Monthly Archives: June 2015

Mike Makes a Table Saw Crosscut Sled

How to make a small table saw sled with built in t-track, toggle clamps, and stop block. A simple crosscut sled can be used to make accurate 90 degree cuts on the table saw and allow you cut small pieces safely.

I made the runners from UHMW plastic (low friction) since they are less likely to warp or twist. The track is 1/4″ mini t-track from shop fox, and the flip stop is from peachtree woodworking. My favorite features are the Bessey auto-adjust horizontal toggle clamps. They were a bit pricey, but they are well built and easy to use. I modified them to slide onto the track with more UHMW plastic and brass threaded inserts for 1/4″ bolts.

My finished sled was precise to .02″ inches over 4ft (using the 5 cut table saw sled test for accuracy). If I want, I can easily shim the back fence and probably cut that in half. The size ended up being 24″ wide and 15″ tall/deep.

table_saw_sled_cross_cut

table_saw_sled_1

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table saw sled track

Zero to 10K Subscribers – How Did We Get Here?

I want to talk about starting a YouTube channel with zero subscribers. In the video I discuss how we got our first thousand subscribers and how it’s taken off exponentially since then. We’ll take a look at our analytics and see how much money you can make on YouTube, how to get views in the very beginning, and how become suggested more often on the “what to watch” page.

The growth of our channel has been incredible, but it’s neither the fastest nor the slowest I’ve witnessed. I think our results are very repeatable if you’re just starting on YouTube. We would love to go full time, and we have a very loose plan to do that. But even if that never happens, we’ve consider everything so far a huge success.

Mike Makes a CUSTOM Apple Watch Charging Stand

Ryan Parker just bought an Apple Watch and wanted to make a charging station to hold it next to his iPhone. We designed this stand together and made it from layered wood (black walnut) and UMHW plastic.

It uses the magnet from the Watch charger to hold it horizontally next to his phone and will be able to display the time ( Watch OS 2). Next week we plan on adding LED lights to the base so that the white plastic illuminates when it’s plugged in!

Overall this project came out WAY more professional than my expectations. The finished product looks and feels solid.

Link to the accident video – https://goo.gl/v2vC7L
Who is Ryan Parker? – https://goo.gl/EoLfJD

Wood Apple Watch Charging StationApple Watch iPhone 6 Charging Dock

Accident in the Shop (Tablesaw Kickback)

Well…Mike had an accident in the shop. A good one. He was cutting a piece of walnut way smaller than he should have been and it kicked back and sliced his nose open.

There is only footage of the wound at the end of the video (if you’re squeamish). It took 11 stitches at the urgent care center. I was lucky it didn’t hit my eye or remove any of the skin. The doctor said it should heal just fine.

Overall it wasn’t too painful, I’m just happy to have 2 eyes and 10 fingers! Stitches come out next week.

Link to the build video: https://goo.gl/kLrwv3

How Much Is Your Free Time Worth?

Is it easy or hard for you to turn down overtime at work? Do you value your free time the same as your hourly wage? We don’t think it’s that simple. In this video we go over the 3 questions we ask ourselves before spending a lot of time on something:

1. Is the time spent pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant?
2. Will the time spent make you a better person?
3. Will the time spent contribute to learning to skills or physical activity?

If the answer is “yes” to any of those three questions, then we feel it doesn’t necessarily need to yield a positive financial gain. What do you think?

Mike Makes a Dovetail Desk (Steel into Wood)

I’m waiting for the solenoid valves for the whiskey chiller to come in, so I decided to “take a break” this week and make a desk for our house. It ended up being something unique and used “dovetails” to join the wood to the metal frame.

I couldn’t find anyone else online who has done this, so I didn’t know how it would turn out. It actually looks pretty cool. The only thing I would change is somehow leaving the top 2″ instead of rabbeting the edges. It looks a little wimpy now.

PS. Yes, I know I should be wearing safety goggles when cutting and grinding.

Creating Is More Rewarding than Consuming

I think it’s healthy for a person to practice introspection from time to time. If nothing else, so they can answer for themselves…why? What makes you get up every morning, why do you act the way that you do? We’re asked “why?” all the time, and in this video we attempt to answer that question.

Why do we want to retire early?
Why do we make YouTube videos?
Why do you build complex solutions to simple problems?

After thinking through everything, we realized the reason is because?creating is more rewarding than consuming. In fact, a study published by the American Journal of Public Health, found that making art/things is actually a benefit to your physical and mental health.

Links:
Make More Art: https://goo.gl/1hcwEn
Study: https://goo.gl/b7bppA
Be A Producer: https://goo.gl/opLV18