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Workshop and fixit stuff

Started by Dave, July 10, 2017, 07:26:50 PM

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jumbojak

I've had success using Scotch Brite to rough up a surface for paint. Spray paint in my case but it worked very well and was cheaper than sandpaper. Just rinse it well when it loads up and you're good to go again for a while. It does wear down eventually but lasts a long while. I'm nearly addicted to the red pads.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on July 16, 2017, 05:18:14 PM
Sooner or later we all have to go through the incandescent-to-LED lamp conversions at home. Well, there is another conversion road I've been walking the last few months. All my doors and wooden trim at home were originally painted with a white solvent-based polyurethane gel paint formulation. I decided to bite the bullet and repaint everything with the water-based polyurethane equivalent, since brushes and rollers are just washed in warm soapy water. I tested the paint first for durability and found it to be very tough and scratch resistant after a few days.

The process involves using fine sandpaper to key the old paint surfaces before applying one coat of an alkyd universal undercoat that gives a very nice matte finish. This gives a very good surface for the new paint. Then, when painting with the water-based paint, any splatters are just cleaned up with a wet cloth before it dries, and cleaning up is a dream. It means a bit of extra work now, but I think I will see a big benefit whenever I have to repaint.

And no significant smells! The water based paint we used on the front door seems to have eirked well. But it was so hot that the undercoat was touch dry within about three mihutes - my pet jumping spiders were all over it before I had finnished the section, and they did not get stuck nor left any foot-prints.

The only thing is if it dries so fast brush marks do not have a chance to smooth out, needs good quality brushes. However, the plastic haired ones from a discount store seem to work very well, the first time. No matter how carefully you wash them they do not seem to work do well after that.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Quote from: jumbojak on July 16, 2017, 05:35:51 PM
I've had success using Scotch Brite to rough up a surface for paint. Spray paint in my case but it worked very well and was cheaper than sandpaper. Just rinse it well when it loads up and you're good to go again for a while. It does wear down eventually but lasts a long while. I'm nearly addicted to the red pads.

I have never used Scotch Brite, but thanks for the tip. I will get some and try them next time.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

hermes2015

Quote from: Gloucester on July 16, 2017, 05:36:04 PM
Quote from: hermes2015 on July 16, 2017, 05:18:14 PM
Sooner or later we all have to go through the incandescent-to-LED lamp conversions at home. Well, there is another conversion road I've been walking the last few months. All my doors and wooden trim at home were originally painted with a white solvent-based polyurethane gel paint formulation. I decided to bite the bullet and repaint everything with the water-based polyurethane equivalent, since brushes and rollers are just washed in warm soapy water. I tested the paint first for durability and found it to be very tough and scratch resistant after a few days.

The process involves using fine sandpaper to key the old paint surfaces before applying one coat of an alkyd universal undercoat that gives a very nice matte finish. This gives a very good surface for the new paint. Then, when painting with the water-based paint, any splatters are just cleaned up with a wet cloth before it dries, and cleaning up is a dream. It means a bit of extra work now, but I think I will see a big benefit whenever I have to repaint.

And no significant smells! The water based paint we used on the front door seems to have eirked well. But it was so hot that the undercoat was touch dry within about three mihutes - my pet jumping spiders were all over it before I had finnished the section, and they did not get stuck nor left any foot-prints.

The only thing is if it dries so fast brush marks do not have a chance to smooth out, needs good quality brushes. However, the plastic haired ones from a discount store seem to work very well, the first time. No matter how carefully you wash them they do not seem to work do well after that.

Well, it's still quite cold here and the paint takes about an hour to get touch dry. I don't like winter, but it's the best time to paint.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

I have recently become away of an aspect of vocation v avocation that possibly borders on philosophy.

