Yesterday i continued working on my tool box. Earlier in the morning i totally screwed up one of my end pieces, so i ahd to re-cut and re-rout the bottom and side edges of my end piece. Paul quickly biscuit cut, glued and clamped together two boards for my end piece and i ran it through the thicknesser to 16mm. Doing the german dovetail joints again allowed me to take more time and sue what i had learned from my previous german joints, i was able to make very nice fitting dovetail joints that were better than the original end piece i stuffed up. I also cut the bevelled edges on the top of the good end piece and chiselled out a dovetail hole to house the handle. Basically this whole day was fixing what i screwed up in the morning and little progress was made, although the new joints were far better than the older ones.
Today i continued on where i had left off by finishing the end piece and routing the handle. I routed the handle on all 4 sides of it to give a nice rounded effect. After this was complete i went on to assemble my tool box using PVA glue and around 5 pins along each length of the bottom and side joins. Daniel assisted me to clamp together my tool box and ensure that it fitted together nicely.
Next we headed into class as a whole group and by brainstorming, wrote our whole construction sequence together. We first started with manufacturing by listing the tools we used first and then writing what we used the tool for. We repeated this formula for Assembly and it worked out quite well. At first i was hesitant to work as a group because i thought it would take to long and wouldn't be thorough enough, but once we all got some momentum happening everyone was chipping in ideas and steps. It was done in about and hour and a half.
After lunch we came back and sorted out our portfolios and we wrote up a costing list, a Job Hazard Analysis and finally a draft page of a photo shop presentation on the Belt Sander. I found it very useful to have Paul print out the sheets we needed and just say "here these need to be filled out" as i knew once i had completed the work given to me, that my portfolio was in order and everything was tied up.
Over these past two weeks i have thoroughly enjoyed my time at tafe, the boys are all great blokes and i have learnt alot more on how to use hand tools such as the manual planer and chisel. I have learnt how to sharpen a chisel relatively effectively by myself and my lack of confidence with the manual planer has since disappeared and i now enjoy using it. The Japanese saw is another great tool i have been exposed to and will definitely use it again, just like the Granny's tooth planer, both ingenius and exceedingly useful hand tools.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
23rd and 22nd of October
Yesterday we worked on our tool boxes up until lunch time. During this time began cutting my sides to a length of 780mm using the drop saw to get an accruate square cut. I also cut the bottoms of my ends with the drop saw so that both adjoining pieces would fit square. I then started to cut out my german dovetail (square dovetail) joins in both the ends and the sides.
Once i had cut the dovetails out with the tenon saw i then started to chisel out the cuts. During this time i had great difficulty chisellingout the cuts to my satisfaction because i was trying to cut them closely with a coping saw and then chisel them out with just a pearing andpushing motion. I became frustrated and the whole day i could not work to the best of my ability so my dovetail joins were pretty lousy.
After lunch we started working on a presentation on a particular glue that we may use or come across in our industry. Greg and I were teamed up together and we decided to research two part epoxy glues because i found the two part mixing idea intriguing. During this time on the computers in te library i searched up what the key words used in describing an epoxy glue, such epoxy, polyepoxide, polymer, monomer and catalyzing agent actually mean. This way i could greater understand how theglue works, eventhough the companies would not openly tell you how they work. I have in my portfolio a page on the two part epoxy glues that informs you how the epoxy hardens due to a chemical reaction. I found it very interesting.
23rd
Today we started in the workshop again, and this time i found myself very calm, and this made it much easier to achieve the kind of workmanship i require to continually be enthused in producing the tool box. My cuts were much better and because i wasn't frustrated i found it easy to ask for help.
I started by cutting the bottom piece to length with the drop saw, again to achieve a square cut. I cut it to a length of 780mm, the same as the sides. Before cutting out the dovetails on the bottom of either end pieces, and on either end of the bottom piece (haha), i had to reduce the width of the bottom piece by 12mm so that it would fit snugly in the rebates cut on the side pieces. I also had to cut a rebate on each of the end pieces to house the bottom. Overall i achieved a nice fit into the rebates and began cutting the dovetails. At the end of the workshop session tis afternoon i had finished cutting the dovetails on one end of the bottom piece.
