i-make.xyz

A picture frame from an old tabletop

2019-05-19T13:15:00-05:00

After I build the new Table for my mother, I collected the wood of the old table. So in this project, I convert part of the old tabletop to a picture frame as a present for my father.

The wood connection in the tabletop are quite deteriorated and do offer much resistance when I take it apart. After this step, I cut all the parts to the correct length. The glass and backer board of an old simpler picture frame defines the size for the new structure.

I’m under time pressure as this is a birthday present and I needed to get it done. So I use glue and screws to connect the sides and omit any fancy joinery.

To insert the glass, I cut a groove along the inside of the frame. I also cut some groves to strengthen the joints.

The last step is, as always painting. I choose to use a spray finish, as this took the least amount of time. In total, I applied two layers. In hindsight, it would have been better to add at least one another layer.

A bookstand to present my newest Kickstarter book

2019-04-28T01:07:00-05:00

I received the printed version of another webcomic book the other day. And I needed a stand to display the book nicely.

I build this project without a clear plan, just an idea that I need something which supports the book over the whole back as it is quite flexible. So I had a look in my wood storage for a pice big enough to construct this project. I picked a plywood board. And start layout some lines to cut the three parts I need from it; first the back, a smaller piece to prevent the book from falling off with rounded corners and finally an angled piece which holds the stand up.

The bottom part is added with glue and screws. I’m using screws here, so I don’t need to wait for the glue to dry and these will not be visible at the end. Next, I glue the final piece on to the back, instead of clamps, I use painters tape to hold the angled board until the glue is dry.

I finish the project by sanding all my pencil lines out. I don’t add a finish on this project, as you don’t see the wood anyway. The book on it is the critical part.

Building a cool mallet in the forest

2019-04-07T08:30:11-05:00

For the longest time, I require a mallet, and I finally took the time to build one, so I don’t need to use the regular hammer on my chisels. This was a particular project for me as I went into the forest to gather and build it. And If I remember it correctly, this was the first beautiful spring day of the year – a perfect moment for such an adventure!

I’ve found a suitable branch lying on the ground and started drilling a hole into it for the handle. Unfortunately, the battery on my drill dyed before I’ve finished the hole, but it was still long enough that I could proceed.

The next step was to search a branch for the handle, and cutting it to size. As my drill did not work anymore, I finished the mallet in my shop the day after. The first task was finishing the hole. Next, I sawed a vertical slot to the top of the handle, which allows me to insert a wedge and lock the mallet head into place.

The last step was to flatten the sides of the head with the disk sander. And as this is a rustic build no further sanding or finishing is needed!

Motorized lazy susan with marbles

2019-03-17T03:29:00-05:00

I needed a way to better present my projects at the end of the videos, so I built a Lazy Susan with marbles.

The first step was manufacturing a circle jig for the router. This worked perfectly, and I could cut the grooves for the marbles in both boards and also cut one of the boards into a circle.

In hindsight now I would not use a groove for the marbles but instead would just drill individual holes for each marble. As I have the problem that the marbles then to collect on one side when the load on the top is uneven.

To prevent the rotating board from falling out, I fastened it to the base via a screw in the center. And I don’t want this screw to be visible on the top, so I glue a small helper piece containing the screw to the bottom. But now the central part did not have enough clearance anymore, so I needed to remove some material there as well.

The next step is adding feet to the base, this also solves the problem, that the baseboard is quite warped – I should have used a different wood type, but this was the material I had on hand.

I initially tried to add the motor on the underside, but this did not work out, as it was pushing the top up causing the marbles to collect on one side. In the end, I opted to move the motor to the side, which does not look as lovely, but now it works which is way more important! I connect the power for the engine via a small dimmer module, which allows for some speed regulation.

I will need to find a better solution to attaching the motor cradle as the single screw I’m using right now is not strong enough and will wear out soon.

Custom nightstand for my daugther

2019-02-24T07:44:00-06:00

My daughter needed a nightstand for her new bed. So I designed one which can be placed alongside the back side of her bed. It contains a space for a water bottle, a small reading light and you can put books on the top.

The basic construction is a box with a front and a back. Inside the middle part, I install some spacers to make it more stable. I get all my materials ready cut from the big box store. It saves me some time as I don’t need to cut big sheets of wood.

In the initial plan, I was also thinking about adding some more special shelves inside of the stand – but I decided not to do this to simplify the build.

I’ve designed the project in such a way that the main body and the head part were detached. So when building it, I needed to combine the two separate elements again. And this was the area where I messed up. I’ve constructed the nightstand the wrong way around. So I needed to redesign the project in the middle of the build. Luckily I found an easy fix for my problem: I just turned the furniture around and installed an additional front plate on the old backside, this meant that I needed to fill some gaps as the initial backside was meant to be inset inside a rabbet. However, this was not a big deal. I used some leftover particle board and wood filler where needed.

The bottle holder is an inset shelf into the body of the nightstand. It is placed just at the right height for easy access when laying on the bed.

All the electrical wire was installed inside a cable conduit as the nightstand is fully enclosed. A total of two sockets are introduced, giving my daughter the option to charge her phone in the future, and they also provide some extra flexibility to connect devices in the room. Her room is in direr need for more sockets anyway.

After a light sanding, we applied two coats of a light blue colored paint, which my daughter picked. I like how the color transforms this pice. Moreover, I think the blue tone gives a nice contrast to the white bed.

