The Hub

One of the first things I made with my 3D printer was this small sanding block with a ball handle that fits my palm. I was inspired by the little L-N squirrel tail block plane that my father gave me. I have neuropathy in my fingers, on top of arthritis, and it's uncomfortable for me to hold the little blocks of wood that I used before. I was surprised how well this works, and these two tools are always within arm's reach.

As one does, I got distracted designing a fretboard for my newest acoustic build and thought 'Wouldn't it be great if there was a plugin to do this automatically?' Several days and 1000 lines of Python later, it's definitely possible. But then I thought "What else might be interesting as part of a plugin like this?" So I'd love to hear what you think, including: - Is this something you think is valuable (irrespective of price) - If it is va…

I made a couple of these rubber-band-powered jacks to temporarily hold things in place until I can get a clamp on the work. They are a snap to place with one hand.

Anyone Else looking at the Makera Z1? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makera-inc/makera-z1-entry-level-cnc-pro-level-power? Earlybird price is $799. Looks like it might be good for a newbie like me?

I've been building up my "2 car garage shop" for about 10 years preparing for retirement from health care. This spring I finally quit punching the time clock. Over the same time I've build 13 mandolins and 4 guitars. Now I pretty much have all my tools in place and enough wood stored to build for quite some time. My work benches are built with a heavy door for a top and base cabinets I scavenged from work. Lately I have toyed with the i…

Do you prefer the regular SM Fret Saw or the Japanese one they offer? Thx!

December Acoustic Classes Announced!

Here are some pictures that show the basic elements of a dome sander I made. Critical part is a lawn mower blade bearing/spindle. Cost $63. It is marked part # 607418 Blade spindle assembly. It has a tap for a .625-11 bolt on the side I put facing upward to bolt on the disk, and a shaft with a keyway on the bottom to attach to the big pulley. I used a 11” diameter and 2.5” diameter pulley combination. This gives just about the perf…

Like many of us, I work in a small space - a quarter basement with maybe 6 -1/2 feet of headroom. Sawdust is a problem. There’s no room for an extensive ductwork system or a blower setup. My shop tools (bandsaw, drill press, vertical belt sander, etc.) have a 1-1/2 inch connection for vacuum, but I have mostly been too lazy to use them. (note that I finally added a portable shop air cleaner with HEPA filters). When the most recent Wo…

These bins are even better when cut in two (the backing is polyethylene, so it’s easy to divide). I use one as a storage station for glasses, masks, earplugs, etc. and the other half is used for sharpening accessories. Well worth the $20 bill.