Shop update


Jim DaddyO

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A while ago I redeemed some of my points at the "Be The Pro" forum and this is opening the package.  Just a short one, using Lightworks as an editor for the first time.  It may be more software than I need, but over time I am sure I will get used to it.  I struggle with learning software and I relied a lot on the instructional videos that Lightworks has on it's sight.  I had to view things 3 or 4 times before it sunk in.  Movie Maker was nice and easy to use but without support from Microsoft I had to find something that works.  Movie maker, officially, is not compatible with Win 10, making another good argument to buy a Mac.

 

 

 

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I have been a member for about a year and earned enough points to get the Bosch 18V 1/2" drill/driver and this Router kit.  The points you get are dependant on the amount you post.  Of course it is monitored, so frivolous posts do not count.  If you sign up, put my name (Jim DaddyO) as a reference and I get points for that too.

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Snow

That is just about the only thing I have been dealing with for the last week.  I have had the snowblower out every day and today it is still snowing.  Just doing our driveway and the paths can tucker a guy out.  I do a bit extra so Lil' Lee has a place to run around and guard the place against marauding squirrels.  She is always curious about what they are up to. 

The lady across the street from me had a bit of a time with her snow blower, so I did her driveway once for her.  The neighbour behind me backed out of his driveway and got his truck stuck as soon as he got on the road, so a few of us got him dug back into his driveway.  Also, another neighbour is recovering from heart surgery, so there is no way he can do his, so I go over and clear his driveway and deck.  I have a new pass time I guess.  One that I really didn't want.  At least not to this extent.  I move snow, and the rest of the time is recovery....lol.

I do have footage to edit.  I will have to get around to editing that soon.  The last part of the essential oil cabinet has to be made.  I want to get more comfortable with this new video editing software first.  I have a few other bits too, but not much.  I have not had much in the way of shop time due to the weather.  I did get a bit more ceiling insulated, and got some footage of that.  It will be coming out eventually.

I have been watching Lightworks tutorial videos and trying to get comfortable with it.  I figured it was about time I put something up, so I went and shot this today and put it together.  More as an exercise as anything else.  This is one powerful program and will do more than I will ever need.  It is also pretty complex, so I will play some more with it and get some more video together as I go.

So, what was I up to today?

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I love my Bosch Glide mitre saw.   It is a wonderful piece of machinery.  If you have been following along though, you will realize that it does have some short comings.  One of them is the dust chute.  Here I do a simple job, with a reclaimed inner tube from a wheel barrow, to improve it a bit.  It is still not perfect, but it is a lot better.  I suppose that having the vacuum or a dust collector hooked up would improve it more, but I do not have the power to the shop yet, so we will have to wait to see what that does.

 

 

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I did some more work to the shop a few weeks back.  I finally got up the desire to get the footage put together.  I must admit that I have been pretty inactive lately.  I guess there must be some bear in my, wanting to hibernate all winter.

 

I am embellishing a bit of course.  I do have my chores to do around the house, and winter has not been all that bad this year, relatively speaking.  It has been pretty mild.  Not so much the last couple of days, but I am not going to complain.  A little chill in the air makes it easier to split the firewood.  Still, not much going on in the shop.  The last thing I did in there was bring in the snow blower to repair the recoil starter.  Of course, I had to sweep the snow up after.  I guess I am digressing here....back on topic.

 

I managed to scrape up a few dollars and get another bundle of insulation.  Here I go about putting it up and getting the shop a tiny bit closer to being done.  At least this part of it.  I don't think a shop ever is truly "done".  It is always in a state of flux, changing as needs arise and work patterns develop.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I sometimes remember to get the camera rolling and pass on knowledge that was passed on to me.  I often don't have anywhere to put them though, so I started a new series.  Doc's Little Docs.  We all started out knowing nothing, and often times, small bits of knowledge go by the wayside because people just assume that they are common knowledge.  So although you may think that some of the ideas are self evident, or that everyone knows that, I think little ideas are worth preserving just to make sure.

 

 

 

 

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Not quite happy with the insert provided by Bosch, I decided to build my own.  It is a pretty common thing on most mitre saws and should help give a nicer cut.  Of course, I kept the original in case I have to tilt it over on the bevel adjustment.  This will handle everything else.  I rarely use the bevel anyway.  I just stick to mitres and straight cuts for the most part. 

I am still getting accustomed to Lightworks.  It is much more powerful than what I need, but I am getting some of my routine tasks down and getting more comfortable with it.  This time I decided to add some music.

It is quite hard for me to decide on what to use for music.  There are some good ones out there, but not long enough.  I tend to go for something with acoustic guitar in it.  I guess that comes from my love of the instrument.  Some, I find, say it is acoustic guitar, but is more keyboard than anything else.  This leaves me on a quest that can last for hours to find what I want.  Your ears can get tired by then.  Fortunately, YT has a bunch and you can mark favourites.

So, today is my birthday, so I guess this is my birthday gift to you.