At the bottom of our shared staicase is a sheet of ply, 1m by 4ft (half a standard 8 by 4 sheet cut to 1m on one side).  It's intended to be an extension worktop in my attic workshop and is that size because that is the largest I can get into my motorized shopping trolley/kid buggy of a car and if over 1m wide I can't get past it, without sucking my now almost non-existent gut in, when in use. Only I forgot something when I asked them to cut it - the biggest sheet I can get through the attic hatch, on the diagonal, is about 35.5" or 900mm. Not a bother losing that much width. Just a bother cutting it straight, down on the concrete of the parking area, kneeling on ancient knees . . . For some reason my new Makita jigsaw is unwilling to cut this stuff in a sufficiently stratight line, even with a cutting fence (got an offcut to practice on).

My retired builder neighbour, Andy, can't see my problem, "I'll just got through it with a jack-saw for you, like we do on a building site."

"Ah, but can you give me a clean, dead straight cut at an accurate right angle to the adjacent side?"

"Er, no. Why are you so fussy, it will be near enough and you can sand it down."

"But at least two adjacent sides have to be smooth and accurate to act as guides on a cutting/routing table."

On a building site the odd mm or five can be patched up or rubbed off, then filled and painted/plastered/filleted or whatever. I am used to working down to mils in metal - never gonna get that good with the tools and facilities I have but I reckon I can better 0.5mm with care. So I spend a few days, on and off, thinking about it - gathering the wood for getting the sheet off the ground, finding a straight enough bit for a guide (should never have given away that 2m spirit level . . .). After rejecting the jigsaw I am left with the choice of a hand saw (difficult with only 1,5 inches clearance to the concrete) or my "multi-tool" with its semicircular saw blade (cuts a clean edge hard up against the guide but the blade can get hot enough to scorch the wood, and it is slow).

Then I wondered about my new toy, the "rotary tool" with a spiral saw in it . . . Why did I not think of it earlier!? It is smaller than a router but cuts a dead straight, really clean, 1/8" "slot" from side to side! Practiced with it today, just got to remember to cut a little way in from the far side first so the blade does not "kick up" the edge.

But, there is this difference of approach between the builder, applying years of trade practice he learned at his dad's knee, and probably working to a time limit in reality,  and the lab tech who is learning to use tools new to him to do a job that is new to him, wants as precision a job as he can manage and as little re-work as can be avoided. Oh, there will be some careful re-measuring and micro-adjusting to do, but once the cutting is done I am in familiar territory. Planning is cheaper than a new sheet of plywood!

And I ain't on a time budget.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

I enjoyed reading that, Cloucester. I often face similar problems because I only have hand power tools. I have found a good trick to get a perfectly straight, smooth edge when cutting large sheets of ply to an exact width. I cut the board about 1mm wider than needed using a handheld rotary power saw and a straight piece of wood or aluminium as a guide. Then I use my router fitted with a straight edge trim bit (the type that has a little bearing at the tip) to trim back to the correct width. I clamp the guide on the underside of the board on the exact pencil line that marks the correct width of the board, so that the little bearing on the router bit runs against it. It would be so much easier to use a table power saw, but I do not have a workshop at home.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Understand you technique, Hermes, but have not yet got that type of bit. Seems to work setting the guide puece of wood the width of the router foot minus half the diameter of the cutting but. Thus the tool cuts on the wanted line. Luckily, for my purposes, that dimension does not have to be exact - just as straight as possible and as close to a right angle with an adjacent side as I can achieve..

At the moment I need dry weather as well!
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Arturo

I'm putting together a pool table that I got from my cpusin. She didn't give me the tubes for the ball return or sticks. She said there were no sticks but said everything else was there. I didn't see any tubes however.

Some screws are missing or don't match the corresponding parallel side. The nails to hold the pockets are difficult to hammer in due to little space inside the pocket. And the slate under the felt is not completely smooth either.

