IF YOU HAD A CHOICE

[twintrow]

Mike this may be a far out idea for you.  I live in Sun City, Arizona, Sun City is what is known here as a retirement Community.  That means if you are under 55 you can't live here.  As a somewhat closed Community it has several, Recreation Centers, in these centers are Gymnasiums and various hobby workshops, among them wood working shops. These shops are run by retired guys expert in woodworking, cabinet making etc. and have magnificently stocked work spaces. Virtually every wood working tool you can imagine.  I too was wrestling with whether or not to get a planer or thickness sander. Knowing it would be only occasionally used, I decided to ask the boys in the wood working shop if they would let me use theirs....they said NO, but would be glad to do whatever I needed done for me.  They said to use the equipment myself I would have to undergo a training class at $9.00/hr for 5 hrs, then pass  test first.  Had strictly t do with safety an not wanting their tools destroyed by some amateur.

Anyway, and this would have been shorter if I had just said...see if there are any retirement communities around, or check for wood working clubs.  They are all good guys just like us, but with less fingers ;o)

Tom

[GLakie]

   

 

They are all good guys just like us, but with less fingers ;o)

Sorry but I'd be a little leery about letting some guy that doesn't have all his digits, teach me about tools that can cut the ones I have off.     

[twintrow]

 That's why I opt to have them do it for me....

Tom

[thibaultron]

Yea, just go over there and old "Five Finger" willie will teach you about shop safety.

[mtaylor]

Yea, just go over there and old "Five Finger" willie will teach you about shop safety.

 

Well.... he would know, wouldn't he? 

[Q A's Revenge]

I've got a 12" Bandsaw and ripped up some lime into nice 1.5 x 7mm strips the other day. Unlike a table saw bandsaws can cut both straight and curves. Full size drill presses often don't have a chuck that will take very small drill bits and don't run fast enough anyway. A 1" belt sander is great for small stuff and unlike a disc sander you can swap grits quickly.

[aviaamator]

A few of my homemade machines...

[shiloh]

A few of my homemade machines...

nice work, even a tilting head for your mill.

jud

[pompey2]

I like the simple thickness sander.

It wouldn't be that difficult to make a version yourself, use a dremel as the power source.

I will have to give that some thought.

 

I also like a disc sander but my large one has very poor levels/guides.

I need something with the sort of control that Jim B's has.

 

Nick

[mikeaidanh]

A further thanks to all those who offered advice regarding working my boxwood billets. I have confirmed the view that my wee Proxxon bandsaw is not up to the task. I had thought about buying a small bench top jointer or planer/thicknesser but for what I would be willing to pay I could not expect much in the way of quality. So I have decided to seek help from a professional joinery shop.

The irony of all this is that I used to own a quantity of man-sized  wood working machinery, though not a planer, but sold it all and re equipped with my current modellers tools.

In future I will be more careful in sourcing my timber stock size wise!

Thanks again to all who gave helpful advice.

 

Mike.

[GLakie]

Still in the last stages of the same thing myself. Trading in or just generally getting rid of all my large tools for bench-top ones that I can use in this apartment. 

[Jaager]

Nick,

 

About building your own sander:  there is no way any motor on any Dremel can provide the power needed.

 

Way back when, making your own was the only way to have one.  There was a set of plans, sold thru NRG (I think) (I can't find them now).

 

Essentially, ~ 1/2 HP motor - in a box - the top is at an angle to support the sanding table-  piano hinged at back - two pulley wheels and a fan belt - two BB pillow blocks -  steel rod 1/4 - 1/2" -  and  a drum mounted on the rod to hold the sanding media.

 

The variables - 

motor speed -  too fast and it burns rather than cuts the wood.  Too slow ... takes too long.

Pulley wheel diameters can have some effect - a smaller motor wheel trades speed for power.

Something in the 1500 RPM  range for the motor.

 

What is the drum? -  I had Hard Maple fixed to the rod and a Pro turned it for me - 

Size? -  sand paper here was 8.5 x 11 inches - so the drum is 11" long and 8.5" circumference.

The table needs to be stable - no warping - it needs to meet the drum precisely.

 I have a threaded rod holding up the far end and it determines  the gap between the table and drum.

