That Giant Sucking Crushing Sound Part II

Once my metal chip bin met with crushing failure, I immediately scrapped it and set about re-building the dust collection bin. I first looked into buying a metal 55 gallon drum, but found them to be prohibitively expensive. I then found a plastic 55 gallon drum that had seen better days and was suffering from a cracked edge. As the bin was plastic I was able to simply cut off the cracked top section with my jig saw. After the cut I was left with a workable +/- 48 gallon drum with a gaping hole at its top.

rough fitting the mounted top section.

In order to mount the Dust Deputy to the plastic drum I initially thought of making a round lid out of MDF that would rest on the top of the drum and be sealed with weather stripping. In order to do this, I began flattening the cut edge of the drum. I then flattened it some more, and some more after that. Then I ran out of patience. It dawned on me that if I made a new top for the drum out of sheet goods, I could permanently mount and seal that to the drum and then cut a removable top sized to perfectly fit the mounted one. In order to make the mounted and removable tops exactly the same size I screwed them together and then cut them to size on the table saw as a single piece. Being lazy, I made the top square, rather then cut of the corners to make it a space savings octagon. I attached a lip of 3/4" baltic birch plywood scraps around the edge of the removable top to better gasket them and chamfered the inside edge of the lip to make tops easier to set on one another.

I rubbed in and let the glue on the cleats on the mounted base dry before
flipping the unit over and screwing into them. 

In order to mount the mounted top I glued and screwed cleats to the top. I used a jig saw to cut the middle of the mounted to out and then screwed the plastic drum to the cleats. I sealed the screws and the drum to the mounted top with M-1, a fantastic sealant we use at work.

The mounted top, sealed to the plastic drum.

I was at this stage in the construction when I heard that MDF was porous and might not provide an air tight top. To combat this, I sealed the top surface of the mounted top and the bottom surface of the removable top with shellac. If this doesnt prove to be enough Ill glue an EPDM gasket to the mounted top.

The completed Dust Deputy setup.

With the top mounted and air sealed (hopefully) it was quick work to install the Dust Deputy and previously built elbow assembly. I connected the CT22 and turned the knob all the choice to the rabbit. It sucked and sucked and didnt crush.

The wheels make it so much easier to move.

As a final convenience I mounted castors to the bottom and handles on the side of the plastic drum. This lets me easily move it around the shop and will hopefully let me easily empty it (though I fear its emptying frequency will be based more on weight than on capacity).
Now my shop sucks with the best of them. How does your shop suck?
That Giant Sucking (& Crushing) Sound - Part I

Read More..

That Giant Sucking Crushing Sound Part I

Hi. My name is Dyami and Im a Vacuumaholic. While Ive previously confessed my obsession with routers (Im now up to 9) I must also confess a somewhat smaller obsession with vacuums and dust collectors.

I have two (2) Dust Boy style dust collectors I picked up off Craigs list. Theyre both in the attic now, but an extension to the woodshop is planned to help fit them in. I also have a Ridgid portable "suitcase" style vacuum, a Shop Vac, a Ridgid Blower/Vac with Clear Vue Cyclone attachment and the requisite Festool CT22. Based on my current quasi completed shop setup, the Ridgid Blower/Vac with Clear Vue cyclone serves as the dust collection for my table saw, jointer & planer. It has a 16 gallon capacity, and I often fill it. Like you, I hate emptying it.

I hate emptying it so much that it got me thinking. While it would be much work to re-purpose the Clear Vue cyclone to fit a bigger container (and for what I paid for it, I dont think I could bring myself to modify it), Dust Deputy cyclones come as a kit and can be attached to any container. I ordered one and set to work.

My Ridgid blower/vac
ClearVue Cyclone

My elbow assembly to prevent kinking the vacuum hose.

Never one to shy achoice from over complicating a project, I decided that I needed to make some improvements on the suggest Dust Deputy set up. I began by picking up some schedule 40 PVC pipe and a few Ferncos. I wasnt happy with the idea of a vacuum hose kinking as it exists vertically from the top of the Dust Deputy. With the big elbow assembly I made, the hose now hangs from the PVC, eliminating the possibility of kinking.

My completed initial setup.

I then had to decide on a container. As I own a full complement of sheet metal tools (I used to be a sheet metal mechanic at work) I began with a simple metal garbage can. I had Tom Iovinos tale of the metal garbage can dust collection in my head as I cut the top and fit the Dust Deputy, yet I failed to pay it any heed.

When I finished the metal bodied Dust Deputy setup I connected it to my CT22 and began to vacuum. Instantly I realized than on all but the weakest settings the CT22 would deform the metal can. At this point I scrapped the metal can installation and went looking for a more rigid dust collection bin.

We’ll reveal what I came up with in the exiciting conclusion of That Giant Sucking (and Crushing) Sound. Until then, what sucks so badly in your shop that you had to scrap it?

Read More..

Woodworking Bench I Whats Your Style

This is a guest post by Chris Adkins of High Rock Woodworking.  It originally appeared at highrockwoodworking.com.  Feel free to check back there for more of Chriss woodworking rambling.

Hoffman & Hammer Workbench

What is the best woodworking bench design?  Well, I could end this here and say whatever is best for YOU, but I won’t.

In short that is the answer though, many of us get hung up on the style of the work bench we use whether it is a traditional woodworkers bench, carving bench, a door slab with legs under it, or maybe even a couple of saw horses to hold your work. 

The traditional style woodworkers bench such as the Hoffman & Hammer Workbench shown above with its shoulder and tail vise, bench dogs for securing your work in place, and a solid heavy top for years of wear and tear is what I think of as the standard.

Scott Landis

The Workbench Book

But even a traditional workbench has no standard set of plans that all must follow, but great ideas can be gathered from books such as The Workbench Book by Scott Landis or search the internet to find hundreds for sets of plans, but styles vary depending on the primary purpose and what the woodworker wants.

Veritas Bench Hold Down

Every woodworker has different needs that their workbench must meet.  You may be a new woodworker that only builds basic bird houses and just need a flat surface to work off of.  Or maybe you need a shoulder vise for clamping you work in place on occasion.  Or you could mill all of your own lumber by hand and need a shoulder and tail vise to secure your boards in any number of choices to ensure you can plane and joint all faces of the board no matter the length.

For my own personal needs, I currently get by with my shoulder vise and a little help from my Veritas Bench Hold Down.  But as I grow as a woodworker I can see where my needs are changing and requiring more complexity in the bench I use.

Tomorrow I will post part 2 of this series, until then keep woodworking!

Chris Adkins

Read More..