Shop Tour Part 1frank howarth2024-10-15 | Shop Tour Part 1Making A Tomato Trellis #woodworking #diy #trellis #tomatoes #Making #woodworking #gardeningfrank howarth2024-05-04 | I have built a new trellis for the tomato plants. After experimenting with several different methods last year for holding up tomato plants, I think the best way to do it is to build a tall frame that holds strings that one branch of tomato plant can be clipped to. With this method you can grow the plants closer together and there's lots of air flow around each plant. Also the plants are held up nice and tall so they all get plenty of sun and grow very nice tomatoes. #woodworking #diy #trellis #tomatoes #Making #woodworking #gardeningSalvaging Storm Damagefrank howarth2024-04-21 | We had a particularly bad winter storm this past January. The storm started very windy and ended with ice. We lost power for 4 days and we had a tree fall on our house. Luckily the tree that fell in our house did not do very much damage as it just tipped over and touched the side of the roof. And luckily we had all of the branches trimmed off the next day which saved us from the tree being weighed down by the ice storm and crushing our house. I was able to mill up the tree into larger slabs. It is just pine but I'm sure I can find some projects to do with it. Later, through a neighbor, I found out about a large oak tree that had come down nearby. I milled up this red oak and was able to get a lot of turning blanks and small slabs out of it.
0:00 (introduction) 1:49 (red oak) 17:41 (pine) 18:50 (chainsaw mill winch) 24:43 (pine slabs) 30:27 (conclusion)Making the Moonfrank howarth2024-03-03 | I've done a handful of projects where I've taken a geometric solid like a dodecahedron or an icosahedron and made that shape out of flat parts. Once I had those parts glued together, I would wood turn that into a sphere. I'd like to continue studying this technique. I really like the idea of adding patterns to the parts that make up the solid before it gets woodturned and then those patterns show up in the sphere. A different way of thinking about this that I have wanted to work with is to CNC mill a three-dimensional form into those shapes that make up the three-dimensional solid. So one idea I've had is to mill the terrain of the moon into the parts of the solid and when I put the solid together it's not actually the solid shape with sides but a sphere with the surface of the moon milled into it.
I needed to figure out how to map the surface of the moon onto a dodecahedron. What I needed was a height map of the moon mapped onto a dodecahedron. In Blender you can take a spherical environment image and map that onto a skybox. This is a technique used for gaming to make the surrounding environment for a three-dimensional game. I found a tutorial on how to do this. And it seemed that a spherical environment map is very similar to a map made from a sphere, i.e. a map of Earth or a map of the moon. I found a tutorial on how to map a spherical image onto a skybox. So what I wanted to try was to see if I could use this technique to map a map of the moon onto a dodecahedron? This seemed like it should work. And it did. I can transform the map of the moon into the map on the 12 pentagons of a dodecahedron. Once I had that, I could build each of the dodecahedron terrain models that I needed to cut out to build the moon.
What took a while was to figure out was how to divide up a sphere into the 12 pentagons that form a dodecahedron. Once I did this I could then take each of those curved pentagons and map the surface of the moon onto that curved surface. I set up a file in Blender where I could use a height map that I generated from the spherical image of the moon onto a curved pentagon. I could then save that model out to a separate file, then change the image in Blender and save out a second model and then a third and a fourth and get all 12. I then brought those models into the cam program and I could set up the CNC to cut each one of those pentagons with the surface of the moon at the right curvature to build the sphere from the dodecahedron. If that all makes sense.
I found a piece of poplar that I had and that seemed like it would work. I just went ahead and started to work on a project. At this point. I laid out all of the pentagons so they would fall along the piece of poplar. Each pentagon is different with a different surface carved into it. What I discovered is that instead of doing a parallel finishing pass where the bit goes back and forth, I can do a spiral finishing pass where the bit starts in the middle and spirals out towards the edge. And what this allows the bit to do is to stay in the same direction the entire time. It's doing the finishing pass. With the parallel finishing pass, it's doing a climbing cut, then a conventional cut, then a climbing cut, and then a conventional cut. I think the climbing cut leaves the clean surface and the conventional cut leaves the fuzzy bits.
