Shane needed a better system for organizing the tools in his truck. We decided to build a DIY bed slide for his pickup (Ford Ranger) out of plywood, 2x4s and casters.
So far it’s working great. It’s not nearly as strong as the commercial versions (you could break it if you wanted to) but it’s still holding several hundred pounds of tools without a problem. We could have made it stronger by framing all four sides of the slide out, but Shane didn’t want to loose the space.
This week I take care of a couple projects/repairs that have been sitting on the back burner. 2 weeks ago I cut MDF for the first time on my X-Carve and walked away from it before verifying the settings were correct. It ruined the motor, but I’ve wanted to upgrade to the Bosch trim router anyways.
I had help this week from Ben who found our YouTube channel and discovered we live in the same city. Thanks Ben!
My shop is a mess. The biggest problem is all the lumber scattered throughout the workshop. I’ve got full sheets of plywood next to small piles of hardwood. Today I did something about it and built a custom lumber rack! It has vertical storage for plywood, trim, and bins for other scraps.
I built this without a plan and as a result some of my joinery wasn’t the strongest, but once everything was tied together it was very sturdy.
Our church’s high school group needed some benches for their meeting area. I decided to copy Louis Lim’s ’round and round’ contemporary bench design, somewhat successfully.
I had trouble figuring out how to measure the “skin” that goes around the base of the triangle. I think I was trying to make a “truncated cylinder” but I couldn’t quite get the dimensions right. Ultimately trial and error prevailed.
Louis Lim (Original Design) – https://www.makingworks.com/
UPDATE: One of our viewers Joseph Malovich figured out the math for us in Solidworks. ?Here is his design. ?Thanks Joseph!
Jackie moved back to Florida and she wanted a kitchen island cart made with butcher block we found in our parent’s garage. We made the frame entirely from four 2×4’s and two 2×6’s.
Total cost was $60 dollars (not including the butcher block) and it ended up looking really nice!
This weekend we’re on mission to make an Instagram photo for Lauren. Yesterday she asked me to make a small wood toy tool set and promised she’d help in the shop.
To my surprise she stayed all day! The wood tools turned out great. We made a saw, hammer, screwdriver, square, wrench and tool box. The beeswax and mineral oil finish is both non-toxic and smooth. I will definitely be using it for future projects.
Like Lauren’s Instagram Photo!
https://goo.gl/GyxBvY
I now have a table saw, router table, and X-Carve all in the middle of my shop. Up until now, I’ve just run extension cords whenever I needed power. Today I changed that!
I copied the commercially available cable ramp/cord management design, but I made it out of wood. I could have done everything on the table saw, but I wanted to experiment with the X-Carve so I made them modular.
Now I can add or subtract as many pieces as I want to change the length. It turned out great!
X-Carve Info: https://www.inventables.com
You guys confirmed in our last video that the X-Carve would NOT fit in the space I made in the adjustable height table. So, this weekend I took everything apart, cut down my trailer jacks, and re-assembled it.
Since I ended up almost exactly where I started, that wouldn’t have made for a very entertaining video. At 4PM on Sunday afternoon, I started to assemble the CNC. It took 9 1/2 hours over 2 days, but I’m done and it’s working perfectly. I made a few test cuts, and new knobs for my bandsaw!
X-Carve Info: www.inventables.com
Today I finished making my adjustable height work bench with drill powered X-Carve CNC machine lift. I made the lift out of 2 trailer jacks flipped upside down connected by a 1/2″ rod.
Lift Mechanism Video – https://goo.gl/V2577x
I made the top shelf removable so when I need to use the CNC machine, I simply “lift” the middle shelf up to bench level. You could use the same design to build an adjustable height desk by removing the 4 outside legs. I still need to add a hand crank and adjustable feet.
I’m building an adjustable height workbench but I needed a lifting mechanism to raise and lower the middle shelf. I decided to use 2 trailer jacks (Curt 28204) and 1/2″ rod to connect them. This same design could be used to make an adjustable height desk.
No one part of this project was difficult, but everything took a little longer than expected. The end result seems very sturdy and is a good foundation to build a workbench/out feed table from.