 

 

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I spent yesterday cleaning and tuning up the router plane I got from Matthew Morris.  I also decided to edit the video and get it posted on You Tube.  It was a long day and I am pretty tired today from staying up so late, so without much fanfare and ado, I am just going to drop it in here.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Have not been doing much in the way of anything lately.  Now that spring is here though, I guess I have to start coming out of "hermit" mode and get going on a few things.  I have some dead branches and branches growing into other trees on the lot that need trimming.  It is a good time to tune up the pruning saw.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of the things most folks who fix things have is a file, or two, or a bunch, depending on what you need them for.  They come in all shapes and sizes depending on their purpose.  Files are made from very hard steel.  One would think that they would be hard to damage, but they will dull.  Particularly if, like me, you store them all together in a drawer of a tool box.  You really want to protect them from banging into each other.  It does them no good at all.  I spend a couple of pennies and a few minutes to protect them from each other.  Here is another of my "Doc's Little docs" on how I do it.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

School budgets are pretty slim. They come out of our tax dollars and I think we all feel the same way about taxes. In one of our local public schools they have a bunch of inexpensive guitars for their music program. They are bought used, or donated, so most are in pretty rough shape. Particularly after a few years of being banged on by a bunch of kids. 

Here I am shimming a nut on one of them. An Oscar Schmitt that is buzzing from the nut being too low. I do not charge anything for my time, and I try to keep parts cost to zero also. Just make them play so a kid can experience the instrument that I love. I am not much of a player myself, but I do think that having both hemispheres of the brain engaged during school hours is important, so this is my small way of paying it forward.

 

 

A quick mod to a shelving unit I have in the shop.  Not the most exciting or complicated build, but needed, and I got to play with some tools too! 

 

 

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10 hours ago, Jim DaddyO said:

School budgets are pretty slim. They come out of our tax dollars and I think we all feel the same way about taxes.
 

School systems are not poor, they are just grossly mismanaged.  Our local school board has made cuts to SPEC ED, and increased class sizes due to "budget cuts".  Then, last week, they created a new super ind. position (in addition to all the existing supers), to the tune of 200K.  This does not include his/her assistants (2 people) or annual allowances for mileage, etc.

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2 hours ago, Pug said:

School systems are not poor, they are just grossly mismanaged.  Our local school board has made cuts to SPEC ED, and increased class sizes due to "budget cuts".  Then, last week, they created a new super ind. position (in addition to all the existing supers), to the tune of 200K.  This does not include his/her assistants (2 people) or annual allowances for mileage, etc.

That must make a huge difference in improving a child's education (sarcasm).  I think the money ought to go where it benefits the kids the most.  Your story is a sad one.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have not been editing video lately.  We have been doing those spring jobs and enjoying being outside.  The lawn and the gardens are under way.  Slowly things are getting cleaned up from the winter.  It was not a harsh winter this year, but it took a while for it to warm up.

I do have a bunch of video to take and jobs to do, and I have a bunch of video to edit too.  Just have not been up to doing it lately. 

Well, today the UPS truck rolled up to the door and dropped off my latest redemption from the BTP forum.  So I threw a quick video together and posted it.  A new Bosch 18V jig saw and some blades.  Such nice tools.  Bosch makes great stuff and I am getting a nice collection of them.  Thank goodness for Bosch sponsoring the forum, I would never be able to afford them otherwise.  We live on a pretty meagre budget.

As I mention, or try to mention a few times in the video, I am not converting over to a guitar video format.  The stars just lined up and I have had a bunch of guitar work to do, and some yet to do, so there will be a few guitar related videos in the works.  I also finally finished my daughters birthday present.  That video will have to be edited and put up too.  It took a long time and the project seemed to fight me all the way.  So much for trying to keep something simple.  It seemed things had to be done 3 times before I had success.

Well, here is my newest video.  A bit of an update, a bit of a tour, a bit of me rambling on, and a new toy, all outdoors under the nice sunny sky and with a lot of wind noise.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 I have been lax on getting videos edited and put up.  I have an ever increasing amount of footage to go through and had to cut that pile down a bit.  It gets a bit intimidating at times when you see how many files there are.

This job was a bit of a head scratcher.  Tracking down a buzz and figuring out how to fix it.  The school is pretty happy with the work, so all is OK.

No, I am not changing my format to a guitar repair channel.  I will leave that to more experienced folks.  It just turned out that I had a bunch of guitars come in that needed (and some still waiting) work.  I just try to get footage of what I am doing and put it together in some sort of story.  I usually don't know what I am going to do next.

 I do have a coffee table build coming up in the future, but that will be a while.  I went to meet a guy from a forum I belong to and a few of us went to a wood mill.  I ended up getting 3 nice slabs of ash and they are sitting in the shop right now.  It will take a few weeks to dry a bit more and get stable enough to work on, so that is on the "to do" list.  They are all sequentially cut 8/4 slabs about 20" wide and 53" long.  A little too narrow for what my wife wants in a coffee table, so I think there will be a book match going into it.  They are also a bit big for my machinery.  That means a bit of hand tool work will be involved.

In the mean time, I will try to get more editing done and keep shooting more.  Some short, some long.  Just like real life!  There are jobs lined up and ready to go, and film in the can ready to edit.  I just have to get my rear end in gear and get it done.

So, here is the latest for you...

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

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