Welly Rack

[weekend_woodworker]

The wellies are all looking a mess in our porch, so having seen this:

I had thought I would try and build something like it out of some old floor boards from a neighbour. The bit I liked is that you can fold up the welly supports when they are not being used.

Before I can go much further with this I need to work out how to post pictures effectively!

I started by playing in sketch-up. Unfortunately my sketch-up skills are about as good as my woodworking. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get the sketch-up picture somewhere I can display it from.

 

[marcros]

I like the idea, if you have the space for it. we would struggle in our house

 

[weekend_woodworker]

So here is the progress I made today. Starting with the reclaimed floor boards which I had taken then worst off.

I knocked up a quick prototype to check that I could make the folding design work.

I then cut some of the longer planks down so that they are more manageable in the garage.

I then ran them through the thicknesser to improve the finish on the surface. Having changed the blades to some I had re-ground I got quite a good finish.

I then ripped off the edges with holes from where they had been nailed and cut them to just slightly wider than needed on the table saw. I was working to a cutting list I had created from the sketch-up design.

This is the selection of wood I had to show for it once cut.

I then planed the edges so they were smooth all round and started staining them.

I have found this Ronseal stain works quite well on other things. I know the wood is not going to be outside when fitted, but I figured as the boots are likely to be wet and muddy it was worth sealing it well. I decided it was easiest to treat most of it whilst it was in long lengths and then just treat the ends once chopped to length.

I hope to put a couple more coats of stain on tomorrow and perhaps even make some progress with the frame round the edge.

 

[Rorschach]

Can't see any of the images.

 

[Droogs]

Ditto

 

[weekend_woodworker]

Hi sorry about the photos. I spent ages uploading photos to google last night, then put the links in. When I previewed the message it looked fine. I can’t seem to upload the jpg from sketch up either. Any advice would be welcome.



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[weekend_woodworker]

I've just tried putting the photos in a shared folder on google photos and updated the links in the original message. Hopefully you can see the photos now. If not then please let me know and I'll scratch my head again about how to do it!

 

[weekend_woodworker]

If the links to the pictures are now working, this is a picture of the design I knocked up in Sketch-up. It is going to be 1.3m high by 55cm wide.

 

[Droogs]

can see and follow now

 

[weekend_woodworker]

Excellent. I’ll see if I can make a bit more progress today. I am aiming to use a lockmiter bit to make the frame once I have got it set up properly.


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[weekend_woodworker]

Here is the progress I made yesterday. So I started by setting up the lockmitre bit centred on the half height of the wood:

I then took a test cut on some off cuts:

I found it was easier with some finger boards to get a good cut:

This was my test cut fitted together, but not quite pushed home:

I then went for it with the real wood for the frame:

And this is one of the final sections of frames dry fitted:

Then came the glue up which didn't go too badly, apart from not having enough clamps despite pressing into service all the odds and ends I had in the clamp department.

Then this evening it was on to starting the staining process for the frame.

I realised yesterday that I have a problem with the actual build compared to the prototype. In the prototype the wood was 20mm thick, so I used 15mm dowel as I have a 15mm dowel cutter. For the actual one having planed the wood down it is now 16.5mm thick. Therefore I am going to need to use some thinner dowel. So my next challenge is how I make some circa 10mm dowel from hardwood to make the pivots. Any suggestions welcome. If I make them at 10mm I will need to get an 11mm drill bit for the clearance side of the whole, as I think 12mm will be too sloppy.

 

[weekend_woodworker]

Well I have made a bit more progress. I started by cutting all the long slats into 20cm lengths on the table saw. Despite using a reasonably good freud cross cut blade I was getting a bit of tear out at the back. I found a bit of wood to uses as a sacrificial fence at the back which improved things.

I then gave all 54 bits of wood a quick rub down at both ends before staining them.

 

[weekend_woodworker]

The next challenge was to make some dowel for all the parts that move. As mentioned previously my 15mm dowel cutter will be too big as the wood is only 16.5mm thick. I decided to have a go at making a jig with a plane along the lines of the one MikeG used. I have had three attempts so far, but without reaching a really successful outcome.

This was my first attempt with a 15mm hole at the front and a 10mm hole at the pack which I reckoned should be about right for a 10mm square section to be rounded in.

I found a 13mm socket from my set that the wood fitted reasonably tightly in to hold the wood whilst I rotated it with the driver.

And this is what happened:

It jammed and shattered the wood.

This was my second attempt. I rushed it and cut the angle on the top the wrong way.

It was a bit more successful than the first attempt, but the dowel on the right whilst being very smooth is also quite burnt.

So attempt number 3. This time got the angle on the top better:

The result was this, which almost looks like it would be suitable to for the children to present it is a magic wand, but not really what I was hoping for and the wooden block I was using split where it had been joined previously.

I think the only thing to do is have another go tomorrow, however if any one has any suggestions on how to get it to work better then I would be pleased to know.

 

[NickM]

If you aren’t already doing this, I think it helps if you take the corners off the stock first. I planed it down to a rough octagonal cross section.

 

[AndyT]

I'm only guessing here, but in your first photo I don't think the chisel is far enough forward. I think the corner will have cut first, dived into the grain and made the splits.
The action you want is like using a skew chisel on a lathe or a knife peeling a potato, with the middle of the edge peeling away shavings.