My Dad has plenty of screws though and I'm okay with some of them being different as long as they are invisible. The nails may be put in at a angle I have not tried yet. And the felt seems to smooth out the inconsistencies with the slate underneath. So all I really need are sticks for which there are plenty of sports stores here.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

jumbojak

Could you use a punch to drive the nails in Arturo? Might work if you aren't dealing with an angle issue.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Arturo

Quote from: jumbojak on July 23, 2017, 03:47:32 AM
Could you use a punch to drive the nails in Arturo? Might work if you aren't dealing with an angle issue.

The nails are really small. Might as well be needles. Barely a head on them as well.

I tried using something flat against the head and ended up bending the nail.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

Dave

A lesson learned!

New to this routing game I decided to try for that accurate cut on that sheet of ply. I clamped the guide in place then put six other clamps on the corners and middle of the long bit to hold it off the concrete.

Soon discovered that routing a meter long cut in the workshop, nicely clamped to bits of wood on the workmate, is a lot different than the same length cut on a big sheet that is poorly suspended and vibrates like a giant kettle drum! I now have about another 1/4 inch to trim off, but at least I got it through the hatch into the attic!

Know your tool, practice (and initial mistakes) make eventual (near as you can get) perfection.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Quote from: Gloucester on July 23, 2017, 02:24:38 PM
A lesson learned!

New to this routing game I decided to try for that accurate cut on that sheet of ply. I clamped the guide in place then put six other clamps on the corners and middle of the long bit to hold it off the concrete.

Soon discovered that routing a meter long cut in the workshop, nicely clamped to bits of wood on the workmate, is a lot different than the same length cut on a big sheet that is poorly suspended and vibrates like a giant kettle drum! I now have about another 1/4 inch to trim off, but at least I got it through the hatch into the attic!

Know your tool, practice (and initial mistakes) make eventual (near as you can get) perfection.

Something I've discovered is that on the first router pass, just set a depth of 1mm. After that, multiple passes with 3mm increments. This works much better than trying to do the full depth in one go.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on July 23, 2017, 05:38:50 PM
Quote from: Gloucester on July 23, 2017, 02:24:38 PM
A lesson learned!

New to this routing game I decided to try for that accurate cut on that sheet of ply. I clamped the guide in place then put six other clamps on the corners and middle of the long bit to hold it off the concrete.

Soon discovered that routing a meter long cut in the workshop, nicely clamped to bits of wood on the workmate, is a lot different than the same length cut on a big sheet that is poorly suspended and vibrates like a giant kettle drum! I now have about another 1/4 inch to trim off, but at least I got it through the hatch into the attic!

Know your tool, practice (and initial mistakes) make eventual (near as you can get) perfection.

Something I've discovered is that on the first router pass, just set a depth of 1mm. After that, multiple passes with 3mm increments. This works much better than trying to do the full depth in one go.
Good advice, thanks, Hermes! This is not really a router but a rotary tool mounted on a base. The single support point is not really stiff enough and difficult to set depth with - I set it all the way, 10mm, on the first pass! Thinking back to the bloke who did my kitchen counters, yes, he did a shallow cut first. Can't remember if there were two or three cuts, but that was inch thick stuff. (Wish my workbench was...)

Might have been better using the "spiral saw" bit, effectively that has a continuous cutting edge moving down the "saw" at an angle, rather than the two straight flutes on the routing tool  bit - less vibration. More like a "spinning spiral knife" than a saw. Now I get a bit more practice ttimming that edge accurately up in the attic. They claim this tool is Dremel compatible, hope that goes for the Dremel plunger router base (with two depth stops) that should be delivered soon.

I keep wondering how some people stay in business when they ask fifty quid for that accessory and others sell it for less than half that! But a 2:1 price difference seems not uncommon on the web.

This thread is doing what I hoped it would. Thanks guys.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

I always check to see where tools were made, especially anything that cuts, like router bits, drill bits, hacksaw blades, etc. I avoid anything made in China (and half the price) like the plague!
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Arturo

My pool table is together :D And the nails were as I figured - to be put in at a funky angle.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