Wooden guns

This was a simple wooden gun glued together with scrap pieces of wood. My son had to go for a fancy dress competition, and rather than spend time on a temporary costume, I thought I would make a more durable item.
A gun and a cap competed the costume. He is supposed to be Jim Corbett.

The wooden gun made from scrap plywood.

The costume compete with hat, gun and grin...

 Making it : The pattern was some world war II rifle.
A long thin piece of plywood on the top, with a broader piece below. Fevicol and screws from the top. A brown small drawer handle in the region of the trigger. Two small metal studs were added for the strap, made of black wire. The upper piece painted black. The lower piece just stained with walnut stain.

Wooden gun : The trigger guard made from a small door handle

Wooden gun : In slight misuse 

Under bed storage : Basic trundle

I suppose most houses in India have the same problem as I do : Too little storage space. A lot of our winter clothes (Vellore actually has no winter) lie in suitcases that are pushed under the bed. Gradually they go deeper and deeper under the bed, until the day I swim deep in the dust and fish the box out, only to find that it does not have the piece I am looking for.
I have the same problem in my make  do workshop where I would like to store items under the bed. (My present work area is our guest room, permission for which my wife has so graciously granted). So after looking at various trundle type storage units on the web, I decided to make a basic one.

There is nothing to it actually. It is an 10 mm MDF board with 6 small wheels screwed underneath. The advantage of this is that the items will not get scratched, and pulling it out is far easier.

The under side of the trundle with six wheels. My son is hiding behind it.

My little daughter trying to push my son off the trundle. It makes a good toy

Under bed storage with at trundle

The trundle with some boxes that will finally roll under the bed

 I plan to use a similar model for my gas cylinder and for my rice storage container some time in the future.

Wooden castle blocks

This is a set of wooden castle blocks made as a gift.

Wooden castle blocks

The inspiration was the set of wooden blocks from Down To Earth available here

Wood : Actually not sure. This was called "country wood" by the lumber people. An inexpensive wood. It was initially about 1.5 inches thick, that was smoothed in the lumber mill to about 1 inch thick.

Design : I made the gate, two towers and four wall pieces, drawn freehand. I made one entrance piece, two towers and four wall pieces. The towers and entrances required added supports to prevent them from toppling over easily.

Wooden castle blocks : The entrance with a door. Required Supports

Wooden castle blocks : The wall pieces 

Wooden castle blocks : Tower pieces : They required supports

Cutting : With a Skil Jigsaw.

Smoothing : Rounded over the edges with a rounding over bit on my router table.

Windows : Drilled a hole with a 9 mm bit and used a jigsaw to cut it out.

Supports. I rounded over a cuboid of the same wood and sliced off a small bit using the table saw. The two are supported with a screw inside, the head of the screw is covered with a plug of the same material.

Sanding : Very little needed on the surface. There were burn marks that hand to be sanded off for which I used a flexishaft with a sanding attachment.

Finish : Clear varnish wiped immediately after applying. There must be a better way to do this but I am learning this. If the finish comes off I will have to re apply this.

 Finished product: This can be rearranged to make a circle or a wall of castle.

Wooden castle blocks

Wooden Toy Sword

This is a toy sword made for kids in the age group 5 years or so.

Wooden sword from finger jointed rubber

Wood : finger jointed rubber, 18 mm thick. I had a long waste piece that determined the total length.

Cutting : Using a skil jigsaw. The corners were rounded over using a rounding over bit on my router table.

Finish: Well I do not know how long this will last but i used virgin olive oil and rubbed off the extra. I will post updates on how this fares. I wanted everything to be natural.

Final Product : I probably should have made a pair. This is a very basic sword with no detail, but I suspect that in a kids eyes, a long stick, this sword and the most elaborately detailed one are equal. Kids.. the great levelers...

My son Arpit with the wooden sword

Wooden Dominoes

Wooden dominoes

Well I decided to make wooden dominoes. It was to be a gift.
A lot of my inspiration was from Mathias Wandel's dominoes. He made it look so easy.