During the middle of the day we all had a test, which was a 23 question full sentence test. Some of the questions were and easy and others required thinking and remembering things we had already done and learnt. I did find the questions relevant to the things we had learnt during our time at TAFE.
Once i had cut the dovetails out with the tenon saw i then started to chisel out the cuts. During this time i had great difficulty chisellingout the cuts to my satisfaction because i was trying to cut them closely with a coping saw and then chisel them out with just a pearing andpushing motion. I became frustrated and the whole day i could not work to the best of my ability so my dovetail joins were pretty lousy.
After lunch we started working on a presentation on a particular glue that we may use or come across in our industry. Greg and I were teamed up together and we decided to research two part epoxy glues because i found the two part mixing idea intriguing. During this time on the computers in te library i searched up what the key words used in describing an epoxy glue, such epoxy, polyepoxide, polymer, monomer and catalyzing agent actually mean. This way i could greater understand how theglue works, eventhough the companies would not openly tell you how they work. I have in my portfolio a page on the two part epoxy glues that informs you how the epoxy hardens due to a chemical reaction. I found it very interesting.
23rd
Today we started in the workshop again, and this time i found myself very calm, and this made it much easier to achieve the kind of workmanship i require to continually be enthused in producing the tool box. My cuts were much better and because i wasn't frustrated i found it easy to ask for help.
I started by cutting the bottom piece to length with the drop saw, again to achieve a square cut. I cut it to a length of 780mm, the same as the sides. Before cutting out the dovetails on the bottom of either end pieces, and on either end of the bottom piece (haha), i had to reduce the width of the bottom piece by 12mm so that it would fit snugly in the rebates cut on the side pieces. I also had to cut a rebate on each of the end pieces to house the bottom. Overall i achieved a nice fit into the rebates and began cutting the dovetails. At the end of the workshop session tis afternoon i had finished cutting the dovetails on one end of the bottom piece.
During the middle of the day we all had a test, which was a 23 question full sentence test. Some of the questions were and easy and others required thinking and remembering things we had already done and learnt. I did find the questions relevant to the things we had learnt during our time at TAFE.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
18/10/07 Tool Box drawing commencement
This morning we gathered together as a class to run through all of the sheets we were missing so that Paul could get some photo copied, this way we had all of the nescessary work sheets to complete our portfolio on the saw horse project. I found this very helpful as i was missing a few sheets and was unclear what was needed to be done.
After this we moved back into the library to complete our Construction Sequence report based n the Saw horse. I had already completed roughyl half the previous day and i fully completed it before morning break. In this time i had produced a 8 page report with a diagram on the saw horse and was very pleased with my effort. Having time at TAFE to complete such assignments is absolutely essential and very helpful as i find it hard to concentrate doing assignments at home as i really dislike it.
I added a reasonably simple hand drawn diagram to my construction sequence as i thought it would be hard for somebody to simply read what i had done to cut all the angles and such on the saw horse legs. By showing the shape and angles of the legs i hoped it would make what i was saying easier to understand instead of relying on the readers imagination.
After completing this we moved on to commence drawing of our next task, which is the tool box. Before getting stuck into it and instead of having a booklet like the saw horse, we got together as a group with an already finished tool box to discuss what we liked and didn't like about it. Greg brought up that the tool box was too heavy so we decided to thin down the sides from 19mm to 12mm and also the bottom down from 19 mm to 12 mm. We also increased the width from 215 to 230mm and decided to have the handle of the tool box protrude through the sides of the tol box. Once we had decided on our dimensions Paul drew up a rough plan diagram on the white board.
