Since I don’t use my shop full-time, it’s sometimes hard to know when certain maintenance tasks need to be done. A couple weeks ago I noticed the primary filter on my air cleaner looked like it had been hit with a fire extinguisher because it was covered with so much sawdust. That got me thinking that I needed to develop some process for remembering to clean or replace the filters on my shop vac, dust extractor, air cleaner and respirator. It’s easy to think these aren’t safety related tasks, and maybe they aren’t in the short-term, but in the long-term I think they are. Especially in regards to the air cleaner and respirator. If the filters can’t keep the air clean then we’re going to breathe that crap in which we all know (I hope), is bad for your lungs in the long-term.

To help me remember to stay on top of this, I made use of my Google calendar and created an event that repeats every six months that is set to send me a text message, an email, and an on-screen popup to remind me to go switch out these filters.

Now when it comes to keeping things orderly and clean, I think the risk is more obvious. It’s easy to trip and hit into things. I don’t use the calendar for this. Instead, I use a tip Tom Iovino had on Wood Talk Online a while back. He said every time he goes to the shop he puts away 5 things. I’ve tried to incorporate that same habit. At first it was difficult to do so I posted a reminder written in bright colors. That has seemed to help.

Just remember folks, the safer we are in the shop, the less chance we’ll have some sort of accident which might keep us out of the shop. So if we stay safe, we get more shop time and who doesn’t want more shop time?

In my case, I’m one of those silly folks who it’s bad to try to startle. Not because I’ll have a heart attack or wet my drawers, but because my automatic reaction when startled, is to turn quickly with a balled up fist directed at whatever touched me. Not only would I rather not bop someone unintentionally, but what if I was routing the edge of a table top or pushing some awkward sized piece of lumber through the table saw. Try as I might, if I don’t know someone is there, fist and/or tools will fly. That’s just my reaction. I really hate surprises. Not cool.

Now I’m sure not everyone reacts in this way. You may not wig out and try to start a brawl when you’re startled, but startling someone using a power tool is a potentially VERY dangerous thing to do. So what do we do to reduce the chances of flying power tools?

1. Education & Communication. In my case, my shop is detached from the house and is next to the patio where my kids like to play. Periodically I make sure to explain to my children and my wife the dangers of power tools and what can happen if someone using a power tool is surprised or startled. This way they know not to rush in and give dad a hug, as much as dad likes hugs.

2. Raise the alarm! So now my family knows it’s dangerous to startle someone using power tools, but what if you need to get their attention for some reason? Time for dinner, the house is on fire, zombies are attacking – you know, the usual suspects. There needs to be a way to safely get my attention. Here’s what we did:

• Depending on the time of year and the time of the day, I  close the garage door on the shop. One thing to do is just knock really loud and wait for me to respond. If I leave the shop door open they know to just stand at the opening of the shop and wave. That change in shadows from outside the shop usually gets my attention. Then I can shut down the tools and see what’s up.
• The other thing we just started (I haven’t installed it yet, that’s for this weekend) is to use a door bell next to the shop door. The one I bought I found at Home Depot and besides just having an annoying buzzer, it also had a red light that blinks when the door bell is activated. I’m naturally a little hard of hearing but even more so when the planer is getting its fill of whatever I’m running. I think this will work out pretty well. The idea for the kids is ring the bell and then wait a minute or two. They understand that if I’m running something through the table saw that it may be a moment before I can respond. I’ve also told the kids that if they can’t hear a power tool running and the door is shut to just give a loud knock or (soon) ring the bell. I’ve told them in this scenario I’m probably in the middle of a glue up so I won’t be able to open the garage door, but I’ll yell back to give them the all clear to go ahead and open the door.

What do you do to make sure you don’t throw your router through the ceiling?

Here’s my little check list to help me know when it’s time to head inside for some rack ops.  Sorry, old Marine term. That’s what we used to call it when it was time for a nap without actually saying nap time cause that just doesn’t sound tough. I always called it sleepy time cause I didn’t care if people thought I was tough or not. Anyway….

1. How many caffeinated beverages have I had? If I have had more than one or two caffeinated wonders in this single shop session and I’m looking for more – chances are it’s nap time. If there is a growing pile of Rockstar cans in my cutoff bin, it’s definitely nap time.

2. Where did I put that? While it’s common for me to forget where I put my tape measure or a pencil, if I find that I am losing more things than usual then it’s nap time.

3. Fractions? We don’t need no stinking fractions! Occasionally, if I have been in the shop for several hours I try to do some random math in my head. Usually dividing fractions. Nothing that would require Einstein’s assistance, but also not something like what is half of 1/2? Not quite going to cut it. If it takes way too long and I forget the numbers I started with, well, then it’s nap time.

