www.ShopNotes.com EDITOR'S NOTE ShopNotes Issue 72 Nov./Dec. 2003 PUBLISHER EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ART DIRECTOR SENIOR ILLUSTRATORS Donald B. Peschke Terry J. Strohman Bryan Nelson Vincent Ancona Phil Huber Cary Christensen Roger Reiland Mark Higdon CREATIVE RESOURCES Creative Director. Ted Kralicek • Sr. Project Designers: Ken Munkel, Kent Welsh, Ryan Mimick, Chris Fitch • Shop Craftsmen: Steve Curtis, Steve Johnson • Sr. Photographer. Crayola England SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS Corp. V.P.: Douglas L. Hicks • Art Director. Douglas A. Flint • Sr. Graphic Designer. Chris Glowacki • Gmphic Designer. Jonathan Bike • Sr. Editor. Craig Ruegsegger • Assoc. Editor. Joel A. Hess CIRCULATION Circ. Oper. Director: Sandy Baum • Circ. Marketing Dir.: Wayde ,J. Klingbeil • Strategic Business Analysts: Kris Schlemmer, Paula M. DeMatteis • Circ. Marketing Analyst: Patrick Walsh • Reneival Mgr: Paige Rogers • Circ. Marketing Assoc.: Christine Forret • Circ. Fulfillment Mgr.: Stephanie Forinash • Sr. Graphic Designers: Mark Hayes, Jr., Robin Friend CORPORATE SERVICES V.P. of Finance: Mary R. Scheve • Controller: Robin K. Hutchinson • Sr.Acct.: Laura J. Thomas • Accts. Payable: Mary J. Schultz • Accts. Receivable: Margo Petrus • Prod. Dir.: George Chmielarz • Electronic Pub. Dir:. Douglas M. Lidster • System Admin.: Cris Sehwanebeck • P.C. Maint. Tech.: Robert D. Cook • Pre-Press Image Specs.: Troy Clark, Minniette Johnson • Assoc. Style Dir. : Rebecca Cunningham • New Media Mgr.: Gordon C. Gaippe • Multimedia Art Dir.: Eugene Pedersen • Web Server Admin.: Carol Schoeppler • Web Content Mgr.: David Briggs • Multi-media Designer. Kara Blessing •Research Coordinator: Nicholas A. Jaeger • Prof. Dev. Dir.: Miehal Sigel • H. R. Asst,: Kirsten Koele • Office Mgr.: Natalie Lonsdale • Facilities Mgr.: Kurt Johnson • Ad min. AsstJRerept. : Jeanne J ohnson • Mail Room Clerk: Lou Webber WOODSMITH STORE Operations Director. Bob Baker • Customer Sendee Mgr.: Jennie Enos • Warehouse Supr.: Nancy Johnson • Buyer. Linda Jones • Admin, Asst.: Nancy Downey • Sr. Cust. Serv. Reps.: Tammy Truckenbrod, Anna Cox, Deborah Rich, April Revell • Cust. Seiv. Reps.: Valerie Jo Riley, Kim Harlan, Cheryl Jordan • Warehouse: Sylvia Carey, Larry Morrison, Niel Nardini • Store Manager. Dave Larson • Merchandise Marketing Mgr.: John Siberell • Paint Dept. Mgr.: James Hockins •Asst. Mgr.: Tim Thelen • Store Sales Staff: Gregoiy Kauzlarich, Mark Johnson, John Warren, Dave Fremming, Stephen Duncan, Brian Simmons, Mike McCauley * Office Mgr.: Vicki Edwards • Admin. Asst,: Tammy Kissler ShopN otes® (ISSN 1062-9696) is published bimonthly (Jan., March, May, July, Sept., Nov.) by August Home Publishing, 2200 Grand, Des Moines, I A 50312. ShopN otes® is a registered trademark of August Home Publishing ©Copyright 2003 by August Home Publishing. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: Single copy: $4.95. One year subscription (6 issues), $27.95. Canada/International add $10 per year, U.S. funds. Canadian Subscriptions: Canada Post Agreement Number 40649740. Send change of address information and blocks of unde- liverable copies to PO Box 1051, Fort Eric, ON L2A 6C7. Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Moines, I A and at additional mail- ing offices. Postmaster: Send change of address to ShopNotes, P.O. Box 37103, Boone, I A 50037-2103. Subscription Questions? Write to: ShopNotes Customer Service, P.O. Box 842, Des Moines, I A 50304-9961. Or call 1-800-333-5854, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Central Time, weekdays. FAX 515-283-0447 Email: ShopNotes@shopnotes.com Internet: http://www.shopnotes.com PRINTED IN U.S.A. Cutoffs O kay, I admit it. Fve always dreamed of having a large, spa- cious workshop with lots of room for benches, tools, and accessories. But the reality for many wood- workers (myself included) is that shop space is a precious commodity. There just never seems to be enough. So what do you do? Well, it seems to me the key is to make the best pos- sible use of the space that you do have. So in this issue, weVe put together three projects that will help get the most out of your shop space. Workstation - For starters, there’s the three-part, fold-down workstation shown on the front cover. It features a rock-solid workbench, a wall- mounted tool rack, and an overhead storage cabinet. It’s made up of three parts. You can build one or all three — the choice is up to you. The wall-hugging design of the workstation takes up a minimal amount of floor space. But when you need to get to work, all you have to do is lift the bench top, swing out the legs, and you’re ready to go. The second part of the station is a wall-mounted tool rack that lets you keep your favorite hand tools organ- ized, visible, and within reach. Finally, we added an upper cabinet that can hold everything else you need close at hand — from power tools and accessories to project hardware. It all starts on page 22. Table Saw Outfeed System - Another project that makes the most of available space is the table saw outfeed system on page 16. It con- sists of individual, snap-together units. Grouped together, they make a solid outfeed table that doesn’t take up much space. But you can also take the units apart and arrange them to offer support where you need it — like when you’re ripping large sheets of plywood. Belt Sander - The final project takes one tool and adds another func- tion to it. If you already have a drill press, here’s an inexpensive way to add a belt sander. It features an adjustable table, tracking control, and a miter slot. Check it out on page 6. STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION (Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) 1 . Publication Title: ShopNotes. 2. Publication No.: 1062-9696 3. filing Date: September 16, 2003. 4. Issue Regency: Bimonthly. 5. No. of issues published annually: 6 (six). 6. Annual subsaiption price: $27.95. 7. Complete mailing address af known office of publication: 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, (Polk County), town 503 1 2-5306 . 8. Complete mailing address of the headaucrlets or general business offices of the pub- lisher: 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, (Polk County), Iowa 5031 2-5306. 9. Full nomes ond complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, ond maneging editor: Publisher: Donola B. Peschke, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, lowo 50312; Editor: Terry Sfrohmon, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312. 10. Owner. August Home Publishing Company, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines Iowa 50312; Donald B. Peschke, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, lowo 503 1 2. 1 1 . Known bondholders, mortgagees, ond other security holders owning I percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: None. 1 1 (Does not opply.) 1 3. Publication Title: ShopNotes. 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: July/August 2003 (#70) 15. Extent tmd nature of circulation: Average no. copies eorh issue during preceding 12 months Average no. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date A. Total number of copies (net press ran) B. Poid ond/or requested circulation: 1 . Poid/reguested ootsidrKounly md subscriptions staled on Form 3541 2. Paid in-county subscriptions 3. Sales through dealers ond carriers, street vendors, counter soles, and other non DSPS paid distribution 4. Other dosses moiled through the USPS C. Total paid ond/or requested circulation D. Free rfistribuiion by mail, samples, complimentary, ond other free copies 1 . Outsidecouniy os stated on Form 3541 2. Iwounty os stated on Form 3541 3. Other dosses mails through the USPS E. Free distribution outside the moil (comers or other meons) F. Total free distribution G. Total distribution H. Copies not distributed I. Total J. Percentage Paid ond/or requested circulation 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership. Will bo printed in the Nov./Dec. 2003 (#72) issue of this pubJicolion. 