What did you do today

[tony.latham]

That is one thing I do envy about the US. If I were to be caught making a gun in my workshop, I'd be in the slammer.

Ouch!



I have no plans to rob a bank with this sweetheart. I swear.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

That is one thing I do envy about the US. If I were to be caught making a gun in my workshop, I'd be in the slammer.
I had a rush of blood the other day. I went for a ride with a mate to an out of town gun shop. Came home with a $2100 scope. 5-50 x 56 with illuminated reticule, 34mm tube, locking turrets, etc Put it on my 0.223 and shot the 500 yard Christmas competition the other day. First time at 500 yards, and sighted her in on the day, all in the bulls eye and the second ring.
On 6th January, the local bloke reopens after the holidays. He's got a 0.308 Winchester put away for me.
Special edition. Camo stock, fluted barrel, muzzle brake, all the fruit.
Was worried about the 1:12 twist rate being a little slow, but the top shooters in the club assure me that it will be fine for up to about 160 grain bullets.
I'm keeping the 0,223 for the 200 yard shoots and foxes, goats and small deer.
The 0.308 will be my camel cannon and 400 metres plus range cannon.

The fellows who rob banks don't know nearly this much about their guns.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Looking really nice Tony!

Tom

[MickinOz]

The fellows who rob banks don't know nearly this much about their guns.

Tom

Knowledge is power.
I thought I could shoot well until I bought the 0.223 and started attending the all-comers hunting rifle shoots at the range.
Then I found out all the little one percenters that make all the difference.
My rifle is a Winchester XPR - a budget gun by any estimation.
However, having learned a lot from the national competitors and the state F-Class team coach who are members of the local club, I'm generally shooting minute of angle at 300 metres. With a budget hunting rifle and over the counter ammo.
All the little tricks they've taught me.
I put all my shots in a 2 moa circle at 500 yards at the Christmas shoot, with a cross wind that was holding the flags out level. (Except when it dropped out and screwed up my windage allowance. That's where the second moa came in.)
Never coulda done that until I realised that shooting accurately is a thinking man's game.
Three more sleeps until the dealer opens at 08:00 Monday. Saw him at the pub on New Years Eve. All set to go.
Can't wait.

[MickinOz]

I've spent the last two days working on my teardrop. The last few outings saw uncharacteristically heavy rains for my area.
I was told repeatedly that oil based enamel paints aren't flexible enough for plywood and water based acrylic is a better choice for this application.
But I had a can in the shed, and anyway, I knew better.
Except, I ain't as clever as I thought.
The heavy rains brought on some checking in the plywood.
i could have sanded the splits and touched up the paint with more gloss enamel, but I've done that before and the repair isn't permanent.
So, I looked into waterproofing membranes.
After a bit of research I found one that ticked all the boxes.
- Exterior applications on timber, such as decks and planter boxes
- Microfibre reinforced
- UV stable
- Can be top coated with water based house paints
- Strong enough for foot traffic
- Can be applied over previously painted surfaces
- Stays flexible
- Bridges small cracks
-
The list goes on.
I've been following the instructions to the letter, which means watching the substrate temperature
Which means lots of night work, as it is mid-summer here. 39C today, 41 forecast for tomorrow.
But the results are looking worth it. The only thing is, I don't know how the heck they get the coverage they say in two coats. 2 litres per Square meter is the recommendation with a final film thickness of 1.5mm. I've given it three coats so far, and looking to do a fourth as soon as it's cool enough.|
But, this material is also certified for waterproofing bathrooms, so I am very optimistic that it will exclude a little rainfall from my plywood.

[tony.latham]

After a bit of research I found one that ticked all the boxes.

What is it?

I've been a big believer in epoxy/fiberglass over plywood to prevent checking.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

After my father-in-law passed several years ago, the family gave us his 9 inch Delta bandsaw. It sat in the back of our shop while we built the teardrop, and other projects, but today I finally got it bolted to a table, replaced a tire, and tuned it up


Replacing the tire was interesting. The directions led to frustration yesterday, so I watched several Youtube videos (Shelly's suggestion; I hadn't thought of that, because we didn't have internet coverage in the cave where I grew up). Seems everyone has their own technique. I tried one this morning that involved spring clamps, and it worked. Decided not to replace the lower tire as that one seems okay, and why tempt fate? (The tires are urethane, not rubber.)

