Making good on a deal 17 months in the making...And making it work in my shop.

The married or otherwise committed ladies and gentlemen out there can likely relate to this.

If you read my blog, you know I made a deal with my lovely bride that I would move the big upright freezer from the kitchen into the shop if I could get the sub panel / drywall job done in the garage.

To keep budget in line it the drywall and insulation was a DIY affair, but the wiring was hired out to a contractor at a very reasonable rate considering the amount of work done. The biggest expense was NOT labor for once, but material (Copper wire has gotten EXPENSIVE...).

 The electrical install was completed in October 2012. Through pretty much the entirety of 2013, and well until today, I have been working steadily toward the goal of getting that freezer into the shop. Yes other things, shop projects were involved there, my simple Strong Tie bench / miter saw station was jettisoned, and a full out miter saw, mortiser, storage workstation was built, The library cabinet was built to move other items from the house that were shop related, well... into the shop.

After much painting, and having to remove a door, a full freezer was maniplated over the threshold, and into the shop...

The Whirlpool 22 cu/ft upright deep freeze in the shop!

Now a deep freeze in the shop, that close to the miter saw and mortiser I know, has you thinking, I bet that freezer is in the way of feeding stock!

Nope, took that into account when I built the miter saw station! Mind you the tolerances are VERY close, but stock clears the freezer quite well, the miter saw and mortiser, assuming the mortiser fence is FULLY retracted, have fences that line up directly with each other.

I need to shim up the miter saw just a hair to keep the tables level.

The fence of the miter saw lines up perfectly with the fence of the mortiser. The tables are CLOSE, but not perfectly level, Some minor shimming is in order to correct this. 

Stock bypasses the freezer door with 1/2" to spare!

Now that everything is in order, it was time to relax a bit. I cleaned up, put the bit sets and drill back where they belong, and like was recommended to me, I just sat in my shop, and popped a cold one. Well actually not cold, as I presently have a sinus infection I am fighting off, but rather a hot one... I am partial to spice teas, and so I just enjoyed a tall mug of Orange Spice tea in my shop...

Nothing like going through the router bit profiles while sipping a mug of hot tea!

The bright red thing on the lathe in the background of the last photo is my Craftsman diamond plate texture anti fatigue mat. I had washed it off earlier that day and had swept the floor but forgot to put the mat back down after sweeping...

The hunk of oak is sitting there for a commission project for a friend's girlfriend. She owns a couple of rental homes, and needs to replace one of false drawer fronts in one of the bathrooms, a simple rectangle , with some sort of routed profile. Still waiting for the sample to make sure my bit selection will do the profile they need... 

A sick day, and finally got the Dr. to agree to get an inner picture of the problems at hand...

I mentioned this in a prior post, but I have had back and shoulder problems for years. Doctors have told me it was due to my weight, but let's be honest, how the heck am I going to get a decent workout in if I can't move with full motion? The clincher was today, I ended out sick because, well my coworkers are generous with their virii, and somebody who shall remain nameless decided to share their sinus infection with me. And I had been doing so well this winter with that junk! So I went to the Dr. today, and took the time to go over the shoulder problem again, in our discussion I mentioned that I can't do the crawl stroke in the pool due to my shoulder, and off to the X-ray folks for me! The radiologist had me twisting my arm and shoulders in honestly some ways that were downright painful for me, but she got the pics she needed. Hopefully soon we can have some answers and a treatment plan! I was able to get over into my shop for a VERY brief period today, just long enough to hang one shelf. And odd things of odd things, I used standard old closet shelf braces, the kind with the hoop to support the closet rod, and the mounting holes, at least according to my level are, well... level. But installed and with a shelf mounted, somehow it dips to the left, is NOT level... Now all this is holding is shop rags in a box, a spare box of shop rags, and my safety gear. It doesn't HAVE to be level, but the fact it's not bugs me... This shelf used to be mounted on the other wall prior to pulling it, and the clamp racks off to make room by the door to get around the freezer, and it had a shop built brace holding the pipe clamps. I somewhat suspect the brackets are bent ever so slightly to cause this slope. NOT a good thing... I have 4 more of those blue plastic storage bins that were pulled off the other wall that need to be cleaned up, and remounted. Probably mount them under the others. Might not even mount them. All they held were gloves. Gardening, and acid gloves. I think I will only install 2 of them, to hold the acid / finishing gloves, and just put the gardening gloves on the lawn and garden rack. Depending on my health, and what others have planned for my weekend, I might just be able to get around to swapping that outlet for the Decora unit I have been sitting on, and then rolling that freezer in. So with everything that is done thus far, while it isn't "Finished" and I don't think a woodworking shop is ever truly finished, I can with a reasonable amount of self confidence say that the Amish Heritage Workshop is now open for non shop projects. I am actually working one right now that sort of involves the clamp rack in more ways than one. For starters, the ripped 2x4s left some 1/2" thick 1.5" tall cutoffs, I have done some ripping on a few of those, and gluing. I am making a dry erase pen and eraser shelf for the dry erase board in my home office. The dumb thing didn't come with one, but otherwise is a good board. I got it out of clamps and need to cut it to final size, sand, and finish it prior to installation. God willing I should have some more, interesting posts in the days to come, so keep checking back!

More shop updates, and the clamp cart is complete.

I managed to squeeze some time in the shop last night after dinner and I got a little bit done. For starters, I repainted the entry door, and trim, finally got off that nasty what the heck is that cream vomit color, to a nice clean bright white gloss. Coverage wasn't 100% on the first coat so I will probably have to go over it again either tonight or tomorrow night and snap some pics. But trust me, even with the first coat on there it looks 1000% better. Yeah the door was looking nasty...

The second, and more important item, I got the castors mounted to the rolling clamp cart at last, so that project is done.

The fixed castors are on the end with my 6 and 12 inch F bar clamps, the swivel castors are on the end with my quick grips. I mounted the castors as far toward the edge as I could while still maintaining sufficient surface purchase for the lag bolts to hold them on.