1 7. 1 certify that oil information furnished on this form is true ond complete. (signed) Terry Strohmon, Editor 217,352 203,474 163,683 145,255 0 0 21,509 23,838 0 0 185,192 169,093 103 80 0 0 0 0 0 v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v o 103 80 185,295 169,173 32,057 34,301 217,352 203,474 99.94% On occasion, we allow companies whose products ond services may be of interest to you to send advertising mail to our subscribers. We are careful to choose ethical companies that hove information of genuine interest to our subscribers. Most of our subscribers appreciate receiving these materials. However, if you prefer to have your name deleted from the mailing list mode ovoilobte to other companies, please write to us at ShopNotes, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, lA 50312 2 ShopNotes No. 72 ISSUE SEVENTY-TW • Contents Features Prill Frees Belt Bander 6 Get more out of your drill press by making it work harder. This shop-made accessory turns your drill press into a belt sander that works every bit as well as a floor model. Drill Press Belt Sander page 6 Removing Rust with Electrolysis 14 Removing rust from tools can be a big hassle. With a little “poweb’ you can make quick work of it. We’ll show you how to do it with ease using our step-by-step instructions. Modular Outfeed System 16 Make it easier to handle large or long stock safely on the table saw. This handy outfeed system can be configured in a number of ways to support long stock, large sheet goods, or anything in between. Building a Laminated Benchtop 20 Nothing says solid and heavy duty like a laminated benchtop. But making one without spending a lot of time getting it flat and smooth seems almost impossible. Check out the procedure we use that results in a perfectly flat top in no time at all. Fold-Down Workstation 22 A heavy-duty woodworking bench that takes up a little over four square feet of floor space when it’s stored? You bet. Add some storage — an easy-access tool rack and a wall-mounted cabinet — and turn it into a full-fledged workstation. Departments Rust Removal page lk Outfeed System page 1 6 Readers 9 Tips 4 Shop-tested tips to solve common woodworking problems. Tool Chest 32 Most sharpening systems can’t do it all. But the one we use every day comes as close as you can get. Shop Talk 34 Have a great woodworking invention and want to protect it? Here's what you need to know about patents. Sources. 35 Mail-order sources and supplies to help you complete the projects featured in this issue. Fold-Down Workstation page 22 No. 72 ShopNotes 3 TIPS & TECHNIQUES Readers’ Tips SIZED TO FIT YOUR METAL DOG big Dogs That Don’t bite ■ When clamping a workpiece in my workbench vise with bench dogs, I find that the small, metal dogs leave marks on the edges of the piece that are tough to sand out. So, to solve this problem, I made some big, plywood bench dogs that slip over the reg- ular dogs, as shown in the photo at right The benefit is that the wide surface makes it easy to get a firm grip on the material being worked without leaving a mark. The big dogs are made from squares of 3 /4 M plywood, as illustrated in the drawing at left. A hole cut in the middle of each dog is sized to fit over the metal bench dog. Then I cut a wide, shallow rabbet along the front edge of each dog. As you can see in the photo, this allows you to work right up to the edge of the workpiece. Or you can even clamp the workpiece in the rabbets to raise it above the dogs. a Joe Holton * Houston, Texas Dial Indicator Depth Gauge ■ Planing stock to an exact thick- ness usually involves a lot of trial and error (and measuring) to get it right. The problem is, the thickness scale on the planer just isn’t accurate enough to show how much material I have left to remove. But I’ve come up with a simple dial indicator gauge that takes the guess work out of adjusting the planer. Now I can measure once and then dial in the perfect setting the first time. This saves me a lot of time, trouble, and frustration. As you can see in the photo at left, the main part of the gauge consists of a dial indicator mounted to a hard- wood block. The block has a rabbet on the back and a couple of screws and washers hold it firmly in place above the scale on the planer. The second part of the gauge is a small, aluminum L-bracket fastened to the thickness indicator. It acts as a contact point for the dial indicator. Here’s how the gauge works. Start by planing your stock slightly oversize in thickness. Then measure the stock with calipers or a tape measure, making note of how much material is left to plane off. Next, without changing the cut- ting height of the planer, attach the gauge. Mount it so that the point of the dial indicator stays in contact with the L-bracket as the cutterhead (and thickness indicator) is lowered. After setting the dial indicator to the amount that needs to be removed, as in the inset photo, lower the cutterhead (making several light cuts) until the dial indicator registers at “zero.” Now your stock is planed ( to perfect thickness. John Gb'een Royal Oak , Michigan 4 ShopNotes No. 72 A To restore the head on a Phillips screwdriver, Eric Johnson of Edgewood, KY uses his grinding wheel to touch up the edges. A Richard Beal of Fort Polk, LA keeps the lids from his fastener boxes in his storage bins to help him remember the type and size. A Inexpensive, plastic spray bottles make a great applicator for Todd Kamp of Gig Harbor, WA to spray sealer on his outdoor projects. Laminating Spacers ■ When gluing plastic laminate to a substrate with con- tact cement, I always used wood spacers or dowels to position the laminate. The problem was finding (or making) enough spacers to do the job. To get around this, I started using plastic slats from window mini blinds, as shown in the photo at right. The curved shape of the slats easily holds the laminate off the substrate. And best of all, they’re lightweight and can be stacked out of the way until I need them again. Tom Brodle St. Louis Park , Minnesota Free Tips Get more wood- working tips free. Visit us on the Web at ShopNotes.com Sign up to receive a free shop tip by email every week. Handy Tote for Sheet Goods- ■ After reading through the article on working with plywood in ShopNotes No. 71, 1 wanted to share my version of a plywood tote that I’ve been using for the last few years. The secret to my tote is a pair of PVC pipe hangers, like those shown in the inset photo below. You can buy them at any hardware store or home improvement center. I cut a piece of 2x6 long enough to make it comfort- able to grip and then nailed the pipe hangers to either side. A metal drawer pull screwed to the 2x6 makes a great handle. Dana Craig Nonvood, Massachusetts Send in Your Shop Tips If you have a unique shop tip, we’d like to consider featuring it in one or more of our print or electronic publications. We’ll pay up to $200 for a tip we pub- lish. Just write down the tip and mail it to ShopNotes , Attn.: Readers’ Tips, 2200 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50312. Or FAX it to 515-282-6741, or send us an email at shopnotes@shopnotes.com. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number in case we have any questions. No. 72 ShopNotes 5 Although it looks small, this belt sander has all the fea- tures of a full-size machine — an adjustable-height table, separate controls for adjusting belt tension and tracking, and even a miter gauge slot. And for convenience, it uses commonly available, 4" x 36” sanding belts. § S anding is one of those tasks that few people enjoy. So any time you can speed up the job, so much the better. The trouble is that stationary belt sanders take up a lot of shop space. And they can be rather expensive. But with the belt sander you see in the photo above, you can enjoy all the benefits of a large, stationary sander without having to invest in a new piece of equipment or give up valuable shop space. What’s unique about this belt sander is that it's pow- ered by another tool that you probably already have in your shop — a drill press. The sander is simply clamped to the table of the drill press. Then a shaft on top of the sander is chucked up in the drill press — just like a drill bit. With a flip of the drill press switch, the sanding belt takes off and you're ready to start sanding. 