The bandsaw runs very smoothly with practically no vibration. Looks like John had drilled out some of the aluminum in the upper wheel to balance it, and that sure worked! I normally keep a 1/2" blade on the 14 inch bandsaw, and plan to keep a 1/8" blade on this one, so we won't have to change out for cutting tight curves. Still need the scroll saw* for inside cuts, but the bandsaw has much less vibration when it can make the cut.

The throat plate was missing, but Shelly is now a master at making throat plates on the 3D printer. She found plans someone had put on thing-a-verse, and now we have matching colored plates for the two band saws and scroll saw. I think it adds a classy touch to the shop.

Tom

* Where I grew up, in the East (in a cave), we called that a jig saw, and we called jig saws sabre saws. We were wrong, but we all did it and so we knew what each other was talking about, so it didn't matter.

[MickinOz]

After a bit of research I found one that ticked all the boxes.

What is it?

I've been a big believer in epoxy/fiberglass over plywood to prevent checking.

Tony

Tony, the reason you are a big believer in epoxy and fibreglass over plywood is because it is the right and proper time tested way to go. Your teardrop has been exposed to all extremes of weather without damage. It's the gold standard by which all techniques shall be measured.

However for people who are dealing with something that was never prepared properly, this stuff I am using should help.
I say should, because I haven't yet put it to the test.
The product I am using is Dribond Liquid Flash 1.
It's marketed as suitable for an under tile membrane for bathrooms and shower alcoves, and sealing roofs and decks, etc.
I went to the pub at lunch time today, because I knew a plumber I went to school with would be there. (It's his Saturday ritual.)
I asked him what he thought about my inability to achieve the coverage rate specified on the can.
He advised that you can go too thick with these membranes, and if it was his camper he would move on to the next steps.

[MickinOz]

Went out to the rifle range today for the 200 yard bunny shoot.
Should have won it, but I screwed up.
Report here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=581 ... 8766963277

[tony.latham]

Went out to the rifle range today for the 200 yard bunny shoot.

Mick:

I would have bet a buck that you guys used meters... ? But once again, I woulda been a loooooser.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

I actually did this a few weeks ago, but the weather has been so mild this Winter it didn't seem too important, until it got cold this week. Took scrap foam from the teardrop build and from packing material, and made an insulated thing to go around the air conditioner



(The vises are weights while the glue dried. Not the same caliber as Tony's weights, but they did the job.) I tried cutting the foam with a home-made hot wire cutter, but found the table saw and miter saw work better. Still need some weather stripping to cover a few small gaps (the window frame and AC unit are not square with anything) but now that we have highs in the 20's and wind on that side of the cabin, I can attest it works well. Should also work in the Summer, when the flimsey covers on either side of the AC unit let the heat in.

Ideally, we wouldn't need AC at all up here in the mountains. We generally get a few weeks of very warm weather, and if we timed it right, we would be out camping in the teardrop those weeks, but it's hard to time.

Once things get milder again, I plan to line the foam with scrap plywood to make the whole thing look nicer.

Tom

[MickinOz]

With regard to ranges, we use a mixture Tony. It's all about the history. Way back in the day these were Commonwealth rifle clubs. Part of our Government's recognition that we had to have citizens who knew how to shoot, to support the regular army in time of need.
This manifests in several ways.
For example, the layout and design drawings for the current range were done by the government department responsible for civil works in the 1950s. All laid out in yards back then.
So all the rifle competitions were in yards of course, and the ammo was 7.62 or 0.308.
When we went to the metric system, the competitions carried on the same.
And of course, if you are running sights calibrated in MOA, it all just works.
But just to complicate the issue and confuse us all, the club runs a 300m, bring whatever you have, visitors welcome, shoot.
To top it off, my new laser range finder reads in metres, and my flash new scope does the same. Fortunately, I was born in 1960, so mental conversions in my head are simple enough.

