I've put together the basic components of the bench top router table and put it into the shop last night. I didn't do much in the shop, just kinda took a look around and assessed a few things. I've decided that I'm going to need to build a cabinet that's going to be tall enough to house the bench top router table.

Since the bench top router table is 14" in height, I'll have to build a rolling cabinet that is 24" long x 14"wide x 24" high. I'll also have to factor the height minus the height of the locking and straight casters that I add on. The casters will make the cabinet portable and easier to position around the shop. I have a preliminary design build in mind but I'm going to research around a little more in order to start shopping for materials. Unfortunately, the weather has not subsided and the temperatures inside my shop remain deadly hot. I'll have to do this build late in the evenings and possibly outside.

Away for a while.

It has been over two weeks since my last post. I have been forced to take a break from woodworking due to the extreme heat. I've been mostly taking it easy, I've floated the river a couple of times and it's been good for me to just keep cool. My shop temperature mid day is around 110 degrees, at night it's usually still holding at 100 degrees. Not a very safe temperature to be out there.

I have made some new editions to the shop in the time I've been away from it. I have purchased and installed a new metal tool stand for my table saw. This has eliminated the need for the portable folding stand that came with my table saw which was unstable and took up too much space. The new stand is sturdy and strong and has a small footprint. In a small shop like mine, space is valuable.

Besides the new table saw stand, I have purchased a sign maker's kit and a bench top router table. I am anxious to start using the sign makers kit as well as the new router table. I was really happy about the fact that I purchased both at an incredible price.
I'll focus on getting familiar with how these two things are set up before I get the chance to really go crazy with them.

Another thing I have to ad to my shop list is to get out and shop for wood for future projects. I'm completely out of hardwoods and have only a pieces of scrap softwood laying around. I also have to shop around for a good project to work on too. In the mean time, I'll patiently wait for it to get cooler outside.

Weekend Update.
I had a rad weekend. I'm so stoked that I got so much done and I logged a couple of hours in the shop. It was a hot and sweaty time in the shop, I mean sweat was pouring off of me. But that's a good thing in my mind - it's like working out, ha ha ha. I maintained drinking a lot of fluids so I was okay. The shop thermometer read 100 degrees yesterday, we got up to 102 in Bastrop just yesterday. It was our first triple digit weather day.

Sliding Tool Cabinet Project
I'd say that I am on the last leg of this project. I have the cabinet base attached to the bin shelf and that entire component mounted to the wall. I have attached a few photos and it's looking really really good. It's been a few weeks of hard work on this project and I am very proud of it. I was very careful of it's quality and craftsmanship, What remains of this project is the construction of the sliding doors, a layer of finishing tongue oil and maybe a few spots to be sanded. Also, I'd like to make labels for the bins and have them organized. Tonight, I'll begin the door frames... hopefully... if it isn't too hot... Enjoy the photos!!

I don't have much of an update for last night. I cut a few of the dividers, the top and the bottom for the bin shelf. The awesome thing is that I got my order for the custom bins themselves in from Grainer.com last night. They are going to be perfect for my sliding shop cabinet!! Kind of the finishing touch if you will. The piece de resistance, ha ha ha.

Today I'll go and purchase the remaining things I'll need to wrap up this project soon.
- detail sander
- detail sanding sheets
- 48x48 pegboard sheet
- 12" or up clamps

After that, we should be in business...

I spent a few hours last night attaching the pegboard backing with screws. I took my time in order to ensure that everything properly fit together and remained square. I was mainly focusing on the detail work, I also did some hand sanding to smooth out some rough spots and a few saw marks that I found. I realized quickly last night that I was going to need an electric hand sander and soon. I postponed the sanding until later.

Next, I proceeded to cut the pieces for the face frame stiles and rails, the shelves, and stopped after the door stops. It was already late and I had come to a great stopping point. After finishing the face frame stiles and rails, further sanding a few of the rough spots, adding a slight chamfer around the edges, construction of the base should be complete with the exception of a few laters of tongue oil.

Tonight, I'll glue on the face frame stiles and rails, sand some more, cross cut and rip the pieces to begin assembly of the door frames and bin shelf. Once I'm done with that, I'll mostly concentrate on the construction of the bin shelf tonight as I'm out of the pegboard I need to place into the door frames.