The last step to finish this project off is installing all the cables and connect the sockets. The conduit I used already hat a pull wire inserted which was handy! Installing all the cables gave me flashback to my apprenticeship :-) When buying the lamp, I checked for a model which provided me with a simple installing option. I just needed to remove the existing clamp and screw it down to the stand after drilling an appropriately sized hole.

After finishing the project, I install it in her room. The nightstand fits perfectly on the bed, and my daughter is happy with it as well.

Disk sander and vice tool stand

2019-02-03T01:31:00-06:00

In the middle of last year, I got a small sanding disk from my late granddad. So after using it on the floor, it was time to give it a better place in my shop.

This project also involved moving my wood storage out of the shop to get more space. Moreover, I used it as a way to reuse some of my old wood and old screws. Most of the materials used in this project are reclaimed or reused from other projects. The stand looks a bit bad, but it is functional and works.

I’ve used whatever wood I had lying around in my shop. The wood used for the door and drawer belonged to my first ever furniture build I did some 15 years ago. It meant that I needed to piece some parts together to get it big enough. Especially for the top of the stand, as I had no leftover wood which was 60-by-60 centimeters big

Four boards, from an old pallet, connect the top and are stabilized with three diagonal braces. The base with the wheels was a leftover of a failed project to get my band saw onto wheels. I lastly found a good home for them.

As a drawer, I reuse my old scrap wood bin which I no longer need. I make the drawer a bit smaller before installing it. It will glide on two wooden rails.

The thin particle board I used to enclose the lower part did not work as intended, I was hoping that these would dampen the sound of the vacuum cleaner, but they are to thing for this. So I will need to think about this at a later point again.

The last part of the project is installing the dust collection. The disk sander is my first power tool with a dedicated dust management solution. I’m using a vacuum cleaner directly placed in the stand. It is set up to operate as soon as the tool is turned on. Luckily I got this feature for free as it is inbuilt into the vacuum cleaner I’m using.

To connect the hose to the sander, I’m building a small adapter box to convert between the two diameters of the pipe. It is clear that with this solution I’m losing some of the suction power, but it still has enough power for the small dust created by the sander. I also plan on adding a regular connection on the front of the box to connect a vacuum cleaner hose when needed.

Tape dispenser

2019-01-13T10:09:00-06:00

As my daughter is always using my tape dispenser, I decided it’s finally time, that she gets her own.

I created it out of some reclaimed palette wood I recently got. Before resawing it, I added all the holes and the overall shape out of the piece of wood. This gave me two identical sided, which get connected by two short dowels. The dowels are only glued to one side, allowing the other part to be taken of to add the tape.

Unfortunately, a part of one side broke off while sanding, but I decided to leave it off as it would be unstable anyway. The region was way to thin to be stable with this type of wood.

I’ve searched for a way to get the knife without buying a finished tape dispenser. But I was not able to find anything. So I bought, one separately and used the blade from there. To finish the project, I’ve added two coats of spray finish onto the wood, which I needed to redo due to a storm which blew the parts way while drying :-( But luckily the parts survived, and I only needed to resand and finish them.

Tree ornament

2018-12-30T00:00:00-06:00

The final project for this year, an ornament for our Christmas tree. It was made out of a piece of wood from our first Christmas tree. I made it as an additional last minute gift for my wife on the afternoon of the 24th of December.

This is my first time I used my electrical scroll saw for a serious project. I still have much to learn on how to use this tool. It sometimes felt a bit daunting to have the blade so close to my fingers, and I think I did not use the correct blade for this job. But I managed to saw the pattern without breaking the single blade I have.

To wrap up this project, I apply one coat of spray finish, as it is drying fast. It could have used an additional layer, but I did not have time for this.

Making fire starters

2018-12-16T06:39:00-06:00

In today’s video, I create Fire Starters to use up the sawdust I produced while building the outdoor table. I got the idea from watching the videos on SV Seekers channel where he was doing this as well with the extra savings from the wood for the cargo hold walls.

Initially, I planned on using cardboard tubes as a mold to form the fire starters. But I realized it quite fast that this won’t, work. I had problems with them staying put while pouring the hot wax in. And they are also missing a bottom, so the wax was flowing out on the bottom. I added a base by using some painters tape, which helped to mitigate the problem a bit but I was not happy with the overall result. It was also taking way more time than I expected.

So I searched for a different idea and decided to just pour the wax with the sawdust into a big flat pan. This was way quicker and also created a smaller mess. After cooling, I then cut the block into smaller chunks to get my real fire starters.

Now I needed to wait for the right day with some warm weather and no rain. I waited quite some time in the hope of a good weather window to go into the forest and make a big fire but unfortunately, winter is coming, and the weather was never right. So I decided to try them ou in an old pan in my lawn.

I had quite some difficulties to get the poured blocks to catch fire. Perhaps it would have helped to have a short fuse on them like I did for the first attempt. And the wind blowing around the house while testing them was not helping either. But in the end, I managed to start a fire with them although a small one :-)

Building a bird house

2018-12-02T06:29:00-06:00

Another project from my to-do list completed. I again got some help from my daughter while building and painting it. And I hope that we can observe some birds together this winter from our living room.

The construction is simple, two sides a floor and a roof on top. After I’ve built it I recognized that I should have done something different, for example, the part where the food resides should be smaller to prohibit the birds from sitting in it and pooping on the menu - ok maybe for the next one :-)

Painting took the most time in this project, as you regularly need to wait for it to dry. After painting it, I sprayed it with a clear coat to seal it.