Failed attempts
I tried using 10 mm  thick beading. However the beading was slightly uneven and also was slightly warped. I gave up on it. I also tried cutting a whole block of neem, but my table saw blade was not high enough. I finally used a beam of wood that I cross cut.

Wood : Padauk wood (Padag) wood. The lady who owned the the local timber mill was very helpful. I asked her for the darkest wood she had, and she fished out this wood. It was nice and red. I got this planed at the lumber mill itself as a long beam about 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches or so. I planned to use this such that I could cut a cross section of the beam and get a single domino. I actually misjudged the size a bit, and had to trim down each domino later. But that was not so much of a problem.

Cutting the dominoes : I used my home made circular saw made into a table saw. I also had a simple cross cut jig to help me cut the dominoes. It worked pretty well.

My son Arpit enjoys vacuuming cleaning up sawdust. Seen here is my table saw

and the cross cut jig. The long belt of sandpaper that I used to sand paper the
dominoes is also seen.  

Trimming them. I used a stop block on my cross cut sledge to trim all dominoes to the final size.

Sanding : I got fine saw marks on the cross cut surface. These lines are not so important when one is making something large. But for dominoes they really stand out. So I had to sand both sides of the dominoes. I tried my orbital sander but this was not fast enough. I wished I had a belt sander. I finally went to the local store and bought one meter of sanding belt paper. I fixed this on my table with two clamps and then sanded the raw domino on this. This was useful as I was able to apply my body weight on the domino thereby hastening the process. I sanded along the grain and used finer sand paper to get a smooth finish.

Template: I used microsoft powerpoint to get an accurate size of the domino with the spots. I printed out a whole set of double sixes. I then cut them out (actually my wife and son did this) and stuck them on the blocks.

template for dominoes that I printed out from Power Point

Making the spots : I used a drill press and a 6 mm drill bit to drill the holes. They were not really accurate but were passable. I then sanded off the paper.

Drilling the domino holes with a drill press

Using a plug cutter, I cut out plugs of thin finger jointed wood.

Cutting domino plugs from finger jointed rubber with a plug cutter bit

Arpit enjoyed counting the small plugs. A total of 150 or so were needed.

I stuck the plug into each of the holes and then sanded them flush when dry.

Unfinished dominoes in  different stages

Center line : I made the center line with a file.

Finish : Clear varnish. But I did not want the glossy look so I wiped off the varnish immediately after applying it. It gives a dull finish.

Wooden domino box

Box : I made a box out of finger jointed wood. I tried some techniques for the joints. I was able to round over the edges using my router table.

Finished product : I liked the contrasting colors that I was able to get without any stains. I have to work on my box making skills. The dominoes topple well. However they are not perfectly square so you cannot stack three or four of them vertically one over another.

Wooden dominoes in box

Name plates

These are small name plates that I made as gifts.

Some of the wooden name boards made as gifts

Wooden Name Board

Material : 6mm Plywood.

The Names : I drew the letters free hand and then cut them out using a scroll saw.

The base : A wavy edge is always easier than a straight border, and I feel also looks better. This was also cut with a scroll saw, the proxxon DS230 E

Painting : Each side needed about two coats minimum, and some three of enamel paint. I did not use primer and wood putty. In retrospect I possibly should have to get a smoother finish I noticed that the first coat takes about 12-16 hrs to dry. The subsequent coats are faster even drying in four to five hours.

Wooden Name board

Hanging the picture : Using a drill press I drilled guide holes on the top of the name plate. Into this I fixed small hooks with a bit of fevicol . A pilot hole is a must to preven the plywood from splitting. I used a bit of fevicol to ensure that the screws did not come out as my smallest drill bit was not small enough.

The wire : I would have gone in for the usual GI wire (galvanized iron) that is readily available. However when I was at the hardware shop I noticed some different gauge copper wire that was more beautiful and also would not rust. It also feels a little easier to use.