I rolled the cart around from by the workbench where I was building it, over to by the overhead door where it will live, at least until I get the lawn & garden stuff OUT of my shop, and I ran into a little snag. Okay a big one...

For starters, while I appreciate the input others gave me regarding the stability of this unit with the wheels where they are, being such a small footprint, with a tall, and honestly HEAVY rack, I too was concerned about stability, especially since the garage floor has dips, and sways in it, not to mention those castors stop up tight as a drum when they run across debris, however I did not find the stability of this rack to be problematic for my use. 

No it wasn't that, it was an interference issue...

...

Look carefully at the photo above. Do you see the problem?

Yep, that's right, the pipe clamps are too tall to pass under the 10' ladder...

My solution? Tip it back on the fixed wheels and roll it under the ladder like a hand truck.

I was finally able to get it over to it's temporary home. I have some large-ish items in the shop that aren't shop items that need to be moved to make space. Those items are scheduled to be moved out soon though.

And the drill press is to be moved closer to the left corner, and the clamp rack where the drill press is now, but you get the idea. I simply wheel the rack around when I need whatever, and then slide it back when I am done...

I have a few minor items to take care of before the purpose for the clamp cart is completed.

1. Paint that second coat on the door and trim.
2. Remount the safety equipment shelf.
3. Change outlet behind where freezer will go with white decora unit.
4. Clean, strip, and paint floor and add in stoop where freezer will go.
5. Empty freezer.
6. Clean freezer.
7. Move freezer in shop and apply power.
8. Reload freezer.

I have a few projects to complete before I consider this workshop remodel 100% done. They are.

1. Finish fixing the drywall, sanding, taping, mudding, sanding, painting etc... on the piece between the garage doors.
2. Build a rolling sheet goods cart from my design in Sketchup.In full disclosure, I did NOT come up with the design, I worked with the person that did the original design and created the Sketchup model of it.
3. Load all of my sheet goods and cutoffs into that rack.
4. Finish building the drawers for my miter saw workstation.
5. Load the miter saw workstation drawers with the stuff from the Table saw & Router accessories tote, get tote out of shop.
6. Move all of the material off my lumber rack, and safety shelf, remove rack and shelf, but replace screws in screw holes.
7. Move lawn and garden equipment and supplies away from wall.
8. Patch all extraneous holes in drywall.
9. Cut access holes in drywall on unpowered wall. Blow in insulation.
10. Replace, tape and mud access holes (fix sheetrock).
11. Smooth wall within reasonable efforts.
12. Prime, and paint.
13. Fix framing problem with attic stairs framing. The guys that framed my attic ladder should never have been in the construction industry...
14. Fix ceiling sheet rock.
15. Paint ceiling 
16. Replace all wall hung, and lawn and garden items along the unpowered wall. Repopulate the lumber rack, and safety supplies shelf.

I know it's a long list, it used to be a LOT longer though...

FYI, The sketchup info for the sheet goods cart, I bet you want that...

Stupid Google...

Okay I HATE that Google is making me use my Google profile to post my blogger posts to Google+, seems a might obnoxious, There are things I want to publish publicly with Google+, and things I want to publish publicly with Blogger that aren't necessarily the same thing...

I know they are trying to drive toward a single unified sign on and that is a good thing, it just impacts what I am trying to do...

Making good on the deal, almsot... I built a rolling clamp cart, mostly...

So in order to take my shop from a dingy, cold, drafty, only one power outlet garage, into a functioning workwhop, specifically allocating the budget for the remodel project, I had to make certain agreements with my wife.

When my wife and I got married, one of the first things we bought as  a couple, is a large upright freezer, that has lived in our kitchen for years. Well my wife wants it OUT of the kitchen, and so the deal was made. I get to have my power, and insulation, if she can move the freezer into the shop space... Specifically the space between the door, and the miter saw bench. 

However, that poses a problem. Up until now, my clamp collection has been wall mounted, along with a shelf holding safety equipment. Ingress / egress of the shop has been fairly simple. as I would walk through the door at a slight angle and into the shop. Now with the freezer going into that space we have 2 objects attempting to occupy the same space. First object, human, and second object, either the freezer, or the clamps. I really can't move the freezer without totally rearranging the shop, and while I am actively, and enthusiastically trying to reduce the size of the human, it is obvious what HAS to happen before that freezer comes in...

The clamps have to be moved...

Which gets me to the next problem. No wall space left to mount my clamp rack to... So I needed to design and build a rolling clamp cart. 

I have been working on a design, that I mostly followed, kinda sorta, in Sketchup...

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u59e7f9e8-dc66-490a-9b98-35720826140a

I managed a few minor tweaks in the actual build, and one nasty realization.

Tweak #1. I omitted the handle. This was actually a mistake. I built it solid enough though, that I don't need it. I think... Time will tell, and it is easy enough to fix.
Tweak #2. Bottom shelf is boxed in. I chose to do this pretty much at the start of the build, I did this for 2 reasons. The first being I wanted to use the box sides to keep things from sliding off of the base, and the second was to help resist racking.
Tweak #3. The holder for the pipe clamps is totally different. I opted for no riser at all, and the holder is now simply a 5" diameter round hole dead center in the top. I did this for expediency sake, and after figuring out that the 6' pipe clamps were going to need some wiggle room if they are going to be able to go in and out of the rack while in the shop...

I ran into two stupid issues during the build, the first is minor, I just need to run by the Big Orange Retail Giant and grab some mounting bolts for the casters. The second however, I messed up drilling pilot holes, which put me in a situation where I have some cracks. One in a horizontal  the other in one of the legs. Neither are truly structural issues, however I now know that my countersinking pilot bits are just too short for this sort of work, I should drill the pilot hole, and then cut a counter sink. Lesson learned. I think to fix this I will have to take these sections apart, and glue / clamp the cracked pieces, then go at it again...

The design uses 2 2x4s, ripped to 1x4, and then one extra piece. If you have a 16" 2x4 cutoff then you are set for this... I also used a 24x48" 3/4 plywood scrap for all of the ply pieces. I also used a plethora of 1-5/8 galvanized screws, and I am about to use 16 1/4"x1.25" lag bolts.

