Best three easy improvements to my shop. How about yours?

[Tim Carver]

I posted a couple of pics to ABPW.

Tim Carver [e-mail]

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 02:42:47 GMT, Tim Carver brought forth from the murky depths:

Dina's a 1920's model on wheels and is a bit busty (top heavy). I was planning on putting a caster on the bottom of the extension. The existing table is made from waxed 1/2" Baltic birch ply and would take a pair of glides on the bottom without any problem. Glued blocks would handle the transition from wood to metal.

I was thinking a rolling sled storage slot might be handy there. Thanks for the reply.

[Unisaw A100]

Can you explain this further? Can you post a picture on abpw?

UA100

[Unisaw A100]

Ah yes. In my case, above the outfeed table, to the right and against the wall. 13"ish deep, 42" high and 32" front to back. Maybe some dividers to keep the larger sleds from banging into each other.

Also, somewhere to park the saw fence when it's not needed/being used. I'm thinking under the right hand extension, 'tween the saw cabinet and cabinet under the saw extension.

And then, a place to park/store blades.

And then, somewhere for the push stick/feeder blocks.

And then, some place for the zero tolerance inserts.

And then... Sheesh! We ain't even stepped away from the saw table and I'm already at five.

UA100

[Stephen M]

I'll offer one.

picked up a 12' sho-vac hose + wands for my shopvac at Lee Valley. Now, I don't have to drag my sho vac all over the shop to tidy up. From unther the outfeed table (where my shopvac usually lives) I can just about reach everything.

It's more narrow than a notmal shopvac hose, so it's more flexible, but since it's designed with a smooth interior, it does not take much of a suction hit.

I vac *much* more fequently, now that it's less fuss to get it done.

My only beef with this product is that it could really use a 20" extension so that I don't have to bend over so much to get to the floor.

-Steve

[Rob V]

Sure - love to see a pic.

[Bridger]

NOOOOOO......

[Bill]

Since when is urine good for compost and/or vegetation?

[Bridger]

since the beginning.

there is such a thing as too much, of course, but that's quite a bit.

[Tim Carver]

Larry -

Couldn't you just use 2 sets of box slides for this? One pair would be attached to the pullout. The outer pair would pull out from the opposite side; when you pull out from that side, the inner pair and the pullout would move as a unit. You would have full extension in both directions, and I think there would be a pretty good detent in the center position, since the standard accuride slides have detents to help keep them closed. You would have to drill the slide component of the outer pair to match the mounting holes in the box of the inner pair. And you would need to keep the profile of the fasteners that attach the box of the inner pair to the slide of the outer pair to a minimum - pop rivets would probably work nicely. Or you could use 1/4" masonite or something similar as an adapter between the outer and inner pairs if you want to avoid drilling and riveting the slides.

If you do know of a slide actually designed to open both ways, please let me know, as this solution obviously has some drawbacks (cost, double slide thickness, reduced load capacity).

Tim Carver [e-mail]

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 10:17:43 GMT, Unisaw A100 brought forth from the murky depths:

You have more than one blade?

I have one peg for the blade wrench/earmuffs and a couple of brass eyelets hanging from the right extension table but I think a drawer will be more handy some day. It could handle height and angle gauges, too.

Or Dina's cast-arn 3/8-inch-gaper insert.

Never ending, wot?

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 10:11:53 GMT, Unisaw A100 brought forth from the murky depths:

Maybe he could send you a couple bites so you could smell and taste it, too? (You midwesterners are a strange lot.)

[Australopithecus scobis]

Nitrogen in the urea. Wood-decomposing organisms use lots of nitrogen as they eat the cellulose. Once the cellulose is eaten, all of the nitrogen is available for plants again. You need to add nitrogen to a compost heap if you put in lots of woody material. Urine is readily available.

Urine is, unless you have a bladder infection, sterile. Feces contain lots of nutrients also, but are a public health hazard. Cholera, anyone? Livestock manure must be composted in order to cook any pathogens which may be present.

What goes around, comes around.

[Bannerstone]

I put these in order of how much they added to my enjoyment of using my shop.

1. Proper bench.

1. Proper lighting/electrical work.

2. Acquiring adequate space.

David

[Chip]

This is one of the things I like most about this group. So much valuable information for us newbies! Piss in a bucket and my woodworking improves. Awesome! lol What's next, drinking beer while using the table saw?