Bin Shelf.
The bin shelf will be a very interesting assembly using a few rabbets and repetitive dadoes. The bin dividers will be the most easiest as they will simply be repetitive cross cuts. I'll also have repetitive cuts to make for the bins stops I'll be inserting into a kerf I'll make into the bottom piece of the bin shelf. I have pre-ordered 16 yellow bins to size from Grainger that should be mailed to me any day now. Once all the cuts have been made, I'll dry fit everything just to make sure everything fits snugly together - after which I'll begin gluing everything together carefully.

Working Late.

Sliding Cabinet Update.
I spent a lot of time working late last night on the sliding tool cabinet. I realized a few days ago that I had made a mistake on the two side pieces and had drilled the shelf pin holes too far apart. A rookie mistake on a very intricately designed piece. I don't have a very good explanation as to why I did what I did - I must have just made a blank mistake, I wasn't paying attention and it certainly costs me time. I went back and spent time catching up and had to re-do those two pieces entirely.

After being stoked about catching up, I began to dry fit, glue and screw the pieces for the final assembly of the cabinet base. Much to my excitement and surprise, everything fit squarely together - it was a pretty smooth operation considering how much I had to toil to catch up. The cabinet base frame is now successfully assembled and is pending the pegboard and back cleats. The Back cleats will secure the pegboard onto the base frame and also serve as the method by which the cabinet will be secured to the wall. The back cleats will be very easily installed and will sit flush to the base frame.

Assembly of the sliding cabinet doors, the door hardware and handles, followed by sanding and prepping with tongue oil will be all that remains for this piece to be finished completely.

Conclusion.
I am happy about how everything has come together and how the white coated pegboard looks as a back drop to the cabinet itself. I think it's much better than the usual brown colored pegboard. I am confident now that the doors will come together nicely as well. The base frame put up some resistance due to some places where care and attention had to be dedicated in order to assure a correct fit. I think this lesson has only added to my experience as a whole - I shall only learn from it.

Been Awhile

Well, it has been sometime since my last post. You'll have to forgive me as I have been very busy. I'll try not to let that hinder my blog. The mini-shop has had quite a few changes, I've also made progress in the sliding shop cabinet project.

Blue Birdhouse Project.
On Saturday, I got sidetracked as I helped my father build and complete two cedar birdhouses for his home. What was expected to be a simple Saturday morning project put up a little fight and took longer than expected. But what matters is that we built two of them and they are good to go. They are pending being mounted to a few of the tall fence tops which should be a perfect place for them.

Mini-Shop
We began the layout of Phase 2 for the Mini-shop this past Saturday. First, we positioned and buried the three support columns that will hold up the South end of the roof, the North end of the roof will be attached to the South wall of the Mini-shop. The North end of the roof will be supported and held up using Simpson rafter ties. After setting the three support columns in concrete, we continued Sunday to put up the rafters and roof sheeting. All that remains now is the lattice wall that we'll put up on the west wall of it, tar papering the roof, installing the roof shingles, and wiring a light fixture and outdoor socket for electrical accessibility.

Sliding Door Shop Cabinet.

Well, I started on my latest project last night and worked for a couple of hours – I’ll post some photos of this project up soon as I’ll be taking photos tonight. This cabinet is going to be awesome when I’m done with it! I am very excited but very cautious at the same time. I’ve been taking my time and being really careful with the measurements and the dimension. I am very focused on keeping them to spec. So far, I have all the pieces carefully cross-cut to the length as laid out by the instructions. Tonight I’ll rip them to width, and if I have the time to get to it, I’ll lay out the rabbets and dadoes and kerfing as instructed. I’m nervous about the rabbets, dadoes and kerfs as I’ll have to spend more time ensuring that these essential cuts are positioned correctly as well as cut to their correct depth and width. So I am extra nervous about that. These essential cuts are very important to the construction of the cabinet as a whole; they must be square, plumb and flush. I’ll just have to trust that I am setting up my table saw to perform them as accurately as possible. This is the focus of a skilled fine furniture craftsman. This is all really exciting though.

Today, I will be purchasing a Precision Drill Guide to drill the holes for the shelf pins in both the side pieces and into both sides of the two middle dividers. This is another task that I really want to focus on and with precision.

North Wall Insulated.

I spent yesterday installing the insulation to the north wall. It took two rolls of insulation. It went up rather quickly and easily much to my surprise. Tonight, I'll be removing the strip socket to tack on the vapor barrier. After that, it'll pretty much be ready for the hanging tool cabinet that I posted from yesterday. I have already purchased the wood and the hardware according to it's plan and am very excited to begin this very important and necessary project. As probably mentioned in yesterdays blog entry, I have many small woodworking tools that I both need to keep track of and have close to my workbench. The sliding tool cabinet design will certainly make this possible. I am very excited.

