Wednesday, December 29, 2010

DIY Plywood Cutting Table

I completed my video on my Plywood Cutting Table! I think I am getting a little better at making videos too. They are getting more precise and to the point with less rambling and less "uhhh....." "and uh..." in it. Also, I think I ended up with a much better quality picture in the video since I rendered it to different specs.

I hope everyone enjoy's the video and feel free to comment and ask questions if you have one!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Things to come!

I am happy to say that I have finally figured out a solution to my video camera problems!

It all started when my computer became infected with a virus and my computer needed to go to the shop because it was beyond my capabilities to repair. My mother, as a favor, sent my computer to the shop to have it cleaned up and somehow the message got across to the computer tech's to just wipe my hard drive clean, or at least one of them (my important one). So anyways, I receive my computer back and realize what has happened and that I have lost quite a bit of important files. One of those files being a program called HD Writer which is used to get the videos off of my camera. Well, I try to find the disc with the program on it but failed time and time again to locate it. So time goes on and after much searching all across the internet I find a new program that can do the job, for $34. It was either buy the program or basically toss the camera, I bought it.

The first thing I did was I took the videos I made of the construction of my folding sawhorses and edited them and uploaded them to YouTube and posted it here on my blog, the previous post actually. Hopefully that video will get out to some people who need a nice stable sawhorse that can be stored out of the way easily.

The next thing on my agenda is to get some footage of my "accessories" that I use on top of my sawhorses to make working MUCH easier. The first thing is my miter saw stand.



This thing is great, it gives me something to use with my miter saw that will support longer pieces and gives me a bit of a fence to help hold the stock I am cutting straight. More information on this coming soon in a video!

Then there is my plywood cutting table. Usually, when using sawhorses, I would lay one or two 2x4's across the tops of the horses to act as supports when cutting my plywood. Making this table was pretty simple and cheap, well worth the effort. It is good for more than just ripping plywood too, it's a great work table on the job and in the shop also.



This thing will be featured in a video soon also! Be sure and check back soon, the videos will be here on my blog and also on my YouTube channel.

Friday, July 9, 2010

DIY Folding Sawhorses - Version 2.0 with Free Plans

I am calling this free plans, I have the cutout photo of a sheet of plywood with the dimensions on it. The rest pretty straight forward I believe. But, while I was building this set I was video taping a how to video and hopefully that will be up and running online soon which should make everything very simple.

The original sawhorse design was a great one, the only things I really changed for the 2.0 version were the height of the horses, the width of the horses, and the width of the leg panels. The changes made now allow for nearly, if not all of the materials to be cut out of one sheet of plywood (on the computer it says it can be done, but when I tried I failed somehow). The working height could be lowered still to enable you to get everything out of one piece except for the 2x4 top piece, but that would lower the working height to a level to low for my personal preference.

The working height in version 2.0 is approximately 31" which uses a leg panel height of 28", and the width of the sawhorses are nearly 43". The width of a leg panels is 5" which allows you to cut two leg panels out of a 48"x33" section of 3/4" plywood. It may be difficult to understand but I will have a image of the cut list soon which will help clear everything up.

Everything else is the same as the original version.




I built a set of these about three of four weeks ago and have been using them on remodeling and construction jobs and they are holding up great. I have had easily over 100 8' pieces of tongue and groove pine on them along with a miter saw and they never showed any signs of weakness. Everyone who comes to the jobs takes a close look at the sawhorses and asks my boss man where he got them, it feels good when he points at me and says "He built them, not me".

The construction is pretty simple and I think you should be able to simply recreate your own. I did however make a cut list type thing on Sketch up that shows how you can get the pieces easily out of one sheet of plywood.



The "U" shaped leg panels are 28" tall and about 42 15/16" long and 5" wide on all three segments. When it is laid out on a sheet of plywood I center my saw blade on the line since I am using both pieces on either side of the blade.

The rest is pretty easy, 6 pieces 3" x about 42 15/16" (four of them with an 18* bevel cut down one long side) and 4 at 2". Then from the inside of a leg you cut 8 pieces that are used for the inside of the legs for support.

Here is a video helping with the building process. I go into some detail about assembly and remind you of a few things, check it out.



More detailed photo's and descriptions are availiable in this post that should aid in the the building process.