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 10:11:53 GMT, Unisaw A100 scribbled:

Can't post the pitcher 'cause I ain't got one, and I ain't got a digital camera, and it would take too long to take a pitcher, get it developed, scan it and post it. But hopefully, verbal instructions will suffice.

1. First, you need to find a bucket. Best are the taller 23-litre (6 gallons Keith, 5 gallons Jeff) plastic ones, but the 19 or 16 litre ones also work in a pinch. The tall ones can be found in any Italian grocery store in September or at your local home-brewing shop.
2. Take the lid off the bucket. This is by no means obvious or easy. Those lids are stuck on permanently. Your best bet is to use a retractable Olfa knife with a fresh blade to cut open the top. But be careful not to let the knife slip or you might cut a gash in your thigh (not to speak of other parts of your anatomy close to your thigh), and end up having to go to the hospital to get stitched up. DAMHIKT. You may then use the knife to hijack a plane.
3. Follow the instructions on the 23-litre pail. i.e. transfer the grape juice to a fermenter and add yeast. After it has stopped fermenting, rack off the young wine into a carboy and add sulfite. You may continue with the winemaking process in other containers, but the bucket is now ready to use.
4. If you're tall and don't have a home brew shop or an Italian grocery store nearby, you might consider first investing in penis enlargement pills to improve your aim to the shorter buckets. Penis enlargement pills are available everywhere on the internet. Coming to think of it, they would be useful even with the taller buckets, unless you're really short.
5. If you don't have an Italian grocery store or U-Brew near you, you could go to your local airstrip and talk to the bush plane mechanics. They get their lubricating oil in 19-litre (5 gallons, Keith) pails. Once you have the bucket, you will need to dump the remaining oil down the sewer and thoroughly wash the pail with detergent and TSP.
6. Put in a bit of dirt or compost at the bottom of the pail.

1. Get a shovel or dust pan, go under your table saw and fill the pail with sawdust. Do not use cedar, walnut, redwood or any tropical hardwood sawdust. Those are bad for your plants and don't compost very well. Maple, birch & poplar are best. Oak & resinous conifers are OK.

2. When the urge takes you, step to the bucket, take careful aim and let go.

1. You may use a stick to mix the compost every once in while.

2. Use the wine you made in #4 as salad dressing. Or get your SO to put it in fancy bottles and add herbs and sell it at the craft fair alongside your pukey ducks. Do not put the wine in the compost, the acetic acid had a deleterious effect.

1. Every once in while, when you've accumulated enough sawdust under your table saw to fill up a bucket, empty the pee bucket in the compost and go back to #6.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 15:34:43 GMT, "Bill" scribbled:

Since forever. It's one of things that make horse manure a good fertiliser. According to an article in a Canadian gardening magazine a few years back, urine is actually a 10-1-1 fertiliser very high in nitrogen. Like other fertilisers, undiluted, it will "burn" plants, but diluted 10 to one, it works very well. East Asian farmers have been using human wastes as fertiliser for thousands of years.

In a compost bin, an important consideration is the ratio of nitrogen to carbon. If you use sawdust in your compost, you need to add a high nitrogen component like urine or grass clippings, otherwise it will take forever to rot.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 16:33:13 GMT, Tim Carver brought forth from the murky depths:

Yeah, mounting pairs to both sides of floating 1x3s might work just fine.

Hmm, you might be right and the standard self-closing detents might be enough by themselves.

--snip--

Don't forget extra weight and complexity.

I asked Accuride's website form for more info and the rep just overnighted (!) a catalog to me. I'll check it out more once my neck gets better. ('Twas Chiro time today after something went wrong on Saturday when stretching to pick up a measly one gallon paint bucket. Go figure.)

[Mark & Juanita]

Please don't. Keeter, what are you thinkin'? :-)

[Michael Baglio]

Tagging on here, as RS's original is gone...

French Cleats around the entire perimeter of the shop at 6' off the floor.

I'm a bit suprised that no one else has mentioned these, but maybe I'm just less definite about where I want things when I originally hang 'em. ;> Installing french cleats around the shop, ("studio"ackshully, since 12X16's too small to be a "shop."), has been one of the best things I've done for myself.

1.) Find the PERFECT! place to hang something. 2.) Cleat it 'n' hang it. 3.) Decide, (usually within a day or two), that the original spot was a STUPID place to hang it. 4.) Lift it off cleat and move it in 10 seconds or less.

I forget where I read about 'em, but they've been the biggest bang for the buck in the entire sh-- "studio."

Michael