6 ShopNotes No. 72 No. 72 ShopNotes TRACKING KNOB P1V0T5 IDLER ROLLER YOKE TO TRACK SANDING BELT t NOTE: SET DRILL PRESS SPEED TO 1000-1200 RPM IDLER ROLLER (SEE DETAIL) LAMINATE PLATEN PROVIDES BACKING FOR SANDING BELT TABLE CAN BE RAISED OR LOWERED TO UTILIZE ENTIRE WIDTH OF SANDING BELT BELT SANDER ATTACHES TO DRILL PRESS TABLE WITH CLAMPS SECTION WEDGE FORCES DRIVE ROLLER IS CROWNED TO KEEP BELT CENTERED EXPLODED VIEW OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 25 1 /4 ,, L x 12 3 4"D x 14 1 /2 ,, H BELT TRACKING IS ADJUSTED WITH THE TURN OF A KNOB 4" X 36 SANDING BELT WRAP-AROUND TABLE TOP ALLOWS FOR MORE VERSATILITY NOTE: COLORED ARROWS INDICATE MOVEMENT RESULTING FROM ADJUSTMENTS CROSS ALIGN DRIVE ROLLER SHAFT UNDER DRILL PRESS CHUCK AND CLAMP BASE TO DRILL PRESS TABLE DRIVE ROLLER (SEE DETAIL) ROLLERS RIDE ON BALL BEARINGS WEDGE TENSIONS SANDING BELT JIGS & ACC IDLER ROLLER A Rollers. The rollers for the belt sander are built up out of several layers of mdf. Then they’re trued up using a router table and jig (see opposite page). Idler & Drive Rollers It may seem a bit unusual, but I built this belt sander from the inside out. I started with the rollers for the sanding belt first Then I built the arms that hold the rollers. Finally, I finished up the sander by making the base and table. The reason for this is simple. By building the rollers first, you can size all the other parts to fit around them. You’ll need to make two rollers (A) — a drive roller and an idler roller. The only difference between these two is that the drive roller is slightly “crowned” toward the center to help in tracking the sanding belt. Fortunately, creating this crown is one of the final steps in making the rollers. So you can make the rollers identical to start with. The rollers are made by cutting disks out of MDF (medium-density fiberboard) and then gluing the disks together. If you take a look at Figure 3, you can see that each roller is made up of six disks. Five of these disks are cut out of 3 A" MDF. But the sixth one is cut out of V^'-thick MDF. (I simply resawed a blank of 3 A" MDF down to 1 / 2 m on the table saw to make the thin disks.) To create the disks, I cut them out with a 3 M -dia. hole saw, as you see in Figure 2 below. Don’t worry if the hole saw leaves the edges of the disks a little bit rough. You’ll clean them up later. After cutting out all the disks, you’ll need to enlarge the center holes left behind by the hole saw. This allows the disks to fit onto the 1 / 2 ,, -dia. roller shaft that will be added later. Assembly - Before gluing the disks together, I cut two shafts for the rollers out of V^'-dia. steel rod. (Note that these shafts are dif- ferent lengths.) The idea here is to use the shafts to keep the disks aligned while gluing them up, just as you see in Figure 3. Shafts - Once both rollers are. glued up, you can glue the shafts to ! the rollers with epoxy. There’s nothing too complicated about this. However, in order to give the epoxy something to “grab” onto, I roughed up the surface of the shafts with a file before gluing them in place, as shown in the detail in Figure 3. Now that you have both rollers glued up and the shafts epoxied in FIGURE FIRST: glue up ROLLER. USING SHAFT TO KEEP DISKS ALIGNED llllffffllf place, you can “true up” the faces of ) the rollers. The goal here is to make each roller truly round and concen- tric with the shaft. Truing Jig - The rollers are trued up on the router table, using a jig made especially for the purpose. The jig is really just an open box with a hole in two of the sides to hold the roller shaft The roller is captured inside the box and then rotated by hand over a straight bit in the router table to true up the surface. Figure 4 shows how the jig is made. It’s just screwed together (no glue) so that it can be taken apart and used to true up both rollers. Setting Up the Jig - To use the jig, start by mounting the idler roller inside. (This is the roller with the short shaft.) To prevent the roller from rubbing against the sides of the jig, I added a machine bushing to each end of the shaft before mounting the roller in the jig. Now set the roller and jig on top of I your router table and adjust the height of the bit so that it’s about W higher than the bottom of the roller. Finally, position the fence on your router table so that the roller is directly over the router bit when the jig is pressed against the fence, see upper photo at right. Using the Jig - Using the jig involves a little eye-hand coordina- tion. You’re going to be sliding the entire jig along the fence of the router table while slowly rotating the roller by hand at the same time. The whole thing is a little bit like patting your head while rubbing your stomach. To make the process a little easier, it helps to clamp a couple of stop blocks to the fence of your router table. This way, you don’t have to worry about sliding the jig over too far and accidentally routing into the side of the jig. Start at one end of the roller and work your way around the entire cir- cumference. Then just slide the jig down a little bit until you work your way from one end of the roller to the other (Figure 4a). The goal is to end up with a roller 2 7 /8 M in diameter. Drive Roller - When it comes to truing up the drive roller, there’s a minor change to the procedure. The drive roller is crowned to a slight peak in the middle. This helps to keep the sanding belt centered on the rollers as it’s running. (I didn’t crown the idler roller because I wanted to leave it straight and square for sanding inside curves, see inset photo on page 6.) To create this peak, I simply added a Vs 1 '-thick spacer to the bottom edge of one side of the jig to “cant” the roller slightly. Then I trued up one half of the roller, as you see in Figure 4b. After this ▲ Truing Up the Rollers. A simple jig allows you to true up the rollers on a router table. And a pair of stop blocks prevent you from routing too far past the ends of the rollers. end was smooth, I removed the spacer and taped it to the other side of the jig. Then I trued up the other half of the roller. Smoothing the Rollers - The router table does a great job of making the rollers round, but it doesn’t leave the surface of the rollers very smooth. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for this. Just chuck each roller up in the drill press and hold a piece of sandpaper up to the surface until it’s nice and smooth (see photo at right). Just make sure that when you’re sanding the drive roller you don’t sand out the “crown.” A Sanding the Rollers. Each roller is mounted in the drill press and sanded lightly to smooth out the rough surface left behind by the router. TAPE Vfe "-THICK SPACER TO BOTTOM OF JIG TO CREATE CROWN ON DRIVE ROLLER (SEE DETAIL 'b') NOTE: cut NOTCH FOR DUST RELIEF NOTE: jig IS MADE OUT OF V PLYWOOD NOTE: ASSEMBLE JIG WITH SCREWS ONLY (NO GLUE) r b TRUE UP ONE ■ f DRIVE — J END OF ROLLER, JlV 1 / TAPE SPACER THEN MOVE SPACER ROLLER TO BOTTOM EDGE TO OTHER END OF JIG r=rl$F No. 72 ShopNotes 9 JIGS & ACCESSORIES TOP 0/2" x 2 3 / 4 " - 12") Frame Aesemblies Once you have the rollers com- pleted, you can set them aside while you work on the frame of the belt sander. The frame is made up of two separate assemblies. The idler roller is mounted on a frame that includes a long, pivoting arm. This arm slides into the drive roller frame, which is built like a tall, narrow box. Figure 5 shows how the two frame assem- blies fit together. Drive Roller Frame - I started by making the drive roller frame. If you take a look at Figure 6 below, you’ll see that this frame is really just a thin box that’s open at one end. At the other end, the