The next problem after I have the pentagon's cut free from the poplar wood is that I need to cut the angle on the back side of the pentagons so they will go together to form a sphere. When I was doing this with flat pentagons, the edge is uniform in height so it doesn't matter where the stops are that hold the pentagon in place on the jig on the table saw.
The last problem I encountered was that the spring clamps I was going to use to hold all the pieces together while I glued them together would not hold on to the spherical shape that I had carved into the pieces. These were not the flat pentagons with the corners that I had been used to. This was now trying to hold on to a sphere and it just wasn't working. I ended up putting biscuits in the joints between each of the pentagons. This worked very well as I could put the pentagons together and have it be a complete form without any glue.
0:00 (introduction) 3:00 (tests) 5:51 (cut pentagons) 11:06 (free pentagons) 12:35 (angle pentagons) 13:35 (attach pentagons) 15:04 (conclusion)Adding A Laser Cutter to My CNCfrank howarth2024-01-28 | I have been installing a laser cutter on the CNC machine. The laser cutter was sent to by Avid CNC. It's been a slow process over the last few months. The first step was installing the laser physically to the z-axis of the CNC machine. This went fairly straightforward as it was just following instructions and putting in screws. The other bigger project with this was updating my CNC control box. This involved swapping out several controller cards in the box as I have a very old control box from the first version of this CNC machine from Avid CNC back when it was CNC Router Parts. The instructions were in two parts and somewhat overlapping making it complicated to follow. I did get very good help from Avid CNC's support staff so in the end it works just fine. I've been using it so far to cut out flattened messages that I can fold back into a three-dimensional form. I've also played around with engraving photographs into wood. I made a picture of our cat that the rest of the family really likes.
0:00 (introduction) 1:14 (dust collection) 1:34 (instasalling) 4:04 (control box) 9:09 (dust collection) 11:19 (cutting)Woodturning Segmented Candle Standsfrank howarth2023-12-22 | I have made a pair of candle stands for this year's Christmas ornament project. The stands are wood turned segmented pieces. I made them from a maple tree I cut up from my father-in-law's front yard. I have been wanting to do segmented turning where I angle the table saw blade while cutting the segments to give an angled pattern to the segments. I added a strip of purple heart wood to the rings as I glued them together to try and make twisting strips that run up the sides of the stands trying to make them look a little bit like candy canes.
0:00 (introduction) 0:48 (sled) 2:49 (maple milling) 3:19 (making segments) 9:02 (woodturning) 15:12 (finishing)We Need a Bigger Tablefrank howarth2023-11-26 | I have made an extension for our dining room table to accommodate all of the guests we are having this Thanksgiving. I wanted to make this extension as a stand alone table that will fit with our existing dining room table. When it is not extending our dining room table, it will either be the game table in the basement or it may be the outdoor table on our deck - if that ever gets built. I made this new table with the Sequoia wood I cut up about 12 years ago. I used the same drawings and details from the original dining room table. I also made it the same width as the original dining room table, but it is 30 inches shorter. It looks and fits with the original table, even though it is made from a different kind of wood.
0:00 (introduction) 1:13 (milling) 1:57 (making parts) 21:07 (finishing) 23:35 (conclusion)Woodturning a Platter with Thick Inlaysfrank howarth2023-10-22 | What really intrigued me about building and using a CNC machine was the idea of being able to cut complex inlays that I could then wood turn. I've done several projects with this in mind, but in these projects I've always used a straight router bit to get a deep inlay. In woodturning, the inlay needs some thickness to be able to have a curved surface. What I've been trying to do over the last few months is to do v-carved inlays where you use a bit that has a point on it to carve the positive and negative of the inlay. What this allows is more pointy inside corners. You can use the tip of the tool to carve that corner. But I have found this becomes much more complicated as the inlay is now a three-dimensional object and not just a straight extrusion. There are many videos online about doing the carve inlays but none of them really talk about doing deep or thick inlays as most people are doing inlays for cutting boards or surface work. The first mistake I made early on is that I need to define the bit that I'm using very precisely in the program. The bit I was using had a 30 second of an inch diameter bullnose at the tip and I had been defining it as just a pointed bit with an infinitely pointy point. This small detail made the inlay not fit correctly. After cutting the piece that I had worked on gluing together, and had done many many tests, I thought everything was working well. However, when I cut the pieces to see how they had fit together, they still did not fit together correctly. I put the project aside for a few weeks and I thought about why I was having a problem. I think what I had done was I had made a design that looks symmetrical but I hadn't quite drawn it symmetrical. When I put the pieces together I just didn't have them oriented correctly and they didn't quite fit perfectly. So in my final iteration, I redrew my shapes to be perfectly symmetrical and thus it wouldn't matter which way they went in. And in this final piece it seems to be working fairly well. I think the other issue that I need to work through is that it takes a lot of force to glue the two angled inlays together. So I need to make some kind of press for gluing up the pieces. After all of my experiments with inlays, I finally woodturned a simple platter on the lathe. The form was a small bowl in the center with a very wide rim. I could put the thick inlays in this wide rim. This was a first step in trying to make a not very complicated woodturning project to practice woodturning with inlays.
