Category: Home Improvement
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Gate Automation
Our gate is the most important motor in our home. It’s critical for security, and if it’s open, the dog escapes. As all our kids cars go in and out, it’s always the gate opening and closing. It matters. The problem is that we have to open it and we don’t always have our phones…
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Shapeoko Troubles
I recently encountered an issue when generating a grid of holes for workbench. I had recently planed down an old workbench from our house in New Jersey. I was planning on 20 mm holes spaced in a grid with 96mm spacing to match the festool MFT table. I’m hoping to use the available array of…
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Lauren’s Desk
Lauren was using her desk for art and computing. She sketched out a design and I quickly drew it in sketchup. We decided to use an existing top from Home Depot. I probably won’t do this again. The quality is really poor. I had a to gouge out lots of loose wood and we used…
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Torsion Table for Shapeoko
I needed a torsion table to make sure my Shapeoko XXL had a solid foundation. Dimensions for the Shapeoko are available here. The basic idea of a torsion table is to use two thin layers of material on either side of a lightweight core, usually a grid of beams. Torsion boxes are used in wings…
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Kerf Mounted Corner Brackets
Kerf Mount Corner Brackets are great. But it takes some thinking if you are working with larger lumber. I recently purchased these and these from amazon. The corner bracket looks like this: The trick is figuring out where to cut the leg at 45 degrees and the kerfs, especially if the leg isn’t square. I…
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Lauren’s Bed
Overall Design Lauren was disappointed when we had to take 30" away from her already small room to build a bench for a duct after adding a furnace to the third floor. Lauren did an initial sketch of what she wanted to build. Her overall goal was to maximize the space available in a smaller…
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Sled for Picture frame
Making perfect miters is hard and doing the math to get the inner rabbit dimension to add up isn’t easy. One thing I’ve learned about making stuff is that jigs make life better. I love making picture frames. Not only do I enjoy saving money, but I love dressing up art. Even a bad piece…
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Wiring for 3HP 220V (for Laguna Tools 18|Bx)
I recently purchased a Laguna Tools 18|Bx 3HP 220V 18″ Bandsaw, specifically a MBAND18BX2203, and needed to wire a 220 Volt outlet. I’ve done a fair bit of electrical work (both low and high voltage), but I had a couple questions. Just for the record, I enjoyed this video to make sure everything was setup…
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A mudroom
Our remodeled home included a mudroom and I was tasked to build the fancy hall trees that would store all our kids shoes, jackets and stuff. I am a member of the Wood Whisperer Guild and loved their design and construction techniques. Design I was inspired by designs like this. Designing and building things parametrically…
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Simple 4×8 workbench
In building out my workshop, I was tired of setting up sawhorses the garage and realized that I needed to better use the floor space of my shop. Setting up a 4×8 workbench is a right of passage for the aspiring maker. They are quick to make and super useful. Most of them are pretty…