top and bottom of the box extend out past the end to serve as supports for the roller. To make the drive roller frame, start by cutting out the top and bottom (B), sides (C), and end (D) from 1 / 2 ,, -thick stock. These pieces will simply be glued and screwed together. Before you can do this, however, there are a few details to take care of. First, you’ll need to drill a coun- terbored hole near the end of the top and bottom pieces for a flanged ball bearing that will be installed %" KNOB later (Figures 6a and 6b). Next, you’ll need to cut a notch at the opposite end of the top piece, as you can see in Figure 6. This notch will receive part of the idler roller frame that will come later. Finally, you’ll need to cut a rectan- gular opening in the top piece for a hardwood wedge that will be used to tension the sanding belt. You can make this opening by drilling a hole at each corner of the opening and then cutting out the waste with a scroll saw or a jig (sabre) saw. Before assembling the frame, you’ll need to install the ball bear- a . jj . EPOXY ROD :1| ,N H0LE ^E§ i s 3 — 4 © q ^7 y 3/ a »_f £2. BOTTOM (Vz" X 2 3 / 4 " - 12 ") MOUNTING PLATE (2 3 /4 u x W - 3 / 4 " PLYWOOD) 10 SIDE 0/2" X W - W) ShopNotes ings in the top and bottom pieces. These bearings are glued in place with epoxy. Just be careful that you don’t get any epoxy on the face of the bearing where it could possibly run down inside and ruin the bearing mechanism. Once the bearings are in place, you can assemble the frame with glue and screws. The sides and end are sandwiched in between the top and bottom. Just don’t forget to add the drive roller and bushings when you’re assembling the frame. Mounting Plate - To create some clearance between the sanding belt and the base of the sander, the drive roller frame sits on a mounting plate (E). This plate is just a piece of 3 / 4 m plywood. Later, the plate and frame will be mounted to a base. The mounting plate is simply glued to the bottom of the drive roller frame. Then a hole is drilled through both the plate and the bottom of the frame for a threaded rod (Figure 6). This threaded rod is epoxied into place so that it sticks out from the mounting plate about V 2 ", as you can see in Figure 6a. Platen - The last step to complete the drive roller frame is to add a platen. The platen is just a piece of plastic laminate that is glued to the side (front) of the frame. Its purpose is to back up the sanding belt and No. 72 JIGS & ACCESSORIES k provide a smooth, slick surface for it to travel over. I simply cut the lami- nate to size and glued it to the side of the frame with contact adhesive. IDLER ROLLER FRAME The idler roller frame is constructed a little bit differently than the drive roller frame. It consist of two sec- tions. The roller is held by a yoke. This yoke is pinned to an arm so that it can pivot, allowing you to “track” the sanding belt. To make the yoke, I began by cut- ting out the yoke top and bottom (F), back (G), and bracket (H) from Vy'-thick hardwood. The top and bottom pieces each get a ball bearing installed in them, like you did with the drive roller frame. Then I drilled a hole in the bracket for a pivot pin that will be added to the frame later. After this is done, you can assemble the yoke with glue and screws. Just make sure you don’t forget to include the roller and machine bush- ings (Figure 7). Finally, to reinforce the yoke, I added a couple of corner blocks to the inside corners. Tracking Bracket - The last part to add to complete the yoke is a tracking block (M). This is just a block of wood with a T-nut installed (Figure 8). It gets screwed to the top of the yoke. To make the tracking knob that fits in the bracket, I simply epoxied a star knob onto the end of a piece of threaded rod. Arm - With the yoke complete, you can build the arm that holds it. As you can see in Figure 8, the arm is made up of four pieces. It’s basi- cally a pair of sides with a couple of blocks in between to act as spacers. One end of the arm is tapered to mate with a tensioning wedge that will be added later. If you take a look at Figure 8 below, you’ll notice that the tracking block at the square end of the arm sticks up above the top edge of the side pieces. This block serves as a stop for the tracking adjustment knob. A shallow hole is drilled near the end of this block to accept the tip of the threaded stud of the tracking knob (Figure 8a). After gluing up the arm, you can add the yoke. It’s simply held in place with a steel pivot pin that passes through the sides of the arm. To do this, I drilled a hole all the way through both sides of the arm for the pivot pin. Then I drove die pin in place, capturing the yoke bracket in between the sides of the arm. (You may have to use a little epoxy to hold the pin in place.) Once you have the idler roller frame complete, you can slide it into the drive roller frame. The arm should slide freely inside the drive roller frame. If it doesn’t, you may want to sand the faces of the arm and apply a little paste wax. Wedge - The only thing left to complete the frame assemblies is to add a tensioning wedge. This wedge is cut from a hardwood blank, as you can see in the margin drawing at right A groove is cut along the back of the wedge to allow it to fit around the threaded rod that is epoxied into the drive roller frame. A knob and washer are used to hold the wedge in place. As the knob is tightened, the wedge gradually forces the two roller frames apart (Figure 5). YOKE BOTTOM PIVOT BRACKET (%" x 2V4" - 2V4") #e> x 2 " Fh WOODSCREW EPOXY STAR KNOB TO END OF s/ 16 " x 3V2" THREADED ROD TRACKING BRACKET (%" x IVg" - 2 % n ) 5PACER O’/ie" x 1 " - &>/&") SiPE (V2" x 41 V\e" - 0 ") WEDGE DETAIL No. 72 ShopNotes 11 JIGS & ACCESSORIES NOTE: OFFSET UPPER AND LOWER SCREW LOCATIONS Cl SHORT SUPPORT (3/4" X 1" - 5") BASE base & Table At this point, the most difficult parts of the sander are complete. All that remains now is to make the base and adjustable table. The table supports your workpiece and can be adjusted up or down to utilize the entire width of the sanding belt (see photo at left) . The base provides a platform for the sander and gives you a place to clamp the sander to your drill press table (see inset photo). Base - As you can see by taking a look at Figure 9, the base (0) of the sander is really little more than a piece of 3 / 4 n plywood. It’s cut to shape and the edges are sanded smooth. Then, after drilling a 3 /8 n - dia. hole in the base for the ten- sioning rod, the drive roller frame assembly can be glued down to the top of the base (Figure 9). Then you can set the sander aside while working on the table. Table - Like the base, the table is also made out of 3 / 4 n plywood. The shape of the table is designed to allow it to wrap around the idler roller so that you can sand inside curves. I started by cutting the table top (P) to shape as shown in Figure 10, and then sanding the edges. To help support die table and allow it to slide up and down, the top is attached to a couple of ply- wood aprons. Before screwing the top to the aprons, however, you’ll need to cut a slot in each apron for a locking knob that is added later. Once the table is assem- bled, you can add a piece of plastic laminate to the top. This pro- vides a tough, smooth surface. The final step to complete the table is to cut a miter gauge slot along the length of the top. Table Supports - The table rests against the edge of the base and is held in place by a couple of star knobs. In order to provide a larger surface to support the table, I beefed 12 {§) LONG SUPPORT p/ 4 ” x 1” - 11") “ a. r P SIDE | APRON I (SEE FIG. 10) | ir j 1 - - \ V.'V. S i ; r IIP SI ffipnsia \ SASE^ J Hardware • (4) ! fz ' l-D‘ Flanged 3a 11 Bearinge • 0) %" x 9" Threaded Rod • 0) V 2 "x15" Steel Rod • 0) WxWe" Steel Rod • (4) V 2 " Machine Bushings • ( V 3 /e" Star Knob • (V 5 /i6 n Star Knob • (2) 5 /i6 n Star Knobs w/V/ 2 n -long studs • (2) 3 he" Washers • 0 ) %" Washer . (3) 5 he" T-Nuts • (34) #3 x iV 2 " Fh Woodscrews • (2) #3 x 2" Fh