0:00 (introduction) 1:13 (glue up) 3:33 (testing inlays) 6:19 (glue up) 8:08 (CNC) 15:00 (second attempt) 21:33 (woodturning) 24:36 (conclusion)Throwing a System Into My Wrenchesfrank howarth2023-09-24 | A few years ago, I got a lot of wrenches at an auction. I think I have finally come up with a way to organize them. The wrenches have just been piled into the three yellow bins that they came in. This makes it difficult to find the correct wrench when I need it. What I would like to have is a way that the wrenches are displayed so I can see them and also organize them to make it easier to find the size I am looking for. This video includes three different wrench related projects. The first wrench rack I made was a piece of 2x6 material that I cut a series of holes into on the CNC machine. I put dowels into those holes to make pegs to hold the wrenches on. I hung the system below my big radial arm saw. This rack makes a nice display of wrenches that is out of the way but easy to see and easy to access and find the wrench that I need when I need it. The second rack of wrenches I made was for the open wrenches which I can't hang on pegs. For this rack I took a piece of 2x4 material and cut some angled slots into it. I hung the piece vertically and I can put the wrenches into the slots and they are held on display and easily accessible. I hung the system behind my computer and next to my dust collection system. The third wrench project I have done is to make longer handles for the wrenches that loosen the collet on the CNC spindle. I made these handles by sandwiching two pieces of oak around the wrench handle. Sort of like a knife handle but allowing for a longer handle with more leverage. These work well and allow me to tighten and loosen the collet on the spindle more easily.
0:00 (introduction) 0:48 (wrench rack 1) 5:13 (wrench rack 2) 6:45 (wrench handles)What am I going to do with this Massive Fir Ball?frank howarth2023-08-20 | In 2019, I acquired a large chunk of fir from a tree I slabbed up. The piece of fir has been sitting outside next to the shop for the last 4 years. I finally pulled it out and decided instead of getting rid of it, I would turn it into a massive sphere. I had a little trouble getting it mounted on the lathe. I had to get a chuck spur so I would be able to hold the piece of fir on the lathe. I used the band saw to cut off the excess wood so that turning wouldn't take quite so long. I did a first pass of turning by getting the piece as spherical as I could. I then went through the process of making a sphere by rotating the workpiece about its axis over and over, getting it more and more spherical. Even after it was done, I still wasn't quite sure what I would make out of this sphere. Right now it just lives in our backyard.
0:00 (introduction) 0:44 (woodturning prep) 2:36 (woodturning) 6:52 (conclusion)Automated Table Saw Fence (Rip-it)frank howarth2023-08-11 | I have been fortunate enough to get my hands on a prototype Rip-it table saw fence. The Rip-it fence allows you to input a distance and the fence moves by itself to that precise position.