First step was to rip the 2x4s to 2x2. I simply used a 2x4 skinny side to set my fence, then went at it. Next up was crosscutting the pieces. Start with the legs, THEN cut your plywood.

You need your bottom plate and the sides first. Sides should be 4.5" tall. I used simple screw / butt joints, but you can do what you like here. I built the base as a box, and then screwed the legs to the corners and the bottom.

Once the legs and the bottom box are together, use the legs to size up your horizontal braces / clamp rods. Cut all but 2 to match the outer width of the legs. The remaining 2 match the outer dimension of the legs, AND the clamp rods so that they form a square.

Assemble and install the top shelf.

Drill and screw the top row 1.5" from the bottom of the top shelf. Make adjustments for YOUR clamps. Mine are a variety of F style bar clamps, and quick clamp style clamps.

Then mount your secondary rails top of the rail 2" below the bottom of the clamps mounted above.

Using a 5" hole saw, and it will take some work, I used a cheap, cheap, cheap Harbor Freight Drill Master hole saw set. It doesn't have to be ultra accurate, You can cut this hole with a jig saw as well... You just need a big hole in the top.

Lastly, and this is the step I had to bypass due to a lack of proper size screws, flip the stand over, and cut to size and glue / screw in place reinforcing blocks for the casters out of 3/4" ply cutoffs. And mount the casters.

Once all set, load it up and you are done!

Okay, I need to clean the sawdust from cutting the 5" hole off. The Drill Master Hole Saw burned the wood pretty badly, but it finally managed to get through... 

I have it loaded and ready to go, if only I had bolts for those casters!

The clamps loaded on that rack are.
12 6" F style bar clamps...
12 12" F style bar clamps...
12 24" F style bar clamps...
12 36" F style bar clamps...
12 12" quick clamps.
6 12" Harbor Freight quick clamp clones.
10 corner clamps.
3 band clamps.
3 3/4" pipe clamps, with 3 6' and 2 4' pipes. The third 4' pipe got destroyed using it as a cheater bar on a VERY rusted bolt...
2 hand screw clamps
3 C clamps
Unknown number of spring clamps.
3 large binder clips, Yes I use them in the shop...

It doesn't give me much room for expansion, however, if takes up very little floor space for the number of clamps held. I have yet to try rolling it around, but it is VERY solid, and with any luck, should roll easily. Which of course means I MUST take advantage of the locking casters!

Fitting 4" flex hose to 4" Sewer and Drain pipe in a dust collection system.

I figured it was time to dredge up an older video and answer a question all over again. You see it over and over again on the woodworking forums. Does 4" flex hose fit over 4" sewer and drain pipe, or do you need an adapter?

I made a video to demonstrate this for Phil Thien's forum back in 2009, and I am posting it again here just for a quick reminder, but simply put, yes Virginia 4" flex hose DOES fit over 4" PVC Sewer and Drain pipe, assuming standard pipe sizes, and specific flex hose. I use the economy flex hose from Penn State industries and it has served me very well for the last 5 years...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24gFgttTub0

Miter Saw Dust Hood plumbing complete, and some rearranging allows for a view!

So today was the day that the ducting for the miter saw dust hood got connected up, and everything gets tested.  First the vertical pipe from the blast gate to the 2 45 degree elbows comes up the wall. Yes I know it isn't completely vertical, certain uh,,, flexibility was needed due to my measurement imperfection...

The duct work then makes the 90 degree turn via 2 45 degree elbows, and comes across the ceiling. The shop light at this point had to be dropped to allow the duct to pass over it.

The bend is made with a single 45 degree elbow, and a wye fitting. The wye is sealed off on the through end and was placed there to allow for clearing of the ductwork should something fail and the ducting get jammed.

Another wye fitting before that ties the new branch into the existing ductwork. The drop the the table saw upper port was redome to allow for more pipe, less flex hose making hte connection. I probably should have used 2 45s instead of a wye and a 45 here, but hindsight is 20/20 right?

The ducting comes across the ceiling and makes the 45 degree angle to get back to the separator, the upper pickup for the workbench and router station is ready to go!

Once the duct work was done, I moved things that were on the bench back to the miter saw bench, opting to keep a few things, and moving a few other things that were up over the clam shell cabinets, and honestly difficult to get to, are now on the main workbench. I now have all my handheld power tools where I can easily access them. And I can finally at least give you a glimpse of what I was talking about when I said I made a shelf for the workbench from plywood scraps. I literally ripped these pieces to about 6" wide if I recall, cut them to length, created and installed a cleat, and screwed them to the cleat. A great way to hold, well... stuff...

I must admit, those Hitachi routers see a LOT more use than that Ryobi reciprocating saw, and that recip saw has seen some hard use!

On another shop / remodeling / home improvement note. i have been needing to get rid of some thin set by my back door. We took out some tile, and all the carpet in the living room, and are going to go with Stained Concrete instead, so I needed to smooth the concrete. I finally bit the bullet and bought one of those oscillating multitools. Yes I cheaped out and got the model from Harbor Freight, but no I didn't get their base model. I picked up item #67537 Variable Speed Oscillating Multifunction Power Tool from the newly opened Harbor Freight Tools in Webster Texas. Yes I used the coupon, and so far it meets / exceeds my expectation. There is one issue that aggravates me. I have mentioned it previously, here even I think, that I like to keep all of my tools in cases. I prefer buying power tools that come with their own cases so I don't have to fuss with getting or making a case for a new tool. Well the product illustrations on Harbor Freight's website clearly show the item in a nice blow molded plastic case. However what was available at the store did NOT have the case. I had to go back out, and take a chance on a small tool box I got from Walmart, a 12" Stanley plastic tool box. It holds the tool quite well, but does not allow for the upper tray to be in the box when the tool is stored there. No biggie. All of the accessories fit and it fits nicely in my miter saw stand... 

All in all, a fairly productive weekend, even though it is only Saturday... 

Shop security, and wireless technology.

