Signals From The Bunker

[Anonymous]

Lovley jumbo project Gill

I'll bet Hannah will want to try as soon as she sees it (tonight after school :wink: )

 

[Gill]

Gosh, guys . He's just an ickle elephant! But thanks, anyway.

Yes, Chris, I think I will be using proper wood more often and abdicating my MDF throne. I've always had problems sourcing proper timber, but now I have my own car and can travel to places like Good Timber I should be able to work in a more natural range of materials.

That said, there'll always be a place in my workshop for MDF and ply when it comes to making templates and jigs !

Tony, I'm sure that elephant project will be well within Hannah's capabilities. I'll email you a copy of the pattern.

Gill

 

[Aragorn]

I've always had problems sourcing proper timber

You seem to be able to make use of such small pieces Gill. Not wanting to sound too presumptious, but I'd happily send you a box of offcuts every so often if you'd pay for the postage. Maybe one or two others here would do as well.
PM me if your interested.

 

[Gill]

That's very thoughtful of you, Aragorn. My only concern is that wood is very heavy and the cost of the postage might be prohibitive.

Gill

 

[Aragorn]

This is true! I'll leave the offer standing...

 

[Gill]

The new house placque took a while to finish, for reasons I've explained earlier in this thread. However, it's a vast improvement on its MDF predecessor.

Gill

 

[Chris Knight]

Gill,
It looks smashing - a proper job!

 

[Charley]

Nice plaque Gill =D>

We have family in Worcestershire (Fernhill Heath). If you want next time we go, I can bring up a box of offcuts if they'll be useful to you as they'll only get thrown away/burnt if not.

 

[Gill]

It's taken 3 days and a loft clearance (don't ask :roll, but now I have electrickery in the workshop. YAY!!!!



The closure of MG Rover meant that His Lordship's electrically qualified colleague suddenly found the prospects of installing the electrics very appealling. And it cost nothing like the £1000+ we'd been quoted originally .

Unfortunately, further work on the shop will have to be deferred until His Lordship finds new work. At least I've got a fully functional play room now .

Gill

 

[Chris Knight]

Gill,

All the very best to your other half in his search.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Gill

All the very best to your other half in his search.

I'd like to add my best wishes as well.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Rosco]

Dear Gill,
I would like to wish you and your other half all the best for the future.

All the best Rosco ( Chris )

 

[Gill]

Thanks, guys. Those messages mean a lot.

Gill

 

[tim]

Gill,

It has happened to me twice - both times as a result of the business being closed down. It was horrible in the short term but each time something much better than I could have imagined came along. Really difficult to believe at the time but true.

Please accept my best wishes and luck for the search.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Rosco]

Hi Gill,
By the way Blair has been talking there is going to be a huge sum of money for retraining. Has your other half thought of training as a plummer there is always a call for them. I once got laid of many years ago when the job situation was not as bad as it is now and I was offered retraining but I am afraid that they didn't take me to seriously I'm afraid as I opted to be a mortician they thought I was taking the **** the way I looked at it was that it was a buisness that would never die out.

All the best,

Rosco ( Chris )

 

[stewart]

Hi Gill
Best wishes to you and your other half for the future.
Stewart

 

[Gill]

I tried to cut some sycamore square on my Draper tablesaw today.

It didn't work, coming out skewed . Now, I'm not too clever when it comes to handling tablesaws because I find them noisy and quite scary, but we've got a decent Freud blade on the machine so it should work okay. I think the problem lay in having a diddy mitre guide which was at full stretch, thus making it difficult to keep the wood stable as it was fed through. In fact the whole saw is quite diddy with a table that only measures 66 cm x 40 cm.

I'd like to pick the collective brains of the forum - I think I need a tablesaw with a bigger bed and capacity. What does everyone else think? If the concensus is that a new tablesaw is really needed, which would be most suitable, bearing in mind that I don't want one that'll take over the shop. I'm not worrying about the expense right now (although that'll be a consideration later) so long as the most appropriate machine can be identified.

I've tried using a home made panel cutter jig but it's a pig to manouvre, being bulky and in need of support from a wider table.

Changing the subject, it was a delight to sit chipping away at some marquetry with decent light to work in. I've not had such a pleasant working environment for years! This is the 'work in progress' piccy - I'm not sure what I'll do with it when it's ready to lay.

[Rolf Harris mode] Can you tell what it is yet? [/Rolf Harris mode]

Gill

 

[Philly]

Gill
As top your tablesaw-have you checked whether the top is in alignment with the blade? I belive you can slacken off some bolts under the top and realign the top to the blade-this should get you back "square". A bigger surface? Why not build an outfeed/side table to enlarge it? I think Ian Dalziel made something along these lines in GW a little while ago?
Nice ballerina, by the way!
Cheers
Philly

 

[Anonymous]

Gill

I'm sure you are about to get loads of recommendations (including a Festool plunge saw and guide no doubt )


As i see it, the problem was that the mitre guage was not stable when p-ulled a long way toeards you at the start of the cut?

Most tablesaws that i have seen seem to have only a small depth of table in front of the blade and so you will always find the mitre guage a little trickyto use on largish pieces. My Kity 419 came with a sliding table and this extends way beyond the rear of the saw and allows me to cut much larger panels than witha mitre guage and so I would say look out for a saw with a sliding table (or ST option)

possibly a decent solution might be to buiild a small table at the infeed side and mill an extended mitre slot into it as a short term and cheap fix?

 

[Chris Knight]

Gill,

I'm no fan of Draper but I wouldn't give up on it just yet. You are probably right about the mitre gauge and maybe as Philly says it isn't square to the blade - however, you could address these issues with a cross-cut sled. There is a bunch of these to be found on the web - here for example http://www.thewoodshop.20m.com/howto_crosscut.htm

I built one for my saw using 1/2 inch plywood and a couple of stout bits of Iroko for the fences - I forget what I used for the runners but any hard wood will do.

BTW I like your ballerina (or ice-skater?)! How did you get her transferred to the wood - looks like a photo?