Smoker Cart/Enclosure

[shaneymack]

Nope. The jointer was the latest step on that quest. so irritating. I should never have started with something so big. Boxes was the thing I should have done. And now the planer is being stupid so I may have to wait until I get a new one to get to the actual top glue-up!

Sorry to hear than man. Must be pretty frustrating. Planer purchase in the near future? Or maybe you can use someone elses ? Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk

[Coop]

Cliff, so you bought Eric's jointer or one like it?

What's your planer doing?

[estesbubba]

Cliff, so you bought Eric's jointer or one like it?

What's your planer doing?

He bought Eric's Bryd head and Eric threw in the jointer for free...or something like that. 

[Coop]

Guess I missed that part, thanks

[Cliff]

Sorry to hear than man. Must be pretty frustrating. Planer purchase in the near future? Or maybe you can use someone elses ? Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk

It is very frustrating. I thought this free planer was the answer to my worries and turns out it's just causing me more problems. I'd get the Dewalt 735 if I could. But there just isn't $600 in the budget for a long while. Spent way too much this year and just bought the jointer. I do know a couple of guys with planers, one is a pro though and I feel bad jumping in there and asking him to do stuff for me. The other is one of those guys that seems very protective of his tools. He doesn't like others touching them and I get the sense he doesn't care to do favors. I don't know him well. 

So we'll have to see what happens. Maybe I can convince the wife to let me take some of the tax refund  Honestly, I may not have needed one yet if the lumber yard had any 8/4 cedar. But they didn't so I had to laminate some and it moved, plus it was a little too thick.

 

Cliff, so you bought Eric's jointer or one like it?

What's your planer doing?

I bought his jointer. Went down there a week ago and picked it up. 

I started a thread in the power tool section to see if anyone has experience with my planer. But long story short it seems like the blades are not parallel to the bed.  So after I run a board through and test it for square it's off by a significant amount. And it's so ridiculously old that the manuals for it online are, I think, way different. 

Guess I missed that part, thanks

It was a great deal. Eric's skills have clearly outgrown that jointer. Mine haven't grown into it yet  Works out for everyone.

[Coop]

Good for you on the deal, sorry about the planer. Yeah, I think Eric must pull a vacuum from one side of his board and straight edge and if air gets thru, he's done and buys a new one?

[Cliff]

He's put time in on his Grizzly tools and deserves an upgrade, I figure. I went through the same thing with guitar playing, after a while I decided I needed a $3000 guitar even though I just do it for a hobby. I wanted the performance from a finely crafted and tuned instrument. 

[Eric.]

The deal I gave Cliff was great for Cliff but was good for me too...I got that jointer out of my shop quickly without having to deal with the serial killers on craigslist, and I get to help out a fellow forum member who's just getting started.  I'm not really in the charity business but there's value in convenience.  As long as that Grizzly doesn't burn his shop down one day, we're all happy.

[Cliff]

The deal I gave Cliff was great for Cliff but was good for me too...I got that jointer out of my shop quickly without having to deal with the serial killers on craigslist, and I get to help out a fellow forum member who's just getting started.  I'm not really in the charity business but there's value in convenience.  As long as that Grizzly doesn't burn his shop down one day, we're all happy.

Absolutely. It would have been impolite for me to kill you as a fellow forum brother. It is not done, being impolite. 

[Cliff]

After picking up a new planer and devising a suave dust collection method - 

I was finally back on track. 

 

 

I had 4 sections of boards to glue up for the panel. Sadly, it wasn't enough. I'm dumb. I glued 3 and then turned to the old wood I had abandoned months ago. I ended up flattening a face and squaring an edge on a couple of pieces then laminated them. Then I can plane them down to the correct thickness and add it to these ones that I already have in the clamps. 

Really hoping to have the top of this project all done by the weekend so I can start working on the doors. I can't even imagine not having this darn thing to work on. It's been so very long. But I've learned so much, so that's how it goes.

[Cliff]

Last few nights have been productive and disastrous as the same time. I laid out my circle with the utmost care. Or at least, the circle represents the smoker, I need it to be at least an inch bigger all the way around.

 

Then I attached the circle jig to the router and started going at it.

Then of course, the bit broke and so did the router. So that is going to repair shop. Luckily I had a spare router that was exactly the same model (but newer.) Unfortunately - the plunge mechanism is stuck. It took me 20 mins to get the knob turning and once I did nothing happened. So I guess I have two routers to send in for repair. 

Luckily I have the router table one solved - 

I'll have to purchase another probably for non-table action. Or just get these fixed. Or both?

I knew there was no way I could wait to find someone that had a router that would fit my jig (the Triton won't, unless I drill holes) so I said "eff you wood" and whipped out the jigsaw. 

