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02-27-2010, 01:11 PM
voigts

I already had a router table, so I just bought a Sears router with removable bases for both plunge and regular use. The router I had was an earlier Sears version that had a plastic housing and was a pain to work with. A router is one of those things that really takes some work to master using as it is such a versatile tool. I have yet to master it.

I would make one word of caution since you said you are new to these tools. I would advise against using gloves whenever you are using saws, drills, or the router. If a bit or saw blade grabs the glove, it will pull your hand in making the injury much more serious. If you happen to hit your hand, your reflexes will naturally pull your hand away. You also pay better attention to your fingers when you are looking at skin rather than gloves.

I just got a good deal on two 10" carbide hollow ground saw blades via Ebay that are for use with aluminum and acrylic. These are going to be great for cutting alu and acrylic on my table saw and miter saw.
02-27-2010, 10:08 PM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mabyboi

We Want more updates!!!

Affirmative, Mayboi. Love the new avatar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wezly

EK is just as good. I forgot they made a block for this as well...

As long as nickel-plating is touching chipset, I'm satisfied.

Or new copper, whichever....

Yeah, inside the block is copper and it's nickel plated on the outside. Black acetal top.

Quote:

Originally Posted by voigts

A router is one of those things that really takes some work to master using as it is such a versatile tool. I have yet to master it.

I would make one word of caution since you said you are new to these tools. I would advise against using gloves whenever you are using saws, drills, or the router. If a bit or saw blade grabs the glove, it will pull your hand in making the injury much more serious.

Yeah, I'm LOVING the router so far. The only thing that's a pain right now is I'm having difficulty finding a table with enough depth at the back fence for the kind of work that I'm doing (routing a groove down the middle of 7" shelves. Are there no tables out there that have a depth more than just 2-3 inches? Seems crazy that there wouldn't be. I ended up having to dismantle the fence just to have enough room to cut the grooves in my shelves.

Anyway..

I hear you on the gloves, but I feel naked working in the shop without work gloves. Just seems unnatural. I'm extremely careful, though. I don't get anywhere near a sawblade or router bit. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but I truly am one of those types who is very alert--too damn alert, in fact. I notice practically everything that's going on around me 24/7. And when I'm in the shop, there are two things on my mind all the time. 1) Safety, first and foremost, and 2) Precision.

Quote:

I just got a good deal on two 10" carbide hollow ground saw blades via Ebay that are for use with aluminum and acrylic. These are going to be great for cutting alu and acrylic on my table saw and miter saw.

Can you link me to those sawblades? I have a new toy that I'd like to try them out on. :D

Loading pics in for another update...
02-27-2010, 11:35 PM
Xion X2

Project Update (2/27): The Router and Router We Get

It was time to play with the new routing table. Here I'm running just a spare piece of plexi through it to test. I'm routing through with my trusty Bosch upspiral straight bit. It's the same one that I used in my RotoZip.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3340/dsc13580001.jpg

You can't beat the smooth, clean finish this bit leaves behind. Just look how smooth it carves out the plexi (the cut on the top right.)

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8402/dsc13610001.jpg

I bought a standard straight bit by SKIL, but it doesn't even compare to this upspiral. It wasn't carving clean.. it was causing the plexi to foam and melt around the edges. So I took it out and threw in the Bosch upspiral, and all is well again. :up:

So what are we doing tonight.. well, we're doing a little rework. I know, I know.. no one likes to do things over, especially me. But as goes this project, so goes a good part of my time, money and.. well, life, basically. I've invested a lot into this work, so if an opportunity presents itself to make a part of it better, then I will.

In the last update, I showed how the bottom shelf in the Zero Gravity Chamber was buckling a little due to the weight of the SSD shelf. We were able to remedy that by making that bottom shelf out of 1/4" plexi instead of the 1/8" that was used originally. In addition, the original mount for the SSD shelf was very simplistic and rather ineffective. It was a straight join with weld-on, and while it will hold okay, there are more effective ways to bond two shelves together.

So tonight, we're going to explore a better way of joining the Zero-G shelves together by cutting and routing some 1/4" plexi to replace the 1/8" plexi that's currently in the chamber.

Here I am marking the SSD shelf location.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3563/dsc13640001.jpg

Where you see the shelf rest, we'll be routing a groove out in that bottom shelf for it to fit snug in. Here, I'll show.

Lined up on the routing table.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/9215/dsc13660001.jpg

I've set my depth at 1/8". Remember that we're not carving through the shelf but just routing a groove out for our SSD shelf to fit snug in.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6411/dsc13690001.jpg

The depth of the rip fence on this table is too shallow, so I had to remove it and replace it with an aluminum angle positioned far enough back to route a little more than 3 inches into the shelf.