Left-Overs.
I have a few left over electrical things that I need to get wrapped up before I begin insulating and applying vapor barrier to the remaining walls. I'll be heading back to Orange to get a 50' roll of interior grade 12 gauge wire for the two 220 sockets - one indoor and one outdoor socket AND for the 220 socket for the AC Unit socket. I need to get these sockets routed and wired soon. That will pretty much wrap up my electrical needs.

Well, I'll begin to put up the insulation today as I spent most of yesterday putting up my tools and getting the shop prepped to move a few things around. I'm starting with the North Wall which is my hottest wall temperature-wise and coincidentally the wall on which I'll be building the beast of a shop cabinet that you see above.

This shop cabinet is constructed mainly of 1x6's and 1x4's and a few sheets of peg board. I've avoided the antiquated design of the peg board as a backdrop for my tool storage needs for as long as I could for the fact that I simply don't like the design of it. Given my growing amount of hand tools and tool miscellanea, I have but no choice but to revert to this simple and effect means by which to store them. I was also intrigued by this updated plan, it has a challenging design that incorporates rabbets and dado cuts. It'll be great practice for doing these specific cuts on the table saw. I'll admit that I was a bit intimidated by the complexity of this specific cabinet's construction but I'm still getting use to the layout plans and how they are illustrated.

Either way, it's an exciting venture and I want to get it built and have it ready to mount after I have that wall section of the insulation put up. I'll simply add the door rollers and sliding doors later.

Weekend Update.
Well, it was another hot weekend for me - hot in the ways of temperature. I did manage to get more things in line for the mini shop. I got my hands on a few things that have slowly gotten me closer to my goal: two rolls of insulation, 1 can of oil based primer, a decorative edge beading router bit, routing pad, new 10" blade for my table saw, new paint brush, paint thinner. A few of the projects that I did manage to complete would include a decorative display shelf that I was able to try out my decorative beading bit with. I'll post photos of the display shelf tomorrow once I've finished painting it.

It's Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday!

I've spent the past few evenings mainly finishing up the last bit of the fencing around the mini-shop and installing the 6 foot entry gate. I took this precaution in order too keep Mishka, my brown lab from tearing things up around the mini-shop area. He's a very destructive animal but he doesn't know any better. With the fence up, I'll rest assured knowing that he won't be getting in the shop area and messing up anything. I went with a 6 foot ranch gate in order to be able to get a riding lawn mower to fit into Phase 2 of the mini-shop, which will be a 15 ft. covered extension from the South wall of the current Phase 1. This covered awning will cover the riding lawn mower and also provide an outdoor finishing area that I can later build in. I plan on having an outdoor socket so I can power a finishing hand sander or any other tool or appliance should I need outdoor power.

Tenori-On
I spent the better part of yesterday trying to get this Tenori-On to pull up on my blog - I'm only able to link to another blog page to get it to pull up -so appreciate it! Here - Make some music of your own today, check out the Tenori-On.
I'll try to have a link to it on my blog's applications sidebar to the right so you can enjoy it later.

It's another hot day in Central Texas. I have been hunting down plans for a table saw cabinet and have found this one to base a design off of. I liked this design for it's compactness and mobility as well as the fold down leaflet that acts as a out feed for the right side of the saw. This would allow me extra stability when cross cutting lengthier pieces. I also like the fine tuning that can be made with the adjustable table top that the saw sits on. I'll need to get on over to the hardware store to pickup some plywood next.

Shop Safety.

Dude, I can't even believe this article. This guy is NOT a woodworker .

Read it.... Ridic is all that I have to say Ridic!

Big Z's Got Tha Power!!

Just Electric.
I'm very happy to announce that the Big Z Mini-shop now has electricity. My power tools can now come to life and I can start woodworking in comfort soon. It has been long enough and hard enough time tripping over extension cords and sharing / overloading the same extension cord. So far, I have two 5' 6 socket bars installed on the north and south walls of the shop, I have a 4' hanging shop light installed overhead that provides ample lighting that is controlled by a switch as I enter my shop. Oh the things we take for granted in our day to day lives, electricity is so vital to what I do.

The Install.
With the much appreciated aid of a known electrician from my job, the installation of the cables and breaker box was possible. Fishing the cables underground was a very tedious task as the cables did not want to run smoothly. Fishing the cables alone took about 45 minutes as we had to stop and dig and reset some of the piping to ensure that their course was as smoothly as possible. With the help of some dish soap, we eventually got the end of the wire out to where it would be fed into the shop and up into the breaker box. We had to lower the breaker box closer to the floor of the shop in order to run the cable up to it. It's lower and out of the way, but not too low to where I would be unhappy with it.

