D CAD programs. Now I can rattle off designs quite quickly, but I don't think I'm an experienced or competent FreeCad user. The rectangle to round adapter is really easy to do in FreeCad. Basically you draw a rectangle and a circle and the software lofts one profile through the other. Very very simple to do. The software does all the clever stuff. Printing is really easy, the software does everything. I have been lucky with the printer I use and the software supplied with it. It works very well for a beginner like me.
It's not technically difficult to learn the software, it's more about learning the simple steps/sequence to produce a design and finding the information how to create what you want.
Do you have anything you would like to make that would give you the motivation to learn?

 

[OCtoolguy]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write your explanation. I'm 79 years old but highly motivated to learn something. I am a scroller and most of us use Inkscape to make changes to patterns and also to create new ones. But, for the life of me, I can't seem to grasp the basics. Either I'm doing something wrong or the software doesn't respond as it should. Anyway, I'm fighting my way through it but I get so frustrated that I always end up quitting and just make the changes ad-hoc without a drawing. At this point, I don't have anything in mind to make but I am going to get a printer somewhere along the line if the economy ever gets out of it's doldrums and I have some free-ed up money to spend. So, with that in mind, I will have to be learning how to create a drawing/plan in order to feed the printer. I'll see if I can find that software that you are using and have a go at learning it. Thanks again for your time. You are very kind.

 

[swisstony]

I strongly disagree. This is a very nice piece and well done. Craftsmanship at its best.

Well thank you very much but I am realistic at my skill level when I see some of the work that gets turned out on here . The way I see it is if I get brownie points from the good lady wife it’s a win in my book

 

[swisstony]

Hi all. I'm new here and new to woodworking. I've watched a few videos on YT and thought ' I could do that'. So i did. I made the planter first. Got the bug, and made the bench. What do you guys think?

Well done I say , if that is your first time at woodworking then you have a hidden talent as that is very good indeed. You could watch videos all day long but no substitute for going out and having a go . I look back at some of my first attempts and they now look rough as you like but you have managed some great pieces there. Nice

 

[Sandyn]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write your explanation. I'm 79 years old but highly motivated to learn something. I am a scroller and most of us use Inkscape to make changes to patterns and also to create new ones. But, for the life of me, I can't seem to grasp the basics. Either I'm doing something wrong or the software doesn't respond as it should.

I used Inkscape for several years to produce manufacturing drawings for various projects when I was employed. The company only used open source and free software. Inkscape drawing tools are a bit 'strange' to use, especially drawing curves. The click, drag, then right or left click, I find awkward and frustrating to use, so you are not alone!! What are you trying to draw? I would be happy to try help you if I can and I'm sure there are experienced users of Inkscape on here who can help.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Is there a very long learning curve for the software creation? I'm fairly computer literate but know nothing about how to go about doing this. I'd appreciate any leads on how/where to learn to do the pattern creation. Thanks for any help.

I am a long term user of the free Designspark Mechanical and find it pretty much straightforward and intuitive. There are loads of YouTube videos both indies and from RS Components who support it. I've produced numerous drawings for the 3D items I want/ need around the house or workshop. It produces the STL files you will need to transfer to your 3D printer as most other packages will. Recently I succumbed to all the hype about Fusion 360 but find it so much more difficult to get into.
Have fun and if you get stuck give us a shout.
Martin

 

[Stigmorgan]

Not been in my little makerspace for a while so today I've made 2 little things from a couple of branch offcuts, one cherry and one silver birch, bothe finished with Danish Oil

 

[MichaelChou]

Finally finished making all of the


Finally finished making the ‘watch pillow’ inserts for my watch box. (I dont own any super expensive posh watches, and havent worn a few of these for years! ). The watch pillows are made using shaped offcuts of kaizan foam (made a long regularised length to cut slices from) and used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to stick the leather to the foam. The circumferential leather was done using Custard’s card and double sided tape method, but was stuck on using the spray adhesive

View attachment 137003View attachment 137004View attachment 137005View attachment 137006

This is lovely. Sometimes I see things on this tread that get stuck in my head, this has been in my head for a few days since seeing it. It looks fun to make. I’m going to get stuck in as soon as I finish the castle for Lego figures that I saw on here a few weeks ago! Thanks for posting. Don’t suppose you could find a link to the thread you mentioned about adhering the leather?

 

[Flynnwood]

This is lovely. Sometimes I see things on this tread that get stuck in my head, this has been in my head for a few days since seeing it. It looks fun to make. I’m going to get stuck in as soon as I finish the castle for Lego figures that I saw on here a few weeks ago! Thanks for posting. Don’t suppose you could find a link to the thread you mentioned about adhering the leather?

Possibly in this thread:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/how-to-line-boxes-drawers.106375/

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Possibly in this thread:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/how-to-line-boxes-drawers.106375/

Yes, that’s the one! Very informative thread.

This is lovely. Sometimes I see things on this tread that get stuck in my head, this has been in my head for a few days since seeing it. It looks fun to make. I’m going to get stuck in as soon as I finish the castle for Lego figures that I saw on here a few weeks ago! Thanks for posting. Don’t suppose you could find a link to the thread you mentioned about adhering the leather?

Thank you Michael. The leather work is quite fiddly and surprisingly time-consuming, but very satisfying!
I did all of the box lining using Custard’s method above, but i adapted the method to make the ‘watch pillows’. Hopefully you can make out what i did in these photos. Instead of Copydex i used 3M spray adhesive…

And hey presto, just carefully wrap that leather around the foam

 

[DavidRa]

Finally finished making all of the


Finally finished making the ‘watch pillow’ inserts for my watch box. (I dont own any super expensive posh watches, and havent worn a few of these for years! ). The watch pillows are made using shaped offcuts of kaizan foam (made a long regularised length to cut slices from) and used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to stick the leather to the foam. The circumferential leather was done using Custard’s card and double sided tape method, but was stuck on using the spray adhesive

View attachment 137003View attachment 137004View attachment 137005View attachment 137006

 

[DavidRa]

Love

Finally finished making all of the


Finally finished making the ‘watch pillow’ inserts for my watch box. (I dont own any super expensive posh watches, and havent worn a few of these for years! ). The watch pillows are made using shaped offcuts of kaizan foam (made a long regularised length to cut slices from) and used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to stick the leather to the foam. The circumferential leather was done using Custard’s card and double sided tape method, but was stuck on using the spray adhesive

View attachment 137003View attachment 137004View attachment 137005View attachment 137006

lovely work. How did you do the initials inside the lid?

 

[Tcrowe]

Started working on some joinery a few months back and this was my first real attempt at anything other than practicing. First time working with any hardwood other than oak. Recycled from some old science lab counter tops in our school. Ive been told its teak but someone may correct me on that. Fair amount of sanding to remove the old multiple layers of varnish on it. Planer would have been handy but didn't have one.

Cheers
Tiarnan

 

[MikeJhn]

Too late now, but would look better with the leg tenons on the inside of the legs giving a smooth flush finish to the outside, but never the less nice work for a first time.

 

[SamG340]

Too late now, but would look better with the leg tenons on the inside of the legs giving a smooth flush finish to the outside, but never the less nice work for a first time.

Yea I think you're right but I actually like the visible joinery, I like to see the workings

 

[MikeJhn]

It's good that you are confident enough to show your joints, personally I always try to hide mine.

 

[Tcrowe]

Too late now, but would look better with the leg tenons on the inside of the legs giving a smooth flush finish to the outside, but never the less nice work for a first time.

Yea fair point but I wanted to be able to see the joint. Was really just experimenting with the joints for my first one.