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The Tips and Tricks Thread
OK, let's see if this gets legs. Some time ago I asked (in the Forum Tech Support forum which apparently almost no one reads) if we could have a separate forum dedicated to workshop tips and tricks. Well that didn't go anywhere, so why not just have a thread dedicated to your ideas around the shop that you would like to share? Ideas that help you do a better job of whatever you are trying to do. Ideas that help you do things faster when you are doing repetitive work. Ideas that help organize your shop. And put that thread in the most read forum, General Woodworking and Power Tools. And encourage lots of photos. If you post an idea, choose the "Go Advanced" tab at the bottom after hitting the "Reply to Thread" button and then title your idea at the top so others searching for something will have an easier time finding your idea. So I will start it off with three things I did in the last 2 days to help me organize my shop and make sanding easier.
First, a place to store those pesky cabinet arch templates. Next a place to store my PC ROS near my sanding station and plugged in and ready to use. Lastly a lever clamp hold down to keep small parts stationary while I keep both hands on my ROS. Pictures ought to show adequately what I did:
(Keith, it would be great if you made this a sticky)
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Belt sander dust collection and storage shelf
I'll bump this with a couple of really simple things I just did while reorganizing some shop stuff yesterday. First I have been just using my shop vac to collect dust from my 6"x48" belt sander. But I keep needing my vac for other tasks. I have been meaning to build a hood to connect my 4" flex hose but it just seemed too complicated for now. So I just grabbed an extra piece of 2.5" hose I got for my router rear dust collector, and reused an old 2.5" to 4" adapter, just to see how it worked and viola, I can't believe how well this sucks, better than the shop vac. Problem solved. Notice how the long slinky hose sucks up with just the restriction of the 2.5" hose. Pic taken with DC running. Also the pic shows a platen I made long ago so I can use the machine like an edge sander turned on its side. Platen is at an angle so it uses most of the belt.
Next in my cleanup, going from big blue shelves to my new tool storage unit, I really had no room to store the bulky TS tenoning sled. Then I saw I had the opportunity to add a shelf below my planer. So I took a piece of left over 1-1/8" particle board, cut it to fit and another problem solved.
One more thing I did long ago. Those of you with the Delta lunchbox planer know how the dust collector hood sags and drags on the wood exiting the machine. If you look carefully you see that I used an extra micro v-belt (drill press) looped around the hood to hold it up. I just added a screw at the top of the planer to hook the other end of the belt around.
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Lefty-Righty and Flatback tape measures
OK, so I guess this is going to be a one man show. Well, here is another thing I ran across which I really like. Fastcap makes a number of unconventional measuring tapes in their Pro Carpenter series. Some time ago I got their Lefty-Righty which reads from both sides of the tape. I like as it actually numbers the sixteenths, but for me it would work better if it read from the top of the tape instead of the bottom. So most of the time I hook on the left end of the board, and have to read the tape upside down when marking a cut on the top of the tape. But if you hook on the right end, you don't have to read upside down like you would with any other tape.
Then last week I ran across their Old Standby Flatback. This one I really like as the tape is flat, so when doing cabinet work, it is easier to mark an exact length as the tape isn't an eighth inch above the board due to the curl in the tape. The hook is fixed, unlike most tapes that allow a measurement while pushing the hook against a wall. Of course, this tape won't give you any standout like you need when doing framing or rough measuring lumber.
Other nice features include a momentary hold button on the bottom as well as the standard lock on the front, an easy to use belt clip feature as well as a built in PENCIL SHARPENER, and a pencil friendly, erasable white surface if you need to write down a measurement. Not bad for $6.99 at my local tool center. These guys did it right.
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Alternate to feather board
I went to post one more tip I just ran across and couldn't find the thread. It had been made a sticky! Thanks Ken!:)
OK one more quick one: running a ton of rails and stiles through the edge bit on the router table, it occurred to me that instead of fiddling with a feather board, just use the ball bearing end of the Rockler thin strip ripping jig. I tried and it worked great. Board width is even as I stack them on edge 4-6 at a time and take 2 passes through the planer, going from 2-1/2" rough to 2-7/16" final wide taking 1/32" off each edge.
I have no affiliation with anybody, maybe I should fuzz out the names on products. Nah, I hate when they do that on reality or home improvement shows.