On one of the woodworking forums, a member recently posted up some concerns with workshop security having to deal with a trivial breach of automatic garage door openers, and the safety release mechanism that can be activated from the outside with a simple coat hanger.

This got me thinking about shop security. We all know we have a ton of money in our shops, even those of us, like me that bargain shop, and go with lower cost branded products. And we want to protect them from thieves as best we can.

That can include adding a security system, and MANY of those security systems are using wireless technology. Which brought the IT professional in me out and said WHOA NELLY! Wireless is NOT the way to go!

Have you ever been talking on your cell phone, or cordless home phone, and lost signal? What about your WiFi? Ever get any drops there?

If you have been anything more than an extremely casual user of these technologies, then you have experienced these problems.

Have you ever been using say a corded circular saw, and accidentally cut the cord? To paraphrase Dr. Phil, how'd that work for you?

The major types of electrical technology are broken down into wired, and wireless technologies. In communications, which includes something as simple as completing a circuit to turn something on, or breaking a circuit to turn it off, the wireless technology isn't as cutting edge as the marketing types would have you believe. Wireless communication technology can be summed up in one single word.

Radio.

You remember radio right? A transmitter sends oscillations at a given frequency out of an antenna and in turn those oscillations are transmitted over the air, and picked up by an antenna and translated back to whatever useful data was put out there by a receiver, If the receiver and transmitter are combined into one unit they are called a Transciever. If you are old enough to remember before the common implementation of the cell phone, many of us had larger, simpler transcievers in our cars, they were called CB Radios...

Now continuing the stroll down memory lane back to early days of the internet, it actually goes back further than that, but most folks remember dialup internet, and the modem correct? A modem takes a digital stream of data, and modulates it for transmission over a voice line, and then demodulates it at the receiving end. Thus the word modem stood for MOdulate DEModulate.

Wireless digital technology simply take the century plus old technology of transcievers, and combine it with the multi decades old technology of MOdulate DEModulate transmission / reception of digital signals and combines them into a standardized format.

While we all love our mobile devices, and not having to string network cables all over the place, wireless, and for that matter, wired technologies have their security drawbacks.

Drawbacks to wireless security are:

1. It is a trivial matter to breach the first layer of network data security, the physical layer, and access the data stream being sent, because it is being sent through the air, sniffers are common, and even modern cell phones can with a malicious program EASILY and quickly decrypt poorly encrypted data streams, giving the attacker easy, and full access to data YOU expect to be private. 
2. It is an even more trivial matter to interfere with the proper transmission / reception of signals, metal, high iron content in the soil, noisy electric motors, whatever, and your signal fails... 
3. Transceivers get hot, and fail. A LOT...

Drawbacks to wired security are:

1. Trivial matter to break the physical layer connection, interrupting the system. Simply cut the communication wire. They are super easy to identify versus power carrying wires as they are MUCH lighter gauge, and typically marked on the jacket as communication cable.Exposed unprotected wires can be cut with a pair of scissors. Enclosing the wire in conduit, or even the steel flexibly conduit would prevent all but the most determined efforts, and by that time the attack efforts would be detected, and reported.
2. Modular connections are vulnerable to corrosion when exposed to the elements for exterior sensors / cameras. Selection of truly "outdoor" rated sensors, cameras, or enclosures would provide ample protection, and insure long life of both the device, and the conection.
3. Physically running the wiring. This is no joke, this can be hard work, and expensive to accomplish if you are not experienced and need to hire a professional. 
4. If you rely on your cable internet, or DSL internet connection for your remote monitoring and alerting, it is trivial to knock out either of these services to your block from well outside of the visible area of your cameras, far away from your property.

A more comprehensive approach to security addressing as best as possible with residential grade equipment and services.

1. Do you have windows in your shop? Make sure that those on the outside cannot see in.. 
2. Insulate your doors, walls, ceiling etc... as tightly as you can, not only will it make the space MUCH more comfortable to work in, it will also reduce, or eliminate perceptible noise coming from your shop, avoiding alerting people to the fact here is a shop loaded with tools there.
3. Keep the doors CLOSED. Again the idea here is to keep folks with thievery in mind from even guessing that you have anything of value stashed in there. They are far less likely to target what they can't see. 
4. If your shop is a shop, and doesn't have to hold your wifes car, get rid of that automatic garage door opener. Those things are an invitation to trouble. Many of them have transmissions that are put out unencrypted, a simple radio sniffer hiding in the bushes can detect the signal code, and save it for the thieves later use. Get it GONE.
5. Make certain that your doors, windows, and all associated hardware are in proper condition. If you have windows, the extra cost of impact resistant security window replacement might be worth installing, and might just bring you a homeowners insurance discount.
6. Proper device selection. There are areas where wireless is really the only reasonable choice due to limitations of running cable, but where you can, use wired devices.
7. Run at least Category 5e cable to any ports that need ethernet. Category 6 is only slightly higher in price with most installers, however some charge a premium for it. It is worthwhile to future proof your installation assuming it's not too expensive to do so...
8. Any exterior exposed cable should be enclosed in a conduit to insure its security from humans, and even animals. This same conduit can carry the low power connection to the device, however do not use too small of a conduit. Any cable carrying power, and data should not be too close to the other as this can cause interference.
9. Use a dedicated network for your devices. A good security hub should have a connection for your device switch, your internet connection, and your backup connection, more on that in a second...
10. You should select a service that has both wired, and cellular monitoring / alerting capabilities. If the cell signal is interfered with the wired connection should work and vise versa, if BOTH are being interfered with, we are under a military style attack and the security of your possessions should be a secondary concern to the well being, security and safety of you and your family.

While I am pulling a blank on what else I am missing, chances are I am missing something here. Please feel free to post up comments letting people know your ideas on this subject. This is an important area that I don't think many people consider.

Chicago Electric #98194 12" Sliding Compund Miter Saw with laser guide long term review.

After having owned and used the Chicago Electrc #98194 12" Sliding Compound Miter saw for over 3 years, I felt qualified to offer up my review for your consideration.

