text:
Router Fence Ebook
Woodworking Tools and Installation Tips
There are a lot of things that either needs to be repaired, or put together when youre a homeowner. If youre a new homeowner, and have just gotten out of apartment style living, you might want to take this list with you to the hardware store. From remolding jobs to putting together furniture you can use these 5 power tools to get your stuff together. Dont forget too that youll need a few extra tools for other jobs around the house.
Leeray Woodworking Tool Book
The Leeray Woodworking tool book gives you all of the information that you need in order to get your woodworking career started. You can be an expert or a total beginner as far as woodworking is concerned You will still learn a whole lot about how to have a rewarding woodworking career! Why wait around? You will be able to learn everything that the pros know, and took years to learn! You don't have to wait years to get this knowledge about tools and woodworking With this ebook you will be able to pick up woodworking in no time at all! You will learn how to use different combinations of tools that you probably have never thought of You will also be able to find out which tools that you need to buy in order to have a total and comprehensive tool set! Start quickly learning everything you need to know about tools for woodworking!
Leeray Woodworking Tool Book Summary
Contents: Ebook
Author: Leeray
Price: $27.00
My Leeray Woodworking Tool Book Review
I started using this book straight away after buying it. This is a guide like no other; it is friendly, direct and full of proven practical tips to develop your skills.
When compared to other ebooks and paper publications I have read, I consider this to be the bible for this topic. Get this and you will never regret the decision.
Benchtop Drill Presses
As shown in the chart on page 78, some of the larger benchtop models have throat capacities equal to some of the floor models. Yet benchtop drill presses Space is another consideration. You might consider lifting a smaller machine on and off your workbench. But a larger benchtop model will require a more permanent location, and it will take up the same space as a floor model.
My First Router Table
It was convenient to park on a shelf, but not convenient to use on an actual bench-that put the router table's surface too high. To place the table at the right height, I built a small cabinet to go underneath it, and added a mobile base sized for a drill press. I stored my wrenches, extra collet, starting pin, featherboards and coping sled in the cabinet, away from all the dust. 1 4 dia., but occasionally I need to make plugs that are smaller. No problem-l use a countersink bit instead. I just remove the drill bit, chuck the countersink portion in my drill press, and make plugs the usual way. Router Table Dust Sleeve to improve the dust collection on my router table, I added a 4 dia., 4 long piece of flexible vacuum hose around my router's body. This helps direct all the dust into the port on the router table's fence. The flexible hose snugs up to the table's plate and can easily be pushed out of the way in order to change bits. Enjoy making clean,...
Sharpening Systems For Turning Tools
When all is said and done, there is, unfortunately, no substitute for experience in sharpening lathe tools. Prior to the advent of HSS, it was recommended that a beginner start out with a cheap set of chisels, and learn how to sharpen them while learning how to turn. Once the process became familiar, they could be replaced with a good set of tools. With today's developments in metallurgy. it's easier to avoid ruining an edge (although still quite possible). I think a beginning turner should have all the advantages, and that includes good chisels. With a little bit of care, they'll last a lifetime and provide thousands of good edges. A
How to sharpen chisels
1 Grind off any recks using a bench grinder with a medium-grit wheel (or a coarse-grit sharpening stone). Hold the tool on the flat portion of the tool rest, with the beveled side facing up. Hold the tip against the wheel and move it from side to side, keeping the cutting edge square. Cool the blade frequently with water to keep It from losing Its temper. When all nicks are gone, turn the blade so the cutting edge Is down. Adjust the tool rest so the blade touches the grinding wheel at a 25 bevel. Move the blade from side to side, keeping the blade at a 25 bevel. Continue to cool the blade regularly.
Table Saw Accessories
. gathered the new table saw accessories from several OUfees. My fi*st stop was ihe Wood mitti Store. Here, I pitted up.the Saw-Aid, the Gauge-il saw gsuge, the F&tbar-Loc fe&thef-bcard, the Merlin Splitter. inn Leecraft Zero Clearance Insert. iind the GRR-RippPr. The Angle p0rfecr II ( 24544), lhe BlarleGauge ll i.i 245531 and the MJ Splitter ( 374 77) were ordared from Rockier. Finally, I called Woodcraft to gat my hands On the Ttu-Cut 8ladeln rt System. You'll need tu order an isort made to fit youi particular
Best Table Saw Accessories
These easy-to-build, shop-made accessories albw you to do more with your table saw and do it better. I he table saw is king in JL my shop. It sits right in the middle where I can get at it easily. Whether if s just rough cutting a board to length or cutting accurate joinery for a project, I'll more than likely end up at the table saw. And the reason for the versatility of my table saw is the simple shop-built helpers I've managed to accumulate through the years. My goal has always been to try to do the best possible job with the least amount of work and that's what this lineup is all about. These accessories allow me to do more with the table saw and do it faster, better, safer, and with a lot less effort. JUST A NOTE. Some of these accessories are designed and sized to fit my 10 contractor's saw. But they can be adapted to fit just about any brand or size of table saw.
Router Table For Tight Spaces
After I purchased your Bench Top Router Table plan booklet 12, I realized that my shop is really too small to have another work table sitting around. So I used some of the ideas in your plan and built a router table that fits into the wing of my table saw. The nice thing about this setup is that it doesn't take up any bench or floor space. All I did was replace the table extension on the right side of my old 8 Delta table saw with a plywood extension that sits between the two rip fence guide bars.
Tablesaw Router Fence
I live in big sky country, but my shop is as cramped as an efficiency apartment in downtown Manhattan Consequently, 1 use my table-saw extension wing as a router table to save floor space. To make use of the tablesaw's fence, I clamp on a shop-made router fence. The combination of these two fences is great. 1 get the easy adjustment of the saw fence and the router fence is wide enough to accommodate big bits. I also built in a dust port that does a super job of clearing the chips.
Miter Gauge Hold Down
All three saws look like cabinet saws. In fact, their trunnion system more closely resembles the type found on a cabinet saw than on a contractor or hybrid saw. The trunnions, which hold the saw's arbor, are mounted to the cabinet instead of the bottom of the table. This makes the trunnion system more rigid and greatly simplifies blade-to-table alignment during setup and tune-ups. The new saws are all left-tilt machines. They have 4-in. dust collection hookups and built-in rip fence storage hooks. Mounting and removing the blade cover and splitter is tool-free and thus hassle-free. The blades that come with the saws are good-quality carbide-tipped blades that, unlike many tablesaws, don't need immediate replacement.
Tum a band saw into a band sander
Stationary belt and disc ganders are powerful tools that remove a lot of material quickly. This characteristic is great for many sanding tasks, but if you're doing more delicate work more power isn't what you're looking for. The band saw can provide a solution for delicate sanding projects. Simply replace the band saw blade with an. abrasive band to create a sanding tool that lets you remove very small amounts of wood-
Tearout on the router table shouldnt be something you have to live with Here are a few simple steps you can take to
Whether it's for joinery or adding a decorative profile to the edge of a workpiece, I use my router table on just about every project. And there are few things more frustrating when using the router table than hearing the splintering sound of tearout. It's usually a signal that I'm going to be in for a lot of sanding or that I'm going to have remake a part. Fortunately aside from starting with a good, sharp bit, there are several steps you can take to prevent tearout from happening. Here's a look at five, simple strategies that I use in my shop for combating tearout on the router table.
Tenons on the Router Table
When you need tenons with crisp, straight shoulders and perfectly clean cheeks, take the job to the router table. There are a number of ways to cut tenons a dado blade or a standard blade on the table saw, or even a band saw, to name a few. But when I want tenons with perfectly clean, crisp shoulders and cheeks, you'll usually find me settled in at the router table. The results can't be matched by any other method. WHEN AND WHY. Unlike a saw blade, a sharp router bit can create perfectly smooth tenon cheeks and shoulders. So whenever the joinery will be exposed, such as in a bridle joint or a through tenon (even half-laps), a tenon made on the router table can be the best choice. Another plus is that in many instances, the setup is quicker and sometimes a little more user-friendly than the table saw. There's no dado blade changeover or tenoning jig setup to worry about. You simply install a straight bit in the router table and you're ready to go. THE ESSENTIALS. There are only three...
Foldaway Router Table
When shop space is scarce, a temporary workstation (like the router table in the drawing at left) may be the best answer. The only drawback to this arrangement is the wall itself. Even though it makes the router table stable, it limits the size of work-pieces you can handle on it. ES
Spindle Sander Jointer
I don't have a jointer in my fit around the drum of my shop, so I came up with a oscillating spindle sander. way to use my oscillating Then to create an offset spindle sander for jointing between the front and back edges. I just made a simple of the fence, I shaved about jointing fence. V32 off the infeed side of
Dowel Joinery Using Plunge Router
Boring dowel joinery can be a fulfilling experience. Use your plunge router with this precision jig. The jig makes it hard to go wrong. Twenty years later, I'm using a plunge router with my shop-made doweling jig with far better results. Alter a bit of setup, 1 can knock out whole sets of dowel-jointed face frames, with all the holes aligned, square, and perfectly and consistently positioned. The trick is a template that has several holes bored in it.The workpieces are clamped beneath the template. You use a plunge router fitted with a guide bushing to bore the dowel holes. An adjustable workpiecc stop ensures that each workpiecc will be clamped in the same position, and template adjusters help you fine-tune the template so the holes are dead-center on the workpiecc.
Horizontal Router Table
This router table does a whole lot more than mortising. The router is mounted horizontally, so the bit's axis is parallel to the table surface. It's perfect for any operation that, performed on an ordinary route r table, would require you to balance the workpiece on edge, including One design, for example, has the router on a plate, and the plate bolted in turn to the mounting board. The bit has to extend through about an inch of mounting material before it can do any productive cutting. Another design has the mounting board extending like a skin, below the base. The way you have to orient and clamp it with that skin off the workbench edge limits your access to the worktable. And none of the designs I saw had any fine-adjustment capability. Just the opposite, in fact. The plan Fred and 1 came up with does share the basic layout of other designs, though the base unit is a bit taller. The mounting board does not extend below the base, so we can easily clamp the unit at the edge of the...
