Very New, an Introduction some Photos and questions

[Chems]

Ive been looking around for a good woodwork forum for a while but only seem to keep finding very inactive ones.

Ive very recently started getting into woodwork, I did woodwork back in school so have a bit of knowledge. I jumped in at the deep end and made myself a huge Pine desk which turned out fantastic. Ive had a work bench in my garage for quite a while with a few vises attached but Ive just started accumulating some serious tools.

Ive started off with a Titan 10 Inch Table Saw from Screwfix.

Its a good bit of kit as far as I can tell, my only qualm is that the blade provided is very heavy duty, I possibly need to get one with a finer blade, but alas Im not really sure where to start with that.

I next added a McKeller 1/4 Inch Router to my stash (more on that later) a McKeller Palm sander which is quite good, a Black and Decker Hand Held JigSaw and a very nice B+D Drill.

I realized early on that a hand held router was about as much use really as a fish with out a pond so as soon as I finished my desk I took my old desk top and turned it into a router table. When I started it I hadn't really looked at any router tables so it looks a bit different, I will get a picture in the morning and show you, I think you will quite like it.

Since finishing that I have started quite an ambitious project of a nest of tables, the top table been oval and the 2 smaller tables been square with a rounded front edge. Now these turned out better than I could have hoped for and I will include pictures in the morning.

I think Ive written enough for now, I have a lot to ask, regarding dust extraction, planing, sanding machines etc but I will just start with this. Thanks for reading!

 

[Philly]

Hi Chems
Welcome aboard!
Philly

 

[devonwoody]

Devonwoody says hello, and looks forward to seeing pictures in the near future. :wink:

 

[Waka]

Chems

Welcome to the forum.

 

[NeilO]

Chems wrote:

Ive been looking around for a good woodwork forum for a while but only seem to keep finding very inactive ones.

thats probably the last thing you could say about this Forum :lol:

Welcome aboard Chems, and I hope you enjoy your time here...

 

[DavidJ]

I'm in the same boat. I was into woodworking back when I did my A' Levels but got side tracked a little and have now ended up as an IT Manager. The only upside is I only work three days a week and am currently rennovating a house in Southampton with my Fiance for the other four days.

I have a garage space which I am hoping to turn into a workshop. The missus has even allowed it!

I currently have a few hand tools, a new set of Ryobi one+ (Circular Saw, Jigsaw and Drill), along with a sliding compound mitre saw, random orbit sander and palm sander.

I'm not stuck for ideas but I am currently looking for a plan for a double/king size Sleigh bed. All the one I have found online have needed a workshop like good ol Norms to reproduce. Does anyone have any on here or could nudge me in the right direction?

Looking forward to posting some pics of completed work and many hours of reading through the forum!

 

[PowerTool]

Welcome to the forum Chems and DavidJ

As already said,this forum could never be accused of being inactive :wink:

Andrew

 

[Chems]

 

[NeilO]

Welcome David, I to look forward to some WIP piccies......

Chems , dont worry about your pictures, they have been caught in the Forums "Spamulator" another couple of posts and you should be fine (5 IIRC )
Edit: Chems, you may find that the pictures you want to display here need to be public, as your album/s are currently private and need a login HTH

 

[woodbloke]

To both the newcomers...welcome. No chance of this forum being inacative - Rob

 

[NeilO]

Rob, Inactive.?...you wouldnt want to make an argument of that would you???? :lol: :lol:

 

[Chems]

Yeah my album is private, but when direct linking to pictures as I was doing its ok. Let me make a few spam posts and I will hook them back up!

All done, let me know what you think, and be kind to a noobie.

 

[George_N]

Hi Chems and DavidJ, welcome to the forum.
Chems, that is an interesting take on a router table, I've never seen a router mounted like that before...at least you don't lose any depth of cut which you do with most table set-ups.

 

[OPJ]

Welcome, Chems and David!

Chems, that's a very interesting take on a shop-made router table, for someone who's not seen one before. I like the fact that you have extraction hooked up directly below the table but, you'll find in time that you could also benefit from having something above the table, built-in to the back of your fence. If you wanted to work any wider timbers stood on their edge, you'd be better off considering a redesign of, or modifications to, your existing fence.

With the oval table top, it looks like you've left quite a bit of material on to be trimmed off later. There's nothing wrong with this. Just be careful when you come to use the router on it; don't try to take too much off, or even all in one go. You're better off working round it in smaller passes - it's less likely the router will jump and there's also a reduced chance of breakout, which softwood can be quite notorious for (especially when working against the grain).

I like your table leg solution as well - no-one would ever know! :wink:

You're also looking for a new table saw blade, by the sounds of it. It's true; manufacturer's supply crap blades with their saw. Keep it as a spare for any recycled timber or something. Instead, look out for blades from Freud or CMT. You wouldn't want anything more than 40 teeth for ripping timber; anything finer than that is only suitable for sheet materials and cross-cutting.

 

[Chems]

Thanks for the comments.

I originally was just going to have a whole in the table with the router bolted on simply, but it left me with only about 10mm or less of cutting depth.

The fence really is not very good, Ive got this really big bit of timber the same stuff the legs is made out of sitting out of the way and strange ideas of how to use it are slowly forming. I have to say I get hardly any dust on the table top itself.

The oval, well need I say this is a take 2? The first one split terribly as I was trying to router cut it. I think next project I will work with something other than pine as the extremely soft nature of the wood is beginning to annoy me. I shall indeed heed your advice, maybe even take a bit more off with the jig saw before I get going on it with the router.

I will start researching some saw blades then.

Ive spent the afternoon working on the first tables cross leg supports. I made the Mortise and Tenon joint, Im not sure which is which, basically the out bit. I set the router table up and just ran the bits through on every side, first time Ive ever done it and it worked really well.

The in bits on the other hand were not/are not so great, for the top ones I ve gone down directly with 1 long slot from the top, these have worked okish they dont look pretty but look fine when the wood is in them.

The bottom ones thou I need to do properly but I dont have a chisel small enough to begin cutting in, Im thinking I will probably have to drill in and do what I can. I really want it to look good but its testing my skills to the max and this is only table 1!

 

[Shultzy]

Chems, welcome to the forum. If you search for Niki's jigs you will find an excellent method of increasing the capacity of your vacuum cleaner.

Ps your pics are a bit big, try reducing them to 800x640.

 

[OPJ]

Hi Chems. If you've suffered with tearout/breakout before on your first oval table, you could try using two slightly different bearing-guided flush trim cutters; one with a top bearing, one with a bottom bearing.

That way, by keeping the ply template in the same place (double-sided tape should work fine) you should be able to flip the workpiece and change cutters accordingly, so that you're always working with the grain. Without moving the template. (I hope that makes sense to you.)

And, just for future reference, a mortice is a square or rectangular hole while the tenon would be the "male" member of the joint. :wink:

 

[Chems]

Thanks for in info OPJ, my larger flush router bit arrived yesterday so I went out to trim it down, it was going really well, I was doing it in little bits and then the bit cut in an ripped a section out.

I think thats the end of that piece of pine. Its just so soft to work with. I will either get another piece and try again or I will get a piece of Birch to try with thou its Dependant on money, if its really expensive to buy board of birch I will go with pine. I don't have a planar or any of the kit to join raw planks myself.

Im also having problems with my Mortise and Tenon, the Tenon doesnt always sit flush on all sides, even thou I used the router to cut the tenon and I know its square. This detailed work is hard!