Shop update #56 (11-21-18)

Late Tuesday night I got a call from one of the Cub Scout leaders who wanted to make a couple of plaques to give out at the pack meeting on Thursday night. He was working on a scroll saw graphic of a wolf to add to the top of the plaque so I came up with a design in Easel that we both agreed on. I had some 12 x 9 pieces of plywood so I started one cutting on the X-Carve CNC machine but the type was too small and it started chipping badly so I cancelled it.

I stopped by Home Depot at lunch on Wednesday and picked up a 48″ piece of 1×12 pine and cut it down to three 16″ lengths when I got home from work. I then sanded them with the orbital disc sander at 120 grit and then 220 grit. I broke the top edges by hand with 220 grit sandpaper and then gave them a good coat of Dark Walnut Danish Oil.

I let that dry for a couple of hours with a small fan blowing on them and then cut out all the wording on the CNC machine.

I left that to dry overnight with the fan blowing and then glued the scroll saw pieces onto them Thursday morning. They were not as dry or as smooth as I would have liked but my wife took them to the meeting for me and they were much appreciated by the recipients.

I was cleaning the shop up last week and came across the Treasure Chest Cooler box that I started last May. Last May of 2017. I had got it 90% done and then had emergency appendix surgery and was down for 2 months and it got shoved in a corner and forgotten about. I pulled it out Sunday morning and was able to get it finished up by the afternoon.

The Treasure chest itself was already completed, I just had to fix a few issues and then get the secret compartment working. The wood had split where 3 screws held in the top of one of the rear hinges. I glued it back together and threw in a couple of staples for good measure. I replaced the 3/4″ screws with some 1 5/8″ screws that I painted the heads black on.

I flushed up the door for the secret compartment and then installed 2 magnetic cabinet latches that click in and out as the release mechanism and then 2 static magnetic latches to hold the other side in place. I didn’t realize that the clicking latches needed space to move up and down so I had to cut an extra 1/2″ off with a multi-tool. It works, but not as well as I had hoped. I plan to add a couple more magnets to each side to help hold the cover in place.