New in the shop

It's here.  My new Jet 1642 lathe that is.

The lathe has a 16 inch capacity over the bed and much larger when the head is pushed to the other end bed and you turn off the end.  At 2HP it has the power to spin it too.
Manufacturer's website
Woodcraft website

My initial impressions of the machine are very good.  The machine arrived without a mark on it thanks to my friends at Woodcraft in New Berlin.  At 440 pounds that can't be easy to do.

Getting it into the shop was loads of fun and took five people.  More on that when I get the pictures.  I need to thank Steve, Travis, Thomas, and Grace for taking a night out of their schedule to help me.  Also Barb for grabbing an baking pizzas for the lot of us.

The head stock has some great features.  A spindle lock and index, digital readout, reverse, and speed control are all in easy reach.  The power source for the machine is 220V single phase but it has a built in inverter that converts it to three phase.  According to the manufacturer that makes for smoother speed control throughout the range.  One thing I know, this thing is quiet.  No vibration, no noise.

Next up is spring cleaning and some racks to hold my supply of wood.

Shop Upgrade

This was a great weekend.

Arriving in the shop yesterday was the Saw Stop 52" fence and extension table.

The table and fence system was easy to install on my older Craftsman contractor style saw.  I was able to get it at my local Woodcraft.

I have to admit I was very impressed with the quality of the documentation.   I wasn't sure what to expect but the documentation is well written and presented well.  While I don't have immediate plans to replace the table saw, I will certainly consider the Saw Stop based on my experience with this component.

Wait until you see what's next.  It's on order but I don't have a delivery date yet.  Here's a hint:  "It will sure turn your head."

RoboReel Power System

I was recently selected to test the RoboReel Power System (portable version) through my membership in the Handyman Club of America.   Below is the results of my testing.

 The RoboReel is a cord reel with motorized retraction and several safety features.  It is replacing multiple extension cords in my shop.  The 50 foot, 12 guage cord has a 15 amp limit with a circuit breaker built into the wall plug. The unit is relatively heavy at about 20 pounds but in combination with the anti-slip feet on the frame, it doesn't slide around when you pull out the cord.  Just how easy does the cord pull out?  I set the unit on a piece of cardboard on my smooth cement floor.  Even on the cardboard, the unit didn't budge.

The business end of the cord has 3 receptacles.  Nothing unusual there right?  But there are other features there as well.  There are three LED lights to indicate whether or not the power is on. When fully retracted, there is no power to the receptacles.  As you pull out the cord, power is turned on when the cord is extended about 18 inches.

In the center of the receptacle ball is a dual-function button.  Pressing the button once turns the receptacle power off.  Pressing the button again retracts the cord.  With the power off, pressing and holding the button turns the receptacle power back on.  A button on the top of the base dome provides the same functions as the button on the receptacle ball.

The retraction is a two speed process.  Initially the cord is retracted at high speed.  At a user programmable point, the retraction switches to low speed to keep the receptacle ball from whipping around.

The RoboReel base unit has some nice features of it's own.  I've already mentioned the non-slip feet, the power/retraction button on the top, the easy deployment, and the 15A breaker.  It also has a 360 degree rotation feature that is very nice.  While this feature will see limited use in the units current location in my shop, it will be highly useful once my shop is complete and it has a more permanent home.









The rotation is very easy as is illustrated with the next video.

The RoboReel has some nice safety features as well.  Beside the circuit breaker in the wall plug, there is also over temperature protection with audible alerts.

The manufacturer also offers a wall mount for the portable version of the RoboReel as well as a ceiling mounted version.  The portable version lists at $279 with the ceiling mounted version $20 more.

There is only one thing I would change about this product and it really isn't part of the product itself.  I wish the wall mount was included and not sold as an accessory.  Other than that, this is a great addition to my shop and I'm glad I have it.

Cabinet progress

I finally got back to working on the cabinets for my shop.  The assembly of the carcass for the test cabinet is mostly complete and the final coat of finish has been applied.

On to the doors and drawers.

Daughter-Father Project

We had the pleasure of having Kymberlee, David, and the three kids with us for the holidays.  Kymberlee had this idea for a wall hanging so we headed out to the shop for the evening.

After a couple hours of sawing, resawing, jointing, planning, sanding, and finishing the project is complete. They started out as oak and walnut logs from our woods.  After processing the wood we put a couple coats of poly on them.  Then the words were applied with a paint pen then a couple more coats of poly.

It is so much fun to share my shop with someone.  I can wait until the grand kids are old enough.

The cabinets are started

The practice face frame is complete.  It is the first of seven I have to make.  There are four more just like this one then two without the drawer slots.

I've decided to use Kreg pocket joinery for the cabinet construction.  This process drills holes at an angle in the back of the pieces then drives self-tapping screws in the making piece.  For my first attempt using them, it didn't go too bad.  I learned a few things that will be helpful making the other six.

After completing this cabinet, the remaining six will all be made at the same time to save set up time and increase consistency,  The practice cabinet will stand alone on one of the shop's side walls.  The others will be side by side, along the back wall, with a continuous top.

Fall Harvest

Image from maps.live.com

One of the things I love about where we live is the way we can use the various resources.  We love walking through our woods.  One of the times we were back there we found some large pieces of wood that had been cut up.  We noted they had also had a tarp placed under them to keep them off the wet ground.  The next summer we went back there thinking we were going to cut them up for firewood.  To our surprise, they were very large pieces of black walnut.  Since they no longer qualified as firewood, we let them be.

I haven't been back down there much since.  The trails through the woods have grown over and a ton of trees have come down in storms.  With the nice weather this weekend, I decided it was time to bring them up the hill.  The pieces were so large I couldn't even roll them so cutting them up was a painful necessity.  Below are the piecess I collected today.



To give you an idea of the size of these things, here is a picture of my size 13 boot on one of the average size pieces.

The best part, there are two pieces down there yet that are larger in diameter than my 20" chain saw,  The one is about 6 feet long but the other is only about 3 feet long.  On the other hand there are 2 or 3 walnut trees that are down in there too.  They are about 12 inches in diameter and 75 feet tall.  These trees are in a dryer area of the woods and are not fully on the ground so they will be good for a while yet.

My plan for this wood is turning blanks.  I may resaw some for use in other projects but not sure of that.  The logs need to dry out some more so there is time to decide.  I"m sure there is opportunity to sell some of it, but I hate to do that too.  I know if I sell it off, I will never get the opportunity to work with walnut like it again because of the price.  Now all I need is a full size lathe to be able to turn it on.

Below is the nostepinne I made from another walnut tree on my property.  I still have several feet of that branch in the shop waiting for the perfect project.