estesbubba Posted June 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 T might be kicking my butt with his Roubo build but I kicked his butt with mulch. Unfortunately spring projects have kept me busy but I finally got around to gluing up the front and back this weekend. Moving the front winding stick every foot and both slabs came out with no twist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FtrPilot Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 Very nice! I am glad to see your Roubo back at the top of your priority list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 Awesome Mike! I'm thoroughly jealous of the amount of room you have to work with while building. Looks like you're making progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Looking awesome Mike! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenaqua Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Awesome job! I made the bench before doing mulch in case I royally messed up I could just use all the wood on the bench for the mulch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 Well after another couple of weeks of nothing a buddy stopped over this morning and we milled the top to final thickness. Starting with the front slab at the jointer with the roller stands just below the tables. After several passes we just couldn't get anything to come off the back end of the slab. Realized that even though the infeed roller was below the table, the weight of the slab was boxing the infeed table down. We tried freehanding it but realized that the damage was done so went with plan B. So now instead of working from the bottom which original was perfect I had to address the top. The top was flat lengthwise but winding sticks showed the end third needed some attention. Well just like Greg had to do with his top, I had to go from a plane collector (never used one before), to seeing what I could do. So I broke the LN LAJ out which had be lonely since coming out of the box and went to work. Well I surprised the crap out of myself and got the winding sticks on the entire length! Instead of starting with the bottom wedge on the planer beds we started with the top. Once the wedge was removed we flipped it and planed to 4 1/32". The back slab was all planer and went very smoothly and came out perfect. I hit the tops with the card scraper and amazed that just a few areas of tearout on the ends that will be cut off. Dust collector was working great pulling all the chips from the wide slabs. With summer here and more humidity the front slab is 1/16" wider now and back slab 3/32" wider. I'll have to adjust some measurements accordingly because once fall and winter get here they'll be back to original size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted June 28, 2015 Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 Awesome stuff Mike! Looks like the shop buddy is ready for a treat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 Amazing what 3 weeks and humidity can do to even a monster slab. The back dips 1/16" over 97" and was perfectly flat 3 weeks ago. My thoughts are to put the concave side towards the gap stop that way both ends are snug and the center has a little play. What do you guys think? Good news is both tops are perfectly flat and so is the front face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted October 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 Back on the Roubo tomorrow after 4 months off! I had 2 different unrelated surgeries during this time and have been on 15 lbs. restrictions but finally off them. Even the printed plans for this beast are heavy so I've done nothing since June. I checked both slabs this evening and both top surfaces are great. Using my Lee Valley straight edge I couldn't fit a 0.010" feeler gauge anywhere under either slab. In a few places I could fit a 0.005" gauge but it hit the bottom of the straight edge so in pretty good shape.The edges of the front slab are dead on. The back slab still has a 1/16" dip along it but it's not as critical. The front slab is 4.02" thick now a 1/16" wider than the plans. The back slab is 3.98" thick and also 1/16 wider than the plans. I have to pay attention to dimensions especially on the front slab because of changes in the slab width over summer. Looking forward to getting back on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 Awesome Mike! Glad to hear you are healthy and back at it ! I will be following along! Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 We took a much needed camping trip last weekend and I winterized the fifth wheel so the season is officially over. Back at it today and took my time to make sure I didn't screw up the front top - I checked every resource I had!I used my Festool TS 55 REQ for the slab tenon and it came out great. The first time using this saw was to cut the ends and today was the second time. Nothing like breaking it in cutting 4" hard maple - couldn't let if off easy cutting 3/4" plywood all its life. I cut the rest of the tenon using a hand saw and flushed it up using a block plane and chisel. Hard maple end grain will make a sharp chisel seem like you're using an axe, but it had no problem drawing blood. I used my router plane (for the first time too) to clean up the tenon shoulders. I had to remove the stop to get enough length to reach them. I laid out my lines for the screw cavity. Following the instructions with the rod flush and flange 2 7/8 from the front, mine came to 13 1/8" instead of 13 3/4" like the instructions said. Looking