From here we got large brown paper sheets, placed them on our drawing boards, cut them to size and then stuck them to the drawing boards with masking tape. I drew out a 15mm border around the paper and drew in a 100mm margin on the right hand side. I used a 1m ruler and a small combination square to draw out the lines required to start the drawings. We are drawing three different views, plan view, end elevation and side elevation views. At the moment i have almost completed all three views including the measurements written down.
After this we moved back into the library to complete our Construction Sequence report based n the Saw horse. I had already completed roughyl half the previous day and i fully completed it before morning break. In this time i had produced a 8 page report with a diagram on the saw horse and was very pleased with my effort. Having time at TAFE to complete such assignments is absolutely essential and very helpful as i find it hard to concentrate doing assignments at home as i really dislike it.
I added a reasonably simple hand drawn diagram to my construction sequence as i thought it would be hard for somebody to simply read what i had done to cut all the angles and such on the saw horse legs. By showing the shape and angles of the legs i hoped it would make what i was saying easier to understand instead of relying on the readers imagination.
After completing this we moved on to commence drawing of our next task, which is the tool box. Before getting stuck into it and instead of having a booklet like the saw horse, we got together as a group with an already finished tool box to discuss what we liked and didn't like about it. Greg brought up that the tool box was too heavy so we decided to thin down the sides from 19mm to 12mm and also the bottom down from 19 mm to 12 mm. We also increased the width from 215 to 230mm and decided to have the handle of the tool box protrude through the sides of the tol box. Once we had decided on our dimensions Paul drew up a rough plan diagram on the white board.
From here we got large brown paper sheets, placed them on our drawing boards, cut them to size and then stuck them to the drawing boards with masking tape. I drew out a 15mm border around the paper and drew in a 100mm margin on the right hand side. I used a 1m ruler and a small combination square to draw out the lines required to start the drawings. We are drawing three different views, plan view, end elevation and side elevation views. At the moment i have almost completed all three views including the measurements written down.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
17/10/07
Today i fully completed my saw horse. I first began the day by marking out where i was going to place the screws on the legs, after which i pre drilled out the holes. Once i had done tis i used PVA wood glue and put it in te rebate on the spreader. After this i then placed my leg into the rebate and pressed firmly to get it into the right positiont. I then screwed down my first screwt hold it in place, followed by the other three screws. I put my legs on one at a time to avoid using clamps, which were ineffective because of the angles of the legs to the spreader.
Once all four legs were put on i placed a piece of 140 x 19mm onto the back of the legs and marked out the cleat. I quickly tenon sawed the two cleats and fixed them to the legs, following the same method of marking out i used on the legs.
After the cleats were completed i planed down the edges of them to be flush with the legs producing a nice neat finish. Then i moved onto te bearer, the piece of wood that sits ontop of the spreader and exposed tops of the legs. As i was marking out the bearer it occurred to Paul and i that because of how short my saw horse was, it would be better to use a wider piece of wood for the bearer. This was because the height of the saw horse was perfect for sitting on and for using as a small step up platform. We chose a piece of 170 x 35mm as the bearer. I used 5 75mm screws and glue to fix the bearer to the spreader and once it was completed i was very pleased with the way it turned out, it is a perfect size to sit on comfortably and also is the right height to be comfortably used as a small step platform.
Once all four legs were put on i placed a piece of 140 x 19mm onto the back of the legs and marked out the cleat. I quickly tenon sawed the two cleats and fixed them to the legs, following the same method of marking out i used on the legs.
After the cleats were completed i planed down the edges of them to be flush with the legs producing a nice neat finish. Then i moved onto te bearer, the piece of wood that sits ontop of the spreader and exposed tops of the legs. As i was marking out the bearer it occurred to Paul and i that because of how short my saw horse was, it would be better to use a wider piece of wood for the bearer. This was because the height of the saw horse was perfect for sitting on and for using as a small step up platform. We chose a piece of 170 x 35mm as the bearer. I used 5 75mm screws and glue to fix the bearer to the spreader and once it was completed i was very pleased with the way it turned out, it is a perfect size to sit on comfortably and also is the right height to be comfortably used as a small step platform.
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