Here's the end product. A nice, clean straight groove cut into our shelf.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/3124/dsc13700001.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1305/dsc13710001.jpg

That turned out really well and was a lot easier than setting up a straight edge and cutting with the RotoZip. Having a bench just allows you better leverage, along with square cuts.

So, now it was time to cut a new SSD shelf in 1/4" plexi to replace the 1/8" piece. Time to crank up the new toy.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/1372/dsc13780001.jpg

My new Ryobi table saw with 30 in. adjustable width to the right of the blade.

I moved it into the back corner of my shop next to the routing table.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/6884/dsc13810001.jpg

It was fun using a handsaw to cut this stuff until it became difficult to make square cuts even with a straight edge. The Skilsaw kept getting hung in the plexi which would cause it to drift a little.

I admire anyone who has both the patience and skill to use hand tools for everything, but my philosophy is if there's a better, quicker, more precise way to do something, then that's the way I'm going. And this table saw will save me a lot of headaches and a lot of time. I'm doing a lot of work with plexi in this build and will in future builds as well.

The thing I noticed immediately with the table saw was how simple it was to square off a piece of material. Two of the four sides of my plexi sheet were not square because of the Skilsaw drifting, and I was able to correct that in a matter of minutes.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/6581/dsc13870001.jpg

Ok, the first test... how well can it cut through not just plexi but tougher material, like solid state drives...

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/6190/dsc13890001.jpg

Anyone want to take a guess?

:)

I'd have to be out of my freaking mind and then some, obviously.

No, what I'm doing here is measuring off that SSD shelf, because I'm going to cut the new shelf to the same exact size.

Lining up the cut with the miter fence.

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/350/dsc13900001.jpg

We'll be cutting right along that line for our shelf width.

And away we go.

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/6015/dsc13930001.jpg

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/246/dsc13960001.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/2314/dsc13970001.jpg

Notice that I'm feeding the blade while standing to the right and out of the kickback path. Important safety tip for anyone who's doing this for the first time.

And after what seems like far too easy a job, we're through. Here you can see the nice, clean cut it gives us. I'm using 180 tooth 10" Irwin blades made for plastic and plywood.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7813/dsc14060001.jpg

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6207/dsc14070001.jpg

Ok, retrieving our shelf that we had routed the groove in before...

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9978/dsc14110001.jpg

And we'll slide the new SSD shelf down in that groove..

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/310/dsc14080001.jpg

Voila.

We'll secure the two pieces with weld-on. This should give us a cleaner and more secure bond than just bonding two flat pieces together.. especially with the more sturdy 1/4" plexi. :yepp:

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5179/dsc14130001.jpg

And, using our old SSD shelf as a template, we'll mark the drillholes for the new shelf...

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1484/dsc14180001.jpg

And those will be drilled shortly.

Thanks for reading; that's it for tonight. Time for me to clean up some of this plexi dust before I get caught in a blizzard.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8660/dsc14190001.jpg
02-28-2010, 02:12 AM
aka_GK

oh, nice work mate!
If that it not top secret info, how much did you already spend for all those tools?
02-28-2010, 04:32 AM
Red-5

You must have quite the workshop now with all the recent power tool additions to it :yepp:
They certainly make a difference when it comes to making accurate cuts, especially the router table. Love the clean finish it leaves on plexi.
Coming along nicely mate. :up:
02-28-2010, 04:50 AM
ipuoL

nice heavy tools ;) congratulations! I love your work in detail! Go on this way and it would be one of the best 3 i had ever seen ;)
02-28-2010, 05:54 AM
Wezly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

I'm doing a lot of work with plexi in this build and will in future builds as well.

HA! More like side-project-build ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

WWWEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR....

:up:
02-28-2010, 06:33 AM
dingdong555

Very nice, I think this will help you heaps. Really loving the campers chair too ;)
02-28-2010, 08:02 AM
Mabyboi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

Affirmative, Mayboi. Love the new avatar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

WWWEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR....

My thoughts exactly :up:! looking good! :D

oh... and its Mabyboi.... :D
02-28-2010, 09:21 AM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by aka_GK

oh, nice work mate!
If that it not top secret info, how much did you already spend for all those tools?

