Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments....

[Earl Reid]

WE had a very productive weekend. my sisters in law had a surprise BD dinner for my wife' 70th Bd in Middlefield. Later I visited john Hart , Hes busy back on the lathe. I turned a lot of pens also over the past week and will soon have 200 to send in. I ordered more kits from Berea. I have to take a break to finish some hi priority projects (Christmas).
Earl

[Scott Hubl]

Is that an aluminum plate you used? I like that , if you could make a "HOW TO" out of this that would be awsome! I wanted one also , but not at the cost of them, plus I have a Craftsman 3/4 Cabinet Hybrid TS Middle one of the 3 so called "zip code saws" Added the Biese from its bigger brother tho. ( And now have an Incra TS III sitting by the way side should I ever decide to try that.

Do you think these could be made using the Blank phenolic inserts bought at a Rockler or Woodcraft for making your own ZCI's? I have 2 of those rectangles from Rockler in Blue waiting to be made ?

Thanks, and again Nice work on that.

Replacable Insert Throat Plate

I've been wanting one of these for a long time:

That's the insert with a replacable insert (what I call an oak insert insert) that Norm has had for some time. The guy that makes (made) them doesn't appear to be marketing them any longer and has the business up for sale.

I always thought they were a little pricey and longed to craft one of my own for some time. Can't be too hard, I thought, and it wasn't.



The first thing you need is a source for ½" thick aluminum plate. I'm very fortunate to have an excellent scrap aluminum yard nearby and got some stock. I don't imagine I have to show you a plain old piece of aluminum plate, so I'll jump right to an interim shot.

After rough cutting the plate into the general shape of an insert (band saw, table saw), I spent some time filing and fitting, filing and fitting, filing and fitting. Eventually, I wound up with a blank plate (center, left). I also used my jig saw and drill press to size the finger hole, and finished it up with a roundover bit in my trim router.



A little layout time (to make sure they were located properly), and a trip to the drill press yielded the pilot holes for the adjusting set screws you can barely see here.

The insert at the top is the OEM insert which came with the saw. It still has its uses. At the bottom is one of the Baltic birch inserts I've made (I have probably a half dozen in inventory).

I'm sorry you're going to be disappointed that I don't have any live shots of the machining. Suffice to say there were several sessions at the router table.



The insert here is a piece of walnut. It just happened to be an already thicknessed piece at hand and I was in a hurry once I had the dovetail groove ready to get something in there. Eventually, I suspect I'll use a piece of maple, birch, or ash. To follow Norm, of course, I could make one of oak, but it doesn't really strike me as the appropriate zero clearance insert wood.

Incidentally, I agonized for some time over the angle to use for the dovetail. My first thought, naturally, was the traditional 14° used in the dovetailing jigs. Then I thought 45° would be better. Finally, not having a 45° bit, I opted for 14° and in retrospect, there shouldn't have been any question. It's just right.

Not quite so visible are the enlarged and tapped holes for the adjusting set screws. I'm so pleased. This thing sits in its place rock solid and with a satisfying heavy metallic "clunk" as it goes in.

Here is a view with the insert removed so you can see the machined substructure. With the exception of a plough cut with an 8" blade in the table saw to establish the initial groove, all of the machining was done on the router table.



The through openings in the plate are essentially the same as the OEM insert, so I may be able to fit inserts for miter cuts as well, although probably not for a full 45° angle. Still, I did make a BB insert for 45°, so I'm covered there.

The through openings will also accommodate the OEM splitter/guard and an aftermarket splitter, so long as I cut the insert at the back for clearance.

Incidentally, and completely off topic, I just HATE that I can't use HTML when posting here. What's up with that? This looked so much better with some layout as I applied it over at WoodCentral.

[Rod Peterson]

Is that an aluminum plate you used?

Yes. ½" aluminum plate.

I like that , if you could make a "HOW TO" out of this that would be awsome! I wanted one also , but not at the cost of them

I've been asked to make it into an article over at WoodCentral (I convert all the articles over there to HTML with the WC look-and-feel). I probably will and will include some additional information which has come to light as a result of my post there.

Do you think these could be made using the Blank phenolic inserts bought at a Rockler or Woodcraft for making your own ZCI's?

I don't know, mainly because it depends on the dimensions, both of your throat and of the inserts. My feeling always has been, from the first time I saw one of these, hey, we're a woodshop--we can make these inserts.

[quote]Nice work on that[/quote]

Thanks for your interest.

[Scott Hubl]

Hi Rod,
Thanks for the quick reply. Yes my inserts are 1/2" thick.

What did you use to do your milling on the aluminum, a TS and regular router??? Blades, Bits?

I look forward to a complete "HOW-TO"

Meanwhile could you post a link to the woodcentral post, I'm having problems navigating there, My first time seeing that forum format. A PM with it will be fine if for some reason posting it here is against some rule.
Thanks very much.

Edit to Add- I found it over there.

[Norman Pyles]

Saturday tore out drywall, and smacked my thumb real hard with a hammer. Now my thumbnail is all blue, and very sore. Sunday took the day off.

[Tom Hoffman]

Christmas Presents!!

Making 1/4 sawn white oak picture frames around Arts and Crafts tiles from Motawi Tile Works.

[glenn bradley]

What with a co-worker's wedding and running halfway to Arizona to pick up LOML's daughter from a visit with friends, I was lucky to get almost done sealing some wall cleats. In my twisted (but unfailingly optimistic) mind I had visions of having the cleats mounted and half the shop back to normal over the three day weekend. Ahh well, it is a hobby and that leaves just that much more fun for me to have ;-)

[Bob Smalser]

Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments....

Before:



After:

[Leland Berry]

I mostly mulled. Whether to build or buy my first lathe. So I scrounged
through my " Better-save-it-in-case-you-need it-someday" stash for any
STUFF that might be of use. Thus far I found 3 electric motors 1/2 - 1 1/2
HP, assorted sheaves, 2 pieces 1" keyed shaftx 12", 2-1" pillow blocks,
OK, thats the drive. 1 crankshaft from a 2-stage air compressor-lobes
180 degrees out, OK thats the elipitical head. 2 pc. 3" DOM steel tube.
2- 9ft pc ext. aluminum 80/20 frame. 1 10ft piece 2" angle--Shoot, I
had a lathe, didn't know it

[Leland Berry]

I mostly mulled. Whether to build or buy my first lathe. So I scrounged
through my " Better-save-it-in-case-you-need it-someday" stash for any
STUFF that might be of use. Thus far I found 3 electric motors 1/2 - 1 1/2
HP, assorted sheaves, 2 pieces 1" keyed shaft x 12", 2-1" pillow blocks,
OK, thats the drive. 1 crankshaft from a 2-stage air compressor-lobes
180 degrees out, OK thats the elipitical head. 2 pc. 3" DOM steel tube.
2- 9ft pc ext. aluminum 80/20 frame. 1 10ft piece 2" angle--Shoot, I
had a lathe, didn't know it.

[Matt Tiernan]

Woke up Monday morning to find that my dog had a sprained hind leg. Took him a good hour to take his first steps. He was able to get around okay the rest of the day, but couldn't hop onto the couch to do one of his favorite things, which is to look out into the street through the front window. My wife and I also enjoy his company on the couch.

So, I got the bright idea to make him a step stool. A few hours later I came up from the basement to present him with his very own step stool to find that he had jumped onto the couch on his own to look out the front window.

He does enjoy trying to chew on the stool though.