 

This machine produces a LOT of dust.  I made  a box with a mount for a 2.5 inch vac hose to fit over the top.

3 layers on Amazon box cardboard glue laminated together with TiteBond - enforced in the corners with 1/4 x 1/4 inch sticks and covered with duct tape - almost no cost - just the hose mount - works fine.

 

How to hold the sanding medium ---   I use Weldwood Contact Cement - coat both surfaces - a heat gun will allow fairly easy removal when the medium is spent  and Naptha will clean the drum.  

 

What would I do differently?

Make the drum 12 inches long - So that I can mount  4 inch cloth backed sanding - 3 of them different grits - I have to trim off an inch from one of them now.

When the drum is turned - have a " V " groove routed along the length - having it able to fit a metal clamp that clears the table is good - at any rate, you do not want the raw end of the medium to meet the piece of wood that you are sanding - it will strip the medium off.

 

I would give the motor better venting and air flow.

 

I would try to find a metal table instead of 3/4" ply with angle Al fixed to each edge.

 

The point of this?   If you do this up to the necessary spec, the cost is probably not going to be much less than a Byrnes unit would cost. It will cost you time as well as parts,  The same time spent as OT at your day job, using it to buy a ready built,  may be a more economical path.

[GLakie]

I'd add that the Byrnes uses a precisely ground, solid aluminum cylinder for a drum, along with a perfectly aligned, 3/8" thick aluminum plate for a table.

[bluenose2]

Hello Les here. The best site to look at tools is Micro Mark Tools, based in the States. I purchased a mini hand held sander from them, item# 81266 made in Japan. Current price $92.65.  It's a smaller version of a Wen detail sander.It has saved me hours of work when sanding in tight places such as when you've laid down deck planks and need to sand up into corners that are so tough to do by hand. It comes with several pop in profile shapes and a sample pack of sticky sandpaper stick ons. When done with these go to Home Depot or Lowes and purchase a package of the sticky sandpaper,  for orbital sanders cut them to the size of the profile and save big bucks.

[overdale]

I would add a scroll saw to that list as the first power tool to buy. I just can't cut curves with anything else, hand or power.

 

Oddly enough, I've had one for 12 years and never used it….At all..

 

 

 

If I had to choose the bare power tool essentials it would be, disc sander, Dremel and attachments (including Dremel drill press) and band saw.

Edited December 14, 2015 by overdale

[aviaamator]

One of my lathes, older than me by three years.

[Roger Pellett]

As you have probably learned by reading these posts choice of tools is extremely personal, which I guess is what makes this avocation so fascinating. I received a Dremel type rotary tool as a gift many years ago and almost never use it. On the other hand, a small Jarmac disc sander on my workbench is used constantly.

 

If your project requires accurate drilling of holes square to a surface you will need a drill press, and I see no point to buying a minirature one. Inexpensive pin vices are available to allow tiny wire sized drills to be used with a full sized Chuck.

 

I mill my own woods whenever possible. For this I find a jointer essential to get a flat surface that the table saw will accept. A full sized table saw with a heavy duty motor is essential. Dull blades and an underpowered saw are dangerous. Although I have a 12in portable planer it is noisy, and dirty, so I am not sure that I will go thru the hassle to drag it out doors to mill the fourth surface flat on a batch of pear wood. This same operation can be done on my table saw.

 

A number of years ago I built a thickness sander from NRG plans. Cost was almost nothing- a pair of bearing blocks a d a piece of cold rolled steel rod. I had a spare motor and everything else came from scrap.

 

I like old power tools. They are generally of more robust construction and easy to repair. My bandsaw is 40 years old, the company that built it is long out of business, yet I rebuilt it last summer with new urethane tires, a new tension spring, and new "cool" guide blocks. No plastic and all screws are std us threads available at the hardware store. Old used tools are often for sale cheap- overlooked by those that want tools with all the electronic gadgetry.