Thanks, GK. I'll PM you the details. :up:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red-5

You must have quite the workshop now with all the recent power tool additions to it :yepp:
They certainly make a difference when it comes to making accurate cuts, especially the router table. Love the clean finish it leaves on plexi.
Coming along nicely mate. :up:

Thanks, Red. Having the right tools makes this stuff a lot more fun; I can tell you that. It opens a lot of doors as to what is possible in a build. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipuoL

nice heavy tools ;) congratulations! I love your work in detail! Go on this way and it would be one of the best 3 i had ever seen ;)

Thank you, ipuoL. Your feedback is much appreciated, friend. :) And I do hope that the end product lives up to your expectations. I'll do my best!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wezly

HA! More like side-project-build ;)

:up:

Hehe. ;) :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by dingdong555

Very nice, I think this will help you heaps. Really loving the campers chair too ;)

Yeah. I figured since I was camping out in the workshop for days at a time now that I needed a camping chair. :)

I love those chairs as they're really comfortable. Especially for those with back trouble like I tend to have occasionally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mabyboi

My thoughts exactly :up:! looking good! :D

oh... and its Mabyboi.... :D

Sorry, bud. I knew that.. it was just a late night typo. :)

Off to have some lunch, then watch a little of the Olympics before heading back over to the shop. Have a great day, everyone!
02-28-2010, 11:05 AM
voigts

These are the blades I just got:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-10-MASTERCRAFT...item53dd33706c

They should leave much cleaner edges than having to use regular saw blades.
02-28-2010, 11:27 AM
kgtiger

Safty First When NOT to wear gloves!

It's good to see you enjoying your self mate.

However your not being too safe!!!

Please get ride of those damm! gloves when using power tools, you scare me.

If by chance(and God forbid) your wearing your gloves and you slip or just have your hand in the wrong place and the sh@t hits the fan.
The teeth on the saw blade will grab hold of the fabric/leather of the glove and pull your whole hand into the blade as fast as it can look at you.
There will be, no time to react and it will not stop until either your hand jams the blade and stalls the motor
or it cuts through your hand up to the point where the glove stops, only at that point will you be able to pull your are away.
That might well be past your wrist, I am really serious mate.

Look at it this way mate, if you stuff up with NO glove on your hand there is no fabric or leather for the teeth on the blade
to grab hold of and pull your hand into the saw blade, so you loose a finger, no biggy, you have more, right. :rolleyes:
It will only cut your skin, I know sounds dumb, but you will be able to pull your hand out, straight away, as the blade will have no hold on your skin.
Because it has already cut it, just like how you can cut into a piece of wood and stop when ever you like.
As long as you don't push the wood towards the blade anymore, there in nothing for the blade to grab and pull on, it just sits there.

I have seen some pretty horrendous thing happen at work over my time, I touched on that with the drill press at Shazzas work log.

I lost the top pads of my two middle fingers on my left hand thanks to a wood plan, luck for me I just touched to top of the blades and it flicked my hand back, but didn't grab it.
In fact it wasn't until I noticed what the wood was suddenly wet, my first thought was that sap coming out of 100 yr old Jarrah.
Jarrah is hard wood from Western Australia and it’s red in colour, so then I looked at my fingers.
The blades had cut off the pads at the tips of my two fingers, ring finger was to the bone and both had lost the tips of the fingernails.
I hardly noticed it, just a quick sharp pain, like a splinter.
After 6 months the skin finely covered the flat spots back up and I got full feeling back in both fingers, you couldn't even tell unless you look real close now.

I pray that all close calls are that easy to fix. :yepp:

Anyhow!
When cutting on a table saw, yes there is a chance that material can kick back at you.
Mainly with wood that has a twist or a bow in it, and for that reason you should not use it.
It kicks back at you either because it gets jammed between the fence and the blade or it rides up the back of the blade.
The splitter at the back of the blade will stop most of the kick back as it stops the material from touching the back of the blade.

You are right, you are best to stand on the right side of the blade with a table saw.
But don't push material through with your hands, use a push stick made out of scrap wood.
This will not only keep your hands away from the blade but will also help to stop you from leaning over the blade as to push through the material.

Plus don’t think that guard over the blade will stop your hands either.
It want, it's just cheap plastic and it will break up when something either hits it or will lift up as your hand slides under it.

I don't want to scare the crap out of you so you never use it again, but just give you the heads up that these can bite.

Take the time to ask people that have work with this equipment what the best way to use it and what do you need to watchout for.
There will be locale courses you can take or just buy some book on how to use it.

