..Kev Posted December 7, 2016 Report Share Posted December 7, 2016 A little wax on the block will help as well. Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AJ_Engineer Posted December 15, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 OK let me see where I left off. I've been slacking about updating. Made some dogs. Cut them all on the bandsaw as I do not have a router table, including the taper on the ends. Cleaned up the taper with a block plane and that was simple. Glued up the remaining two legs (rear). Had to glue up 3 boars in total to get the full width based on the wood I had left. I've got lots of leftovers in the 1-2" width though so it was nice to use some of it. Marked up the mortises and removed the bulk of the material with the drill press which made the router work a lot less exciting. Still not terribly happy with how they turned out. Got a bit over on occasion with the drill press so some sides are not flat in the mortise. That can be seen in the short rail mortise (lower in the picture above). Next time I will use a bit one diameter down and do more cleanup with the router. But hey, it's a workbench and they are hidden. Queue the cleanup crew. Similar work on the front left leg for the large mortise for the criss-cross mechanism. Cleaned up the sides with the router + edge guide. Picked up a new hole saw size to cut the large counterbore and use the drill press to remove the material. Setting the drill press stop actually allowed for some fairly accurate depths on the bottoms which I was quite pleased with. Very little cleanup and didn't even need to use my router plane. Poor thing hasn't been used yet. And dropped my little brass mallet in the process. Now I need a lathe since I need a new handle. Also knocked out some short rails. And then some long rails. A bit of fitting on the tenons and I am happy with them. Drilled out the holes for the drawbore pegs in the legs and got the rails all marked. Need to pick up some dowel stock. It was at this point I realized the front rail in the Benchcrafted plans is significantly wider than the cut list I was using. Then I saw the addendum videos Marc did for the new Benchcrafted hardware which were uploaded just shortly after I had downloaded the entire set. Whoops. So I'm going with a hybrid option and cutting the tenon on the long rail a bit short to clear the criss-cross mortise and then drawboring the joint. I don't really ever plan on taking this thing apart but I like the big barrel nuts so I'm still using them Started drilling for the barrel nut bolts through the tenons. Bit was not really designed for hardwood and started getting quite hot so I had to take it slow, didn't want to ruin the steel. When I was taking it out of the hole the dust on it was smoking. And that's where it sits. T-minus one week until the in-laws get here so lots of shop time to come. Need to do the relief hole in the front right leg but I want to get the base lined up on the underside of the slabs first to verify locations. I still need to pick up a piece of wood for the leg chop. Not quite sure what I'll do here. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 oh so close...Looks awesome!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 Nice job on the build so far ! Brings back old memories. Plunge.....plunge.....plunge..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 Bench is coming along nicely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 Looking very nice. I see you had some help also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Engineer Posted December 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 We will call this the 'update once every two weeks when I'm slow at the office' journal. Got the legs all done. When in doubt use a bigger drill. Got the legs all done and glued up the side frames. Picked up some walnut dowel stock and got everything put together. The drawboring worked as intended. Got the long legs attached. Due to not reading the changes with the latest Benchcrafted plans vs original Wood Whisperer plans both long legs were the same dimensions. This caused me to go with a hybrid approach with the front left leg and rail attachment and drawbore that connection. The others I used the barrel nuts. Got the mortises put into the tops for the base, and finally got it sitting on the floor. Still haven't cut the opposite end of the front slab to length yet. Had a few issues with my saw blade flexing and not square cuts out of my circular saw. Trusty assistant has also been helping. Got the clearance hole in the front right leg for the dog cut out. Got the front slab flipped over and the slot for the sliding deadman routed out with little issue. Moved on to the leg chop. Glued up a big messy conglomerate of pieces for it. Quite nice to have a tail vise on a somewhat level and flat workbench to work with now Then a Christmas morning box cutter incident put me behind a bit. Remember to cut away from not only your body, but watch your other hand. But it's not bad so back to the shop the next day. Got the leg chop slot milled out and test fit the crisscross mechanism only to find I made a mistake drilling the hole in the leg. Got my dimensions switched around so the 3/4" and 7/8" dimensions got flipped around on the leg. So my hole was 7/8" back from the edge which isn't the important dimension, it's actually the distance from the bottom of the mortise to the hole which was too little and I had some binding. Had to use my router and take 1/8" out of the bottom of the mortise. For the hole in the chop I set the hole centered on the depth but copied the mistake of the vertical clearance to ensure things lined up. So my leg then matches at 3/4" on each dimension. That led to far too much toe-in. Fixed by deepening the mortise in the leg where the bearing plate rides. This in essence moved the entire criss-cross mechanism 1/8" deeper into the leg. At the moment my gap at the bottom is sitting at 3/8" which is at the maximum range recommended by Benchcrafted. Will see how this functions when fully assembled and adjust accordingly by making either of the mortises deeper at the bearing plate locations. Got the thru hole in the leg chop drilled and the mounting holes drilled and tapped with relative ease. And that's where things sit. Not sure if I want to shape the leg chop any more. For now I just eased the edges with a slight chamfer. Next up: Finish mounting the leg chop hardware and ensure function Shelf runners Finish hard to reach areas with oil. Will put poly on the leg bottoms I think. Cut top to length and flatten 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Looking good. Sorry about the box cutter. Those things can sure cut deep fast. I say shape the chop