4. I can hear the garbage truck. Occasionally I find myself in ‘the zone’ and things are going well and I totally lose track of time and next thing I know, the sun is coming up. It’s not a common occurrence, but it does happen. I take that as a sign that I have been in the shop too damn long and it’s time for a nap. Especially if I have to take the kids to school.

5. I hear the same song again. If I am working alone in the shop then chances are I have the ipod connected to my shop radio and it’s on shuffle. My playlist is pretty extensive so if I hear the same song twice, then I’ve been at it too long. Nap time.

6. I hurt myself. If ignore all of these and I catch another piece of plywood in the gut, I take that as a sign that I’ve been in there too long and it’s time for a nap and probably a change of skivvies.

Maybe some of those work for you. Maybe they don’t. Regardless, we need to be aware of the signs that we’re just not alert enough to be around our tools anymore that day and that doesn’t just mean power tools. My fingers have plenty of scars from where a chisel or a marking knife decided my lack of tattoos was too boring and they needed to leave a mark. It’s better to enjoy a good restful nap, and have a project take longer than desired than to try to pull an all-nighter and add a visit to the emergency room.

I finished gluing up and roughing out the legs probably 4 years ago and they have been sitting in the corner of my shop gathering dust and developing some small checks. I’m not worried about the checks – this is a workbench after all, not some fancy pants house furniture.

The top was the part I first starting laminating all those years ago. I’d go buy some 2×10 doug fir from Home Depot and then let it sit in the shop for months to finish drying, rip it in half and then glue up a couple pieces. Today I finally glued all those pieces together and let me tell you, it was a chore!

First I wanted to run the biggest slab that was done through the planer to remove a little glue and some water marks. The roof of the shop leaked on it during a bad rain storm two years ago. This little task ended up showing what my little lunch box planer was made of. My planer is a 13″ Ridgid. This slab was 13 1/8″ wide so it was just a tad too wide to go through the planer. I set up some infeed and outfeed rollers on the jointer and ran the slab over on its edge to narrow it down just a tad.When I got it down to 12 15/16″ I set up the infeed and outfed rollers on the planer and the proceeded to this monster slab and the other smaller laminations that were destined to be glued to it through until they were all the same thickness of just a hair over 3 1/2″.

I did take light passes – no more than 1/32″, but the little Ridgid did just fine.

Once the slabs were ready I decided to get them all glued up. I ended up using every parallel clamp I own because of the slabs had a slight bow. Once it was done I flipped it up on edge so it would glue to the saw horses.

After letting it sit for about an hour I went over both faces with a putty knife to scrape off all the squeeze out. Tomorrow after church I’m going to take out of the clamps and get the lower-right corner ready for the tail vise and hopefully get the two outer pieces glued on.

The slab currently is about 3 1/2″ thick. The outer pieces I’m going to add tomorrow will be 4″ wide. You may wonder why the differing thicknesses. The goal all along was for the top to be 4″ thick. With all the planing the planks ended up thin. By adding these sides it’ll hide the piece of 1/2″ MDF I’m going to screw to the bottom of the top. It’ll make it all 4″ thick and add a fair bit of weight. I think it’ll work good.

More to come soon…

Well, a few months ago I was looking for alternatives to deal with these dusty tools when I came across an idea from Todd Clippinger in a post he did on Lumberjocks where he mentioned an attachment kit that Ridgid sells that allows you to connect a Festool hose to a Ridgid shopvac. I was very interested. I already had a 12 gallon Ridgid shopvac out in the shop. So this week I set out to make my FesRidgid Frankenstein dust extractor.

First I needed to pick up the parts. Here’s what I started out with:

• Festool 3.5m non antistatic hose from Woodcraft
• Ridgid Premium Hose
• Ridgid Fine Dust Filter
• Ridgid Vacuum bags (Total price, about $120)

So let’s take a look at my choices in components. First, the Ridgid upgrade hose. The reason for this choice was simple – this was what Todd used to connect his Ridgid vac to a Festool hose. Next, the Festool hose. Why the non-antistatic hose? Well, for one, money. The antistatic hose, which I have on my MIDI costs nearly double what the non-antistatic costs. The cost/benefit ratio just wasn’t there to justify it. Now the finer filter. Well, for me this was a no-brainer. My initial reason for getting a Festool sander/dc combo was because I’m already paranoid when it comes to dust exposure. Most of my family is asthmatic which I’ve heard that makes me susceptible to adult onset asthma. Is it true? Old wives’ tale? I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances. Anyway, this filter is rated to 1 micron just like my dust collector. Besides that, the old filter was due to be replaced anyway.