Cutting dadoes with a dado blade setCutting rabbets with a table saw
A DADO BLADE SET can be mounted on a table saw and adjusted to cut dadoes up to 1fa in. wide. Ttie blade sets consist of a pair of circular blades that sandwleti toothed chlppers. Thin plastic spacers can be Inserted to fine-tune the width. ISet the cutting width of your dado blade fay adding chippers and spacers between the two blades. Mount the set on your table saw arbor. When mounted In a table saw, dado-blade sets require a saw throat plate wfttr an extra-wide opening. WITH A DADO BLADE SET. A dado blade (See photo, top left) can cut shallow rabbets in a single pass. If the rabbet is deeper than in. or the wurkpiece Is hardwood, make the cut In multiple passes. Attach a sacrificial wood fence to the rip fence. Set the fence position and cutting depth, then make the cut. Use a hold-down, featherboard and pushstick to guide the workplece. WITH A STANDARD BLADE Cutting rabbets with a standard-kerf saw blade involves cutting the cheeks with one saw set up, then trimming the shoulders...
Collapsible Band Saw Basket
This ingenious gift, which imitates an Irish folk-art design, makes a handy table accent piece. The basket is formed by cutting a series of concentric spirals in a wide piece of stock with the band saw table set at an angle. These angled spiral cuts allow the center of the basket to drop down into a tapered bowl shape or collapse flat for storage. Vital Statistics Collapsible Band Saw Basket - Basket spiral cuts are made on ttie band saw with the table tilted to 30 - Planer and jointer (optional) ' Band saw with 3 i
Not in My Router Table
Not every router is well suited for use in a router table. Some examples Put some power in that router table. Yes, a Killer Router is nice, but unless it's cordless, it needs some 110. Then you'll think about electrifying your router table. Begin by attaching the receptacle boxes to the router table. Placc the outlet box close to the router, and the switch box where you can find it without fumbling, without looking. Run the type N 1 cable from one box to the other. Install the plug on one end of the appliance cable, and insert the other end into the switch box. Wire the switch following the wiring diagram, and install the switch plate. Likewise, wire the receptacle and install the receptacle plate.
Magnetic Band Saw Fence
Esawing lumber on a band saw usually requires clamping and unclamping the fence several limes to to get it in the right position. But tiiafs not a problem with die fence sent in by Bradley Snyder, of Sierra Vista, Arizona. It doesn't require clamps to hold it in place. That's because at the heart of his jig is a pair of magnets (available at most hardware stores), see page 35. They securely hold the fence anywhere you set it on the band saw table.
Building a workbench is a considerable investment in time and money So youll want to make sure to choose the right
Selecting the proper finish for a project is always a challenge. And finishing a workbench is no exception. You might think that because a workbench spends its life in the shop rather than the living room, the type of finish you use doesn't really matter all that much. The truth is, the finish you put on your workbench is just as important as how tall to make the bench, what kind of vises to install, and whether or not to include a tool tray. when you get right down to it, you're really only looking for three things in a workbench finish. First, you want something that will protect the bench. You also want a finish that looks good, not only when you first apply it, but also down the road. And finally, since most workbenches get a lot of abuse, you want a finish that is easy to repair if it gets damaged. With these objectives in mind, here's a look at a few different types of finishes commonly used on workbenches. FILM FINISHES. At first thought, it may seem that a traditional,...
Glazing Bar Halving Joint Router Bits
Adjust the saw blade to cut halfway through the workpiece. Saw one shoulder then slide the wood sideways and saw the second one. To cut identical shoulders on several pieces of wood, set up the saw so that you can butt each workpiece against the rip fence at one end and against a block of wood clamped to the mitre fence at the other Remove the waste by making several passes across the blade. This oblique joint is identical to the right-angle version, except for the fact that the recesses are set at an angle. Use a mitre square to mark out a 45-degree joint or a sliding bevel for other angles. USING A TABLE SAW Cut an oblique halving joint on a table saw as described on page 56, but set the mitre fence at an angle. Hold the work firmly against the fence to prevent it being drawn backwards by the saw blade. USING A TABLE SAW Cut an oblique halving joint on a table saw as described on page 56, but set the mitre fence at an angle. Hold the work firmly against the fence to prevent it being...
An Alternative Mortising Attachment on a Drill Press
To control the depth of cut, all mortisers include a depth stop. Like depth stops on drill presses, how they work varies from one machine to another. One of the simplest and easiest to use is an adjustable rod, like the one shown on the model at right. Another option for hollow-chisel mortising is to add an attachment to your drill press. A mortising attachment kit is relatively inexpensive (around 75) and kits are available for most types of drill presses. The nice thing about a drill press kit is you can adjust the bit speed. HOW IT WORKS. The way the kit works is pretty simple. To hold the chisel, a yoke fits over the quill of the drill press and locks in position with a collar. With the yoke holding the chisel, the drill drives the auger bit. The photo at right shows the fence and hold-downs that are included in a typical kit. A yoke attached to the quill of the drill press holds the chisel DOWNSIDE. But this arrangement has some drawbacks. First, setting up and...
Getting Started in Woodturning
Woodturning is easy to learn and fast to do. so, what's keeping you from taking it up probably one of these three common roadblocks. Woodturning might just be the perfect baby-boomer woodworking niche. It's fun and relatively easy, doesn't take a bunch of room, and you don't need a big pile of money to get started. And fiere is the kicker you can turn a project, from start to finish (you know, the kind you wipe on) in an evening Even more complex turning projects don't take as long to make as a big piece of furniture does. Think of it as instant gratification woodworking. At its heart, woodturning is very simple. You really only need three major components to do remarkable work something to spin the wood a lathe something to cut the wood gouges of sufficient quality for the task and here is perhaps the biggest stopper for some folks something to sharpen those curved gouges a super-easy sharpening system. As with any shop upgrade, you can approach it in a variety of ways buy new, buy...
Top View Of Straight Router
When talking about router bit performance, there's a tendency to consider just the bit. However, the bit is only part of the total picture. The kind of material you are working, the depth and width of the cut, the condition of the bit, and the speed that you move the router along the work (or feed the work past the bit) also make considerable differences. One of the worse things you can do to a router bit is to try and cut too much in one pass. Make it your rule to do multiple passes if you have to remove more than a ' square of material. Force feeding stresses the bit, makes it Ways to increase router bit life Here's how to get more mileage (and longer life) from your router bits. If you plan to work with plywood, you need to know about plywood bits. Plywood often is manufactured undersized, or thinner than nominal size. Put V2 plywood into a W dado and you'll get a poor fit. To help, some router bit manufacturers make undersized bits (7 32 , , u 32 , and ) to accommodate the thinner...
Box joints are strong and attractive And they dont require any special tools just a table saw a miter gauge and a
But first, you have to decide whether to use the table saw or the router table. The jig for each is essentially the same. But most of the time, I like to use my table saw. It works To cut box joints with a table saw, you need three things a dado set, a miter gauge, and a jig. The jig can be very basic. All you need is a pair of auxil fences. The fences are joined with carriage bolts and wing nuts, see Fig. 1. The fixed fence is screwed to the miter gauge. If s slotted so the fence in front can be adjusted side-to-side. 17o begin, set the top of the first workpiece against the key and hold it tightly against the fence and the table saw. Then cut the first slot.
Using the Router Table
Using this router table isn't a whole lot different than using any other. Because of the location of the router and the orientation of the saw's fence, you most frequently approach the router table from what is the saw's right rear corner. 'Hie drawing Feed Direction makes this clear. You've got to keep the area around the saw's right end clear so you can move around and maneuver a workpiccc. The disadvantage of using the saw's fence crops up when you arc switching back and forth between the router table and the table saw. In these circumstances, it's better to use a separate fence for the router table, so you can preserve the router table setup while using the rip fence for the saw operations. In other particulars, such as changing bits, setting bit height, and controlling the workpiccc. do with this router table as you would with any other router table. Router table feed direction Router table feed direction When using the table saw's rip fence to guide a router cut, the feed...
How to rip various materials with a table saw
1 Start rip cuts with your left foot against the front left comer of the saw base, feed the workpiece With your right hand, and use your left hand to keep the workpiece snug against the rip fence. Use a pushstick whenever a work-piece requires your hand to be closer than 6 In. to the blade. NARROW STRIPS When rip-cutting a single narrow workpiece from a wider hoard, the narrow strip should be oil the opposite side of the biade from the rip fence (left photo). This keeps the wider portion of the board between the biade and the rip fence to aliow more room for your hand or a pushstick. To rip a series of narrow workpieces, set the distance between the biade and the rip fence to match the intended width of the workpieces you need. Use a narrow pushstick to guide the pieces aiong the rip fence (right photo). To rip a narrow board, use a push stick rather than your hand to feed the board. A featherboard clamped to the saw table will press the stock against the fence and allow you to keep...
Table Saw Extension Router Table
Gain a router table without sacrificing precious shop space Integrate a router mounting into your table saw. the standard rip fence moored to 1 ' -inch-diameter rails. If you have a Delta contractor's saw. the specifics presented here should work for your saw. If you have a different brand, you may have to make some alterations. And certainly a different rip-fence mounting would also probably require some alterations to the router tabic top or its mounting approach. My saw is positioned in my shop so that 1 don't have to address the router table from the front of the saw. I step around the saw to the right and work at the end of the extension table. Included with this project is a boxlike facing for the rip fence. My misgivings about router tables of just diis sort emanate from my fear of inadvertently routing the steel fence. Carbide-tipped cutters will cut aluminum but not steel. So when 1 made the fence facing, I made it 5x i inches wide, so I can just about bury a horizontal...
Working on the Router Table
To joint on a router table, you need a jointing fence. But it's a different sort of fence than the one used with a hand-held router. Like the jointer's infeed and outfeed tables, the router table's jointing fence needs If you've equipped your rouia table with a split fence, as presented in the chapter Router Table Accessories. you don't need a jointini fence. All you have to do is adjust the two fence sections separately, to serve as infeed and outfeed suppons To set up the router table jointing fence, hold a straightedge against thr outfeed side of the fence. Align the cutting edge of the bit flush with the straightedge. To set up the router table jointing fence, hold a straightedge against thr outfeed side of the fence. Align the cutting edge of the bit flush with the straightedge. The bit is ideal for squaring up large, thick, heavy panels. Butcher-block son of stufT. Crosscut the work with a circular saw, then plane and true the end-grain edge with this trimmer in a hand-held...