Woodscrews • (V 5 he" x 3V 2 " Threaded Rod • (1) Flastic Laminate (24" x 24") . (1) 4" x 36" Sanding Belt No. 72 JIGS & ACCESSORIES up the edge of the base by adding some supports. These are just blocks of wood that are screwed to the top and bottom faces of the base, flush with the edges (Figure 9a). Hardware - The star knobs that hold the table in place simply thread into T-nuts that are mounted in the lower table supports. To locate the holes for these T-nuts, I placed the table against the edge of the base and marked the location of the apron slots onto the lower table supports. Then I just drilled a couple of holes and installed the T- nuts. After attaching the table, you can slip a sanding belt over the rollers and clamp the sander to your drill press, see box below. #e> x IV2" Fh To set up the sander, slip a sanding belt over the rollers , as shown in the first photo. Then clamp the sander to the table of your drill press so that the drive roller shaft is directly below the drill chuck. Lower the drill press spindle and tighten the chuck around the shaft. Then lock the drill press spindle in place. With the setup complete, there are just a couple of adjustments to make. To tension the sanding belt, simply turn the large knob on the wedge. (Tighten it just enough so the belt doesn’t slip.) Then to get the belt to track evenly on the rollers, turn the small star knob at the end of the sander, see second photo. A Belt Change. To install or remove the sanding belt, loosen the knob and lift up the wedge to release the tension on the sanding belt A Tracking. Turning a knob at the end of the sander will cause the idler roller to pivot slightly, thereby centering the belt : Materials A Rollers (2) 2 7 / & dia.x4'/ 4 MDF K Arm Sides (2) '/ 2 x4''/, 6 -6 B frame Top /Bottom (2) '/ 2 x 2% - 12 L Spacer (1) "Aexl-3% C Frame Sides (2) '/ 2 x 4 3 U - 6 3 U M Tracking Slock (1) n Ae xl -4 P Frame End (1) % X 1 3 / 4 " 4 3 /4 N Wedge (1) J'7,6 x 2 s Ae - 5'h E Mounting Flate (1) 2% x 5 3 /4 - 3 / 4 Plywood 0 Base (1) & x 2J’/ 2 - 3 / 4 Plywood F Yoke Top/Bottom (2) ’/ 2 x 2 3 / 4 - 3V 2 F Top (1) 12% x 21 -% Plywood G Yoke Sack (1) '/ 2 x2%-5 3 / 4 Q Front Apron (1) 6 x 11% - % Plywood H Fivot bracket (1) 5 /e x 2 V 4 - 2 V 4 R Side Apron (1) 6 x 5 3 / 4 - % Plywood 1 Comer Slocks (2) v 2 x v 2 - 2 3 / 4 S Long Supports (2) %x1-11 J Tracking Bracket (1) . ■ : 3/4 X )V 2 - 2 3 / 4 R Short Supports (2) %x 1 - 5 No. 72 ShopNotes 13 I I f you’re like me, you’ve probably always thought of “electrolysis” as something that women have done to remove unwanted facial hair. But a couple of years ago, I heard about a different type of electrolysis — a kind that’s used to remove rust. I decided to give it a try on an old, rusty hand plane that I had lying around. The results floored me. When I was finished, you couldn’t tell that there had ever been a hint of rust on the plane. (Check out the before and after photos of the plane below to see what I’m talking about.) How it Works - Electrolysis is simply a method of removing rust through a chemical reaction. But don’t worry — you won’t need a Ph.D. in chemistry to try electrol- ysis. In fact, the process is really quite simple and requires just a few common household items. In a nutshell, the rusty tool is sub- merged in a tub containing a solution of water and a little washing soda. Then an electric current is passed through the solution to create a reac- tion that removes the rust. Benefits - There are a couple of benefits to using electrolysis to clean up a rusty tool. First, it’s a lot gentler on the tool than any other method of rust removal. Sanding, grinding, sandblasting, wire wheels and chem- ical rust removers all remove metal along with the rust They tend to “overclean” the tool, destroying the original “patina” and leaving the tool looking unnatural. Electrolysis doesn’t do this because it removes only the rust — not the metal. Another advantage to using elec- trolysis is that it requires a lot less effort than most other methods. You simply let the electrolysis do the work, and then after a couple of hours, wipe the tool clean. Shop Note: Electrolysis is highly effective at removing rust, but it won’t restore the pitted surface of the metal. Supplies - The first thing you’ll need to do is round up the necessary supplies. You’ll need a plastic bucket or tub that’s large enough to com- pletely submerge the object you’re treating. You’ll also need a fine abra- sive pad (I use the gray 3M finishing pads) and a box of washing soda. (I found washing soda in my local gro- cery store, right next to the laundry detergents.) Since washing soda can be hard on your skin, you might also want a pair of rubber gloves to pro- tect your hands. Next, you’ll need an anode , which is nothing more than a piece of steel. Any old piece of steel will work (as long as it’s not galvanized and free from rust or scale). The last item you’ll need is a small, automotive bat- tery charger. Try to find one with an Removing Rust with Electrolysis pP ◄ Before . The body of this hand plane is covered with surface rust. ◄ After. Following ^ electrolysis, the same plane looks as good as new. ShopNotes No. 72 IN THE SHOP ammeter. It will tell you if the process is working. (You can buy a battery charger for around $35.) Safety - Before getting started, there are a couple of safety points to mention. One of the by-products of electrolysis is the creation of hydrogen gas. Although the amount of gas produced is small, you should set up your electrolysis tub where there is plenty of ventilation and away from any open flames. Any time you’re mixing water and electricity, a little caution is in order. Obviously, don’t ever put your hands in the tub of water while the battery charger is plugged in. And don’t leave the tub unattended where a child or pet might happen across it. Finally, although electrolysis doesn’t seem to affect the japanning on most hand planes, it may soften and remove some paints. So if you’re working on a valuable tool, you might want to test a small area first. GETTING STARTED Once you have all your supplies together, you’re ready to get started. First, you’ll want to remove any parts of the tool that are made out of wood, brass, or galvanized metal. Then wash the tool in warm water to remove any dirt or debris. Preparing the Solution - Now fill the plastic tub with enough clean water to cover the tool and add a little washing soda (about one table- spoon per gallon, see Step 1). Then place your anode in the water on one side of the tub and the rusty tool on the other side. (Make sure that the two aren’t touching or you’ll short out the battery charger.) Before plugging in the battery charger, hook up the positive (red) lead of the charger to the anode and the negative (black) lead to the tool (Step 2). If your charger has more than one amperage setting, turn it to the lowest one and then switch it on. Tiny Bubbles - Within a few sec- onds, you should start to see tiny bubbles forming on the surface of the tool and rising to the top of the water (see photo on opposite page). This tells you that the process is working. If you don’t see any bub- bles, or if the ammeter needle doesn’t move when you turn the charger on, unplug it and double check the connections. The electrolysis will start working on the rusted surfaces that directly face the anode. To get the best results, it helps to turn the tool around halfway through the process so that all surfaces have a chance to “de-rust.” Just make sure to unplug the battery charger first. Clean Up - After a couple hours, you can turn the charger off and take the tool out of the tub. But don’t expect it to look bright and shiny at this point (see inset photo on oppo- site page). The areas that were rusted will look black. But this is easy to remedy. Just take the tool over to the sink and rinse it off. Then gently scrub the tool with the 3M fin- ishing pad (Step 3). The metal underneath should be clean and free of rust. If it’s not, you’ll need to treat the tool a little longer. Finishing Up - Once the tool has been cleaned and washed, it can begin to rust again almost immedi- ately. To prevent this, I like to dry the tool off with an absorbent cloth and then place it in a low-temperature oven for about an hour to make sure it’s dry. After this, you can apply a coat of paste wax to prevent new rust from forming (Step 4). & Step-by-Step I To get started, mix a tablespoon or two of washing powder in a plastic tub filled with enough water to cover the top of the tool. 3 Once the electrolysis is complete, rinse the tool off in clean water and scrub the sur- faces gently with the abrasive pad. 2 With the battery charger unplugged, clamp the negative lead to the tool and the positive lead to the anode (a scrap piece of steel). 