Saturday, February 9, 2013

A Day in the Shop

Finishing work started on the office build work tables last night.  My neighbor helped me hoist them up yesterday after work.  I'm starting on the undersides with a light coat of Watco oil and polyurethane satin and not get too carried away... this part of the project will never be seen.  By tomorrow they'll be ready to flip over for the real work on the exposed surfaces.  I like wipe on finishes, and this will be no exception.  Everything is cut almost 1:1 with either mineral spirits or naptha.  It means a slower build, but much easier work.

There was also time today to fabricate a mount and install the router safety switch.  The mount is nothing more than a piece of sheet metal cut in a 2"x4" rectangle, drilled to take screws, and bent to attach to the rail of the table saw.

If I had this to do again... and I might at some point... I would use the next thicker gage of steel.  The piece I used was just a little bit light.  That made it easy to drill and bend, but a little more "bendy" than I'd like it.  We'll see how it works over time.

While at the home center I also found a a hook (not shown) that looks like it might work well with a little modification to hold excess cord lengths.  It even came with Rigid orange plastic covering!  I'll figure out a way to attach it to the side of the saw somehow. More drilling steel... seems I've been doing a lot of that lately.
There was even time to spare this afternoon, so I cleaned out my messiest small parts and hardware drawer and organized a lot of the pieces into a new 22-bay small parts drawer set.  Each drawer now holds something.  I need to get a similar storage unit now for screws!  The drawer still needs help!

It was a good day out there today!  A lot got done.and it's always relaxing.

Oh, and how could I forget this today:


Gong Hey Fat Choy!

2 comments:

  1. And a Gong Hey Fat Choy back to you! I think a heavier gauge would be better as it could bend in an emergency and not shut off. Good swift kick with the knee and who knows. (admittedly not much of a chance... but... ) Maybe you could glue a block in between the top and the switch and it would be enough to strengthen it.

    Looking real good, can't wait to see it in use!

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  2. I agree. A heavier gage of steel and a slightly longer reach of the section that bolts to the fence rail... at least long enough for the screwdriver to reach past the switch without bending the mount will improve this. I'm enjoying these small side projects while "the paint dries" on the office build pieces. Eventually the procrastination ends and you wonder why you waited so long!

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