These saws are now available only as new old stock (NOS), but more commonly on the used market. I have seen several of them on my local Craigslist recently with selling prices averaging about $75.00

I bought mine new, with a coupon, back around October 2010 I believe it was, to replace a 10" non slide Black and Decker Firestorm miter saw. After seeing the many negative things posted about Harbor Freight power tools, I was leery, but at the time, I needed more cutting capacity as my 10" non slide miter saw would NOT cross cut 12" boards, and I really don't like crosscutting log stock on the table saw. So I took a shot...

Right out of the box, it was as I expected from a Chinese import tool. Slathered in shipping protectant, but reasonably complete. I set it up at that time on my B&D miter saw stand, cleaned it up, and ran it through its paces. The first cut a problem became very obvious...

The first cut, and I wish I had taken and saved a photo of it, but the first cut, well it looked like somebody had hacked their way through the board with a rock. It was as rough as could possibly be, and very, I mean VERY unpretty...

I looked into the problem and found the carbide tips on the blade were brazed unevenly. Simply put this blade never should have left the factory... But that's okay, I know better than to use OE blades very long. I already had a Freud Diablo D1280X 12" 80 tooth blade designed for sliders and radial arm saws. On it went, and back to testing... I also moved the saw to a firmer bench, and had to extend the bench to accomodate for the length of the saw and its rails..

The saw mounted to the old workbench. 

That dust hood didn't work as well as I had hoped.

WIth the new blade isntalled, I found everything worked smoothly, although the head lock wasn't quite obvious at first, it became so after playing with the assembly a bit. Instructions typical of Harbor Freight were dreadful... So here goes. The head lift / lower lock on these saws is on the right hand side by the hinge, it is a black knob. Pull it out until the tips on the shaft barely clear the catches, rotate 90 degrees, and let it back in. The head should go up and down now...

Unlocked position, pins are horizontal.

Locked position, pins are vertical.

After about a year of use on pretty much every project, I noticed things getting out of square. I followed the procedure listed on the HF site (now gone sadly), but basically I took a known good large square, and set the head in the locked down position, set the table to zero degrees, and loosened the fence bolts enough to move the fence, Brought it all into square, lock the fence bolts back down, double and then triple check, and verify the 45 and 22.5 deg stops are still set right with drafting triangles, once done, make some test cuts on scrap to verify. No problem. For one week...

The following week the thing went out of square again. I pulled one of the bolts and found the problem. No thread locker. Dabbed thread locker on the bolts, went through the rigamarole again and tested again. Cuts good and accurate, still square to this day...

So the issues I have had with this saw thus far are...

#1. Laser tends to get gummed up with sawdust fast. Not really a problem though. I don't like using laser guides anyway...
#2. Several fasteners, fence, and hinge set screws etc... have worked their way loose. I found no thread locker on any of it. I put a dab of blue thread locker on and readjusted the saw and it has been perfect since.
#3. Dust collection has been, typical of miter saws, abysmal at best... I have made several updates lately that I blogged about yesterday that should help a LOT...
#4. Have I mentioned it's big? The measurement from the back of the saw, to the front of the saw base feet in the fully rearward position is 30", add another 10" for the parts out front including the table, and lock down knob. No it is NOT space efficient. However it IS using a common, proven, reliable slide design. While there are designs that put the rails facing forwards, allowing the saw to take up about a foot less depth, those saws start at about $600.00, and skyrocket in price from there. The budget won't permit for that much expense for one miter saw!
#5. I have some concerns the bushings the head assembly rides on the tubes with might be hard to replace if and when they go bad, however I have calipers, and a McMaster Carr online catalog available, I can rig something up!
#6. The rotating mechanism for the blade guard can get gunked up with sawdust (I mentioned like pretty much every other miter saw, dust collection from this is awful). Keep it clean, and occasionally lube it with some dry lube like Graphite powder and you should be fine.

If I were looking for one of these now, I wouldn't pay a penny over $75.00 for one. The newer model with a double beveling head can be had for $129.00 with the coupon. Not as cheap as $109.00, but I only have single bevel! I would also insist on a prime condition saw. Any blemishes, or signs of abuse, and the price drops, fast...

While there is some temptation to replace this saw with the newer double bevel model, I have yet to need the double bevel feature, and honestly, this saw works so well, and is dialed right in that I just don't want to mess with it. The bench I built is designed with this specific saw in mind. I would have to do yet another rebuild for gaining so little function.

The saw as it sits ready for use in late February 2014.

If you are on a tight budget, need a large slider and can live with the foibles of this saw, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one again, but being used with no warranty don't pay a penny over $75.00 for this thing!

So let's summarize.
The Good:

1. Once set up, and locked down, the saw cuts very cleanly and very precisely.
2. Durable. I use this saw on pretty much every project not involving band saw or lathe. 
3. Reasonable noise level. 
4. Fit and finish, while the castings and machining aren't perfect, this machine is far above par for the money paid, or even several times the price.
5. The head lock is very secure, and once understood, very easy to operate.
6. The dust port is close to a standard size, far closer than other miter saws I have used, to connect shop vac hoses to.
7. Rail slide mechanism is smooth and accurate. 
8. Calibration of this saw is easy to perform, although be prepared to donate a bit of scrap stock dialing it in.
9. Once thread locker is used on the adjustment bolts, it holds settings well.

 The Bad:

1. The original blade, at least on mine, was complete and utter garbage. Don't bother.
2. Dust collection is terrible. The bag is completely worthless.
3. The lack of thread locker from the factory makes this saw need readjustment far too soon!

On a 5 star rating scale, I would give this saw an overall rating of 3.5. Half a point docked for each the blade, the dust collection, and the thread locker issues. Once you get past those issues, and I do not want to minimize the facts of the issues. You MUST replace the blade. I was honestly scared for safety with the stocker, you MUST improve dust collection, or use it outdoors with the wind blowing away from you, and you MUST fix the thread locker problem to keep the saw accurate. But once those issues are addressed, the saw works out quite nicely. I have no regrets buying this saw, but am also very glad I didn't pay more than I did... 