Final impressions : These are easy name plates to make. It takes a bit of patience to wait for the paint to dry though.  

Router table

There is a lot of routing that I plan to do, and I always wanted to mount my router under a table. While I toyed with the idea initially of adding it to my own table saw table, the post by Indranil made me realize that building a router table was not that difficult.

The table : Rather than make a whole table from scratch, I decided to start with an existing table. I used a singer sewing machine table that costs about Rs 1500 or so. It is really advantageous as it  has a square cut out on the top for the machine. This square was just big enough for my Black & Decker KW 900 EKA router. I needed to two wooden beams to support the weight of the router however as the existing knobs were not made for this kind of a situation.

The surface of the router table. The square piece was already cut out.

Fixing the router. I removed the plastic base plate and drilled four holes arbitrarily on to the metal part of the router. Placing the router on the underside of the wooden piece I marked out the holes and drilled the holes in the wood. I also traced the outline of the base plate of the router and routed out a depression of the same area on the underside of the wood. This decreases the effective height of the wood and also helps the router sit snug in the wood. four nuts and bolts were placed from the top to hold the router in place. In this configuration the router is attached to the piece of wood but the wood can be removed.

The under surface of the router table. The router base fits into a grooved area to decrease the height lost.

Fixing the base : I fixed the base on to the cross bars with two bolts to make sure the base does not move.

Router lift : I use the diamond shaped car jack, that gives me remarkable control of the router. There is a small ledge on the table on which the lift sits. a slight rotation of the car jack and the router blade goes up or down as you wish. Before I rout I lock the position of the router.Shown in the picture is a temporary fitting. I plan to fix a car jack below and place a small wooden piece above it to provide a uniform force. 

Car jack used as a router lift : Works very well for fine adjustment.  The router has to be locked before use though.

Fence : Made from water proof ply, reinforced to keep it squre. I still have to perfect this.

The Finished  Assembly :  I have yet to attach a small hole for the vacuum assembly. Attaching a normal Eureka Forbes vacuum cleaner prevents dust flying all around the room. Routing without a vacuum is very dusty. The lower shelf will need some support in the middle as it will warp downward with use. I have to make that sometime. In short this was a nice project to make as I already had the table, and all that was required was  a little drilling. 

Final assembly of the router table. Fence not shown. 

Convert a circular saw to table saw - 2

I have a skil circular saw. There are things that only a table saw can do and so I had tried to convert it into a table saw by mounting it underneath a plank of wood. My initial experiment was detailed in an intial post here   but I never really used that as it was too much of a problem to set up and not stable. I needed to go in for a more solid structure.
I used my old computer table that I was using as a work table. I had already drilled the holes in the circular saw. I marked the holes and drilled them. I routed a counter sink holes on the top.
I carefully marked out the place for the blade and routed a through hole through the table top. The next step was to fix the circular saw with nuts and bolts from the underneath.
My table is not straight. So when I need to make a cut I use a straight edge parallel to the blade. I have also routed a groove parallel to the blade that i am going to use for a cross cut jig.
The maximum theoretical cutting height is about 4 cm, less when I use a makeshift cross cut jig. If i want to extract more from the blade, I will have to thin down the top or make a special base plate that fits precisely
in the table.

The table is shown below in the place where I plan to do scroll sawing. I move it to a larger area for using the table saw.

I also plan to attach my router to this table to have one multi-function table. Not because I like the multi- function, but because of space constraints.

The work table with the circular saw attached. This can do some of the work of the table saw. The table is in the area for scroll saw work.

When the blade is lowered I use the table to fix the proxxon scroll saw as I have a space crunch.

Proxxon saw with vacuum attachment fixed over the retracted blade .

Circular saw fixed with bolts from the underneath. One hole was drilled too near the corner and needed washers.