If anyone has and questions of comments feel free. Don't forget about The Woodworking Trip, there should be a video on these things coming soon. Thank you!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

DIY Folding Sawhorses- First Design

Sawhorses, every shop needs them, everyone probably needs another set. I know I do but I wanted something different, something that was easy to store, not to heavy, very sturdy, and all one piece. I have been wanting a set like these for a while and I have looked on the internet for different plans and different designs but I could never find anything I really liked.

(The following is a little story leading up to these sawhorses, feel free to skip down a bit)
Here recently I was working with my cousin who owns a construction company and he has an enclosed trailer that he hauls his tools around in. He also just recently had to let an employee of 6 years go due partly to the economy and partly to performance. One thing about the past employee is keeping things neat and organized (or so my cousin claims, but he doesn't have much room to talk). Anyways, the enclosed trailer is about a 14x8 I would guess and is full of tools, nails, hoses, chords and a bunch of other stuff that has no business being in there or either needs to be thrown out. One thing is a set crappy saw horses that are beyond their prime and are just thrown in on top of everything else. This situation got me thinking I need to give him a set of folding saw horses.

So with the sawhorses on my mind I was watching a video of a fellow woodworker's on Lumberjocks, where he was building a computer table out of plywood which somehow made a light bulb go on in my head.

The problem with alot of lightweight sawhorses is that they wobble, I hate when they wobble. So I thought I could make the legs on each side out of one piece of plywood that way they would not wobble. Then I got on Google Sketchup and came up with these versatile folding sawhorses.


Click on any image to make it larger.

I have only built the one so far but it's great. It took some time to work a few kinks out but here they are. They aren't very heavy and you could easily carry two at one time, I think the leg frames could be made a bit narrower without any problem which would make them even lighter.

One thing I wanted which I have seen on a few other horses is a replaceable top board because they get cut up so easily after a while. You can also have different boards for different applications like a large clamping surface or a panel cutting jig.




They fold up nicely and are only about 4" wide. All you have to do is lift them up and they close right up, no block or pin to remove. They set up easily, just set them on the ground and ease out one leg and that's it.




They aren't very complicated, just some plywood, hinges, and some rope.




I hope other people like them as much as I do. If people find it difficult to copy them then I would be happy to redraw them up in Sketchup or even make a video on them. So let me know what you think, feel free to comment!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

About Me

I am a woodworker in my early twenties who lives in Dothan, Al. I have many hobbies, woodworing being one of the most frequented ones. I also enjoy the following: sailing, backpacking, free diving, four-wheelers, computers, guitars.

My family is in the construction industry so I grew up working with my hands. My mother owns a truss manufacturing company where I worked during the summers from when I was 13-15. As soon as I coud drive, I started working the summers with my cousin who owns a construction company doing remodeling, decks, new construction and all sorts of things. I worked with him for about four summer between highschool and college then after college I started working on more of a full-time basis and I still do today.

I have also started my own construction company where I am buying and building rental property. I hope to go out on my own full time soon concentrating on rental property with some construction and remodeling in between.

I started woodworking around 2008 with just a shopsmith, skill saw, and drills. Soon I purchased more tools including my Grizzly cabinet saw, this is when things really changed and my level of craftmanship went up quite a bit. Now my tool collection has grown quite a bit as have my skills compared to when I first started.

This blog and my videos are my way of helping other people. I learned pretty my everything I know about woodworking from books or online and I figure there are alot of people just like me who are surfing the internet looking for instruction. So this is my way of giving back to other woodworkers.

I enjoy talking with other woodworker so feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, they are more than welcomed.

Follow Here!

Following a blog is a great way to keep up with blogs that you are interested in and it's easy! Following lets the author of the blog know you are a fan and you also get notified when a blog you are following makes a new post.

It is simple to follow my blog if you have a Google account, simply look in the right column and find the "Followers" widget and click follow and your done!

If you do not have a Google account you can just save the blog to your favorites and check back whenever you like. But I think everyone should have a Google account, Google is basically...... everything the internet has to offer. Just think, all those times you hear people say "Google it!".

Contact

Feel free to contact me about whatever you like. Simply email me at sailingandsuch@gmail.com and I will do my best to get back with you as quickly as I can.