I was asked by a family member if I could build them a standing desk.
The problem was, being family I couldn't really say no, but they included these specifications:
"Nothing too fancy"
"Just cheap timber will do, nothing too expensive"
"...but 'good' wood - not old pallets or anything like that"
They thought they were being helpful by making an easier job of it, but truth be told, they were making it boring. Might as well nail a bit of plywood to some 2x2 legs and call it a day.
So to make it more interesting, I set myself a challenge - to build it with no screws/nails/fasteners, and no glues. All pure wood joinery.
The desk is for a laptop user, they also use external multimedia speakers and have a large, old-fashioned laser printer.
The Video
While doing the write up of this project, it was getting difficult to coherently describe how it was all put together without writing a huge wall of text.
I do a lot of sketching of designs before I build them, and it occurred to me that I could make this more of a feature, so I put them all together here:
I quite like the general style of the videos and will probably start documenting future projects this way as well - although I'm sure over time the process and output will improve.
This is far from an original project - Turns out "Plinko" was popularised by The Price is Right, but I only ever knew it from the drinking related version...
The premise is simple. There's a bottle opener at the top, a field of pins in the middle, and a number of boxes at the bottom. Bottle gets opened, bottle top falls into the field, bounces around the pins, and goes into one of the boxes at the bottom - these usually come with forfeits/suggestions like "Down it", "Take a shot" etc.
Use a bottle cap to measure which points should be used and mark them.
Spray glue the template(s) down to the backing board - don't forget to allow space at the top for the bottle opener itself.
Simply place a nail at each point marked on the template, paying attention to keep the nail heights constant.
Once that's done, peel away the template and remove the nails.
Position the backing image as desired, and then replace the nails - you should be able to do this by feeling for the holes under the background image.
The edges are simply mitred and attached to the backing board with glue and brad nails. They had a rebate cut into them to hold the plastic/glass front.
The wood I used was chipboard from some old drawers, so the rebate was already there. I intended to sand down the wood, but in combination with the grey/blue paint I used, it gave a neat faux-concrete look which fit well with the Fallout/post-apocalyptic theme, so I decided to leave it.
The five 'buckets' at the bottom were just small scraps, painted and also attached to the backing with glues and brad nails.
The front is a bit of clear plastic I salvaged from a broken poster frame and cut to size.
Screw the bottle opener into place and all that's left is to decorate.
For the forfeit stickers I found some character images of Fallout characters online, and used the Monofonto font, which is similar to the font used in Fallout, and created the forfeits.
Brotherhood of Steel - Cheers! - no forfeit
Super Mutant - Take a drink
"Glowing One" Ghoul - Take a drink
Mirelurk - Down it
Deathclaw - Take a shot
These were printed onto clear adhesive vinyl, cut out and stuck to the backing board. In hindsight they could've done with a lighter background to help them stand out (when working with transparencies, it's easy to forget that the white background won't necessarily be there in the end), but live and learn.
A sign of a brilliant project is one that is "obvious with hindsight" - when you see it, it suddenly seems so simple that you end up annoyed at yourself for not having thought of it yourself.
For me, Laura Kampf's Zippo Lighter driver bit case was one of those projects.
I've had a similar lighter kicking about in the junk drawer for years, always holding onto it because I liked the aesthetic of it and wanted to use it in a project, but never knowing what that project was.
So I'll admit, this was a shameless copy of Laura's project, but as I don't have access to a milling machine, I had to take a different approach. The insert that I have created is 3D printed, and relies on a friction fit to hold the parts rather than magnets.
Rather than use the free plan, I decided to create my own, adding an additional hollow in the middle of the insert. The idea was that this less-accessible compartment could contain less frequently used driver bits, but still keep them together with the others.
In reality, the fit of the insert is a bit too tight to allow the compartment to be easily accessed, but it does still serve a purpose in reducing the amount of filament required to print the model (compared to leaving that part solid).
I also found that my lighter has a small metal tab in the lid that got in the way once the driver bits were in place, but this was easily removed with pliers. (I'm not sure is this is a typical thing of these lighters, or just because the one I'm using is an off-brand knockoff.)
I have to concede that the insert would've looked better in metal, but from a functionality perspective it works just as well, and sometimes you just have to work with what you've got.
The STLs for the model can be found on Thingiverse, and the OpenSCAD code is on GitHub.
The original sketch had a note next to it about an LED in the lid which I definitely wanted to do, but there's some space constraints to consider, namely where to fit batteries in the box while still keeping the traditional ring box appearance.
To create the padded sections, I used some leather offcuts, rolled up with the suede side exposed. The front "pad" is literally just that.
The rear pad has rolled from a 'L'-shape piece of leather, like in the illustration. When rolled, this creates a small hollow in the tube, where the batteries will reside.