[TimC]

I upgraded my old Bluetooth portable speaker that I showcased a few years ago. A better, more powerful amp (30w), external BT antenna, a new control panel and a nice new Birdseye maple chassis. Fun project. I used the same speakers with new homemade grill fronts (black painted 1/8 hardware cloth) and the original battery pack and charge board. I still have to design and build a carrying handle for the top. The old amp board was just an eBay cheapie. It worked but was only 15 watts and didn't accept an external antenna which meant keeping the BT source within a short distance. I haven't found the limit for this new BT signal but it is way out there. The 15 watt amp was loud enough but I went with one that matched the speaker output. I experimented with Keda dye for the finish. Pure yellow on the main box and brown/yellow for the top and bottom. Interesting colors can be made with that kit which includes brown, black and three primary colors. Figured maple is hard to keep from blotching so I started with a seal coat of shellac, then multiple coats of dye and finished up with polycrylic varnish.

Birdseye with black walnut splines to strengthen the joints.


Back of unit with inputs, switching, and charge LEDs


Li-ion battery bank allows many hours of listening. State of charge has momentary on button and four LEDs showing SOC. Battery bank uses a 15v charge cord and can be powered with 12 v if batteries run down.

[Tom&Shelly]

Found a whole 'nother place for storage in my shop! I'd stacked boxes of stuff on top of the two cabinets, but found a way to extend that between the cabinets!



Used my favorite material: Whatever scrap I have laying around, in this case a gigantic granola bar the contractor had left over from the cabin build.



I reinforced it a little with some 3/4 x 3/4 inch pine scrap and it'll now hold my own wieght. In other news, I've been on a crash diet and now weigh about 47 lbs! (Just kidding.) I thought about adding an under-counter light, and may yet if it's too dim under there. I have plenty that I bought as a lot from a surplus store.

Shelly worried it might be too much for the light circuit and trip a breaker. <Sigh!> My engineering colleagues warned me I'd get such questions if I married a Norm! Actually, she has a point; I'd never get away with all of these on one circuit if I hadn't replaced the florescent tubes with LEDs.



Did a lot of small shop upgrade projects in the past few weeks. I added some peg board to the sides around the back garage door, so we have more places to hang tools for the mini-table saw and sanding station. (I'd panalled the walls on either side way back around 2012 BT.) (Before teardrop!)



I also added little yellow boxes that turn on each shop-vac with its own tool. I think we have about 12 shop-vacs in that shop now. Right after buying the mini-table saw and mini-miter saw, I found a used mini-lathe at a flea market, so we added that to our hobby bench.



I wanted to bolt each tool down to the bench, but Shelly suggested it would be better to mount them to an MDF base and use clamps. She's probably right about that. I also added a few shelves with under-counter lights, as shown in the pictures.

Just about have the wood shop as I'd like it, but still have one big project left: I'd like to replace that drawing board with a miter saw station. Right now the miter saw sits by itself on the layout table, and has to be moved when necessary. When I make the station, we'll also use it for sanding, and I think I'll probably build a better router table into it. (Our Grizzly discount table has a warped plastic router plate, and is no longer really usable, except as another table to hold junk.)

I'll move the giant drawing board into the back room and use it for the hot wire foam cutter.

Once I have the wood shop just as I like it, I can knock off, relax, and we can go traveling in the teardrop. Unless, I suppose, I actually want to build something in the wood shop....

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Began looking at the corner of the garage that we plan to turn into the "metal-working shop". I'd like to move things around so I can squeeze a cabinet in to the right of the bench



The cabinet will be a place to keep metal stock, tools for the lathe, drills (they're "drill bits" west of the table saw; "drills" in this corner), etc. We also have a large cart in this corner that we like to wheel out when we work on the trucks (just outside the garage door). It was a garage-sale special, but it's a bit large, and it occurred to me that a smaller one would let us shove the bench over about a foot and a half, and the smaller cart would get around the tight turns in our shop better, allowing us to use it there.

We happened to be at Harbor Freight the other day, and found a small metal roll around cart for about $40. "Seems like a lot!", I said to Shelly, "we have some wheels, and I'll bet I could make one out of scrap wood, but I just don't know if I can match Harbor Freight quality."

"Suppose you lower your standards?" she asked.

So here it is



Fit's great!



Now, I have to shove that work bench over with the heavy lathe on top!

Tom