4 To help prevent future rust from forming, dry the tool thoroughly and then apply a coat of paste wax to all the bare metal surfaces. No. 72 ShopNotes 15 I ’ve always been envious of woodworkers who have table saw outfeed supports the size of aircraft carriers. It surely makes cutting long boards a lot easier, not to mention full sheets of plywood. But the reality is that a lot of us simply don’t have that much space in our shops. Which is why we came up with the project shown here. Outfeed System - Instead of building a single, large outfeed table, I created an outfeed system made up of five separate outfeed supports. You can gang the supports together to create one large table, like you see in the photo above. Or you can separate the units and strategi- cally place them around your table saw to give you support exactly where you need it (See the photo on page 19.) What’s great about this system is that it gives you large-scale capabilities without forcing you to per- manently give up valuable floor space in your shop. Modular - Although we built five separate units, the modular design of these outfeed supports is such that you can build as few or as many as you want. (A single support makes a great outrigger for crosscutting long workpieces, see photo on opposite page.) The feet are staggered in position to allow the individual units to nest together. And catches on the sides of the sup- ports hold them all together. 16 ShopNotes No. 72 SHOP PROJECT EXPLODED VIEW OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 34"WxlWPx35"H PLA5TIC LAMINATE ON UNEVEN Materials (1 unit) A Bottom (1) 3 Ux 5 - 31 & Sides (2) 3 4 x 5 - 2&h C Top (1) 1'/ 2 x 5 - 34 P Stretchers (2) 3 / 4 x 5 - 2&/ 2 E Feet (2) 172X4-143/4 TABLE PINS KEEP TOPS OF Single. The modular design of the outfeed table allows you to separate the individual units and use them alone. N o.72 ShopNotes 17 SHOP PROJECT As I mentioned earlier, the outfeed table is made up of five separate sup- port units. With the exception of the positions of the feet, these units are all identical. So it makes sense as you are building them to cut out the parts for all five units and work in a “production-style” method. Frame - As you can see in Figure 1, the main body of the support unit is simply a wood frame. To make this frame, start by cutting the bottom (A) and sides (B) to size from 3 A"- thick stock and the top (C) from l 1 / 2 ,, -thick stock. (I used pine.) The dimensions for these pieces are shown in Figure 1. After you have the pieces cut to size, you can start on the joinery. Although glue and screws are used to hold the pieces together, the side bottom. This helps keep everything aligned. I made these using a dado blade on the table saw. Start by cut- ting the dadoes on the bottom piece first, positioning them according to the dimensions shown in Figure lb. The dadoes in the top piece need to line up with the dadoes in the bottom piece. So when you’re laying out the dadoes on the underside of between the dadoes, rather than the spacing from the dadoes to the ends of the workpiece (Figure 1). After you’ve cut all the dadoes, you need to drill a few holes in both the top and the bottom pieces before you can assemble the frame. To start with, I drilled two pairs of countersunk holes in each bottom piece for the feet that will be added later. There’s just one thing to be aware of here. In order to allow the support units to nest together, the feet are staggered on each unit. So there are three different locations for drilling the holes, as you can see in Figure 2b. (If you’re making five support units, you’ll need to make two units with the feet in the first position, two with the feet in the second position, and one with the feet in the third position.) For the top piece, you just need to drill a couple of holes on each edge of the piece for some alignment pins that will be added later (Figure la). Assembly - Once you have all the holes drilled, you can assemble 18 ShopNotes No. 72 SHOP PROJECT the pieces by simply gluing and screwing them together. Stretchers - To help strengthen the frames, I added a couple of stretchers — one at the top and one at the bottom. These stretchers (D) are just cut to length to fit in between the sides and are then glued and screwed in place, as shown in Figure 1. Laminate -To help reduce friction on the top of the outfeed support, I added a smooth piece of plastic lami- nate to the top. After gluing the lami- nate down and trimming it flush with the edges, I routed a chamfer around the top (Figures 3 and 3a). Feet - There’s not much to making the feet (E). Each one starts off as a l 1 / 2 ,, -thick blank. After drilling a couple of holes near the ends of the blank for some levelers, the top of each foot is tapered on a band saw and then sanded smooth. The goal here is to leave a 5" -wide NOTE: routvv CHAMFER AROUND EDGES OF EACH TOP AFTER APPLYING LAMINATE flat spot on top of each foot on which to mount the frame (Figure 2a). Hardware - Before attaching the feet, you can install the T-nuts and levelers as shown in Figure 2. Then the feet are just screwed to the frame (Figure 2b). To help hold the support units together when you are using them as a single outfeed table, I added a draw catch to each side, as you see in Figure 3. Then finally, to help keep the support units aligned, I glued some wooden table leaf align- ment pins into the holes in one edge of each top. & No. 72 ShopNotes 19 Building a Laminated Top Learn the tips and techniques we used to build a dead-flat, solid-wood, laminated benchtop. ; : glue UP 5LA3 NO WIDER THAN JOINTER (SEE FIGURE 1b) SLAS “1RST: LEVEL TOPS OF SAWHORSES TO EACH OTHER I ’ve always been impressed by a solid-wood, laminated benchtop. It makes a strong, sturdy worksur- face and the top often looks as good as the furniture built on it. Making a benchtop, like the one in the photo above, seems like a simple process — you cut up a bunch of strips and then glue them up to form a solid slab. And in prac- tice, that’s just about how it goes. But there are a few tips and tech- niques you can use to break the process up into smaller, more man- ageable steps. And by the time you get to gluing up the entire top, you’ll be surprised at how easy it was to create a benchtop that’s solid, good- looking, and as flat as can be. CUTTING THE STRIPS The first step in building a laminated benchtop is choosing the material for the strips. What you’re looking for here is a hard, durable wood. Just about any hard wood will do. But since you’re going to use quite a bit of material, cost can be a factor. For the benchtop I built for the fold-down workstation shown on FIGURE FIR5T. JOINT FACE RIP STRIPS - TO WIDTH FROM 2x10 OF SLAS. THEN PLANE OTHER FACE ShopNotes page 22, I chose Douglas fir. It’s hard and durable, so a benchtop made from it will hold up to years of use. And compared to most woods, it’s fairly inexpensive. I was able to cut all the strips I needed out of three, 12-foot-long 2x10s I bought from a local home center. Now there’s a little more to this than just picking any board and rip- ping a few strips from it. For starters, you’ll want to be a little choosy when selecting your stock. As with any lumber, what you’re looking for is straight boards with as few knots and defects as