 

[weekend_woodworker]

Thanks. I’ll try with the corners rounded off a bit to start and with the chisel slightly further forwards


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[weekend_woodworker]

So, it has been a while since I updated this and I have made some progress. At last count I was trying to make some dowel out of some bits of beech that I had cut to roughly the right size on the bandsaw. I decided to go for a different approach rather than setting up a chisel accurately. I decided to drill a series of holes in a bit of mild steel mounted to a wooden support and then drive the wood through them with an electric drill and the wood held in the right size socket on the end.

Hopefully I will get on with the frame tomorrow, but my son has asked me to help him with a project, and who am I to refuse.

This is how it worked:

I can't say it was the best solution, but it worked. It did get really quite hot to the point of smoking and took quite a bit of force to get the wood to go through. You can see on this bit part way though how it has burnt a bit.

I then set up the bandsaw with a stop block to cut the dowel to length. The wood is 5cm wide, so I decided 1.5cm in the fixed bits either side should be enough and went for 8cm dowels.

Having made the dowel it was time to drill all the bits of wood, either all the way through for the moving parts or 1.5cm in from either side for the fixed parts. I decided to knock up a simple jig, not the best but did the job, so I could slide the wood in from the right and then clamp it up in the vice.

I then sanded off the ends of all the dowels so that they would fit in easily.

It was then on to marking out the edges of the frame. I worked out where the top mitre would be and left a little bit extra before clamping one of the moving bits, with a hole all the way through, onto the frame. I then used the drill bit to mark a point where to drill. I decided for the wood to rotate in and out without catching it would need a little bit of space, so I put a bit of card between the pieces before marking the next one in the same way. I hope the card is enough space, I think it should be, but time will tell!

 

[weekend_woodworker]

Well its a while since I have managed to update on progress with the rack. Last time I posted I had just drilled all the bits of wood for the movable welly supports and for the fixed parts and had produced lots of bits of beech dowel.

So having carefully measured out the holes in the frame for the dowel it was time to drill them.

I then mitred the corners of the frame on the table saw. I have failed to take any photos of this for some reason. I used my little digital angle box to ensure the blade was exactly at 45 degrees. I then set up my biscuit cutter bit in the router table to add a biscuit into each of the mitres to give them a bit of strength. The picture looks very odd as it makes the mitre look stepped which it isn't, but its the only one I have got.

And this it the result.

I then set about cutting the wider supports to go behind the moving parts of the rack. These serve several purposes. The first is to keep the pieces at 90 degrees when open. Secondly to ensure that the pieces are flush when shut. Thirdly to stop the fixed pieces from rotating and finally to stiffen the whole thing up a bit.

They are about 52cm wide and 10 cm high.

Next I wanted to put some keyhole supports in the top brace so could hang the whole thing on a couple of screws in the wall. I was going to use my little Katsu router which doesn't have a plunge base, so I started by drilling some holes.

This was the router bit I was going to use.

I then clamped in place a square as a fence and a stop with a couple of odd bits of wood.

And it worked like this.

I then set about drilling the braces so I could screw them in. I could probably just have screwed straight in, but I was being cautious having spent so much time on it so far.

Then came the fun bit of screwing the braces in the correct places. Too low and the supports won't open fully, too high and the supports will slope down. In the end I resorted to a large square bit of wood and lots of clamps.

And this is what is looked like from behind, with the moveable parts horizontal and the fixed parts vertical.

This shows the top brace screwed in with the keyholes in it to hang it on the wall.

And finishing off the final brace at the bottom.

Now is where I confess I made some mistakes with all of this. Firstly I screwed the fixed uprights to the braces with the uprights vertical and the supports horizontal. I found out that was a bad idea, as when closing some of the supports the gaps were not perfect and they jammed. I therefore unscrewed them all ensured all elements were vertical and re-screwed them which much improved the situation.
Secondly do you remember that I put a bit of card between each of the uprights when marking out the rails to ensure they could move, well it wasn't thick enough. Luckly I discovered it before gluing the frame together. I had to run all the fixed and moveable parts through the tablesaw to take off about 3mm so they could open and close.

Anyway here is a photo of it with all the supports folded down, but all the ends needing staining from where I had cut them off. Despite my best attempt at precision they didn't all open to exactly 90 degrees, but close enough to support wellies!

And this is what it looked like shut.

Then it was on to a trial fit in the porch.

Now the thing that has been delaying me recently is that the rest of the porch needed decorating. Its not large, but it took me a while. So here it is finally finished.

And with the families wellies on it.

So if I were doing it again, and I am not planning to, I think I might consider using continuous bits of dowel for the whole width and possibly metal rod to ensure a straighter finish. Overall though it looks much smarter than all the wellies on the floor previously and is not bad for some scrap wood that other people were getting rid of. I hope it has been of some interest to follow sporadically.

Now it is onto making some metal hoops to try and keep the dog out of the flower beds!

Best wishes,

Mark

 

[AndyT]

I like it. Plenty of design challenges solved to make something you couldn't have bought.

 

[weekend_woodworker]

Thanks Andy. I think it is the inner engineer in me that likes making things that work, I am not sure my wood working skills are quite up to it at the moment!


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