Amanda gave me a band saw for my birthday, so for practice I drew and cut out letters to make a sign.
I spray painted the letters and finished the back with tung oil. The letters are attached with brad nails from the back.
Simon Band Saw Sign
Author Archives: mikel
Old Workbench
I realized there were no pictures of my old bigger workbench. This one is 8ft long by 2ft deep and about 3 1/2ft tall. It’s definitely on the tall side, but it works for me.
I added some hooks to hang my frequently used power tools and ear protection from. On the left is a magnet strip which is rarely used.
I started with a basic mock up on some graph paper but cut to fit as I went. The design was meant to be similar to the one we used at 10bitworks Makerspace in San Antonio except I allowed for the top piece of plywood to overhang on the sides in order to make clamping a little easier with small clamps.
Small Workbench
I built another small workbench for the garage. This one holds my band saw, belt sander, and drill press. I used a similar design to my big one, but this one is lower and only 4ft wide. I also made the supports for the top surround all the edges instead of going with an overhang.
Wood is also much pricier now than when I built the previous bench, so it probably cost more for half the bench.
Wooden Yoyo
I used the wooden centers from the baby rattles to make a yoyo. I rounded over the edges with a router, using a 1/4″ roundover partially set for the inside and a 1/2″ roundover for the outsides.
The two sides were chucked in to my drill press using a bolt. This let me sand them smooth quickly and afterwards I hand sanded with 220 grit.
The halves are joined with an oak dowel which was trimmed with a flush cut saw. I used some spare kitchen twine instead of a real yoyo string, but it works well.
The yoyo works but does not sleep long. I think using some silicon lubricant or adding a sleeve over the dowel will help. I will glue the halves on the dowel once I’m happy with the performance.
Mini Trebuchet
I built a mini trebuchet out of some scrap wood from around the garage. It works, but I need to tune the string length and the weight to get it to throw better.
I cut the wheels out with a hole saw on my drill press. The pieces are all connected together with dowels.