to your liking. My chop is one of the first things people notice. It's also shaped like a coffin so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Nice progress! Always feels great to get them flipped over and looking like a real bench! Nasty cut! At least you got some shop help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Coming along nicely and getting close to the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Capwn Posted December 27, 2016 Report Share Posted December 27, 2016 Quote Then a Christmas morning box cutter incident put me behind a bit. Remember to cut away from not only your body, but watch your other hand. Ouch! Yeah, that pesky other hand seems to get in the way. One time I was drilling a hole into a piece of plastic (a speaker mount, to be exact) while my other hand was holding it. Guess what happens to soft pinky fleshy stuff when a drill bit suddenly breaks through the plastic and plunges into it? Needless to say, the little "whirlpool" scar on my left hand serves as a reminder to keep both hands out of the way of sharp things. Glad you are all stitched up and ok! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 Looking good and ouch with that cut! My gap was pretty big on the bottom of the chop and no issues at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 The bench looks great! The cut not so much...ouch. I have about 5/16-3/8 ish and it works awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Engineer Posted December 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 Good to hear about the gap not being an issue. Now back to the shop to do some sanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AJ_Engineer Posted January 1, 2017 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Progress continues! Got some finish put on the base when I had the tops off. After that was done I was able to finish installing the leg vise hardware. Switched out the supplied screws (who does slot head screws these days?) with some torx Spaw pan head screws. Much easier to deal with. Got the base flipped over and put poly on the end grain of the legs. 20 minutes of soaking it in and putting more on. Cobbled together a router sled. Yes one side rail is higher than the other because I can't read my own notes . That actually worked out nicely and let the power cord not get bound up as it comes out the side of the body while allowing higher stiffness from the higher leg. Note the screws protruding from the base to keep it from sliding off the rails. Flattening went OK. Leveling the rails was a bit of a pain, the only wire I had that wasn't 12ga was some 30ga ni-chrome that wouldn't take a lot of tension to get the slack out without some trickery. But I got it sorted out. Very little difference of about 1/8" or less between deepest and shallowest cuts. Had something off where one side of the bit was higher than the other so I was left with noticeable ridges in the top. Cleaned everything off a few time and went back over everything multiple times. Even set the router in one spot and moved the sled lengthwise along the bench. That cleaned everything up OK. A few minutes of sanding at 150 grit cleaned it all up nicely. Got some finish on it before bed last night. Today will get the leg chop cut to length and start working on the shelves. At the moment I don't have the material for the sliding deadman so I will hold off and prioritize getting the shelves done. When I do my next project I'll get some material for it. Kid #2 is arriving rather shortly so it's nice to have this done beforehand. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Turned out awesome! Beautiful lifetime bench! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Looking Great AJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassAct Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 Wow. Just, wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted January 1, 2017 Report Share Posted January 1, 2017 She's a beauty. Benches are so much fun to make. I can see how some folks make several and even offer to help others. This one should serve you well for many years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 Your bench turned out great - not much left now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 What will you do with all of the holes in the top, epoxy ! Fantastic looking bench dude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Engineer Posted January 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 Well I am calling the workbench substantially complete. Got the hardware on the big wheel. Took off the leg chop and cut it to length. That was a bit worrisome but it turned out fine. Also put the bevel on the leg chop and here it is. Got the shelf supports on the short legs installed. Forgot to cut the dado prior to gluing up the legs so they are just screwed on. Not worried about capacity at all. Also got the shelf boards all cut. Had to run out to the hardware store and buy another 4" of S4S for the shelf since I ran out of flat stock. Easier than the long drive to my hardwood supplier. So a few shelves are different widths but hey, it's a workbench. What is left: Sand and finish the shelves, finish the top of the leg chop (may have to take the height down 1/16" or so sometimes it closes with one side above the top), make deadman strip and attach, make a deadman sometime in the future when I have more stock. Then figure out how I am going to park it in my garage and move the rest of the tools around so I can get my truck in before hail season. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffie Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 Wow, this is truly beautiful. Great work! Remember, with substantial completion You are triggering the warranty period ;). But by the looks of the bench I would say final completion is almost there. Keep it going, would love to see more, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted January 3, 2017 Report Share Posted January 3, 2017 I wouldn't worry too much about getting even widths on the shelf boards. I used a bunch of knot filled off cuts of various widths to fill it up. Planed to equal thickness, Buried the Dado stack in the fence and ship lapped all. Then filled it up with my most used jigs, two most used routers, rough and finish sander and some miscellaneous supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post pkinneb Posted January 3, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 3, 2017 Looks great!! I went with left overs for my shelf and had varied widths from 4" to 7" wide I did the ship lap joints and I think it turned out fine. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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