Sliding Compound Miter Saw Dust Collection

Miter saw owners know the problem well, owners of sliders know the problem even more so...

Let's just come out and say it like it is. Miter saws, particularly sliding miter saws, spew dust everywhere,
and are a royal pain in the tail to collect from.

But it's not like we should stop trying right? I mean that dust is dangerous to our health, and of course the cleanliness of our shops,
the electric motors of our power tools etc...

So how exactly do you collect dust from a miter saw, and again, particularly a sliding miter saw?

Well you put a hood, where the dust will be, funnelling the dust using as little air space as possible, toward the dust collection ducting.

So some quick designing on mine I came up with what I hope and pray is an effective design. The hood itself is a simple open front box, with a curved back, to funnel dust toward the duct, as well as a curved cut out in the top to allow the head of the saw to move its full depth without hitting the hood in all positions.

I designed mine such that the hood opening is 16" tall, which just barely allows the hose to clear at full back retraction. I was using readily available shops crap 3/4" plywood to create the frame, and top. And I made some mistakes...

Mistake #1. Even though I was reading the measurements as I set up and made the cuts, I still made the side frames 16x16, Not 16x23. Likewise the top ended up being 48x18, not 48x23. What to do? Especially since I was in a hurry?

Not quite the depth I was going for... 

I measured 4x, and the board is still too short!

Answer is a simple, use the biscuit joiner and glue and just add extensions on to the assembly to bring the whole thing to a depth of 23 inches. This allows for ample clearance to the miter saw fence, even allowing for an add on fence with production stops.

Maybe I spent too much time watching Norm Abrams New Yankee

Workshop, but I LOVE my biscuit joiner!

Biscuits and glue, combined with my HF bar clamps get the job done!

I used thin, probably 1/8" tempered hardboard with one slick melamine coated white side as the back panel as it was easy to curve. Like the framing it was glued and screwed into place. I used fender washers to prevent tear out.

A bead of clear silicone adhesive caulk seals the curved panel to the top, and to the bench top. So air intrusion is kept to a minimum.

Extension pieces installed, somewhat sloppily because I didn't

spend the time setting up my biscuit joiner right, but it's solid!

Attachment to the miter saw bench is very simple using just plain plywood cutoffs and screws as mending plates. It is all quite solid and secure.

The dust hose from the back / top of the saw is sourced from a Hyde Dustless Drywall sander kit, and is adapted to the saw dust port via a couple of wraps of Gorilla tape, and then screwed into place using the OE screws from the saw. The hose and power cord are kept from snagging up with the operation by holding them to the tail of the saw in the stock location, by replacing the power cords clamp with plastic pipe strapping for both.

The black stuff on the end of the hose is the Gorilla Tape. 

Note the white plastic pipe strap from Lowes.

We just barely clear the hose this way!

The 4" hole, not being quite large enough for the thin wall S&D pipe used for ducting, was relieved just enough for the pipe using a high speed rotary tool.
Not officially a Dremel tool, but the same kind that Dremel is known for, but mine is a Black and Decker RTX multi speed unit.
I outfitted it with the large drum sander attachment, tightened it down a hair, and went to work on it... It didn't take a whole lot of effort.

I have created my 90 degree bends within the cabinet, and just outside to go vertical up to the ceiling using 4 @ 45 degree elbows, and short pipe nipples glued together with clear silicone adhesive caulk. a pipe nipple with a blast gate was assembled using the same method, clear silicone adhesive caulk. I will attach screws as conservatively as possible. I am in no rush to get this done, I would rather rely wholly on the silicone and pipe straps to hold it in place. I now wait for the silicone caulk to dry before I install them.

I am short now on S&D fittings and pipe, needing  come this weekend though,  I should be able to get it finished up. I need 1 10' joint of 4" S&D, and 4 45 deg 4" elbows to complete this install.

Once this is done, now that I have the miter saw bench squareness issue, * ahem, * squared away as it were... I can move on to finishing up the drawers.

Items that are pending in my shop build / organization quueue.

#1. Above the mechanics toolbox shelving. I have a total depth of 32.25" from ceiling, to top of toolbox with lid open to work with.
The width I believe is 24", I need to re-measure that!.
I am planning on at least 2 shelves, 12" deep allowing for storage of things like automotove aerosols like carb cleaner, brake cleaner,
engine cleaner and the like...
#2. Finish the miter saw cabinet drawer build. These are VERY basic boxes.
The slides are simply the box bottoms extended out the sides riding in slots and lubed with bees wax to keep them slick.
#3. Put up all the woodworking finshes, strippers etc... in the proper cabinet.
#4. Migrate my table saw and router accessories from the tote on the shop floor to the drawers in the cabinet.
#5. Migrate selected handheld power tools back to miter saw cabinet off of workbench lower shelf.
#6. Take the riser block that extends the floor "step" in the garage, rip the excess off, clean floor, and install with Liquid Nails for projects. Paint.
#7. Complete drywall work on between doors wall. Small patch still needed, and sanding / remudding. I just don't want to do it.
#8. Finish installing insulation in remaining wall, and patching drywall. Paint.
#9. Replace attic extedning stairs, correcting the badly done framing with proper hangers etc...
#10. Paint.
#11. Move freezer from kitchen into shop.

A sign for the man cave...

During our weekend sojourn to take my lovely bride to the craft store to look for flower pots or something like that, I managed to stumble upon a couple of great creations that I think all guys should have... A Man Cave sign for the man cave / work shop...

What can I say? Any man who is made to sleep on a bed with its own skirt, really needs his own space. The pity is mine is an attached garage. If I was in a stand alone building, poker, Scotch, and Cigar nights would happen a lot more often...

Rust removal from woodworking tools using WD-40

I had heard about this before, but been very skeptical, however the tables on my Sunhill bench top jointer had been subjected to a sack of Miracle Grow potting soil without my knowledge, which had started rust going pretty quick. I had to do something...

First thing to do was grab the can of WD-40, a BUNCH of paper towels, rubbing alcohol, paste wax, and some 320 grit sandpaper.