Biscuitjointer Safety
4s well as observing the standard working methods for power tools (see page 16), note the following points with specific reference to biscuit jointers. The blade guard must always be in place when the jointer is running. When cutting a groove, always feed the jointer away from you. Some jointers are supplied with a bevel fence for inserting biscuits in mitre joints. Lay the workpiece flat on a bench, adjust the bevel fence on the jointer, and cut the slots. Clamp the work overhanging the bench, and run the right-angle fence along the outer edge of the bevel. To help support the jointer, increase the width of the bevel by clamping one component on top of the other. Set up the workpiece and adjust the jointer as described for making a corner-butt joint (see page 23). Rest the front end of the jointer on the panel, switch on and plunge the saw. Feed the tool across the work, then raise the blade before switching off.
Reverse the miter gauge for panel cutting
Sheet goods and glued-up panels are often too wide to be fed into the blade with the saw's miter gauge. You can solve this problem by turning the gauge around so the head of the gauge is fed into the miter-gauge slot first. Attach an auxiliary fence to the miter gauge to create a more stable surface for pressing against. You can also use a miter-gauge hold-down (See photo at top of page) to keep the panel steady. Miter gauge
Oss From Your Drill Press
With its motor-driven crank and push-rod assembly, this kit converts a drill press to an oscillating spindle sander. With its motor-driven crank and push-rod assembly, this kit converts a drill press to an oscillating spindle sander. Retired machinist Gene Paules invented a setup that adds oscillating action to a drill press fitted with an ordinary sanding drum, which we covered in AW 30. Since then Paules has refined his creation, and he now offers it as a kit. The kit has a small motor that drives a push rod. which is attached to one of the drill-press spokes. As the rod moves back and forth, the quill moves up and down, creating the oscillating action. Vou can adjust the stroke length from about Vfe in. to in. by changing the position of the rod on the spoke a feature not found on any other sander we tested. To switch from sanding to ordinary drilling, you just lift the rod off a special mount on the spoke. Installation takes about 20 minutes, and the sanding action worked great...
By clamping to the drill press column this caddy uses wasted space to keep your bits and other accessories close at
Storing drill bits and accessories in a place convenient to iny drill press has always been a problem. It's nice to be able to put lbem in a drawer or cabinet below the tool. That way, they're kept clean and organized. Rut if you're using a Door-model drill press, there isn't room to put a drawer. A tray mounted to the drill press is more convenient, but you run the risk of liaving tilings fall off. or of sweeping away drill bits along with the shavings. To solve this problem. I combined the benefits of the enclosed drawer with rhe convenience of a column mounted tray the result is the shop-made Drill Press Caddy shown above. clamp. The caddy is held securely lo the drill press column hv a simple shop-made clamp that starts as part of ihe caddy's oversized top cover. After the damp is ait from ihe cover, ihe two pieces are screwed back together with Ihe column between them. power tool selection. A drill press After you've glued up the trays, begin working on the lop cover (H), clamp...
Magnetic Jointer Knife Setting Jigs
Set jointer knives in perfect alignment every time jointers. W1210 POLYCARBONATE JIG For 4 - 8 jointers with HSS kmves W1211 STANDARD STEEL PROFESSIONAL JIG For 4 B jointers with HSS knives W1212 CARBIDE PROFESSIONAL JIG For 4 - 8 jointers with carbide or HSS kntves WI213 CARBIDE PROFESSIONAL JIG For 10 - 14 jointers with carbide or HSS knrves
How to cut mortises with a plunge router
2 In your plunge router, instaii a straight bit with a diameter equai to the width of the mortise. Ciamp a stop biock guide to the router base so the bit aligns with the mortise outline. Set the cutting depth to the depth of the mortise. With the workpiece secured, plunge the bit into the wood and make the mortise cut.
Stop Sabre Saw Splintering
No matter what blade you're using, or what material you're cutting, you'll almost always have splintering along the edges of a freehand sabre saw cut. To prevent this 1 made a plate of W Masonite that attaches to the base of the sabre saw with double-sided carpet tape. A slot in the Masonite fits tightly against the sides of the blade to prevent splintering. A notch at the front of the plate helps you follow a pencil line, and lets you see the splinter-free cut the sabre saw can produce.
Radial Arm Saw Support Table
The radial arm saw is the perfect tool for cutting long pieces of stock to manage able lengths. But the problem is, the tables on most radial arm saws are too short. It becomes a real balancing act to cut a 2-foot length from an 8-foot board. protective si jrface. Another thing that's always bothered me about working on the radial arm saw is the way the table gets chewed up with repeated cutting. As the kerfs in the table get wider, sawdust builds up in the kerfs. And the workpiece can
This compact router table has a large top with wings that fold away making it compact and easy to store The
Not every shop luis room for a large, stationary router table. That's the reason 1 like this Benchtop Router Table. Instead of taking up valuable floor space, the router table simply clamps to a bench. And once a job is completed, it folds up into a compact box that's stored neatly out ol the way (sec inset photo). With the router table folded up. it's only about as big as a picnic basket. But don't let its small size fuol yuu. LARGE TABLE. The wings on each side of the router table fold out tocreale a large, flat table. To provide support for the wings, just open tile doors and FENCE. As much as I like the table, it's the fence that impresses me the most. It adjusls easily and locks down tight. And a pair of sliding faces ler you change the size of the opening around the bit 'llic fence even doubles as a handle to make it easy to carry the router table. ALUMINUM TRACK. Another handy thing about this router table is that it has an aluminum track that runs along the...
KM TOPAdding a Miter Gauge Slot
If you cut a slot in the top of your router table, you can use a miter gauge when you're routing. the table top. This guide strip will form the inside edge of the miter gauge slot (Fig. 1a). Now, to position the other guide strip, hold the miter gauge snugly between the two strips To set the depth of a pattern bit, place the miter gauge bar on top of a guide strip, and the router on top of the bar. barely touch the table top Now remove the miter gauge and rout the slot (Fig. 2). Note You can use this same method for routing miter gauge slots in other wood table tops and jigs. Whether or not you build any other part of this router table, the hardwood fence is definitely worthy of consideration. It has three useful features a T-slot for accessories, a pair of sliding faces, and a special clamping system. t-slot. The T-slot is designed to accept T-shaped nuts. These nuts slide in and let you add a variety of accessories, including a guard and a feather-board. (For more on accessories,...
Portable Workbench Storage
I use a portable workbench still be folded up without because it's easy to fold up and move around. But it seems like whenever I'm using the workbench on a project around the house, I'm constantly running back to my shop for a tool. to a hardboard tray that's attached to the workbench. Now wherever I take the bench, I have my basic tools right at hand. A shallow box attached to the bottom of a portable workbench provides a handy place to store some of the tools you'll need on thejobsite. NOTE Size tray to fit in workbench NOTE Size tray to fit in workbench Drill Press Accessory Bar clamps near my drill press for attaching fences or stop blocks. But the trouble is finding a place to store them where they are handy, yet out of the way. To solve this problem, I made a storage rack that attaches to the column of my drill press, see photo. of your drill press.)
Cutting with circular saws
Portable circular saws cut on the upward rotation of the blade. To avoid tear-out on the better face of your workpiece, turn it good-face-down when cutting. Build an 8-ft. straightedge to cat plywood and paneling with your circular saw. The straightedge shown below has a V4-in. plywood base, and a 1 x 2 cleat (you can also use a strip of plywood) that serves as a saw guide. After assembling the straightedge, position the circular saw with the foot tight against the cleat and trim off the excess portion of the plywood base. To use the straightedge, position the trimmed edge of the plywood base flush with your cutting line and clamp the straightedge to the workpiece. Portable circular saws cut on the upward rotation of the blade. To avoid tear-out on the better face of your workpiece, turn it good-face-down when cutting.
Woodworking Tools Skills
That's what this Woodworking Tools & Skills chapter is all about. First, you will gain an understanding of the tools essential to successful woodworking. Then you receive detailed, step-by-step instructions that show you techniques and tips for using those tools safely and efficiently to make beautiful projects.
Shopmade Turning Tools
Over the years, I've found that some of my best turning tools arc made from things I have ly ing around the shop. Pictured here are several tools made from alien wrenches, nails and screwdrivers. They are easy to make Allen-wrench turning tool Screwdriver turning tools (Bottom four tools in photo.) Making bent and straight tools from standard screwdrivers is also simple. Stan by grinding the tips to the shape of a round-nose scraper, as with the alien-wrench tool. At this point the straight tool is complete. For bent tools, place the shaft in a vise and heat the shaft with a propane hand torch until it's red. Then grab the tip with a wrench and bend it to 45 . The finished tip should extend no more than in. from the bend.
Band saw jig saw blades
Circular saw blades Standard band saw blade STRAIGHT BLADES for jig saws, band saws, scroll saws and reciprocating saws vary by number of teeth per inch (tpi), the set of the teeth, the rake angle of the teeth, and the width and thickness of the blade. The type of metal used to make the blade and the presence of carbide or other hardened steei tips affect the longevity (and the price) of the blades. Blades for some tools have numerous tooth configurations for example, band saw blades can be purchased with standard teeth (above), or sWp fooffj and hook-tooth configurations. CIRCULAR SAW BLADES are fitted onto portable circular saws, table saws, radial-arm saws and power miter saws. Select blades by matching the number of teeth per inch to the task at hand-but make sure the tpi number is for the correct blade diameter (anywhere from in. to 18 in. or so, with 7V4 in. the most common for portable circular saws, and 10 In. the most common for table saws, power miter saws and radial-arm...
Jointer Plane Jointer
Here's a way to joint pieces of wood that are too short to be run safely over the jointer. Flip your hand-jointer plane upside down and clamp it in your bench vise. Now you can pass the wood over the plane to joint the edge. It's a good idea to use a push stick so that you don't nip your fingers on the blade.
Table saw accessories should be stored our of the way yet close at hand while you work This cabinet provides just the
It's uo secret that the table saw is the workhorse of most shops. Whether culling pieces to size or forming joinery. I'd he lost without my table saw. But to do all tliat work the table saw requires a number of accessories, from the rip fence and miter gauge to different types of blades and the wrench used to change them. To keep these items close at hand. 1 built a cabinet that hangs on the side of my table saw. taking advantage of the space below the table extension. RIP FENCE STORAGE. When 1 need to switch from the rip fence to the miter gauge, there's convenient storage door. The cabinet has a door wtuch effectively doubles the storage space allowing you to store the arbor wrench, saw blades, and other accessories inside. The miter gauge hangs in a quick-access holder on the outside of the door. It's designed so you can easily store the miter gauge, even if you have a long auxiliary-fence fastened to it. (The Accessory
Bridgewood Planers Jointers Lathes Moulders Bandsaws Dost Collectors Boring Machines Drill Presses Pin Routers
Eighteen-volt cordless tools have been trickling into the marketplace for the past few years, but get ready for a flood. By the spring of 1999, almost every major power tool brand will offer 18V drills, setting a new standard for power. Other new cordless tools include three 18V circular saws and two jigsaws one 18V from DeWalt and one 14.4V from Makita.
