Showing posts with label new. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new. Show all posts

Monday, March 3, 2014

Rikon Rolls Out New Contractor Saw

If you enjoy woodworking then you probably also suffer from an addiction to tools. Whether you collect hand planes or seek out the latest and greatest in power tools, our expert tool addicts will keep you in the loop with news, reviews, and commentary on the latest in woodworking tools.


New: Don’t miss posts by contributing editor Roland (aka Rollie) Johnson. Over the year’s Rollie’s tested countless tools for the magazine. His fascination with motors and gears goes beyond woodworking, hes also an enthusiastic hot-rodder who likes to restore old cars, and is the author of Automotive Woodworking (Motor Books International, 2002).


Contact us: Keep us in the loop on tool news or ideas for this blog. Email the editors at fw at taunton.com or “tweet” Rollie via Twitter at https://twitter.com/Toolwriter.


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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Installing new windows

We bought replacement windows for the 37 windows in our home some years ago, and I have been installing them slowly. We have decided to try and get them all installed before it gets too hot and buggy this summer. I am trimming the inside with stained and varnished oak and the outside with solid PVC that I then paint to match the vinyl on the outside of the windows. I decided that I needed to come up with a way to rip and joint the oak that did not require as much handling as what I have been doing. I would plane the wood to thickness, cut it to length slightly over sized, straight line cut one edge as best I could, joint the edge on the jointer, rip the wood slightly over size on the table saw, joint one edge on the jointer, rip to almost the final size on the table saw, and joint the other edge. This is just too much handling.

With the new process, I still have to plane the wood to thickness, but then things change. Since the lumber is usually 10-12 feet long, and 9-12 inches wide, I first cut the length down to nearly what I need. Using the EZ cut-off saw I built to compliment my miter and radial arm saws.



The required lengths for the trim are longer than I can rip with my PBB in its current configuration, I didnt feel like re configuring it, so I removed the bridge, clamped my Router Power Bench to the side of the PBB, and attached a longer bridge. This gives me about 7 1/2 of capacity. I then straight line one edge with the setup you see in the video below. Without moving the wood, I then joint the edge with my Bosch power planer attached to the new EZ SSRK (Super Smart Router Kit). I made a special mount to attach the planer to the SSRK.



Once I have all the wood straight-lined, I set the fence on the PBB to 1/32" over the width desired. Then the fun begins, I place the jointed edge of a board against the fence, rip the first piece. I then set the power planer to remove 1/64", and joint the edge with the power planer. It is then just a matter of placing the last cut-off or another board under the rail against the fence and ripping another piece. Once all the pieces of that width have been ripped and one side jointed, I reset the power planer to remove another 1/64". I then put the pieces back under the rail with the jointed edge against the fence, Joint them, and they ready to lightly sand, stain and varnish.

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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

I bought a new router table!

I borrowed my brothers router table back in June of 2012 to build the hall tree.  It is a beginners Ryobi table.  You can pick them up for $99 at Home Depot and it comes with a router.  He moved a couple of moths later and I asked him if he wanted me to bring it with me when I helped him move and he said no.  I then offered to bring it at Christmas and he said no.  Hes come to my house a few times and declined to take it with him.  If I offer to give you your tool back 8 times and you decline then I stop asking.  So last week out of the blue I get a text message asking if I have his router so of course I said yes.  We met for lunch yesterday and he totally forgot that he was supposed to pick it up until I went and took it out of my car.  Long story short, I had to go buy a new router, router table, and router bits.  I was sorely tempted to pick up the $99 table like my brothers but I think that I have progressed enough in my wookworking skills to warrant a better table.  I have a Lowes and a Home depot both near my house so I went and took a look at both places.  I finally decided on the Ryobi table and router because of price, size, and construction.  The Skil table looks cool but didnt feel very sturdy because of the folding legs.  The Ryobi table is also much longer which may be good or bad as I might have to build a small table for it.


Here is the old table that I had to give back.  I was perfectly happy using this table and was sorely tempted to just buy another one like it.

This is the Skil table at Lowes

And the basic router to fit in it.

Here is the table that I bought for $99.  It is much longer and feels sturdier.

This is the Ryobi router that I bought for $59 to put in the table.  I plan on just leaving it in there full time and buying a plunge router later.

This is a basic 15 bit set that I picked up for $59.

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