Category Archive: Posts by Tool

Jan 07 2012

Notes from the Workshop: 20120107

Categories:

January 7, 2012

In this edition of Notes from the Workshop, I’ll post pictures of the prototype wooden mallet I built, talk about my new toy, explain my fear about inspections, and explain why Google is out to get my Hand Picked News Feed. Wooden Mallet Protoype After seeing Steve Schuler post his …

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/notes-workshop-20120107/

Jan 03 2012

Homemade End Vise

Categories:

Circular Saw, Drill Press, Pine, Quick Clamp, Router Table, Shop, Table Saw

by benjamen

January 3, 2012

Click picture to view album* This past year it seemed like everybody was making a Moxon vise, a vise that you clamp to the top of your workbench to raise your workpiece up to a more comfortable sawing level. After seeing how simple they were to make, I got the idea to …

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/homemade-end-vise/

Dec 20 2011

Making a Wooden Ball Joint

Categories:

Baltic Birch Plywood, Drill Press, Oscillating Sander, Poplar, Rockler, Router Table, Table Saw

by benjamen

December 20, 2011

My wife and bought an Android tablet to replace the small TV in the kitchen that was taking up so much counter space. Of course the space saving part depended on mounting the tablet under the cabinet. While there are several good tablet mounts available for $20 to $40 on …

4 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/making-wooden-ball-joint/

Nov 16 2011

Completed Flat Cars

Categories:

Drill Press, Micro-Mill, Miter Saw, Oscillating Sander, Poplar, Red Oak, Router Table, Table Saw, Wooden Train

by benjamen

November 16, 2011

Once I was satisfied with the prototype flat car, I wanted to make a whole mess of them at once — nine in fact. I decided to create a few jigs to make production go more smoothly. I built the first jig for cutting out the wheels. It solved …

3 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/completed-flat-cars/

Nov 10 2011

Flat Car Prototype

Categories:

Cherry Tree Toys, Drill Press, Magnets, Miter Saw, Red Oak, Router Table, Table Saw, Wooden Train

by benjamen

November 10, 2011

One day, my son told me he didn’t have enough flat cars on his wooden railway. I figured that we could just buy him some more online, but I discovered that you can’t just buy flat cars, they only come in track sets (although I’ve been told by several people that the

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/flat-car-prototype/

Nov 04 2011

Fixing My Air Compressor

Categories:

Air Compressor

by benjamen

November 4, 2011

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my air compressor wasn’t recovering as fast as it should. It’s a two-cylinder, single-stage model and one of the cylinders was actually blowing air out of the intake instead of sucking air in. Since it was still operational, I made a note to myself …

1 comment

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/fixing-my-air-compressor/

Oct 17 2011

Crossover Track (Curved)

Categories:

Baltic Birch Plywood, Colt Router, Jig Saw, Maple, Pin Nailer, Router Table, Wooden Train

by benjamen

October 17, 2011

Click picture for slideshow My original idea for a crossover track was to have a connecting track that curved out of one track and into another, but it took me a while to figure out how to make one, so I built the straight crossover track …

6 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/crossover-track-curved/

Oct 17 2011

Crossover Track (Straight)

Categories:

Hard board, Miter Saw, Red Oak, Router Table, Table Saw, Wooden Train

by benjamen

October 17, 2011

Click picture to see slideshow After my son got his wooden train set for Christmas his birthday, I started building track for him, but my interested waned during the spring and summer. This fall I’ve started building some more wooden train accessories. As I’ve been documenting that process, I realized that …

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/crossover-track-straight/

Oct 10 2011

Big Curve, Little Curve

Categories:

Colt Router, Maple, Miter Saw, Oscillating Sander, Router Table, Table Saw, Urethane

by benjamen

October 10, 2011

Click picture to see slideshow My son’s preschool teaches writing with a system called Handwriting Without Tears. It is a much simpler character set to learn and can be represented by four simple shapes: big curve, little curve, big line, and little line. You can buy sets of …

3 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/big-curve-little-curve/

Oct 06 2011

Walnut Turner’s Cube

Categories:

Dremel, Drill Press, Misc. Toys, Miter Saw, Urethane, Walnut

by benjamen

October 6, 2011

Click picture for slideshow A few weeks ago I was digging through the free bin at Rocker and I found a 2-1/2″ square walnut cutoff. The only defect it had was a slight check in the end grain that would hopefully disappear when I cut the hunk of walnut into a cube. …

2 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/walnut-turners-cube/