Woodworking Tools And Accessories
For appearance and function, design your chest with the shallowest drawers at the top and the deepest at the bottom. Flat items like layout tools and cabinet scrapers can live in the shallow drawers bench planes can occupy the deep ones. In between, size your drawers for commonly used hand tools like chisels, screwdrivers, spokeshaves, and files. Groove or drill small blocks of wood to separate items like chisels and gouges. Fit these blocks unglued between the drawer sides. I've recently become interested in woodturning, and I'd like to buy a lathe. What should 1 look for in choosing a machine, and what should I avoid
How to cut tongues rabbets with a table saw
ICut the tongue portion of the lap joint on your table saw, using a tenoning fig to support and guide the workpiece. Set up the sew as If you're cutting a deep rabbet, and begin by making the cheek cuts. 2 Cut the shoulders of the tongues on a tabie saw, using the miter gauge to feed each workpiece past the Made. Ciamp a reiief block to the fence and measure out from its position to the blade to set up the cut.
Cabinet Style Workbench
After the panels are glued up, the next step is to cut the front back (A) and end (B) panels to finished size, see the drawing at right. (The bottom will be cut to size later.) I began by simply ripping each of these panels to width. But when crosscut-ting, the long panels require some extra support. To do this, I added along auxiliary fence to the miter gauge. Thisway, ifsmuch easier to get the panels square. The base front back (E) and base ends (F) are first cut to rough length from 3 -wide blanks. Next, cut a decorative chamfer along the top edge, see Fig. 6.1 did this on the table saw with the blade angled 15 . Then to complete the base, miter the pieces to length and glue them to the case.
Ripcutting with a table saw
The table saw is certainly the most convenient and most accurate machine for ripping lumber and sheet goods. Make sure the rip fence is adjusted so it's parallel to the blade and at a right angle to the table. Squaring up the fence can be tricky with the often-flimsy fences that come with some table saws. That's why you may want to consider seriously investing in after-market calibrated fences that are sturdy, adjustable, and accurate. Many new saws now come equipped with a higher-end rip fence. Table saws also come equipped with a number of safety features to reduce the hazards of rip cutting In addition to the blade guard, the riving knife with anlikick Making rip cuts. (See photos, next page.) Set the rip fence so the distance between its inner face and the teeth of your saw
The base of this workbench does more than support the top The trays and drawer store a shops worth of tools within easy
Most shops can always use more storage space. So why not build a workbench where the base not only supports the top but also provides space inside for your hand and power tools That's the idea behind this workbench. cabinet already filled with tools. When you combine the two, you end up with a rock-solid workbench capable of handling most any project.
Toolbox with a Piggyback Workbench
Like Bill Baird, boatbuildcr Michael Hayes of Huntington Beach, California, wanted to build a rolling toolbox that could double as a workbench. Unlike Baird, however, I laves wanted his toolbox and bench to be independent of one another. But to keep the unit as compact as possible, he also wanted them to roll to the site on one set of wheels. His solution, as you can see in the photo at left, was to make the tool chest nest under the lift-up bench. So the chest and bench could work in conjunction with one another, he built them the same height (with the chest lifted from the dolly).
Is a Table Mounted Router a Shaper
The shaper simply accomplishes a lot more work in less rime than a router table setup. Consider the varieties of shapers. Just as routers arc available in a range of grades and power ratings, shapers arc available in a range of models. A table-mounted router is fairly equivalent to the low-end shaper, the so-called bench routcr shaper. (Because woodworkers seem to be familiar with the different models of table saw. let me relate the different shaper models to table saw models.) A benchtop routcr shaper is at the low end, like a benchtop motorized table saw. To make it as inexpensive as possible, a lot of the shaper qualities are designed out. Often, rhe table-top is cast aluminum it's (lac and true and durable, but it's also lightweight. The fence is more simple, less precise. The motor is down co 1 horsepower or less. Only a Vi-inch spindle will fit, and though it may have forward and reverse, it probably has only one speed. It weighs from 30 to 50 pounds. Depending on the brand, it...
Nice Enough For Jewelry Sharp Enough For Chisels
When I set out to build this case, I intended to use it to protect some of my favorite chisels. But as soon as I finished it, Cheryl walked into the shop and hinted that it was too nice for those cruddy old chisels. But wouldn't it make a terrific jewelry case Then Janet (Steve's wife) suggested, If it were just a little bigger, it would be perfect for silverware.
Construction lumber and a weekends work are all it takes to build this workbench This one features a base made ofxs and
111 wanted was a simple, heavy-duly workbench. Il had to be sturdy, have a large work surface, and I didn't want it to cost a lot. Arid I wanted to build it in a weekend. extra storage. Kven if you build (he drawers, you'll need a plywood shell underneath for extra storage. Then 1 added a woodworking vise at one end of the workbench as a final touch. (For sources oi woodworking vises, see page 112.) The point is this project can be as simple or as involved as you waul. The basic bench can be put together in a weekend. Or you can add storage and a vise for a more versatile bench. finish. To protect the workbench and keep glue from sricking to it, I finished the bench with two coats of an oil ure thane blend finish. building the frames. With the work bench legs cut to length, go ahead and cut the t wo side braces (U) (Fig. ). I ay two legs side-by-side and position one side brace CR) 4VL- upfront the bottom ends. Then place the other hraoe flush to the top of the legs (Fig. 1).
For use with table saw
Important that the distance from the bottom of the horizontal member to the bottom of the vertical member be exactly the same as the height of your table saw fence. 3 Make the shoulder cuts (across the grain of the workpiece) using a miter gauge as a guide. For stability, we attached an auxiliary wood fence to the miter gauge. Aiso ciamp a stop biock to the tabie saw fence for use as an alignment guide and to keep the workpiece from binding against the fence and aliows the waste to fall away freeiy rather than getting trapped between the fence. Adjust the fence so the workpiece, when butted against the biock, can siide forward on the miter gauge and meet the biade at the base of the tenon cheek. Raise the biade above the tabie high enough to cut the shouiders without scoring the tenon. Cut the shouiders on each face, then reset the biade height If necessary, and cut shouiders on the ends of the tenon. Auxiliary miter gauge fence
Cabinetmakers chisels
Most of the wood chisels sold and owned today arc bevel edge cabinetmaker's chisels (See photo, left). Available in standard widths ranging from Vi to 1 lA in., they can handle a variety of everyday cutting tasks, including cutting mortises and paring tenons. If you're a serious woodworker who appreciates hand tools, you may want to look into a set of mortising chisels, which have thicker shanks and wider, shock-resistant handle butts. Better quality chisels are made with hardened steel that hold an edge for a long time. The main differences are in handle material, size and feel. If investing in a set of quality chisels, make sure the ones you choose feel comfortable and well balanced in your hand.
Invest in a router table
A router is one of the most versatile power tools ever created, but mounted In a router table its usefulness and accuracy become even greater. Commercial models are available, but many handymen prefer to build their own. You can purchase hits for malting the mounting plate, fence and even the table surface. The router table shown to the right is made using an inexpensive bathroom vanity as a cabinet, with a piece of post-form countertop for the tabtetop. tf you plan to use your router table frequently, it's a good idea to buy a dedicated router for it. Look for a fixed-base model with a Vi m. collet A soft start feature will make the router table safer and easier to manage. Jointer plane THREE COMMON HAND PLANES for workshop use are the biock plane, jack plane and Jointer plane. Block pianes are very handy general purpose toots. They can be used to plane with the grain, but they have shallow biade angles and flat soies so they can also plane end grain effectively. Their small size...
Ripcutting with a band saw or jig saw
Both the jig saw and the band saw are quite capable of making straight cuts, but you can't expect either to produce finish cuts. While a table saw can leave a dead-accurate cut with a surface that requires only light sanding, a jig saw or band saw cut is rippled and its biade has a tendency to wander So if you're going to do your ripping and cross cutUng this way, you'll have to clean up the sawn surfaces with a hand plane or use a router with a piloted flush-cut bit Uniike table saw cuts, jig saw and band saw rip cuts can be made freehand, following a scribed iine. This can be a real advantage when making a rip cut that Is not precisely parallel to the edge of the board or perhaps even has a slight turn or curve to it. You can aiso make straight rip cuts with these tools If you choose, using a straightedge guide with the jig saw or a guide or fence with the band saw. Some jig saws come with an adjustable side fence, similar to that on a circular saw, for making narrow cuts parallel...
This classic Europeanstyle workbench is massive and stable yet still affordable The traditional dog system lets you
He main challenge I was faced with when I began designing this maple workbench was to start out with the classic European-style design, and end up with a project that was functional and buildable but still affordable. I wanted to keep all the features that contribute to a great heavy-duty workbench. A flat, stable, hardwood working surface. A convenient tool tray along the back edge. A front vise with a large wooden face. And finally, an end vise and a dog system. Shoulder vises tend to be expensive, and also have a tendency to get out of adjustment when changes in humidity occur. So for this workbench, I came up with a simpler end vise-and-dog block system. This system can actually be
Custom Router Table
It must be flat, strong, and stable, must both withstand and dampen vibration, and must have a hard, tough, slick surface. Here's how to make the ideal router table top. The industry standard for a router table top seems to be a 1' -inch-thick X 24-inch-wide X 32-ineh-long top. Sized to get six from a 4 X 8 sheet. Medium-density fiber-board (MDF) core with plastic laminate on both sides. Tough polyethylene T-molding edging the top. Available with or without a mounting plate opening and with or without a miter slot. These router table lops are well
Granite Top Table
Routers, Router Bits & Accessories Routers, Router Bits & Accessories Top of the line Jointers for Jointers Equipped with a sturdy, easy to adjust, T-fence design rip fence system. Equipped with a sturdy, easy to adjust, T-fence design rip fence system. 2. Begin making the ratchets in the upper legs (Fig. B) by cutting dadoes. Make an indexing jig for your miter gauge to ensure that all the dadoes are accurately spaced (Photo 1). My jig is 3 4 x 3 x 24 , but the exact size isn't important. Use a dado set to cut a 3 8 wide by 15 32 deep notch in the jig's center. Glue a 4 long alignment pin in the notch-it should fit fairly tightly, 3. Position the jig on the miter gauge so that the distance from the dado set to the indexing pin is exactly 5 8 . Make some test cuts to verify this spacing, then fasten the jig to the miter gauge. Raise the dado set 1 32 to cut a notch 1 2 deep. Make an indexing jig for cutting ratchets in the legs. Cut a notch in the jig using a dado set. Glue an...