Electronics
The circuit is very simple. A white LED in the lid of the box will be powered by two G3A batteries (v. small cell batteries), and triggered by a normally closed reed switch. (i.e. putting the switch near a magnet breaks the connection).
The reed switch is carefully placed in the hinge near a small magnet (hidden under the leather), so that when the lid is closed, the magnet holds the reed switch open.
G3A is not a common type of battery, I just happened to have a lot that I recovered from some recycled electronics. As a result I couldn't find a battery holder for them, so I adapted this CR2032 design from Thingiverse.
The LED itself is just mounted with hot glue, angled down toward where the ring will be situated. The wires run down the inside of the lid to the hinge, where the reed switch is positioned.
On the base side of the hinge, is the small magnet which triggers the reed switch.
All of this is covered by another strip of leather, which is glued - suede side up, to the inside of the lid, and runs down to the hinge, overhanging it into the base (see photo). This overhang is tucked behind the leather roll containing the batteries, hiding all the wiring, but meaning it is still accessible should the need arise (to change the batteries, for example).
Between the sign and the cake stand, and now this, my projects seem to be very wedding-focused of late.
Originally this ring box was going to be a project for the same wedding as the other two, but unfortunately due to various circumstances, it didn't materialise in time for the big day.
So when my brother got engaged recently, I gave him the designs I'd already sketched up and he picked this one for me to build for him.
The woodworking component of this is pretty straightforward.
The wood I used is oak for the main body, and a darker hardwood (of the well-known species 'offcuttus miscellanei') for the sides, to provide a nice aesthetic contrast.
I was referencing an existing ring box for scale,
and purely by coincidence, the wood sections
I was using were a spot-on size.
Because of the small scale of the box, it's difficult to
do any advanced joinery, so the pieces are simply glued, but the wood is
light enough and small enough that the joints are still sufficiently
strong.
Once all the glue-up is complete, it's off for some sanding to ensure
everything's cleaned and squared up, leaving us with a sealed hollow
cube.
With that done, the cube needs to be cut. Typically, it seems, most ring boxes are about 50-50 (half the height in the lid, half in the base). However, I've opted for a 25-75 split, leaving a larger base, as the plan is to include a small LED light, and I'll need space for batteries and wiring.
I took the hinge from the existing ring box I was using for reference. To fit it, I drilled out a small cavity in the back of the box for it. As the wood is only about a quarter inch thick, this was the most nerve-wracking part of the whole project.
Once I got it fitted, I sanded off the top of the base-back and the lid, so that their edges didn't collide when opening.
When satisfied with the opening mechanism, I epoxied the hinge in place.
Then the rest of the exterior is just a case of shaping with the sander and a coat of danish oil to finish.
One of the great parts of being a multi-disciplinary maker is the ability to use skills from one discipline, e.g. woodworking, to help out with a project that uses another (e.g. leatherwork).
A "Stitching Pony" is a leatherworking tool used to hold leather securely, freeing up both hands for doing the actual stitching. In woodworking parlance, it's comparable to a vise or a clamp.
The construction is a flat base, with one fixed jaw extending vertically, and the second jaw being connected to the base with a hinge, so that it may open and close.
To control the movement of the jaw, a bolt extends through both jaws, and is controlled by a wing-nut, and a spring situated between the two jaws serves to maintain a bit of tension and avoid the movable jaw becoming floppy or loose.
To protect the leather being clamped from indentations, the jaws themselves are covered with some leather offcuts, which were simply attached with contact cement. Brass tacks were used to hold the leather in place while the glue dried (and help to add to the aesthetic of the piece).
The jaws of the clamp.
The bookend woodgrain was a fortunate coincidence
I typically don't do much woodwork over the winter as the weather has a tendency to suck the enjoyment out of things.
When I set-up to start again in the spring, I usually find that I need a simple project to warm up and refresh my techniques before I get involved with something more complex.
Normally it's a bit of a throwaway project that I wouldn't put online, but this one was very simple to create and has been very useful, so I thought that it might be of use to others.
This year I made a wooden mallet as I needed one for leatherwork.
The handle was two strips of pallet wood glued up and shaped around a hammer handle.
The head of the mallet is one of the end blocks, also from a pallet.
The finished mallet. Simple, but effective
The technique is simple - drill through the centre of the block to create an opening that the top of the handle can fit through, but is narrow enough to make a tight fit.
Then drill through the part of the handle that protrudes from the top of the block and wedge a dowel in place to prevent the block from slipping. (The block is actually a tight enough fit that this is a little bit unnecessary, but it adds an extra layer of safety, and a bit more of an aesthetic quality to things).
Everything after that is just a matter of sanding and shaping.
