16 March, 2014

Shop made walnut star knob for benchtop jointer.

So in beginning to prep stock for the mission dog kennel / end table, I pulled the jointer over onto the bench, and went to square up / adjust the fence when one of the push paddle handle things on the fence in / out control decided that plastic wasn't an optimum choice of materials for this function, and fell to pieces...

Now my jointer, a Sunhill SM-150B is out of production, well not exactly, but it is a rebranded Geetech 6" benchtop jointer, and parts aren't super easy to come by, not to mention that I needed my jointer working NOW now in 6 days to whenever whomever I can get parts from ships and I receive it... So what to do?

Knowing a bit about how these are made, and the space involved at full extension / compression I knew I had room for a 2" star knob. However the thread I needed to deal with is a 6MM fine thread, not something I had handy in my star knob collection, so what to do?

Make one!

Step #1. Select a piece of scrap wood, any would do, but I had some Walnut sap wood that was just sitting around, daring me to so SOMETHING with it.

Step #2. Select the wrong size drill bit for the bolt head, and forget to set the travel stop on the drill press and drill all the way through it, ruining the first blank.

Step #3. Select another piece of scrap wood, yes more walnut sap wood, and take THAT to the drill press, select the proper diameter drill bit, in this case 5/16" for the bolt head to pull into and create the pocket for, and set the depth stop so that the bolt head cannot pass more than 1/4" into the work piece.

Step #4. Align the work piece to the drill bit, allowing sufficient room for the 2" hole saw, and camp the work piece down.

Step #5. Drill the hole for the bolt head, and remove the 5/16" drill bit.

Step #6. Chuck up the 2" hole saw, and set the speed setting on the drill press for as close as you can get to the recommended speed.

Step #7. Cut the disk with the hole saw, advancing and backing out the clear dust / debris from the kerf as you go until you have freed the disk.


Step #8. Remove the disk from the hole saw, gloves help with this as the hole saw will likely be REALLY hot.

Step #9. Chuck up the bolt, and the washer / nut into the disk, making sure the bolt head is on the side with the larger hole, tighten the bolt until the head cuts its own way all the way into the disk.

Step #10. Mark 6 equally distant points on the outside diameter of the disk,

Step #11. Using the second from smallest size sanding spindle on my Ridgid spindle sander, sand at each marked point inward 1/4" creating a dimple for fingers.

Step #12. Chuck the assembly using the bolt as the axle, into the drill press, and sand the outer edges, as well as chamfer the corners, and sand the top and bottom surfaces until smooth.

Step #13 Unchuck the assembly from the drill press.

Step #14. Tack down the entire assembly.

Step #15. Apply liberal coat of favorite finish. I chose Tung Oil for this knob. Applied in 2 coats and hand buffed between.

Step #16. Apply liberal coat of clear finish. I chose brush on lacquer basically because I had it on hand, and it was easier to get to the can of lacquer than the can of urethane... 2 coats did the trick, on all surfaces, then let dry...

Step #17. Install the knob and use it for what you made it for...



With the tung oil and lacquer finish it looks great, works great and feels good in the hand. If you look carefully you can see where I had some grain that didn't cooperate and blew out on a corner on me, but I am just going to call that character and leave it be...

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