The feed in area is too small, only about one foot. My next table top will have a larger feed in area

Circular saw fixed in with nuts and bolts

Counter sunk holes and the parallel groove (parallel to the blade)

Blade is perpendicular. Max cutting height  only 4 cm

Flexishaft

Flexishaft attachment for drill

This was a gift I received from my brother. It is a flexishaft attachment for a normal drill. Fixing it was a little counter intuitive as I feared that  the entire shaft would rotate. However it fits well into the normal drill and only the bit at the tip rotates.  I fixed it up on to my old drill. However I later plan to fix it on to an old grinding stone motor.

I find this very useful for sanding small curved pieces. The counter sink bit is a real bonus. There are lots of other stone bits. In short a fantastic tool to have. I plan to do some intarsia now that sanding has become quite easy.

Bosch GBH 2-18 RE Rotary Hammer Review

Why did I buy the drill
I had an old drill that I had bought for about Rs 900 or so. It was supposed to be an impact or 'hammer drill'. It served me well for its lifetime. Apart from the knobs slowly breaking, a problem I faced was that the drill would not progress through the wall. I tried all sorts of bits, even dipping the bit in water. However I soon realized that the problem was with my drill. It did serve me well for wood, but was not good enough for  good quality cement or concrete.

Types of drills.
From information I have gleaned over the net, there are three types of drills.
1. Normal/Rotary drills  : With just a motor.
2. Impact drills (sometimes called hammer drills or impact drills)
3. Rotary hammers

The price increases in that order. A normal drill can be got locally  for less than Rs 1000. Many are available as 'tool kits' which include the drill, and a lot of hand tools. Impact drills start near Rs 2000, and rotary hammers about 4500 or so and more.

Normal drills just rotate. Impact drills rotate, but the rotating thingy (not sure of the exact technical term) causes a small forward movement of the whole chuck at a very high rpm. In a rotary hammer the forward movment is by a piston. Often a rotary hammr requires a special bit such as an SDS plus bit. This bit can move forwards and backwards within the chuck. A rotary hammer is more powerful for drilling to concrete.

As I already had a drill that could drill through wood, I decided to go in for a rotary hammer. I decided that I had had enough of struggling to get through walls. In fact I used to shy away from drilling on the wall due to the difficulty. Skil has a rotary hammer drill 1715 which is available for about Rs 4300. This has three modes, drill, hammer + drill, and only hammer mode. I decided however to go in for the bosch GBH 2-18 RE as I thought this would be a good lifetime investment. I have skil tools but an not very happy with their precision. The bosch  drill does not have an "only hammer mode". The only hammer mode can be used to chip away tiles etc, something that I may only rarely do.

Purchase : From Mach Power tools Chennai. I was pleased with their prompt service. There was however a delay in the part of my local first flight courier office. I hope this is just a one off thing as my local courier has delivered well before

First impressions : 

Bosch GBH 2-18 RE Rotary Hammer box

A good box. The box reasonably robust and seems to suggest an intent to last as long as the drill it houses. IT is also spacious enough to keep the drill, drill bits, spare chucks as well as other items. Nicely compartmentalized. Now it may seem irrelevant to talk about a drill box, however these things really make a difference while working.

Bosch GBH 2-18 RE Rotary hammer

A nice long cable. I have not exactly measured it, but it is much longer than my earlier drill.

Drill stop : A good one. However care has to be taken while using the drill stop in the hammer drill  mode, as the drill bit moves forward by at least half an inch. This has to be taken into account.

SDS plus masonry bit

Use in concrete : A  breeze. Melts through all walls, pillars, cross beams. Yes just  as the song love portion number 9 says  :  I did not know if it was day or night. I started drilling every spot on sight... I tried out the wall, the concrete pillar, as well as a concrete cross beam over the window. It was very very easy, with no strain at all.

Chuck with SDS plus adapter

Use in wood :  A special SDS plus adapter  is needed for this. I purchased this separately. There was nothing great in its used in wood that sets it apart from other drills.

Final impressions. I think a rotary hammer is very useful tool to have. It simplifies making a hole in a wall. It can be used as a normal drill too. I wish it came with at least one SDS plus bit, but that will have to be bought separately.