Next place the jointer, unplugged, on the bench. This WILL make a mess, so I recommend placing newspaper down on your bench if you care about the finish of the bench...

Next swing the cutter head guard out of the way, in all processes be VERY careful of the cutter head, those blades are supposed to be sharp and can cause serious harm! with the guard swung away thoroughly spray down the tables.

Sunhill 6" bench top jointer with rust, and WD-40 on the tables.

Let the WD-40 soak in and do its thing for 15 minutes or so. It seems the longer the better. In my case I washed the car, then I came back into the shop to work on the jointer...

Once the stand time is done, get busy scrubbing with your fine grit sandpaper. Just use small circular motions. The rust will come off VERY quickly, at least the brown red stuff. The black discoloration takes more work. The WD-40 will turn into a sloppy rust colored mess VERY quickly. Work the entire surface until all the brown rust is off. Wipe the surface and any surfaces the slop got on off. In my case the housing had some WD40 rust slop on it I had to clean up...

Spray down the tables again, and using a clean piece of sandpaper, repeat gently swirling the rust away, including the black stains. And again wipe all surfaces as free as you can of the WD-40.

Using a clean paper towel, and rubbing alcohol, clean the WD40 thoroughly off of all surfaces. Still being careful of the cutter head blades!

Finally apply paste wax to the cast iron surfaces by dabbing a bit on a paper towel, applying in a circular motion over the entire surface until it gets a haze, then wipe the excess off with a clean paper towel. Your jointer should be ready to plug in and use now!

The process of rust removal should be very similar for any other cast iron table surfaces on your woodworking equipment. Keeping your equipment maintained makes it easier to use, more effective, durable and safer for you and others. A worthwhile investment in time and energy!

Not perfect, but pretty nice, slick, and protected!

Starting to correct my mistakes. And refilling the slots on my sets...

Again, not much shop time yesterday, actually only about 10 minutes. Probably take me longer to blog about it than I was in there, but I digress...

I had a couple of plywood cutoffs ready to go, so I did what anyone would do when the board is too short, and made it longer, or in this case wider...

I took my piece of junk Harbor Freight Quick Clamps and clamped the cutoffs into position, just into position for now, and then marked positions for biscuits on the top, and the cutoffs. Marking sides the cutoffs go to.

I then moved the cutoffs to the bench, set some bench dogs in place to keep the cutoffs from moving, set up my Ryobi biscuit joiner, and cut my slots, I then cut the slots in the top...

Now I know both Ryobi tools, and biscuit / plate joiners don't get a lot of love out there in the woodworking forums. A lot of guys have, well... ill will toward the humble biscuit joiner, but I really like using mine. It is simple, makes for a reasonable joint. Not perfect mind you, but where extreme strength is not absolutely necessary, it beats the tar out of the labor involved in settting up mortise and tenon joinery for sure!

Not that I am against M&T, but for me to set up to cut M&T joints, I had better have a LOT of joints to do... A biscuit joiner keeps me moving is all...

Once the slots were cut, I went ahead and applied more than sufficient amounts of glue. I do NOT want any chance for the joint to end up glue starved. I brushed glue all the way around the pockets, the mating surfaces, and the biscuits. I then assembled, verified alignment and got it in clamps.

I am considering extending the side frames for the hood using the same method. I REALLY want to make this as easy, and complete as possible...

Depending on schedules, particularly those of those important in my life, I may have an opportunity to work on extending the frame tonight. I will go ahead and free up the top and curved backing piece out, clean off the caulk and run my extension. Then it is a matter of trimming the extension pieces, mounting the top to the base, mounting and trimming a new, longer curved backing piece (1/8" hardboard, it flexes pretty well...), and then mount the whole thing to the bench.

You may notice the dust hose, yes it sticks up just proud of the top. I made the curved cutout sized such that the hose just barely clears with the saw in the rear most position, but also the top is sized such that it is low enough to minimize the amount of air volume to be cleared from to make it easier for my HF 2HP dust collector to do its job...

I have been working on the issues of getting the lumber wagon (our truck) working again. We managed to end up with a major transmission fluid leak that needs to get fixed before I tear up something expensive... Once it is all back together and working the way it is supposed to, I can head out to Lowes, or Home Depot, and get the few remaining components for the system. a couple of joints of 4" S&D pipe, some and a few 45 degree 4" connectors. I know too many bends, but I don't really have an option space wise, I have to do what I have to do in order to get to the collector...

No photos of it here, but you can make out the end of the Ryobi SpeedLoad+ quick change drill bit set. Just like any other drill bit set, the small diameter bits are pone to breakage, unlike other bit sets, matching replacements are VERY difficult to find. Ryobi does not make these bits available a la carte, so you either buy a replacement set (which I did once) or find a different bit, which I did this time. Sadly the only hex shank bits I could find in the diameters I needed (3/32 and 1/8") were DeWalt (generally good) in the black oxide coated variety instead of the Titanium coating (bad, but not terrible trade off).

I mentioned I had previously bought a set just to get the replacement bit, in this case a 3/32" bit. Well I went ahead of bought replacements from Amazon, in both 3/32" and 1/8" for the bits that were broken. Knowing I break these frequently I bought a couple extras of each size. They work as well as the Ryobi originals, and fit in the quick change collet just fine. I don't know about long term durability, but then again, these particular sizes never last long enough with me to dull out... So I guess that won't be an issue...

I think my next step in my shop development should be an over the garage door storage shelf, at least temporarily, to house all my aerosol canned stuff. I need to move it all off of the base cabinet so that I can pull that apart, and re-glue it. I may end up keeping non wood shop related aerosols up on that shelf after the cabinet is back in place. I need easier access to my stuff. I have plenty of stamped steel shelf brackets, and more than enough 3/4" ply scrap to put together a shelf. Once in use, I suspect it will stay in use. I have shop light T12 bulbs in a case already on shelf brackets that can be moved to the attic allowing me to use that space for things like Aerokroil, carb cleaner and the like...

Design work to keep the shop clean, and protect my canoes...