at the Benchcrafted instructions it says you can go up to like 17" so I think doing 14" that Marc's plan recommends will be fine. Since I have the Benchcrafted rosewood knobs I think I'm going to just use hard maple for the end cap. Comparing them to cherry or walnut they just don't match, and since the machined wheels and knobs are nice, I want them to stick out. Since some people having problem with Google Photos - https://goo.gl/photos/cfGjxY2oynJc5Doc8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 26 passes with the router was a little scary with the edge passes wanting to take off but happy how the screw cavity turned out. My 1/2" Whiteside solid carbide spiral bit was awesome and is still razor sharp. I also have the end cap all milled up and ready to go. The project is really becoming fun now that the grunt work of milling mister slabs is behind me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Looking great Mike! Screw cavity looks nice and clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Handheld routing the big mortise was beyond my comfort level and I decided to use the router table and it came out great. The end cap is .007" proud of the slab so I need to knock a bit off maybe with a hand plane. Now I need to figure out the best size pattern bit to order for the dog holes and future operations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 That's a great fit on that tenon Mike. Nice work. I used the router table on the end cap as well. Anytime I can avoid handheld routing I will. Unfortunately you've got a lot of it coming up for the dog strip :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Nice tight fit Mike, looking good! Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Awesome Mike, glad to see you're back at it. End cap mortise looks great, and that cavity is super clean. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Looking great Mike! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Worked some more on the end cap tonight. Shaved .007" off the top to make it flush with the top. First time using a block plane other than practice and what a pleasure to use. Need to drill 2 more holes in the end cap but think my hardware is different for those. Going to check Tom's and Brian's thread before I drill those...plus it's a Monday.Tip of the day - don't remove your fortsner bit right after drilling through 3" maple! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 That's a great fit on that tenon Mike. Nice work. I used the router table on the end cap as well. Anytime I can avoid handheld routing I will. Unfortunately you've got a lot of it coming up for the dog strip :)The dog strip seems like natural handheld routing...now the end cap not so much. Might be an excuse to get a palm router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Nice work with the block plane Mike. You have some nice shavings there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Those are pretty nice shavings with a block plane. Why the forstner bit tip? Did you burn yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Worked some more on the end cap tonight. Shaved .007" off the top to make it flush with the top. First time using a block plane other than practice and what a pleasure to use. Need to drill 2 more holes in the end cap but think my hardware is different for those. Going to check Tom's and Brian's thread before I drill those...plus it's a Monday. For the bolt holes in the end cap you can follow Marc's videos completely. The only difference is in the nut hardware. In Marc's videos he uses a regular washer and nylon locknut. The kit now includes barrel nuts. Honestly, if I were to do this again, I'd dispense with the barrel nuts and just go with regular nylon locknuts. I honestly think the barrel nuts were more trouble than they were worth (getting them lined up was a PIA, and then having to remove them to route the rail mortises was another PIA). But I understand if you want to use them.If you're using the barrel nuts, a couple pieces of advice:1. Thread the bolt all the way through the nut before you install anything. The threads on mine were a tiny bit sloppy and it was hard getting the bolt through the nut initially. Some machine oil helps.2. Drill a larger hole than necessary for the nut. The nut requires a 7/8" hole, and it fits perfectly in that hole. So I drilled a 7/8 hole and ended up having to ream out the bolt holes a bit because there was zero play in the nut. So I would drill a 1" hole so that you have an extra bit of wiggle room in getting the nut lined up with the bolt.It's really not that bad, just take your time and make sure you lay out the holes correctly and don't end up with two extra holes in the bottom of your bench like I did Those are pretty nice shavings with a block plane. Why the forstner bit tip? Did you burn yourself? Yeah, I'm guessing that's the answer - I did the same thing a few times myself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Those are pretty nice shavings with a block plane. Why the forstner bit tip? Did you burn yourself? Yup! You would think that the wood smoking while drilling would have been a hint for me, but no, went to remove it and jumped back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Haha makes sense. I had the same jump back a while ago with a router bit. After cutting a 3 foot groove with a 3/4" bit. I think I heard the skin singe before even feeling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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