Next.
With most of the 14ga. romex cable in, I need to next install the 12 ga. romex cable in next. While the 14ga cable powers the 15amp items in the shop, The 12ga. cable will power a few things: the AC socket for my window unit, an indoor socket, and an outdoor boxed unit to power future sanding / painting / air compressor tools. After the remaining sockets and power sources are hooked up and connected to the breaker box. I'll begin insulating the walls with schedule R-19 insulation and wrapping that up with 6 mil vapor barrier sheeting. The vapor barrier and insulation will be covered up with indoor panelling - I haven't decided which type or style would be best yet. I might drywall as that would be cheaper...We'll see how it comes out, I'm playing that part of it by ear. Hopefully, I'll be blessed with a window unit really soon BECAUSE IT'S AVERAGING 90 degrees in my shop daily! Burn baby Burn!

Enjoy the photos.

POWER SOON.

Photo Updates!
Who doesn't love photo updates? Ha ha ha. Well you can see in the different photos I've posted up above that I have most of the electrical system up and ready to be connected and grounded to the main. I have received word from my Electrician friend that he'll be coming sometime tomorrow afternoon! Exciting stuff!!! Awesome news indeed. It's been a long enough time without power! Thank goodness for cooler weather we've been getting lately. This is perfect woodworking weather - I don't care what anyone says.

Fencing.
No, we're not talking about swordplay. Once the weather cooled off a bit, I spent yesterday afternoon putting up a critter fence around the Mini-shop and my garden. I had some fencing left over and I wanted to keep our destructive dogs and other critters away from my garden area and the shop. So now only our shop cat will be allowed to hang out in that area, and without the dogs bothering her.

The Gate.
The fence is up except for the gate that I'll be building in. What I'll do next is - I'll have to install the gate post into concrete this of course is what the gate and gate hinge hardware will be hung onto. Once the concrete dries and the gate is hung plumb, flush and square, I'll apply a simple coat of polyurethane sealant to protect it from the elements.

Electricity.
No new updates on the electrical at this time, I am still pending the arrival of an electrician to come up and hook everything up to the main. I have the preliminary things hooked up though - like the strip sockets, lights, breaker box and wiring.

I'll be taking photos tonight to be posted tomorrow - Leave a comment!

It's been a long four day weekend for me. Krystal has suffered another bad migraine this past Thursday and I stayed home Friday to care for her. She is doing well so far but this time her doctor has given her something to battle the migraines should she continue to get them. Her migraines are so severe that she has blurry vision which is a really normal thing to have but can be really scary thing. She had a very restful weekend and I took great care of her. Despite her condition, we managed to have a fun weekend, we went to see Eclipse and she and I had a lot of fun doing that. Eclipse was a really good pick me up for her and we really like the way the story is going.

Projects.
I didn't do too much because it was very hot this weekend. I got a new thermometer in my shop and it reads: 100 degrees at mid-day. What I did get done was done late afternoon - early to late evening. I guess it's been a while since I've given a full report on it. So where am I at with my shop? It's tough to say....

I have a lot of half finished projects laying around - at least I feel that way. I am a one man show mostly so this is to be expected. LOL. I was really feeling like a lot of things were half finished at the start of this weekend so I aimed to get these little things done. Well some of these little things got knocked out, which was cool - but time consuming.

Hump Day

Good Morning.
It's been a good one so far at least. I have been avoiding sugar and caffeine for the past few days. Going moderately on the stuff at least. I've been doing well. I am feeling the tired effects of not having caffeine. It's been rainy, cloudy and generally just gloomy outside - compound this with a lack of caffeine and sugar and you get me. Just a strange and moody shell of a man.

Record Rainfall They Say.
With the threat of weather lately, I've been pretty lethargic and inactive. I haven't been in the mood to get on any of my projects that I have piling up. Yes, they are piling up regrettably but in my defense I have my valid excuses and reasons for them. I am enjoying life at the moment and I am enjoying the rain. I'm relaxing as much as I can before a storm of work- for I have been going hard for the past few months and I think I am due for a break. The rain is resulting from a series of hurricanes redirecting rains in the south up north towards us here in Austin/Bastrop. Anything is better than 100 degree weather I say. This is typically a desert climate here in Central Texas so water of any amounts is appreciated.