Bench Top Router Table
For the small shop, for Ihc remote job site, or as an extra in a busy shop, this little bench-top router table is just the ticket. It has a bunch of practical features, but easily the best is the simple router-mounting system. Making this little operation even easier to perform is a fift-top feature (which this router table shares with the togcr Floor-Standing Router Table presented on page 212). Ik ubletop is hinged, and it tilts up in front, just about binding you the router. Because it is so easy to do, you'll f& remove the router to change bits. With a bcnchtop unit, the working surface is elevated closer to you than with a fl(x r-standing unit. This is especially helpful. 1 think, when dealing with small workpieces. I lend to hunch over to keep a close eye on the operation, which in a protracted session is quite literally a pain in the neck. So for such sessions, it's often worthwhile to pull out this little table, set it on the workbench (or on a Shopmate). and clamp it dow-n....
Preparing Your Band
Youll find that a few extra minutes of fidgeting with your band saw will mean the difference between a fair cut and a great cut. Here arc a few tips for when your saw ism cutting as Photo 3-2 Clean band saw tire* will improve the quality of your cuts. Photo 3-2 Clean band saw tire* will improve the quality of your cuts.
Auxiliary Band Saw Tabu
You can cut dovetails on your band saw with only two jigs the tail jig (shown on page 20) and the pin jig (shown on page 22). But I found it difficult to balance these jigs and a long workpiece on my band saw table. To solve this problem, i built a 24 x 24 auxiliary table from a piece of 3A plywood (Fig. 1). It clamps directly to the band saw table (refer to Fig. 4). add runner. To hold the auxiliary table in position on the band saw. I glued a VV'-thick hardwood runner to the bottom of the plywood (Fig. 1). Cut the runner to width to match the miter gauge slot on your band saw. Then glue it in position so the edge of the auxiliary table clears the arm on the band saw. new slots. After the runner was attached, I cut a slot in the auxiliary table directly over the runner (Fig. la). This slot (dado) is used to guide a runner that's on the bottom of the tail jig. Since I wanted to use my miter gauge for other jobs, I cut it the same size as the slot in my band saw table. blade slot. With...
Mail Order Workbenches
Most woodworkers would agree that the most important tool in any workshop doesn't require electricity or sharpening. The workbench doesn't make noise or draw attention to itself like a router or tablcsaw docs. But without a good bcnch, even the simplest operations become difficult or impossible. The workbench provides the flat, stable work surface that's critical for most layout and joinery work. It also offers clamping and hold-down capability for workpicccs of all sizes, for practically all woodworking operations. While it's traditional for woodworkers to build their own workbenches, building one requires a sizable investment in material, machinery and time. If you consider your efforts better spent using a bench than building one, read on. The chart There's really no such thing as an ultimate workbench. A bcnch that works great in one shop won't necessarily be ideal in another. To find the right bcnch for your shop, you'll need to consider seven important factors A good vise or...
Handles for Turning Tools
DECADES AGO, woodturning tools came without handles, and turners would simply fashion their own. This makes perfect sense, because a handle that fits and feels right gives a turner confidence. And who better to custom-fit the handle than the person who'll use the tool Turning tool shanks (or Every woodturning tool handle must have a metal ferrule to reinforce the joint between the handle and the tool's shank, or tang (Photo Turning Wood
Front Side Of Router Table
3 8 router bit 3 Clamp both ends of the base to the router table so the bit is approximately centered in the hole. The base's groove goes in front of the router bit as you face the router table. Raise the bit so it's exactly as high as your workpiece is thick (see inset). Caution Make sure the clamp won't hit the router bit. Caution Make sure the clamp won't hit the router bit. Bosch, (877) 267-2499, www.Boschtools.com 3 8-in. up-spiral router bit, solid carbide, 85913M, about 70. Woodmaster Tools, Inc.
Look What A Typical Table Saw Can Do
Convert your table saw iiiki a molder wilh lltt* Magic Mulder. Locate additional task lights over machines and workbenches. dust collectors jointers planers saws wood lathes the Jet store shapers sanders pianer-rnolders The Accu-Mitei is a professional miter gauge that makes perfect angles easily. Shot-pin action assures dead-on accuracy for common angles. Our new adjustable bar insures a perfect fit in your table saws slot.
Tablesaw Jointer Extension
Sam designed his tabiesaw extension for ease of ripping, but he also made sure it wouldn't get in the way of wood being worked on at his adjacent jointer. Sam made his own rollers using black PVC pipe. (He installed two long rollers on one side of the trough and six shorter ones on the other to accommodate boards of different widths.) Compartments hold smaller and exotic pieces of wood, as well as jigs and sleds, plus Sam's dado set.
Router table through cuts
Cutting grooves and dadoes on a router table has a lot in common with doing it on a table saw with a dado cutter. In both approaches, you The biggest difference is the speed Unless it is a shallow cut Vi inch or less the dado cutter is going to be faster. For large workpieces cabinet sides, for example the setup of your table saw may favor the dado cut ter also. If you work with plywood a lot, you may have long fence rails and a table extension to the right of the blade, as well as a big outfccd table. These accessories facilitate da-doi ng large panels as much as the)' do cutting large panels. But it's unlikely that your router table is set up this way.
Maple In the classic European style, this workbench is massive, but affordable. The traditional dog system lets you clamp the largest workpieces with ease. Workbench This underbench cabinet not only increases your storage capacity, but when full of tools its weight also adds strength and stability to the workbench. Table Saw This sturdy but mobile cabinet will improve your table-saw setup with storage space, options for dust collection, and an outfeed support. Router Table This stable router table can be built with a solid base of 2x4s. But you can also build the fence, clampirig system and accessories to fit your own table. Designer's Notebook Easy-To-Build Workbench Top. . . 42 Workbench Cabinet 44 The cornerstone of most home shops is a functional, convenient workbench. Rut the size and style can vary greatly, depending on space requirements and functional needs. So we give you options, beginning with a simple cabinet and bench top design that can be arranged in many different...
Drill Presses
These are the models of choice for chairmakers and others who drill a lot of angled or compound-angled holes. On a radial drill press, the 'head which includes the motor, quill and pulleys is mounted on a horizontal tube, called a ram, that can move in and out and rotate in both directions. (See photo, right.) This way you can adjust the bit to bore at any angle you want. Radial drill presses are great for angle boring. They can even tilt sideways for horizontal boring. And they have larger throat capacities than most standard models. Both floor and benchtop 'models are available.
Drill Press Method
One of the simplest methods available that satisfies both these requirements is to use a drill press to remove most of the waste of the mortise, see Fig. 1. Using a Forstner or brad point bit I drill a series of overlapping holes to create a rough opening. Then I square up the ends and sides of the mortise with a chisel, see Fig. 2. Shop Note If your workpiece is too long or heavy to place on a drill press, try using a portable drill with a dowel jig or a Portalign to guide the drill bit. There are a couple things I like about this method (which is probably why I use it more than any other). First, it doesn't require any lengthy setup of equipment. The width of the mortise is determined by the diameter of the drill bit and the depth by the depth stop on the drill press. All you need is a simple fence clamped to the drill press table to establish the position of the mortise in the workpiece.
Router Bit Nest
Router Bit Nest WATCHING AN EXPENSIVE router bit roll onto the floor is a heartbreaking experience. In the middle of a project, it can be a disaster. I drilled a few 1 2 and 1 4 holes in the edge of a piece of MDF and fastened it to the back of my router table's fence. In this nest, i keep all the bits I'm using for a particular project at my fingertips without worrying about having them roll off the table.
Router Bits
Carbide-tipped router bits used to build the projects in this issue are available from Woodsmith Project Supplies. Order the shank size to fit your router. V4 ROUND-OVER To make the profile shown on page 24 for the Oval Mirror, you'll need a special router bit. It's a W round-over without a bearing. On page 17, we've shown how to remove a bearing from a high speed steel Sears router bit (No. 26309), and reshape the bit so it can be lowered into the work.
Router Table
To build this table, the first step is to determine the overall dimensions. This is simply a matter of measuring the wing of your saw's table front to back, see drawing next page. (Mine was 27 .) The depth of the router table isn't crucial, but you do want it to extend beyond the table saw rails. Otherwise, you'll run into them when working with the router. (My router table is 18 deep.)*fc We made good use of every square inch of this router fence. There's even a router bit storage tray that slides inside the fence. Plans for the fence begin on page 31. We made good use of every square inch of this router fence. There's even a router bit storage tray that slides inside the fence. Plans for the fence begin on page 31.
Read*o Itaxfti rnrnp is me neat best thing to turning wood' World famous woodturners share their ideas and techniques so you can improve your state IVtodJwiwjp is a magazine wheh ts long overdue' it wntten wilh the interests oi both experienced and aspiring woodturners in mind Prepare yourself tot a test1 Regular features include Product and Equipment Reviews variations in tumng techrtques ideas, twits and ops Many easyto-fotow well dustrated projects are incbded r each issue Vtoodturnng is a magarine you wil be proud to cad your o*n' Yes Please send me details on Woodturning.
Portable Sawmills
Just 5 gels you our famous old woodworking catalog as well as future catalogs. Thousands of unique hand woodworking tools arc desenbed You'll be amazed at our large selection and variety of hard-to-lind tools. What's more, you'll receive our Tree gift spokeshave with a 50.00 order. That's our deal. Buy at Frog and save i pc*f*to e i5.va* i
My store-bought chisels were either too wide or too thick for some of the narrow mortises in the horseshoe chair, so I made several small chisels for the job. (See photo, left.) I ground the blades for these chisels from commercial hacksaw blades, which are made of high-speed tool steel. I attached maple handles with rosewood ferrules. The first handles I made were round in cross section and tended to roll around on the bench. The newer versions, with oval or rectangular handles, stay put. I've found these miniature tools so handy that I now use them for marking and layout work. (For construction details, see Shop Knives ' AW 32.) Y.C. In the groove. Chan uses one of his custom-made narrow-bladed chisels (see sidebar, pane 54) to cut the bottom of the tapered keyway mortise in the wedge nail joint.
