Corona Virus Projects

[BladesNBarrels]

Thanks for the info; it's most useful!

Um, that's NOT a garage, that's a freaking warehouse. Dang that place is huge.

I have been looking at the Garage Condos since I first saw them at GarageTown at Highlands Ranch.
In 2008, with the recession, they were out of my price range, but I kept thinking about them.
I was finally able to manage one in Castle Rock this year, and it has been a great diversion from the corona virus restrictions.
By waiting, improvements to the design were made with each new development.
This is their latest and includes a sink with an on-demand water heater, a hose bib faucet by the door, an electric heater (commercial property, so the rates are pretty high), great lighting, 20-amp electric outlets all around, a 30-amp RV outlet, windows in the back wall and in the 14' door, a man door for access, an epoxy finished floor, and great insulation.
It has been my ultimate Corona Virus Project.
I am on the waiting list to get a mezzanine that will be about one fourth the square footage with a set of stairs. I can move the boat gear storage up to the mezzanine and have a work area below.
They are just finishing the build-out of their last units and should be done by mid to late March.

[Irving]

All finished up. I was really trying hard to put a correct handle and latch mechanism, but I had to give up and move on. Doing it out of a mig gun with 0.30 wire just wasn't going to happen. My plan was to use the mig wire as the handle and latch wire. The amount of work I tried to put into this just doesn't come through, but that's okay. I filed, sanded, used bondo, and primer, and more sanding on this. In the end, it just looks like I welded it and painted it at the same time. Oh well, I can learn those finishing skills on some other, preferably larger, project.

Original handle idea was way too big.


Had this idea, and I would just weld a top plate. That's as far as I got. I tried to build the handle the same way, but welding three tiny pieces of metal together turned out to be difficult because the weld pool was bigger than the part and would just melt everything together.



Using bondo was fun, but I was mixing up such a small amount, that I couldn't avoid using way too much hardener and it set-up way too fast for me to do a good job.


I got excited when I sanded it because it all felt so smooth, but ultimately I sanded too much/poorly because not only did every scratch and dent I was trying to fill still show up, but the bondo created lines and high spots so it looked worse than if I had just sanded the metal.


Primed with whatever filler primer I already had.


All done. I tried so hard to get the spacing correct.




I used that folded up piece of paper as a straight edge, and I used the font size on the tag from my reloader covers to try and gauge the font size for this. I painted with with a BBQ skewer. I went looking for tooth picks, but found the wood skewer to be better anyway since you can hold onto it. Thanks for looking.

[Great-Kazoo]

All finished up. I was really trying hard to put a correct handle and latch mechanism, but I had to give up and move on. Doing it out of a mig gun with 0.30 wire just wasn't going to happen. My plan was to use the mig wire as the handle and latch wire. The amount of work I tried to put into this just doesn't come through, but that's okay. I filed, sanded, used bondo, and primer, and more sanding on this. In the end, it just looks like I welded it and painted it at the same time. Oh well, I can learn those finishing skills on some other, preferably larger, project.

Original handle idea was way too big.


Had this idea, and I would just weld a top plate. That's as far as I got. I tried to build the handle the same way, but welding three tiny pieces of metal together turned out to be difficult because the weld pool was bigger than the part and would just melt everything together.



Using bondo was fun, but I was mixing up such a small amount, that I couldn't avoid using way too much hardener and it set-up way too fast for me to do a good job.


I got excited when I sanded it because it all felt so smooth, but ultimately I sanded too much/poorly because not only did every scratch and dent I was trying to fill still show up, but the bondo created lines and high spots so it looked worse than if I had just sanded the metal.


Primed with whatever filler primer I already had.


All done. I tried so hard to get the spacing correct.




I used that folded up piece of paper as a straight edge, and I used the font size on the tag from my reloader covers to try and gauge the font size for this. I painted with with a BBQ skewer. I went looking for tooth picks, but found the wood skewer to be better anyway since you can hold onto it. Thanks for looking.

Very nice gift and job putting it together.

[FoxtArt]

GJ Irving. Might be a producible novelty there, you know...

Or a really, really dark and expensive labeled pharmaceutical for Oregon.

[Irving]

Thanks guys.

GJ Irving. Might be a producible novelty there, you know...

Or a really, really dark and expensive labeled pharmaceutical for Oregon.

Gift went over pretty well. As far as a product, I thought it'd be a perfect Christmas ornament.

[BladesNBarrels]

A lot of work and rethinking, but the result is looking great.

[JohnnyEgo]

So this thing went on hold for a while during an epic period of work volume. I finally had to take a week off for my own sanity, so I had the opportunity to put some focused hours back into the card catalog. What is left is the 20% of construction that is dull and tedious and I have been avoiding. I managed to avoid it a little longer because my garage was so trashed out I don't think I had room to swing a hammer. Space is a tool, and one I was sorely lacking.

Chaos:


Just plain chaos:


All three of my workbenches were full of crap everywhere.


At least good enough to get started:





Mortising Domino (Floating Tenon) Holes

I'd been struggling with how I wanted to do the lattice. Struggling in the sense of not really wanting to use the Domino for the floating and through mortises, even though it was probably the best tool for the job. But very small errors in alignment across four separate boards turn into big differences in fit when everything is together. I used what I had, the parallel guide system, to try and make everything consistent when carving the holes. It was a mixed success.


For the cross pieces, I found it easier to just flip the Domino upside down, clamp it to the table, and feed the work from the top.


The tape over the knob is to remind me of which side I chose as a reference, and not fiddle with that adjustment

[JohnnyEgo]

Cutting Tenon Stock

I've got a box of 500 Domino tenons of various sizes, but the length of the tenons is fixed. I needed some short tenons for the top and bottom, and some longer ones that could join three pieces. So I found some scraps and started cutting some tenon stock.

Cutting to width first:


Cutting to thickness:


Rounding over at the router table:


It was actually about as fast to cut them to length by hand then to set up the bandsaw or tablesaw to do it for 12 tenons. Probably took about 5 minutes, tops.


This also gave me the opportunity to fix a mistake I had made where I ended up placing a Domino incorrectly, and had to cut another one adjacent to it. This sort of plug is called a 'dutchman'. Stuck the tenon stock in:


Trim to length with a flush-cut saw.


Plane it smooth with a flush plane.


Had I been thinking about it, I probably could have flipped the plug so the grain orientation would be a better match. However, this is on the inside back of the panel, and it will never be seen. So good enough.

[JohnnyEgo]

Stacking

I have all the parts I need to start stacking:








The cross pieces needed to be trimmed to width so that they will be flush with the back piece. Quick visit to the tablesaw.


Followed up with a block plane:


Good enough!


Everything ready for fitting:

[Irving]

Your ability to keep all of the components and order of operations straight makes me envious. Seems some of the steps are to fix an issue that you otherwise might not realize until 7-10 steps later in the process.