possible. So be sure to take the time to find the best pieces you can. Once you have the lumber home, you can crosscut the material into six-foot lengths. This way, you’ll have a little extra length to allow for any end checks, imperfections, or planer snipe that might show up later. With the lumber cut to rough length, you’re ready to rip the pieces to width. Since I was looking for a top about 2W thick, I ripped my strips around 2 Z U ] wide, as in Figure la. This gave me enough extra material to joint the edges flat and square, and then plane the edges smooth. Once the strips are ripped to width, you’ll be turning them on edge to glue them up. Besides a more \ stable top, the exposed edge grain provides a couple side benefits — a tougher surface and a great- looking benchtop (see photo). No. 72 TECHNIQUES MAKE A DRY RUN After cutting all the strips to size, the next step is to make a dry run by clamping up the strips without glue. Why a dry run? If s the best way to discover any problems you might run into before you have glue all over and it’s too late to do anything about it Since I was assembling the benchtop on sawhorses, I took some time to make sure they were in the same plane by sighting across the tops. Doing this avoids introducing any twist in the top. Now dry clamp four of the strips together to form a slab. Why not the entire set of strips? Simple. By cre- ating a narrow slab, you can easily joint one of the faces flat and smooth. Then you can run the slab through the planer to flatten it. Note: Take the time to position the straightest (and best-looking) pieces on the outside of each slab. GLUE IT UP With a dry run under your belt, you’re ready to glue up the slabs that will make up the benchtop. After applying the glue and adding the clamps, make any adjust- ments necessary so the tops of the strips are as flush as possible. Doing this now means you’ll have less jointing and planing to do later. FIRST: cur STOPPED SLOTS SO SPLINES DON'T SHOW AT ENDS EXTRA STRIP HARDE30ARD ^-SPLINE FIGURE SECOND: glue up four slaps AND ONE STRIP USING SPLINES FOR ALIGNMENT USEVV SLOT CUTTER TO CUT %"-DEEP SLOT SLAP SLAP \ SLAP When the glue is dry, you can flatten one face, like you see in Figure lb, and then run the slabs through your planer to flatten the opposite face. FINAL ASSEMBLY At this point, you should have four perfectly flat slabs about 6 M wide. (Mine were about 5 3 /i n .) The next step is to glue all the slabs together to form the benchtop. But there’s a catch. After the glue-up, the top will be too wide to use a jointer or planer to clean it up. So to ensure that each slab stays per- fectly aligned during the final glue-up, I used hardboard splines that fit into slots in the edges of each slab (Figure 2b). A router with a slot-cutting bit makes quick work of cutting the slots (Figure 2a). Just be sure to stop each slot far enough in from the ends of the slab so they won’t show when you cut the top to final size (59 3 /4 M ) . Note: If you’re building the benchtop for the workstation, you may need to add an extra strip to ensure the top is at least 24" wide. CUTTING TO SIZE With this procedure, I had very little cleanup to do. After a little scraping and sanding, the top was ready to be cut to final size. The tricky part is that the top is too big to cut on the table saw. So instead, I used my circular saw and a straightedge, as shown in Figure 3. But a circular saw won’t cut all the way through the top. So first I cut as far as possible through one face, as in Figure 3. Then I flipped the top over and cut through the rest of the top, leaving just a little waste (Figure 3a) . Finally, a hand-held router and a flush trim bit make quick work of removing the final waste, as in Figure 3b. l!L No. 72 ShopNotes 21 Fold-down Station ■ No. 72 This workstation has it all — a spttce-saiiing, fold-down workbench, easij-access tool rack, and plen ty of stprage inamall- mounted cabinet. 22 ShopNotes WALL CABINET FEATURES ADJUSTABLE SHELVES AND ENCLOSED STORAGE . • . ... . , ...... ... . ... . ■ • DOORS MADE WITH STUB TENON AND GROOVE JOINERY SOLID-WOOD LAMINATED BENCHTOP PROVIDES HEAVY-DUTY WORKSURFACE EXPLODEDVIEW OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 63”W x 32'/ 2 "D x 76“H (OPEN) 63“W x 10"D x 7S“H (STORED) Workbench A Top (1) 3 Side Panels (2) C Edging D Stretchers (2) E Corner 3 races (4) F Legs (2) G Rails (4) H Spacers (2) I Stops (2) J Face Slock (1) Tool Rack K Top Rail (1) L Bottom Rail (1) \dr 2%x24-59 3 / 4 &U x 13 7 % - f/ 2 Ply. s / 4 x 1% - 96 Rgh. 1% x 3% - 60 1%x4-10 3x3-3 1% V/ 2 x 3% - 17 3 U 3 / 4 Rgh. x3 - 5 1 x 1% - 2 Rgh. 3x4% -10 1% x 1% - 61 1% x 3V Z - 60 M End Stiles (2) N Center Stiles (2) O Peg hoard Panel (1) P Hardhoard Panel (1) Q Filler Panel (1) R Filler Strip (1) S Benchtop Stop (1) Wall Cabinet T Top/ Bottom (2) U Sides (2) V Dividers (2) W Back (1) X Side Shelves (2) Y Center Shelf (1) 1% x f/ 2 - 20 1% x 1% - 19 13x23- V 4 Pgbd. 13x23- % Hdhd. 17 x 27 - 3 U Ply. 'UxV z -3 1% x 2% - 13% 9% x 62'h - 3 / 4 Ply. 9% x 20 - 3 U Ply. 9x13%-% Ply. 13 3 / 4 x62- , / 4 Hdbd. 3 x 2CP/& - 3 / 4 Ply. 3 x 13 7 % - 3 / 4 Ply. Z Side Edging (2) AA Center Edging (1) BB Cleats (2) CC Frame Rails (6) DP Frame Stiles (4) EE Filler Strip (1) FF Door Rails (4) GG Door Stiles (4) HH Door Panels (2) 3 Ux 3 U-2Cfi% 3 / 4 x 3 / 4 - 13V & 3% x 20'/ 2 - 3 U Ply. 3 / 4 x1'/ 2 -19 3 / 4 x 1% - 20 1% x 3 / 4 - 62 3 / 4 x2%-14 3 % 3 / 4 x2%-16 7 /a 12 3 / e x 14 % - V 4 Hdhd. To download a free cutting diagram and hardware list for the Workstation, goto : www.shopnotes.com. = ‘^»' . : • , ■■■■ V -.:, I,,;. -v ; ". •: v / •, •• •. No. 72 ShopNotes 23 build a folding WORKBENCH ▲ Front Vise. For more information on installing the front vise, building the face block, and drilling the bench dog holes, turn to page 27. I started on the workbench by making the top. Why the top? A couple rea- sons. First, the overall dimensions determine the final size of the base. And second, you can set the top on a couple sawhorses and use it to com- plete the rest of the workbench. Make the Top - The top (A) shown above is made from strips of solid wood — pretty typical for a heavy-duty workbench. To learn how I made this top, refer to page 20. Or you can make a simpler version, like the box on the opposite page shows. EDGING (%" X IV2") (E #0 X 3V2" Fh WOODSCREW LEG LEVELER w/%" POST Base - Once the top is complete, the next step is to build the base. You can see in Figure 1 that the base has thick, solid legs supporting the front edge of the benchtop. What's different is that these legs swing in towards the back of the base allowing you to fold the top down. A pair of side panels and stretchers at the back of the base support both the legs and the benchtop. Make the Side Panels - To provide solid support for the back of the benchtop, the side panels (B) are made by gluing up two layers of plywood and then adding solid wood edging (C). The next thing to do is drill a counterbore in each side panel to provide a pivot point for the top. The coun- terbores accept flange bear- ings that prevent wear and tear on the side panels as you pivot the top up and down. The key to locating the holes is to measure the thickness of your benchtop. With that measurement in hand, you use Figures la and lc to locate the holes. Note: This positions No. 72 FEATURE PROJECT the top so that it’s T / 4 n above the side panels in the raised position and flush with the front edge of the panels when it’s folded down. Add the Stretchers - To con- nect the side panels and provide a way to attach the legs of the work- bench to the wall, I added a pair of stretchers (D), as in Figure 1. The stretchers are simply screwed in place. (Don’t use any glue here. You’ll need to take one side panel off later so you can install the top.) To prevent the side panels from flexing, I added the corner braces (E) shown in Figures 1 and lc. Here again, the braces are only screwed to the side panels. Build the Leg Assemblies - With the back complete, the next step is to build the leg and