Block Plane
That's right, send us your shop tips. If your woodworking tip or technique is selected as the featured reader's tip, you'll win a Bridge City Block Plane just like the one shown here. Send your tips and techniques to Woodsmith, Tips and Techniques, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312. Or send us an email message at woodsmith woodsmith.com.
Table Saw Inserts
In Talking Shop (page 27) we talked about using phenolic plastic to make a zero-clearance insert for your table saw. Woodsmith Project Supplies is offering 5 x 15 blanks of phenolic that you can cut to fit the insert opening in your table saw. The blanks are available in three thicknesses, so measure your table saw before ordering to find out the nearest thickness. Instructions are included on cutting the insert to fit the shape and depth of your saw's opening.
Rip Fence Gauge
Since I don't trust the ripping gauge on the rail of my table saw, I used to check the distance between my rip fence and my saw blade with a tape measure. But trying to hold the end of the tape against the rip fence and adjust it at the same time took more coordination than I could muster. So instead I made a simple set-up gauge for my rip fence. Editor's Note If you have a steel rip fence, you could Glenn Shiels use small magnets to hold NeuviUe, Quebec the gauge to your fence. To use the gauge, I just clamp it to the rip fence see photo. This way, the gauge moves along with the fence as I adjust it, leaving me with both hands free to align the fence. Editor's Note If you have a steel rip fence, you could Glenn Shiels use small magnets to hold NeuviUe, Quebec the gauge to your fence.
Miter Gauges
VIone than likely the miter gauge that came with your table saw leaves a lot to be desired. To begin with, the fit of the bar in the slot is probably a bit sloppy. The hard-to-read scale on the head goes hand-in-hand with a crude pointer that makes setting the angle a challenge. Pre-set angle stops Only at 90 and 45 . And you're lucky if those are accurate. Then, once you do manage to get the angle set, it may not hold this position during die cut. All these Well the fact is, that up until rertfntlv miter gauges weren't much rr Te tlian an afterthought for table saw manufacturers. But the good news is that it doesn't have to be this wav. Fortunately for us, some creative manufacturers came to the rescue. And now, you can pick up an after-market miter gauge that'll put our 'stock gauge to shame.
Band Saw Blades
A number of band saw blades are mentioned on page 13. listed below are some catalog sources for band saw blades. To find a local dealer of Lenox band saw blades call American Saw at 800- 628-3030. For Olson blades call 203-792-8622. For Wood Slicer blades call Highland Hardware at 800-241-6748. The Cool Blocks and band saw blade tuning stone mentioned in the article are available from the sources listed below. For more information about band saw blades and tuning up a band saw, I would recommend The Band Saiv Handbook by Mark Duginske. It's available from the catalogs listed below.
Certainly the best tool for the job today is a sharp, well-adjusted power jointer. It's designed to produce smooth, straight edges at a set angle to the face side of the board. chipoit. One of the biggest problems with a jointer is chipout. To avoid chipout along the edge, feed the work so the grain on the face of the board points down and toward the back end of the board, see Fig. 3a. Then This is probably the toughest question when jointing. First of all. make sure the knives on your jointer are sharp. Then set the jointer to plane off V32 or less. Now with the majority of the grain facing down and back, feed the workpiece at a slow, steady pace.
O produce boards with M square, straight edges, flattened faccs and smooth bevels, nothing beats a jointer. With this machine, you can transform a rough-sawn surface into a smooth one. or plane a cupped board flat. When a board is a bit too wide or thick, the jointer can remove stock in tiny increments, yielding the final dimension or fit that you're after. If your jointer has a rabbeting ledge, you can use it to cut both rabbets and tongues. The size of a jointer is based on its maximum width-of-cut. While jointers arc made in sizes up to 24 in., 6- or 8-in. models arc most popular. When you're using a jointer (see lead photo), the work-piece runs against a fence and over a spinning cuttcrhcad diat is located between the infeed and outfeed tables. Straight and flat. The jointer can transform boards that arc rough or uneven, planing smooth, straight surfaces and square or beveled edges. 2 Types of jointers Benchtop jointers between 4 in. and 6 in. and much shorter infeed and outfeed...
Router Table Fence
You can build this completely tricked-out router table fence in an afternoon for about 50 bucks, using easily available parts. Here's what you get Offset outfeed fence. Use your router table as a jointer by adding a simple shim to the outfeed fence. The fence we show here works for router tables from 28- to 34-in. long. For longer tables, simply cut the fence parts 4-in. longer than the length of your table. To make this fence you need a tablesaw and a router table equipped with a carbide-tipped 1 4-in. straight bit (see Sources, page 91). The routing required to make the fence is simple. A straight board clamped to the table is all it takes. You don't need to have a good router table fence already in order to make one
Router Table i
A few simple add-ons is all it takes to make working at the router table faster and safer. To build the fence, begin by cutting two pieces of plywood to a length that equals the width of your router table. You'll need to cut the piece for the tall fence a little wider. Next, center a notch at the edge of both pieces. This will provide clearance for the router bit. Then you can cut a long groove in the face of each piece and install the T-track in the groove. A router table can improve the capability of your router. But for your table to become a precision tool, you'll need to add a few important accessories. FENCE. The first thing you'll want to add is a fence. It's essential for you to be able to work accurately and safely at the router table. TALL FENCE. Much of the time, the height of the router table fence isn't a concern. But whenever you need to work at the end of a long work-piece, cut splined miters, or rout a large panel, a tall fence like you see at left is a must-have to...
Router Table Tips
In our shop, the router table gets a workout on just about every project. Here are four pages of our favorite tips we've collected over the years. And now, nearly 20 years and two designs later, I use a router table on nearly every project I build. table and all the tips our readers have sent in over the years, I thought it might be a good idea to come up with a list of our favorite router table tips. So here they are .some of our best.
Bench grinder
The Veritas Grinding Set makes grinding accurate bevels on chisels and plane irons a simple task. A bench grinder is an indispensable tool for maintaining an edge on chisels, turning tools, and plane irons. For many woodworkers, it's the first step in the tool sharpening process. But most bench grinders come with inadequate tool rests that make it difficult or impossible to get consistent results. holding the tool in place. A brass pin registers the blade at 90 for most common tasks. The main photo and inset on the opposite page show this pin. To sharpen skew chisels, simply move the pin to change the angle to 30 . The second tool rest I tried was the Wolverine from Oneway. Since Oneway makes some of the finest lathes on the market, it's no surprise that this tool rest is geared toward sharpening turning tools. A STABLE PLATFORM. The Wolverine's tool rest takes full advantage of the steel construction by providing a rock-solid surface. This platform is for grinding chisels and other...
Rip Fence As A Stop
Occasionally, well get a tetter warning us about the danger of using the rip fence as a stop when pushing a piece with the miter gauge. The danger is that the cut-off piece can kick back at you. And we agree. You should never cut completely through a piece using both the rip fence and miter gauge. Use rip fence as a stop so all blanks Dado are consistent blade Use rip fence as a stop so all blanks Dado are consistent blade instead of the rip fence. This way, when the spacer is added, it'll ride along with the fence, see Fig. 11.)
Portable Workbench
A hardware kit with all of the parts to build the Portable Workbench (shown on page 6) is available from Woodsrnith Project Supplies. Note You will need to cut the dowels, hinges, and threaded rod in the kit to fit. The wood and plywood needed to build the workbench are not included in the kit (14) 8 x 2 Fh Woodscrews W88-788-100 Portable Workbench Hardware
Chisels And Gouges
Woodworking of any kind is impossible without at least a small range of well-made chisels and gouges. In joint-making. they are especially useful for removing waste wood and for paring components to make a snug fit. The standard woodworking chisel has a strong rectangular-section blade which you can confidently drive with a mallet through pine or hardwoods, without fear of it breaking. Firmer chisels range from 3 to 38mm (1 sto 13 in) wide. The slim-bladed bevel-edge chisel is designed for more delicate work, using hand pressure only It is used primarily for shaping and trimming joints, and the bevels ground along both sides of the blade make the chisel suitable for working dovetail undercuts. Bevel-edge chisels are made to the same widths as firmers. This is a specialized chisel for cutting de.ep mortises. It is made with a tapered blade that does not jam in the work, and which is thick enough to be used as a lever when chopping waste out of a joint. The deep blade sides help keep it...
Circular Saw Method
If the thought of using a hand saw to cut the tenons on the garden arbor posts doesn't appeal to you, a hand-held circular saw is another possible option. Sharpen a chisel on the table saw11t might sound a bit crazy, but you won't be able to argue with the results a perfect hoUow ground edge. This jig mounts on top of the table saw and is driven by a belt and pulley mounted on the saw's arbor. The safety hood, carriage, and tool rest can be installed quickly. So when Ted, our creative director, suggested that tire jig could work on the table saw, I was intrigued. Right off the bat, you're saving money because you don't have to buy a motor. All you need are two pulleys, an arbor assembly, a belt, and a grinding wheel (or two if you like). And since the jig mounts to the saw's table, it doesn't take up any shop space. This jig mounts on top of the table saw and is driven by a belt and pulley mounted on the saw's arbor. The safety hood, carriage, and tool rest can be installed quickly....
Router Fence
Now that the table is complete, it's time to add the fence. This fence is just a long hollow box made out of 3 4m MDF and Vi hardboard. It's hollow for a few reasons. First, it allows you to attach a vacuum or dust collector hose to the fence so you can remove the chips. Second, it provides an opening to bury the router bit. And finally, the space inside the fence can be used for bit storage. One nice thing about this fence is that it's easy to adjust and lock down. That's because the table saw's rip fence does all the work. The router fence is screwed to the rip fence with a couple studded knobs. FENCE SIDES. To build the fence, the first step is to determine its length, see drawing. You want the router fence longer than your rip fence so you can attach a vacuum to the back side, see photo at right. (My rip fence is 33V2 long, and I made my fence -4V2 longer 38 .)