 

Honestly it went way smoother than I thought it would. Of course there was tearout where the circle fell out

And the inside looks like garbage

So I have some clean up to do with the inside, and the tearout was sanded and will be on the bottom where it will never be seen. 

I used the ROS to sand everything flush on bottom and top. And of course while turning it over I kinda dropped it and caused this - 

 

So now I get to fix that. I'm not quite sure how to get glue in there. The acid brushes I have are much too small. I am guessing tape the bottom and pour epoxy in then clamp? Any thoughts?

 

Edited November 20, 2015 by Cliff
Removed a pic

[wdwerker]

I tape around the crack and use the edge of a sheet of paper to pull the glue down into the crack.Thin plastic sheets work as well. I put a bead of glue along the crack then run the thin sheet thru the crack at a slight downward angle and go back and forth from both directions.

Another trick is to use a shop vac from below to pull the glue down into a crack.

[Cliff]

I tape around the crack and use the edge of a sheet of paper to pull the glue down into the crack.Thin plastic sheets work as well. I put a bead of glue along the crack then run the thin sheet thru the crack at a slight downward angle and go back and forth from both directions.

Another trick is to use a shop vac from below to pull the glue down into a crack.

Both are great ideas. Thank you!

[davewyo]

If you're using PVA glue you can thin it a little with water (up to 5%).

Also a hypodermic-type needle can help to inject the glue where it needs to be.

Edited November 21, 2015 by davewyo

[shaneymack]

This could work also Cliff

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=20004&cat=1,110,42967

Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk

[Cliff]

Hmm I wish I could get those lee valley ones by tomorrow.  I may have to go look for syringes. Cause the crack is very very small. 

[SawDustB]

If it were me, I'd be tempted to force it apart completely to get a good glue bond and clamp it. CA glue also works wonders for getting down into a joint like that.

[Cliff]

I don't have CA glue - but my first question is - is it waterproof? This is an outdoor table that I will not be covering. Which is why I plan to use West Systems Epoxy. Though, I gotta figure out what the min temp is for it cause it's 29 degrees right now. 

[Gary Gilbert]

I have this stuff.  http://www.gorillatough.com/gorilla-glue

[SawDustB]

I don't have CA glue - but my first question is - is it waterproof? This is an outdoor table that I will not be covering. Which is why I plan to use West Systems Epoxy. Though, I gotta figure out what the min temp is for it cause it's 29 degrees right now. 

Yes, CA glue is waterproof. By all means, go the epoxy route if you want, it'll certainly work. I don't have any of the good epoxy around right now since you have to buy it by the gallon around here, and I'd never use it before it started to go funny. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Cliff]

Yes, CA glue is waterproof. By all means, go the epoxy route if you want, it'll certainly work. I don't have any of the good epoxy around right now since you have to buy it by the gallon around here, and I'd never use it before it started to go funny. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

It goes funny? Cause Marc said in the video that it lasts forever. That's why I bought the gallon size.

[SawDustB]

It goes funny? Cause Marc said in the video that it lasts forever. That's why I bought the gallon size.

It lasts for a long time, but it may depend on how you store it. I had a large container of it and over the course of a few years its container corroded and it started to ooze out the bottom. I also had just left it in the garage, which meant that it was down near freezing for part of the year. The pumps also start to stick if you don't use it very often. For someone like Marc, who uses a fair bit of it, this would not be an issue.

[Cliff]

I gotcha. Yeah mine tipped over and some of it spilled out, either cause it corroded or .. the pump was lose. I brought them in the house to the basement with finishes and glues last week. good thing since we got 6 inches of snow then it dropped to 0 last night. 

[Cliff]

I finally got a working router and advanced to the next stage. 

Used a chamfer bit on the circle cutout and the edges for the top. 

 

Then took it into the basement to finish it.

I'm not gonna lie - I'm even more noob in finishing than in the other parts. Those that gave me some advice in the finishing thread the past couple of days - this is the result that sent me whining to the forum for help.

 

I don't like leaving it with the flaws but I had already put 2 coats on by the time I asked for advice. Next year I'm probably going to send the visible parts of the entire smoker cart and put marine varnish on it. For now, this thing just needs to get done and out.

Next up is attaching the top and doors. Unfortunately the doors may end up waiting a long time due to the shop being too cold  and the motor for the jointer going in for repairs.

[Cliff]

Finally got the top on. All that is left is doors (3) and trim. Which will happen as soon as there is a motor back in the jointer. As you can see in upper left, I tore it out. Going to replace both bearings on the cutter head too, just because. 

The top, which is relatively correctly sized, revealed that the bottom is pretty far out of square. If I put trim underneath on the back I'll have to taper it to hide how far off it is. That's ok. A year ago this idea was floating around in my mind, and most of the major mistakes I made (of which there might just be 100+) were mostly in the first couple of months when I was most lost. So I can't help but be pleased so far.