 

Roger Pellett

[Bob Blarney]

Hmm, considering Edwin Abbott's literary work 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' (now in the public domain), and my own experience about developing dimensions and shapes:

 

A Point: Drill press

A Line: fine Japaneses handsaw

A Plane: a 60-1/2 Handplane

Edited December 17, 2015 by Bob Blarney

[EJ_L]

I agree that the best power tools are the ones you will use. I have many full sized tools in my shop that I am working on building modifiers to allow me to use them to work with smaller pieces. I am going to try this way first before buying minitures. Personally I would recommend power sanders, disc sander especially. With the small thin woods that are used for ship building a few quick passes on a sander can do a lot of good. This combined with a small hand held sander such as a dremmel or similar tools are the primary power tools I use. Most of my cutting I still try to do by hand although with my next build, I want to try for greater detail and so that will probably change.

[Silkjc]

Late to the party here...

One thing you need to keep in mind when choosing the 'essential' tools is what tasks you will need to do with the build. If its a scratch build you'll likely want most the tools on the list.

 

The most useful tool by far is a rotary tool like the dremel. It allows you to sand, drill, cut, shape, etc. all on funny angles and hard to reach places. Nothing else is as useful and if I had to get rid of all my tools to keep it (except maybe a knife), I would.

 

For your standard kits the most advanced operation you're likely to need to perform is spiling and tapering planks. If its an extremely sharp bow or keel the kit planks may be impractical or nearly impossible to form into the right shape. It may be necessary to cut new planks from wider strip wood. For this reason I would recommend as the second tool a thickness sander (for tapering), and a hobby scroll saw (like the Dremel Motor Saw, which is cheap) for cutting new planks.

 

I built my thickness sander out of a 20 year old rotary tool. I just made a bed and put in modern rotary tool sanding disks and it works perfectly fine. The small sanding disk radius reduces the torque requirements on the motor.

 

An aside, I bought the Dremel drill press as I have the 'tool collectors bug'. However, after nearly completing an entire 1:48 ship build since I got it - I have barely used it once. Might be just the way I work, but 9 times out of 10 I cannot drill the part before mounting, or I want to add a hole later etc, making the press useless and once again a rotary tool much more useful. Working on the scales we do as well, the difference in a 2mm thick piece of wood drilled at 90 degrees vs. 80 degrees is not noticeable.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Silkjc

[mtdoramike]

For me the choice was too, too difficult so I bought the lot.

Well aren't you special .

 

 

mike

[Bob Blarney]

Money and space no object and noise not a consideration? A plane/r thicknesser. 

 

I have just come across a problem. Having managed to obtain 2 billets of boxwood 24" x 2" x 2", which are not square and are "cupped", and having only a small bandsaw and a Byrnes saw I now need to true the billets up before cutting down to size for the Byrnes.

I must now resort to finding a friendly joinery shop owner and begging a favour.

More money and more space in a sound deadened workshop. It aint going to happen!

 

Mike.

A No. 4 Stanley/Record plane and a shooting board would free you from relying upon others.  Have a look for videos by Paul Sellers --  a traditional joiner who teaches in plain words.  A 60-1/2 low-angle plane would be most useful.

I think too many people here are confined by the notion that power tools are best or only way to do things.  A summer or so ago, I broke a wrist when I fell off my bicycle.  I was hesitant to mill down wood on my DeWalt Radial saw and the other machines, and so I developed handtool  skills -- a steady workbench with a sturdy vise, fine Japanese handsaws, and then I learned to sharpen and use handplanes. I learned that for many things, it was faster, easier, quieter, less dusty, and cheaper, to use the hand tools.  

Edited December 19, 2015 by Bob Blarney

[Bob Blarney]

Greg,

 

Drill Master 2" cuttoff saw by Harbor freight. $ 29.95. Sturdy little saw, clean cuts and angles. I have a problem with my knuckles popping when use a small hand saw and miter box. Get the extra saw blades.

 

Best little saw for the money.

 

Good Luck

 

John

John, regarding your 'knuckles popping', do you mean what is known as 'triggerfinger' (tenosynovitis) where it feels like a finger is locked in position, usually bent?  This is caused by inflammation of the tendons and sheaths in the palm of your hand, and it should be treated because the inflammation can scar the tissue and make it worse and worse.  You might also try modifying tool handles to make them larger and softer to grip.

 

look here:  http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/trigger-finger