Workbench Details
When it comes to cutting the feet and stretchers for the workbench on page 20, a few cuts on the table saw and band saw will get the workpieces in shape. Then it's just a matter of cleaning up the edges with the router. BAND SAW CUTS. Now that the bevel cuts are made, you can take the feet over to the band saw and remove the waste across the bottom, as shown in Figure 2. You'll want to cut the waste at a gentler curve away from the corners you just cut on the table saw. That way the saw blade won't bind. Once you've made the cut in one direction, turn the workpiece and cut out the waste on the other end. STRETCHERS. You can cut the entire profile for the stretchers at the band saw and then finish it in the same way as the feet, smoothing it with a pattern bit in the router. The curved shoulders for the stretchers are cut on the band saw. The cut out on the foot is started on the table saw and finished on the band saw. TEMPLATE. To make the template, cut a piece of hardboard the size...
Sabre Saw Table
One of the problems with using portable power tools (like a router or sabre saw) is that they're awkward to control. especially when you're working with small pieces. I'm much more comfortable concentrating on moving the work-piece. So I built a table that holds a sabre saw and lets me use it like a band saw or scroll saw. biade slot. To cut a slot for the blade, I drilled a series of overlapping Vie holes centered on the width of the top, see Fig. 2. Then I cleaned up the holes using a fine sabre saw blade. roi ting a recess. The sabre saw mounts in a recess, see Fig. 2. To mark the recess, hold the sabre saw on the underside of the table top with the blade sticking through the slot. Then trace the outline of the saw base. Next, rout the recess slightly larger than the base of the sabre saw, see Fig. 2. The recess should be deep enough so the edges of the base protrude just above the surface of the top itself. This way the sabre saw can be secured with four turn buttons that hold the...


text:
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
How much do Gems weigh?
4 comments:
- adeptgamer said...
Ages ago, when I DM'd, I didn't worry about the weight of Gems. I guess it would matter if a player had accumulated so many that it was logically an encumbrance issue but damn, that is a lot of loot! LOL!
- November 7, 2012 at 10:52 AM
- Peter D said...
GURPS also gives gems by carat weight in Dungeon Fantasy 8. And in GURPS Magic, for that matter, for powerstone sizes. But yeah, if you have a 100 gems weight might actually start to matter. ;)
- November 7, 2012 at 12:09 PM
- Ryan J. Thompson said...
I, and "Slick Rick" are currently working this out, among many other things for the Encumbrance & Equipment book we are writing over at Gamers & Grognards. We've been weighing things up and coming up with a rough sizing chart that is easy to use for encumbrance. Gems are something I was recently working on.
- November 7, 2012 at 3:17 PM
I think it's probably pretty uncommon for people to have enough gems to matter weight-wise. I like using a stone-weight system, in which 1k coins = 1 stone. 10k GP value in gems = 1 stone. Ignore remainders (so 1,300 GP weighs 1 stone). It's pretty easy to count up the thousands place of your money and see how much it weighs.
- November 7, 2012 at 3:55 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This past weekend, Feb 18th, wasIt is kind of mind blowing for me that I have stuck with something for 2 years that brings me nothing but joy and fun. I have made cyber friendships that give me the urge to travel and hug. I have found so many amazing creative people who are writing and finding and building brilliant things to share with the cyber world and bring us all smiles. I feel so grateful to be here and posting almost daily for you and for me.
Boots&Cateyes' 2 year old birthday! so crazy!
Boots&Cateyes' 2 year old birthday! so crazy!
May this next year bring us so may new adventures! Tunes on Tuesday has already become one of my favorite things to wake up for.
Here is to you and me! I couldn't do it with out you.


text:
La Minita Coffee
Green Coffee, RFA Cert
Named after our flagship farm in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica, Hacienda La Minita brings you some of the world's finest green coffees direct from origin. Our vertical integration and ownership of farms and mills allows us to deliver consistent quality and taste to our roaster partners. We focus on the premium growing regions of the world and have staff on the ground in origin to ensure all of our green coffees are worthy of the Hacienda La Minita quality seal.


text:
Microsoft will revise the wording on its Azure cloud service level agreements (SLAs) following a trip into a Kafkaesque world of secrecy.
The company promised The Reg that it will update the wording on the site for its Windows Azure Compute, Azure Storage Service, SQL Azure, and AppFabric Service Bus and Access Control services, after a change that meant you had to agree not to tell another soul about the contents of the SLAs before you could even download or read the SLAs.
Roger Jennings of the OakLeaf System blog flagged up the change here.
According to Microsoft's iron-clad and circular terms and conditions:
"The service level agreements (SLAs) posed on this site are the confidential information of Microsoft. You may view the SLAs if you have purchased or are considering the purchase of Online Services from Microsoft. You agree not to disclose the SLAS to any other third party or to make use of the information for purposes not related to the your [sic] purchase or prospective purchase of Online Services from Microsoft. By downloading or viewing this document, you agree to these terms."
The wording led Jennings naturally to speculated about why exactly Microsoft was pulling its SLAs back behind the iron curtain, when other cloud providers like Amazon (here and here) are open and upfront about their SLAs. Indeed, it's considered a positive plus to publish your SLAs so potential customers can make an informed choice and potentially use your service.
"Designating the guarantee of availability of a service offered to the public as 'confidential information' appears to be to be momentous over-reaching," Jennings wrote.
A Microsoft spokesperson told The Reg the Azure SLAs are not bound by an NDA, only individual customer SLAs that differ from the general SLAs. She said Microsoft world clarify the language on the WindowsAzure.com website Friday and thanked Jennings for pointing out the issue.
The spokesperson was unable to explain how, or why, the wording appeared.
For the record, Microsoft's public NDAs are 99.9 per cent uptime each for instance monitoring and restart, storage availability, database availability, and service bus and access control availability, and 99.95 per cent availability of compute connectivity.
Failure to hit with the SLA uptime per centages will result in a 10 per cent or 25 per cent discount on the monthly billing for the particular service, depending on the degree of the failure. ®
Sponsored: Webcast: Discover and secure all of your attack surface


text:
The Grammy-winning Klezmatics and the Yiddish community chorus, A Besere Velt, come together in a concert featuring lyrics by Woody Guthrie and Yiddish folk songs.
There's a lot more to Yiddish than knowing the meanings of chutzpah, schlock and glitz. Yiddish even has a connection with Woody Guthrie.
Audiences will see that at the concert "Stand Up, Sing Out!'', which brings together a Grammy Award winning klezmer band, The Klezmatics, and the world's largest Yiddish chorus, A Besere Velt (A Better World).
Like Guthrie, the Boston-based Yiddish chorus uses song to tell stories of people's struggles and dreams and to keep alive history and heritage. And like chorus members, Guthrie was inspired by Yiddish and the Jewish immigrant experience, which he came to know while living in the Jewish community of Coney Island, near his mother-in-law, the Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. During that time, he wrote hundreds of lyrics, which became the starting point for Grammy Award winning songs written by The Klezmatics.
"We tell the immigrant story and this connection with Woody Guthrie is very poignant to us,'' said Judy Ehrlich of Sharon, a six-year chorus member. "We share messages of taking a stand and believing in the power of even one person to make the world better, as our name suggests.''
The concert, Dec. 4 at Somerville Theatre, celebrates the 10th anniversary of A Besere Velt and the 20th of The Klezmatics. The two groups will perform together as well as separately.
Generations ago, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia spoke Yiddish at home and in their communities. Now, it is no longer the language of daily life, although it is kept alive through institutions like Boston Workmen's Circle in Brookline, which started the Yiddish community chorus and offers Yiddish language classes, lectures, conversation groups and community sings.
And in the years since the National Yiddish Book Center opened in 1980 in Amherst, interest has grown in Yiddish literature, theater, music and language.
As a child, Ehrlich heard her grandparents speak Yiddish and attended a summer camp where she sang Yiddish folk songs and learned about Yiddish culture. A financial manager and mother of two, Ehrlich leads the chorus's soprano section and sings in its mini-ensemble.
"Singing these songs reclaims a bit of my past and enables me to honor the memories of my grandparents,'' said Ehrlich, 50.
The melodies reflect the influences of music from Jewish rituals and Eastern Europe, and the lyrics tell the story of daily life. "Vacht Oyf!'' ("Wake Up!'') is a rousing anthem about sweatshop workers uniting for better working conditions, while "Shlof Mayn Kind'' ("Sleep My Child'') is a beautiful lullaby of a mother yearning for her immigrant husband to send money so she and her child can join him in America.
"In some ways, the lyrics are universal because they're about hardships and dreams,'' said chorus director and founder Lisa Gallatin, who has arranged the folk songs into four- and six-part harmonies. "In the music are the stories of immigrants who stood up for equality and workers' rights and spoke out against bigotry and hatred of all kinds. It inspires us to work for a more just and humane world.''
This vision of a better world and the connection to secular Judaism draw to the chorus many people who have no exposure to Yiddish, Gallatin said.
The 85-member Yiddish chorus, which performs about a dozen times a year, also embraces other musical influences, having performed with groups who sing spirituals and Arabic music. Similarly, The Klezmatics are known for their creative approach to klezmer music, which originated in Eastern Europe as Jewish wedding music.
"The Klezmatics are widely recognized as being among the most innovative of klezmer bands, taking this very traditional form and infusing it with all sorts of influences,'' Gallatin said.
After Nora Guthrie discovered her father's unpublished lyrics from his Coney Island years, she contacted the Klezmatics to turn them into song. The results are two recordings: "Happy Joyous Hanukkah,'' released in 2004, and "Wonder Wheel,'' which won a 2006 Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
Nora Guthrie will speak at the concert and be honored, along with Mark Erlich of Jamaica Plain, a prominent labor leader (no relation to Judy Ehrlich), and Sylvia Rothchild of Chestnut Hill, a writer who is the chorus's oldest member and the author of an award-winning biography of the Yiddish poet I.L. Peretz.
The Patriot Ledger


text:
Detechtion Technologies is the market leading Industrial IoT and mobile application provider enabling the digital oilfield. Through its Enalysis®, Enbase® and Fieldlink™ product lines, Detechtion® offers solutions for chemical injection, compression, and other production operations. Using Detechtion's Monitor, Protect, Control, Optimize™ paradigm customers are able to automate assets with a single hardware device. Over 200 customers and thousands of users depend on Detechtion Technologies to monitor and manage over 10,000 assets worldwide.