Have fun with it mate. :up:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/2314/dsc13970001.jpg

Notice that I'm feeding the blade while standing to the right and out of the kickback path. I've heard this is the smart thing to do...
02-28-2010, 12:02 PM
Xion X2

Alright, guys. No more gloves with the power tools. :)

I am extremely careful when working with this stuff.. being very conscious to have my hands/body in the right position, etc. Have read through all the safety manuals and even watched a lot of operational videos, but I do appreciate the concern and advice and will pay heed to it. I did some research, and it does appear that wearing gloves isn't a great idea for sawing or drill press work. I think it's probably ok as long as you're careful, but to lessen any risk of injury I'll take the advice. Thanks.
02-28-2010, 12:14 PM
mib

Nice machines you have. I'm dreaming of such a machine shop....

You know safety first in every aspect of life.
Nice work BTW.
02-28-2010, 10:21 PM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by voigts

These are the blades I just got:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-10-MASTERCRAFT...item53dd33706c

They should leave much cleaner edges than having to use regular saw blades.

Thanks, voigts. Let me know how they work. Do you plan to use them on your miter or table saw?

I think for now that I'm still inclined to use a jig for cutting aluminum. The blade rotation on my table saw spins frontward, and the thought of cutting metal and spinning shards out the front just doesn't seem like much fun to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mib

Nice machines you have. I'm dreaming of such a machine shop....

You know safety first in every aspect of life.
Nice work BTW.

Thanks, mib. It's just a basic shop. I'm still building up my tool base, but it's much more than I had just a few months ago. :)

Right now I'm busy polishing my router skills. This plexi makes a real mess.. I know that much.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/9779/dsc14250001.jpg
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4804/dsc14260001.jpg

Shop-vac to the rescue. There's a vacuum attachment on the back of the router table that's built into the fence, but since I'm not using the stock fence (too short a depth for the shelves that I'm carving) then I can't use it. Which ultimately means that there's a 100% chance of snow any time that I flip the switch on the router with plexi on the table.

Here's some of the work I'm doing. Basically just trying to learn this router to see how clean a groove cut that I can get.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1716/dsc14330001.jpg

The screws for the SSDs are too short to mount through 1/4" plexi, so I'm using the router to clear away the plexi where the SSDs mount through the back.

I'm also now thinking about just sanding/polishing the edges of the plexi instead of framing it. If I can get it completely transparent (or close) then I may keep it like this as it kind of shimmers in the light.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/179/dsc14310001.jpg

And.. look, ma! No work gloves! (although I felt naked without them) :hitself:
02-28-2010, 10:33 PM
Wezly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1716/dsc14330001.jpg

And.. look, ma! No work gloves! (although I felt naked without them) :hitself:

And look at that thing on the tip of your thumb! It's disgusting. What is that, dust, messed up dead skin? Gross. Put those gloves back on.
02-28-2010, 10:38 PM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wezly

And look at that thing on the tip of your thumb! It's disgusting. What is that, dust, messed up dead skin? Gross. Put those gloves back on.

Just can't please anyone these days. If I wear my safety gloves, I get a safety lecture. If I take good photos, I need a manicure.

What's a modder to do. :shrug:
02-28-2010, 10:44 PM
mib

@Xion X2

I see that the cut outs are not transparent as plexi is. What I remember to avoid that was to use an oil to cool down plexi.
02-28-2010, 10:48 PM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by mib

@Xion X2

I see that the cut outs are not transparent as plexi is. What I remember to avoid that was to use an oil to cool down plexi.

Any particular oil that you used? Sometimes I'll use an aluminum lubricant when I'm cutting metal, but I wasn't sure if it was okay to use on plexi or not. Plexi seems sensitive to certain chemicals.

The cut wasn't perfectly clean, either, which caused some cloudiness. I'm still using the Bosch spiral bit which has a sharp carbide tip, and I'm thinking a duller, smoother bit to polish it will help bring back the transparency. I know that sanding it with high grit paper seems to do it, but I don't have high enough grit right now to get it clear. Will buy some 1500 grit tomorrow to try.
02-28-2010, 10:54 PM
Wezly

Your pictures and safety procedures are fine; you should know by now that I will always have something to say now that you are putting up progress photos.

May I ask why you cannot use longer screws for the zero G walls? Or is that to route cables? How are you going to deal with the round corners? Won't those show up and refract light, especially when polished?
02-28-2010, 11:09 PM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wezly

Your pictures and safety procedures are fine; you should know by now that I will always have something to say now that you are putting up progress photos.

I knew you were playin.

Quote:

May I ask why you cannot use longer screws for the zero G walls? Or is that to route cables? How are you going to deal with the round corners? Won't those show up and refract light, especially when polished?