rail assem- blies. The legs (F) are glued up from two pieces with a leveler installed at the bottom (Figure lb). Then the rails (G) are cut to size and glued into dadoes and rabbets cut in the legs, as in Figure 1. Final Assembly - To allow the legs to swing in and out, they’re attached to the stretchers with hinges. But before you do that, you’ll need to mount the side panels and stretchers to the wall. This is just a matter of screwing the stretchers to the wall studs so they’re level from side to side. (I positioned the top of the side panels 35 3 /4 n above the floor.) Now you can attach the leg assem- blies. I found that the easiest way to do this was to clamp the two assem- blies together with spacers in between them. Then you can clamp this assembly to the stretchers, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 2a. Finally, screw the hinges in place. Gluing up solid wood strips to make a heavy-duty benchtop isn’t the only option for the fold-down worksta- tion. The photo at right shows an alternate top that’s made from plywood panels covered with hardboard. Built-Up Layers - In the drawing above you can see there are four layers. The bottom three layers are pieces of 3 / 4 m plywood. Adding a final layer of W' tempered hardboard provides a smooth, durable surface. To make the top, I started by cutting each layer slightly oversized (1 M ) in length and width. Then after gluing all the layers together, I trimmed the top to final size (21 M x 56 3 /4 u )- Since the edges of sheet goods aren’t all that tough, I covered them with strips of Douglas fir. At this point, completing the installation of the top is identical to the laminated benchtop. NOTE: AFTER CUTTING TOP TO SIZE (21" x 56 3 / 4 n ), APPLY IVy-THICK EDGING No. 72 ShopNotes 25 FEATURE PROJECT trapped in a groove by a metal plate acts as the pivot pin for folding the top up and down. Installing the Top With the base attached to the wall, you’re ready to install the top. And regardless of which top you use, the process is identical. Add the Pivot Pins - The first step is to install the pivot pins that allow you to fold the top up or down. As you can see in Figure 3, each pivot pin is a I 5 /8 ,L dia. steel rod that rests in a I stopped groove cut in the lower surface of the top. Each rod sticks out past the end of the bench and fits into the flange bearings installed in the side panel, as shown in Figure 3a. To cut the grooves I used a straight bit in a hand-held router, as in Figure 3b. Then J squared up the ends of the grooves with a chisel. A hacksaw makes quick work of cutting the rods to length so about 3 A" sticks out past the ends of the grooves. Finally, to trap the rod in place, there’s a Vs'Mhick steel plate screwed to the bottom face. (I picked up both the rod and steel plate at a local home center.) Install the Top - At this point, you’re ready to ask a friend to help you install the top. Start by removing one side panel from the base. Next, cross a SECTION BENCH- TOP I y / / V' /V Sll PAt [ PE slELj r' • is : r. swing out the legs and set the top in place. This makes it easier to slide the ends of the pivot pins in place and then reattach the side panel to complete the installation. Final Details - There are a couple things left to do to complete the installation of the top. The first is to add a couple spacers (H) to the bottom of the benchtop (Figure 4). These spacers serve two pur- poses. First, they trap the legs and hold them in place after you swing the legs into position. And second, to level the top when it’s in the raised position, the spacers are sized to fill the gap between the top of the legs and the benchtop, as in Figure 4a. Just be sure to locate the spacers so the legs are square to the base when they re resting in the dadoes. Stop - All that’s left at this point is to glue a pair of stops to each side panel, as illustrated in Figure 5. These stops (I) keep the top perfectly vertical when the top is in the stored position (Figure 5a and lower photo) . Add a Vise - Finally, if you’d like to add a face vise to your bench, check out the article on the opposite page. The vise, along with a face block and a few holes in the top, pro- vides a variety of clamping options. ShopNotes No. 72 Adding a Bench Vise To add more clamping capability to a work- bench, you can add a cast iron vise. You can see the one I added to the heavy-duty work- bench in the photo at right A face vise works great for clamping a workpiece between the jaws. But for even more options, you might want to think about drilling a set of dog holes in the top. The dog holes allow you to use a set of bench dog accessories, with or without the TOP VIEW - 3 "->- <— 4 "— ► - 5 “- - 5 "- -o o \ ;> O) FACE “^BLOCK vise, to clamp a workpiece to the top of the workbench. (F or more information on the vise and accessories I used, see page 35.) Install the Vise - Installing a vise isn’t difficult. In most cases, it’s just a matter of bolting it in place, like you see in the drawing and details below. But there are a couple things to keep in mind as you do this. First, you’ll need to make sure that the guide rods on the bottom of the vise don’t interfere with the legs of the bench. And then, for the vise I used, I added a face block (J), as in the drawing, detail ‘a,’ and detail ‘c.’ Drill the Dog Holes - With the vise in place, lay out and drill the holes for the bench dogs, like you see in details ‘a’ and V Just be sure the holes don’t interfere with any of the vise parts underneath the bench. Finally, rout a small chamfer at the top of each hole to make it easy to insert the bench dogs (detail ‘o’). A Leather Faces. Once the bench vise is installed, you can add leather to the inside faces of the vise and bench to protect and more securely clamp your workpiece in place. No. 72 wall-mounted TOOL RACK with built-in stop jr>- Y HINGE L o* > • I V2" — .-FILLER I PANEL V One of the big problems in a work- shop is keeping your tools organized and within easy reach — especially around a workbench. But I solved that problem by making the wall- mounted tool rack shown above. Besides providing a convenient storage spot for tools, there's a handy feature built into the rack — a spring-loaded stop. The stop holds the benchtop up while you swing the legs of the workbench out to set it up, or when you're folding the legs in for storage. Make the Frame - There’s really not much to the tool rack. It starts out as a solid-wood frame made from Douglas fir. But as you can see in Figure 6, there are some things to keep in mind. For starters, the top and bottom of the frame aren't identical. The bottom is slightly wider and shorter than the top. Once the frame is put together, it allows the tool rack to slip down between the side panels of the base and “fill the gap” along the back edge of the workbench. Once you have the top rail (K), bottom rail (L), and end stiles (M) cut to size, there's a little joinery to take care of. First, the stiles need a rabbet at one end to accept the top rail. Then on the top and bottom rails, you'll need to cut some dadoes. Here, the top rail has two dadoes to #8 x 3" Fh WOODSCREW < 0 > END STILE (life" X IV 2 "- 20") 28 ShopNotes No. 72 FEATURE PROJECT r a. TOP RAIL i accept a pair of center stiles (N), | while the bottom rail has a single, wide dado. The wider dado not only accepts the center stiles, but it also provides room for the end of the flip stop that’s added later. Cut the Panel Grooves - Once you’ve completed the dadoes and rabbets, all that’s left is to cut a groove near the front edge of all the pieces (see margin detail on page 28) to accept the panels. Frame Assembly - With the groove complete, you’re ready to assemble the frame (Figures 6, 6b, and 6c). As you can see in Figure 6, there’s a pegboard panel (O) you can use to store a variety of tools with standard pegboard hooks. But the other panel (P) is just a solid piece of hardboard. After assem- bling the frame, I glued a filler panel (Q) to the back of the hardboard. Benchtop Stop iy 2 ” 1V2" w 3E BOTTOM RAIL