8 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1300 Houston, TX 77046
Telephone: 713.492.0008
View on map
1100 – 8th Avenue S.W., Suite #277 Calgary, AB T2P 3T8
Telephone: 403.250.9220
Level 54, 111 Eagle StreetBrisbane, Queensland 4000
Telephone: +61 (0) 417.897.717
Request a Call Back
© 2020 Detechtion Technologies.


text:
A little help here?
I need to source a new (replacement) brew switch for my vintage La Marzocco GS.
Sadly, the little plastic retaining tab snapped off (as they are likely to do).
And, of course, this part is no longer in-production.
It is the red "on" (or brew in fact) switch as illustrated below.
If anyone happens to have a line on such a switch, can you please let me know?
I've talked to the usual suspects, and no-one seems to have one.
Thanks in advance!
7 comments:
- Jimmy O said...
Have you talked with LM Italia? Usually its a matter of talking to the right people there.
Are you able to have a shop fab the retaining portion, assuming the switch itself is still functional?
Jimmy O
- chris said...
thanks for the suggestion. I have indeed (was lucky enough to be at the LM event in PDX last week). Worst case scenario is to fab a replacement - hoping I don't have to!
- Michael Teahan said...
Paul Pratt in Hong Kong or perhaps Mario Flores with JavaTec in Texas, I think Mario picked up a couple of GS2's and was modding them.
The cover was designed for a paddle, you might investigate a conversion, even if not OEM.
It is not likely a purpose made switch for the Marzocco, but a period off the shelf part. Marzocco never made anything themselves save the groups, boilers and bodies. Everything was outsourced. Broaden your search for switches outside the coffee industry.
Michael Teahan
- chris said...
Thanks Michael! Paul, sadly, sold his last such switch earlier this year. I'll ask Mario.
I talked with Terry Z and with Kent about the paddle conversion, but that's kind of epic and I was honestly just hoping to replace the damn button (grin).
It was not purpose-built, but there is a lot of confusion over the vendor and if it's actually still in production.
- Michael Teahan said...
Was actually leaning towards a resto mod for the machine. It is slotted for the paddle; fabricate one fitted to a reostat and a DC drive motor for control like the Strada but with the better brass group of the GS2.
You could also simply use two micros, one engages the solenoid and the second engages the pump. This is what the GS1 Paddle does mechanically that you could do electronically and not permanently mess with the machine.
Mario Flores is making aluminum group covers for the GS1 and could probably engineer the conversion, leaving the machine largely stock mechanically.
BTW, the VST patent was a process evaluation patent and not related to manufacturing processes. The baskets were available prior to VST's introduction for close to a year, but without the laser etching. Basket R&D is a big deal in Italy, has been for a while. They just don't brag about it.
Good luck with the GS2, a lot of bells and whistles for such a small machine.
- chris said...
Thanks Michael!
Yeah... I absolutely love this machine. Such a wonder.
I'm hoping to avoid having to do major modifications, but if that is the only choice I'll probably go to a paddle.
The machine is nowhere near stock at this point, so that's not a concern.
I cannot find contact info for Mario. If you have can you email intro me? (malachi at gmail dot com)
- Unknown said...
Funny- the black button on my GS1 snapped off the little stem behind it recently too. I haven't tried to fix it yet but would be interested in whatever you figure out.


text:
Apple's latest iPhone, sporting a larger 4-inch screen and 4G capability, was launched in the United States and 30 other countries in September, when the company sold more than 5 million of the devices in the first three days.
Apple's shares, however once among the most desirable of portfolio holdings have headed steadily lower since September on growing uncertainty about the company's ability to fend off unprecedented competition. This year saw a surge in sales of Amazon.com Inc's cheaper Kindle Fire and Microsoft Corp's first foray into the tablet market with its Surface.
Unlike the crowds that the iPhone 5 debut drew in many cities around the world since September, just one person was waiting at the Apple store in Shanghai's financial district when its doors opened at 9 a.m. on Friday.
"Some of our Chinese sources do not expect the iPhone 5 to do as well as the iPhone 4S," UBS analyst Steven Milunovich wrote in a note to clients.
China is Apple's fastest-growing market, bringing in about 15 percent of total revenue.
"In absolute terms, this (iPhone 5) launch will certainly result in strong sales for Apple in China. However, in relative terms, I don't believe it will move the needle enough in market share," said Shiv Putcha, a Mumbai-based analyst at Ovum, a global technology consultant.
Apple shares were down 3.6 percent at $510.55 on the Nasdaq on Friday afternoon. The stock has lost a quarter of its value since hitting a high of $705.07 on September 21, as it faces increasing competition from phones using Google Inc's Android operating system.
Cutting forecasts
In addition, analysts cut their forecasts for shipments of the iPhone.
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek trimmed his iPhone shipment estimates for the January-March quarter, saying that the technology company had started cutting orders to suppliers to balance excess inventory.
Misek cut his first-quarter iPhone sales estimate to 48 million from 52 million and gross margin expectations for the company by 2 percentage points to 40 percent.
UBS Investment Research cut its price target on Apple stock to $700 from $780 on lower expected iPhone and iPad shipments for the March quarter.
The brokerage said it was modeling more conservative growth for Apple after making supply chain checks that revealed that fewer iPhones were being built.
The iPhone is currently sold through Apple's seven stores, resellers and through China Unicom and China Telecom which together have fewer than half the mobile subscribers of bigger rival China Mobile.
"Apple's market share declined because of the transition between the iPhone 4S and 5. Their market share will recover (with the iPhone 5), but if you don't have China Mobile, the significant market share gains will be very difficult," said Huang Leping, an analyst at Nomura in Hong Kong.
Apple has been in talks about a tie-up with China Mobile for four years.
A deal with China's biggest carrier is seen as crucial to improve Apple's distribution in a market of 290 million users - which is forecast to double this year. But the company's failure to strike a deal with China Mobile means it is missing out on a large number of phone users.
As the China pie grows, Apple's sales increase, but without China Mobile, it is losing ground at a faster rate compared with other brands.
China Mobile and Apple initially said they were separated only by a technical issue - as the Chinese carrier runs a different 3G network from most of the world - but that has evolved into a broader and more complex issue of revenue-sharing.
"China Mobile and Apple still have to solve many issues, such as the business model, articles of cooperation and revenue division, but I believe we will reach an agreement eventually," China Mobile CEO Li Yue was reported by Chinese media as saying in Guangzhou last week.
Apple China declined to comment. China Mobile said it had no update to the Apple discussions.
In addition to Apple's share fall, shares of some of the company's suppliers were also down on Friday afternoon. Shares of Jabil Circuit Inc were down 5.6 percent at $17.50, Qualcomm Inc shares were down 3.2 percent at $60.76, Skyworks Solutions Inc stock was down 6.7 percent at $19.65, TriQuint Semiconductor Inc was down 3.9 percent at $4.65, Avago Technologies Ltd was down 3.9 percent at $32.38 and Cirrus Logic Inc was down 6.5 percent at $25.62.
China deal seen eventually
Cutting a deal with a Chinese state-owned carrier may be less optimal than the deals Apple is used to in other markets, and analysts note that China Mobile would not necessarily open the flood gates for Apple.
Ovum's Putcha believes Apple and China Mobile will eventually strike a deal - though this would be for an iPhone running on China Mobile's next-generation network rather than its current 3G network.
Of China Mobile's 704 million subscribers, only 79 million are on its 3G network, and Apple has been reluctant to sign up to China Mobile's underutilized, homegrown TD-SCDMA technology. "Apple likely doesn't see the return-on-investment in extending themselves for TD-SCDMA," Putcha said.
China Mobile is currently conducting a trial of its next-generation network, TD-LTE, which could be of more interest to Apple, but full-scale commercial use - and an iPhone tie-up - could still be years away.
Android threat
Meanwhile, rivals are circling, eating away at Apple's smartphone market share. Samsung Electronics, Lenovo Group and little-known Chinese brand Coolpad held the top three slots in the third quarter, according to research firm DC.
All three have relationships with China Mobile and offer smartphone models at different price points. Apple competes exclusively at the high end, and even there, rivals are rolling out models with China Mobile. Last week, Nokia said it planned to release its latest Lumia smartphone with China's top carrier, which is also expected to launch Research in Motion's new Blackberry 10, analysts predict.
"The threat will still come more from the Android camp where they have many vendors already working with China Mobile and offering high-end phones," said TZ Wong, a Singapore-based IDC analyst.
While these smartphones do not generate the buzz of a new iPhone, Chinese buyers are not known for their brand loyalty, and this could siphon away users considering an Apple upgrade.
"I've used a Blackberry, Android and iOS and, personally, I want to try the Windows 8," said Andy Huang, a 37-year-old fund manager, who owns most iPad models, an iPhone 4 and a 4S. "I think the Windows 8 is very innovative."
With a China Mobile deal appearing to be still a ways off, Apple could always boost market share by offering cheaper models - the basic iPhone 5 will cost 5,288 yuan without a contract - though this appears an unlikely route for a high-end brand.
"If they want to expand market share, probably the only way to do it here dramatically would be to put out a lower-cost phone," said Michael Clendenin, managing director at RedTech Advisors. "It's really uncertain if they'd decide to go that route ... Apple's a mystery in that regard."
© Thomson Reuters 2012
For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


text: Sultan Abdul Samad Building ADD TO TRIP PLANNER REMOVE FROM TRIP PLANNER The iconic Sultan Abdul Samad building is located in front of Dataran Merdeka and Royal Selangor Club, along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. It was completed in 1897 by A.C. Norman. During the time of the British administration in Malaya, it was used to house several government departments. Today, this historical building houses the Supreme and High Courts. The building with unique Moorish designs and clock tower is widely photographed by visitors to the city centre. On important occasions, the building is decorated with colourful lights and flags. The historic Dataran Merdeka, where the Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted for the first time on 31 August 1957, is also just across the street from the Sultan Abdul Samad building. Getting Here By Light Rapid Transit (LRT)This well-known landmark faces Merdeka Square, and is easily accessible. Take the PUTRA line and alight at Pasar Seni or Masjid Jamek. Ask for directions to this building. Who To Contact Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC) Address:109 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Phone: 1 300 88 5050 Fax: +603-2162 1149 Email: email@example.com Related Brochure View all brochure