Finding screws to fit the SSDs has been difficult because they're so small. The only place I've found them is MDPC, and this is as long as they come. I can try locating some, but I actually thought that some nice carving work on the back of the plexi would add some dimension to the piece. It's not necessary that the drives appear as floating from the back since you're going to see the screws, anyway. The effect is meant to be seen from the other side where they show through the windows.

What "round corners" are you speaking of? Not following you here.
03-01-2010, 05:18 AM
voigts

I will probably end up using them on both my miter saw and table saw. It will be so much faster to cut aluminum sheets with a table saw than having to use a jig saw. I planning on using an aluminum frame (with wooden exterior) on my next build (I'm going some renders for it at the moment). A table saw makes much cleaner cuts too than a jig saw, and it is a lot quicker and easier than having to use a hand held circular saw. As for the bits of material, you just wear safety glasses and long sleeves. I wear glasses anyway, but when cutting metal, I always wear safety glasses as one little piece of metal in your eye will take you to the doctor/hospital.

I also will be cutting small square pieces for a res, and I've found out the hard way before that when you are making a rectangular res out of rectangular pieces, the less you have to mess with the edges and the squarer you can cut the pieces the better as you can then get good seams.

As for the grooves in your plexi, you may want to consider doing a bit of flame polishing with a small pencil torch. As long as an edge isn't going to be solvent welded (glued), you can hit it with a torch a bit to shine it up quickly. A pencil torch is ideal for small notches like that, and can save a lot of time sanding.

As for tools, I've already accumulated more than I planned. The more you tinker with stuff and build stuff, the more tools you find yourself needing. I've now got a large belt drive table saw, scroll saw, drill press, miter saw, sliding miter saw, orbital sander, belt sander, mouse sander (very handy), sawzall, cordless and power drills, new router with interchangeable bases, variable speed Dremel with bunches of bits, digital calipers, squares, clamps of all sizes from 4'" to 4", etc, etc, and have used all of them except for sawzall in modding. Modding is infectious!
03-01-2010, 09:34 AM
kgtiger

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

Alright, guys. No more gloves with the power tools. :)

I am extremely careful when working with this stuff.. being very conscious to have my hands/body in the right position, etc. Have read through all the safety manuals and even watched a lot of operational videos, but I do appreciate the concern and advice and will pay heed to it. I did some research, and it does appear that wearing gloves isn't a great idea for sawing or drill press work. I think it's probably ok as long as you're careful, but to lessen any risk of injury I'll take the advice. Thanks.

Hay you, don't mean to bug'ya.

But I get the feeling this is just lip service, I really hope I am wrony.
It's in this comment, I am not sure you really get it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xion X2

I think it's probably ok as long as you're careful, but to lessen any risk of injury I'll take the advice.

I had a boss once that said until you get five stitches, you don't know squat.

You might be "extremely careful when working with this stuff".
"Being very conscious to have my hands/body in the right position", this is just basic stuff, common sense, all thou I find common sense in not that common.

Having "read through all the safety manuals and even watched a lot of operational videos" is excellent to hear.

Being alert is good, feeling naked is also good, because it will heighten your senses, may be even to the point of being "very alert".

But it want last, I will bet my right nad, that it want last.
You will become complacent and it what take long, in fact you want even notice it, until something out of the norm,
something outside of your control happens and that’s when the s@at hits the fan and if you have been cutting corners you will pay, big time.
Xion even if you do everything to the highest safety standards all the time, thing will still go wrong.

I will be honest with you, for the first time last night in this work log, I never read each and every post, I just looked at the photos
I never read that Voigts had cautioned you on using gloves, but I am dam glad he did.
10 points to Voigts.

While I am giving you a so called "lecture", I know my kid don't like them either, they'll get over it.

Do you have a mobile phone on you when working in your work shop?

Is it turn on?

Do you have 991 (Your relevant Emergence Number) programmed into speed dial?

Can you get a strong signal everywhere inside the workshop?

Are there people always around you (calling distance from work shop) if you needed to call out for help?

I don't want to give you a hard time mate, I’ve got better thing to do than type this all out with two fingers, but you are playing with fire and those that don't know how to play, get burnt.

If I didn't care about you mate, I would give you a half line caution and be done with it.
Enough said.

Looking forward to your nest update mate.:up:
03-01-2010, 11:34 AM
Xion X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgtiger

Being alert is good, feeling naked is also good, because it will heighten your senses,

Sorry, Graeme. I draw the line at the gloves, bud. I'm just not willing to saw naked. Just the very thought of it makes me curl into a fetal position.

:eek:

On a serious note, I do take safety very seriously and certainly appreciate your concern. But I would prefer to continue this discussion through PM going forward to help keep this thread on topic. :)

Thanks, bud.

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