Guido_de Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 Hi everyone, I’d like to use this thread to post pictures and build progress of my outdoor table build. The idea was triggered by Marc’s most recent videos on the free site of TWW. While the general proportions will follow Marc’s design, the table will be a little less rustic. In essence, it will be a plain table with stretchers underneath the table top and a leg in each corner – not fancy anything there. Before I start with the project, I’d like to briefly describe where I’m standing with regard to woodworking: I started playing around with wood about 15 months ago and was largely motivated by the Marc’s videos. These videos opened a new world for me and ever since I have spent quite a bit of time and money in and on the shop. Not that I’d regret anything;). The outdoor set will be my biggest build so far. I’m based in Germany which might explain why some of the powertool brands I use are not that familiar to you. Also, I do work with the metric system;). The project will be build from rough cut douglas fir that I acquired recently. Unfortunately the six large boards were not enough, which will mean that I need to buy a bit more from a home centre. The work will be done mostly using powertools, however, due to a small combined jointer and planer and the lack of a drum sander handplanes will be used to flatten the bench and table tops. The first step was laying and roughing out the pieces from the 2,5m*,35-,5m 4cm thick boards using a track saw. The last shot shows the stack of cut boards. I mssed uup the shots a bit, next psots will have photos of a higher quality. Next step, when my rollerstands are delivered, will be the breakdown of the remaining pieces on the table saw, followed by milling. I intend to mill the pieces as I need them and will start with the benches to get a feel for the construction and the big table glue up. Cheers Guido Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdie Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion - you may already know this but it's not clear from you writing: You obviously will be using multiple boards to fashion the top. When milling them, mill *ALL* the boards for the top at the same time. Make your first pass on all the boards, adjust your settings, make the next pass, etc. This will insure that all your pieces end up at the same thickness and you'll end up with a more even surface. Good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guido_de Posted October 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 No offense taken - it is a very valid point that could easily become the source for immense frustration. Fortunately, I was aware of this issue. To help me with an even surface I plan on using small Dominos to help with the alignment of the individual boards - has worked well for me in the last project. Roller stands (made in PRC...) arrived yesterday, which means I'm ready to go tonight. Will start on the material for the benches. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guido_de Posted October 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Started milling last wekk, but I got interrrupted by a noise complaint (oups;)) and also discovered that my jointer is not properly aligned. I realigned the tables yesterday evening and as such I needed to realign the blades as well. It was the first time messing with that bit of the setup and I discovered that the joint, which I but of a German CL equivalent, came with the wrong blades. Alignment of the blades is done using two small t-shaped screws before the blade is locked to the shaft. These bolts go into small recesses slots which my blades don't have - this directly translates to the fact that they are not secured against radial movement on the shaft (meaning they could potentialy fly away...). I'm currently trying to locate the right parts and will order those before I will continue any work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBaker Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Guido, you are very fortunate to have discovered this problem before it wreaked havoc in your shop. That was a good catch on your part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guido_de Posted November 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 I sorted out my issues with the jointer/planer combo - at least some of them... My remaining issues are: -jointer tables are not ideally flat -as a result setting them up to be adequately coplanar is somewhere between outright impossible and a royal PITA -I've never been entirely comfortable using the jointer - even though it's a nice nicely sized (~10") device to use -Using the planer is less troublesome, but it lacks any in- or outfeed tables thus requiring roller stands for anything exceeding a length of 20". Since the cutterhead is at a fixed height, any adjustment of the table (=the thickness) requires readjustment of the roller stands... not exactly what I would call efficient Since I had so much trouble I've decided to change my approach in dealing with rough lumber: Do initial flattening and jointing by hand, use the planer for thicknessing only. I'll initially try this with this build, if it works out I might get rid of the combo machine and buy a dedicated planer (Metabo 330DH, Makita 2012NB, Dewalt xxx). I'll miss the 3phase 380V 2,2KW motor though... Anyways, flattening the smaller stock for the bench legs by hand worked out quite alright and was good fun and exercise. The lack of a proper work bench does make things a bit more difficult. All larger parts of the project are currently stacked on my lightweight bench to add weight and the parts that are being worked on are placed on top. This works remarkably well, but, despite being 6’5” the height of the stack is a bit too high. I added a photo as proof that I’m actually working on the project… Progress is slow, mostly because of small detours: Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guido_de Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Well, it's done. My original plan of building it quickly was foiled due to various events including work, jointer trouble and a lack of motivation. Facts: -table 72"x34" -finished with douglas fir deck oil (generic product) -joinery using 10*50mm sipo (very important) dominos and, later in the project, 12*140mm hand made dominos -two benches for three people each (need to be shorted by about 1" so that they fit underneath the table) It was my first large project (large meaning the dimensions of the piece) and I learned a lot: -jointing large pieces -perfectly square edges are crucial to the success and also something this table lacks -edge jointing 70" long pieces by hand is not that easy -first breadboard ends, done with a domino xl (see below) -don't build a project with a small amount of lumber forcing you to use every bit of it (see below) I used a deck oil for finishing purposes. The pictures show the table on its first evening outside. Since then (3 weeks) I have made some alarming discoveries: -two gluelines in the top have partially deterioated -several cracks and splits have appeared. I suppose they were in the wood a along - I must have missed them.- I should have thrown away more wood at each board's end and trimmed off more of the sapwood -breadboards with dominos are a valid concept. The top was flush in the shop (rather humid basement). The table contracted 1.5mm each side (total of 1/10") within 4 days after moving it upstairs for finishing, reexpanded after taking it outside (poor thing got hit by a severe thunderstorm (4 days)). As far as I can tell the breadboards worked fine, allowing for that much expansion using dominos is tricky though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Don't beat yourself up, without consequences there would be no learning. The pictures don't show the defects you describe so, had you not mentioned them, nobody would have known. From where I sit, it looks like a great table! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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