Lastly, we have the bags. This turned out to be a gamble, a gamble which I lost – at least for now. The idea was to mimic as many of the positives about my existing Festool setup. While a little pricey, I like removing the dust bag, tossing it in the dumpster, then installing a new one. Less mess and the dust I went through so much trouble to contain stays contained. These bags do fit Ridgid vacs, just not my older vac as it turns out. If you’re wondering if the bags will fit your Ridgid vac look at where the hose connects to the unit. If the hose connects to the motor housing/lid, as mine does, they will not fit. If, instead, the hose connects to the tub, then they will probably work. Well, all is not lost. When I was at Home Depot today for a separate project, I noticed one of the compatible vacs is on clearance. As soon as toy, I mean tool funds allow, I’ll pick one up and phase one of my FesRidgid dust extractor project will be complete. Phase two will entail building a rolling cabinet for it to live in (to deaden the noise), make a boom arm, and add one of those auto-on outlets so the vac comes on when I power up the sander/saw/router that is attached to this mess.

There is one feature of the Festool dust extractor that I like that my alternative does not have – adjustable suction. This is a feature of the MIDI that comes in very handy in reducing swirl marks so common when using a random orbit sander. Well, given its intended application, I don’t think it really matters in this case. My frankenvac is being used with my Makita tracksaw (no swirl marks here) and with my RAS sander.  As aggressive as the RAS is you’re always going to be following it up with something else anyway, so again, no concern about swirls…but I don’t think you’d get swirls from a rotary sander – especially when it’s using 24-grit sanding disks. Gouges and claw marks, sure but no swirlies. Eventually I want to add a Festool router to my bag of tricks and that is going to make use of this vac instead of the MIDI.

Before we get too far into what’s coming next, let’s finish taking a look at what is done and how it came together.

First, the filter upgrade. This is a simple process. There is a plastic retaining nut you have to remove, then a round plate and then the filter slides right off. Slide the new filter in place, return the round plate and tighten the plastic nut, and it’s ready to go.

Now the upgrade hose. This is easy. Take the hose out of the box attach the fitting with the red lever to one end and then connect that same end to the motor housing/lid.

Now the magical part. Connect the Ridgid hose to the Festool hose. Actually, this is far less dramatic than you might think. The end of the Ridgid hose is just the right size to connect to the Festool Hose.

From here we’re ready to try this baddy out. To make sure it can keep up with it’s worst case scenario, I connected it to my RAS sander with some 24-grit sandpaper. This is the same setup Charles Brock uses in his Maloof inspired chair videos. Let me just say, this tool is badass. Even compared to other Festools. It’s still badass. I devised a little test to see how well this setup works. First I ran the sander against some alder scrap with no dust extraction. Then I connected it to the CT/MIDI and did it again. Lastly, I connected it to the FesRidgid setup and ran it again. I setup a raking light behind the table to make it easier to see the dust not being collected. I also shot the video at 60 fps instead of 30 to hopefully make it a little more clear. See for yourself.

This isn’t exactly a scientific comparison. The angle of the sander makes a difference as does the pressure I applied and I had no way to quantify the amount of dust the vacuum missed.  It’s important to note that a rotary sander is far more aggressive than a random orbit sander and if I were to do this same test with my ETS 150 you’d see a lot less dust, even without dust extraction. Bottom line, the Ridgid makes a big improvement over no dust extraction at all and will work fine for what I need it for once this project is complete.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – auto-on when the sander is activated, dust bag, and a noise reduction cabinet for it to live in as well as the boom arm.

once in a while I get an idea for some future piece of furniture and it’s all I can think about until I at least get it down on paper. Well, this time it’s a cabinet on stand. I’mnot sure if I’ve been having Krenovian dreams or what, but everywhere I go lately I see a curve or a certain angle that makes me envision what this cabinet on stand may end up looking like.
Yesterday I did a quick paper sketch which helped me fine tune and experiment with a couple ideas. Today I wanted to go a little bit further and see it in 3D space. Now, I’m very much a noob with SketchUp but I had to try an get this thing built visually so I decided to push my SkethUp skills to their limit.
This is what I came up with:

Keep in mind this is a rough sketch and I have very little working knowledge of SketchUp, it should at least give you the rough idea of what I am trying to make here. The profile on the legs will be on two sides, not just one as shown. I just didn’t know how to make that happen. The trim around the top of the cabinet will have go around the front as well, again, I just wasn’t sure how to draw that. Also, the stretchers will have a slight curve outwards and all the edges of the stand portion will be rounded over and I plan to blend the transition from the stretchers to the legs so it has a little more of a Maloof look.
The interior of the cabinet will probably have one shelf and a couple of drawers. The doors will be made up of a few coopered strips and then there will be some type of handle or pull on the doors for opening the cabinet.

Most of the design influences here are pretty obvious I think. The whole cabinet on stand idea I’m copying from James Krenov. The shape of the stand legs is lossely based on Elven swords from the Lord of the Rings movies an article from David Marks that was in Fine Woodworking a year or so ago.
Anyway, this is what has been stuck in my head the last few days. It still needs a lot of refining and it won’t be built until after I finish the shutters I’m working on.