I haven't managed to get much shop time in for the last several days due to work, and the gym. So the time I have been spending has been at the computer, doing some simple design work in Sketchup...

Now the design isn't 100% finished, but it's close enough to share. I am modifying a design I had seen someone else build online...

If you scroll back in time to my first iteration of my shop, you might recall the ever present canoe hanging from the ceiling. A 2004 Pelican 146-DLX to be specific. Now this boat is far from perfect, but with the webbed ash seats and thwart it is a LOT better than the Discovery 155 it replaced that had the cheap plastic seats break out the second time I put it in the water. Yeah so canoes and fat guys aren't a great mix...

Anyway, in order to free up shop space, the canoe had to go into the yard. I donated a pair of old 2x4 sawhorses for this purpose.

After that took place, my brother in law went through a divorce, was able to keep his canoe, but lost his place to keep it... Guess where it went?

So now I have a Pelican Excursion 146-DLX, and an Old Town unknown model, but the size is another 14' 6" plastic boat. The Old town is rigged for a sail. And I want to build a 15' cedar strip slow water touring canoe.  I need a way to store these things!

So googling "Canoe Rack Design" I came up with the following blog entry from a Canadian guy that built one, admittedly not using Pressure treated, but the design looked fair enough.

Source : http://www.wildpaddler.ca/2010/05/i-just-built-canoe-rack.html

There are a couple of minor tweaks I would want to make, specifically the diagonal cross bar controls racking in only one direction, and if I were to build the rack 8' long, would require it be cut from a 16' 2x4 which would push the price of the build up higher than I want to go... Especially since I have pressure treated material to reclaim that needs a purpose...

I am designing mine to be 8' 3" wide x 72" tall x 45" deep. Aside from the upright diagonal braces my design is more or less done. 

As you can see I made mine a bit taller. I may adjust the final height, but for now this should work. I also added shorter diagonal braces on all 4 corners to keep it square. I have not decided yet, but I am leaning toward using an actual brace plate at the conrers to even further guarantee it stays in square.

I need to talk a friend that sews into doing me a huge favor, which is to sew giant zippered Tyvek protector bags for the boats. I have them covered with cheap Harbor Freight poly tarps, but those don't last but maybe a season or two, and they do nothing to protect the boats from critters... 

Finding design flaws in my miter saw dust hood.

First off, let me be the first to call myself an idiot... I did this to myself, I needed no help in my stupidity, this is 100% on me...

The idea for the hood is to come around to just short of the fence , which I simply fail to do, by about 4"

Not sure if it is obvious from the photos, but I made a HUGE measurement mistake... and kept going with it...

I did however manage to figure out a quick and dirty way to rig up a production stop... Yeah I still need to set up an auxiliary fence with some T track and stop blocks...

I did want a reasonably clean pass through for the power cord, to where it will be useful. Yeah I have to drag the cord to behind the mortiser, small price to pay for space efficiency!

I did notice in this project however, that the table heights between the mortiser and the miter saw weren't level, so I levelled them up, and verified with known straight edges.... Good thing I have those parts bins. The old washers from God only knows where sure came in handy! It's dead flat, and neither the miter saw, nor the mortiser interfere with the other... Assuming of course the mortiser fence is in the rear most position..

You may also notice that I absconded the hose from a "Hyde dustless drywall sander" as the entire sander kit is cheaper than any 1.25 inch shop vac hose I have found so far.. Might as well reuse what I have! (I never should have sold that old shop vac on Craigslist so cheap!). I will order a second one before I actually cut the hose to finish the install. I actually use this thing, and it IS helpful. Lord knows even with this so called Dust Free Drywall sander, there is still a considerable amount of dust, but 90+ percent reduction in dust is better than none!

On top of this work, I managed the following in the shop over the weekend.

1. Hauled all the totes that don't belong, up into the attic. The giant pile of extension cords and adapters got into their own tote and jammed up into the attic next to the reindeer and that big fat elf that ticks me off every December 1...
2. Organized, or at least tried to organize all of the automotive stuff into one place, lawn and garden into another etc... I have so much more to do...
3. Swept, cleaned, blew off, and generally tidied the place up. Again, a bunch more to do!
4. Took apart the existing arrangement and installed the riser for the band saw dust collection / blast gate... Now the band saw dust collection blast gate is within easy reach, no back strain trying to get down to where it is... 
5. Cut and installed slats mounted between the spreaders of the workbench base. This has the unanticipated result of firming up the base and making this bench a LOT more pleasant to use. I would highly recommend anyone using the Get Started In Woodworking plan for the bench to add the base shelf, it REALLY helps!
6. Moved all of the handheld power tools from the miter saw station, and into the lower section of the workbench.
7. Came up with a materials list of what is needed to finish the dust hood / drop plumbing for the miter saw.
8. cleaned up the old silicone caulk off of the spare blast gates, got them ready for reuse...

My next steps are to....

1. Disassemble the miter saw dust hood, rebuild the side frames with ones that, well are sized right. 20" deep instead of 16. This was an embarassingly stupid mistake, but live and lear... 
2. cut extensions for the top to bring it a fully 20" deep as well. I will attach these with biscuits
3. Reassemble, including the replacement back panel. 20" should give me a couple of inches to set up an auxiliary fence to rig some stops onto... 
4. Disassemble the miter saw bench, and reglue the thing. Insuring it is square. Add 2x6 corner blocks to keep it square, and glue / mounting blocks for levelers. Probably just going to use bolts and Tee nuts for levelers. Not sure yet...
5. Install dust collection ducting through the inside of the miter saw station. Get everything plumbed through the side ready to make the turn up.
6. Reinstall / level / insure squareness of miter saw / mortiser station.
7. Complete the riser to the ceiling, and the across ceiling run for the dust collection, tie into the main trunk just before the turn down to the collector.
8. Complete and install the accessory drawers for the miter saw station.
9. Re-populate the base of the miter saw station..
10. Create bit trays for the router bits, and blade dividers for the saw blades. Migrate all of my table saw/ router accessories from the nasty tote and into the drawers.