Rip-it Kickstarter: http://kck.st/43AUzeM
To see upcoming projects follow me on social media
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking an Ulu Knife Cutting Boardfrank howarth2023-07-16 | Earlier this summer, we went on a trip to explore part of Alaska. I was intrigued by all of the textures and surfaces in the landscape of this part of the world. I also discovered the ulu knife which is a traditional knife of Alaska. I thought it would be interesting to make a cutting board for this knife and pull some inspiration from the landscape of Alaska. I made a random segmented block of wood by cutting and gluing, and then recutting and gluing strips of wood many, many times to make an end grain cutting board. I then cut a semi spherical hole in the center of the cutting board. The radius of this spherical hole is slightly bigger than the radius of the ulu knife. This allows one to chop items in the hole of the cutting board with the ulu knife and the pieces that are being chopped don't get away. It seems to work very well. The first thing I used it for was to chop nuts for a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
0:00 (introduction) 1:18 (glue up) 8:27 (designing the concave) 10:16 (making the concave) 13:02 (conclusion)Juggling Table Sawsfrank howarth2023-06-17 | In the middle of the shop, I have three table saws that are connected into one large table. Two of the saws are a Powermatic 72 and a Powermatic 66. These two saws I use all the time. They face each other; each is the outfeed table for the other saw. Next to these two saws, I have an Oliver 88 which I haven't used as much. In this project, I fixed the wobbly arbor on the Oliver 88, so the blade now runs straight and true. I also moved the Oliver 88 to become the side table for the Powermatic 66. This allowed me to use the fence from the 66 on both the 66 and the Oliver 88 giving the Oliver a fence and making the saw much more useful. I also adjusted the Powermatic 72 slightly so it is slightly further away from the Powermatic 66. I adjusted the fence on the 72 so I have more space to the left of the blade which I found to be more useful. Also, the emergency stop button on the 72 is a little more accessible. The entire setup got slightly narrower and a little bit longer, but I'm finding it very useful.
I have updated the cutterhead in my planer for the second time, this time with a LUX CUT III Cutterhead from Global Tooling. I had to disassemble much of the drive elements of the planer to take the old straight knife cutterhead out and put the new LUX CUT III cutterhead in. After the new cutterhead was put in, I spent some time tuning up the planer so it cuts very nicely now. The two things that I really like about this new cutterhead are the sound and the ability to plane very thin pieces of stock. The sound of the new cutterhead is slightly quieter than the straight knife cutterhead, but what I really like is that the sound is more pleasing. It's more of a continuous hum and less of a chopping sound. I was able to plane a piece of pine down to about an eighth of an inch which I wasn't able to do before. This is going to be very useful.
0:00 (introduction) 2:13 (installation) 14:18 (adjustments) 18:53 (planing) 21:06 (conclusion)Why did my Bathroom Remodel Take 13 Years?frank howarth2023-04-23 | I have finally completed our 13-year bathroom remodel project. We started demoing our basement bathroom just after we moved into our house. We took out the sink and removed most of the drywall. We decided the shower was in okay shape and we left it as it was, although the outside had never been finished. Over the years, I have reinstalled the drywall, replastered, and painted. We also had our plumber put in new fixtures about 5 years ago. It was functional but unfinished. Just recently we decided to finally get this project done. What I needed to do was put a nice wood sill under the window and built some new cabinetry around the hot water heater which is next to the shower. I found some space next to the hot water heater where I could make some cubbies. Then I made a face frame to cover the cubbies and the hot water heater making a nice built-in piece of cabinetry. The cabinetry has three doors that I edge banded with birch plywood edge. I put up new painted poplar trim around the two doors and the shower door. I also finally used the baseboard I've been saving. Now we finally have a basement bathroom that is mostly finished.
0:00 (introduction) 0:33 (demolition) 3:18 (window sill) 6:33 (cubby cabinet) 16:00 (face frame) 17:15 (door trim) 22:16 (cabinet doors) 29:30 (conclusion)The Big Bowl That Took 7 Years to Woodturnfrank howarth2023-03-12 | Welcome to my latest YouTube video where I showcase my latest woodturning project - a simple box elder bowl. Seven years ago, one of my viewers cut down their tree and gave me the wood. I've been waiting for the perfect moment to turn it into something special. I started by cutting the wood into bowl blanks with a chainsaw, some of which I shaped completely with the chainsaw while others I used a band saw to cut pieces for the wood lathe. From there, I turned many of these into bowl roughs and finally settled on turning the biggest piece into a finished bowl. To start, I reattached the chuck to the bottom of the bowl with the help of my CNC machine. With this, I was able to cut a perfectly round circle into the bottom of the bowl to help the chuck grip it firmly on the lathe. Once that was done, I finished turning the bowl on the lathe, sanded it, and applied a coat of walnut oil as a finish. I let this dry for several days before re-sanding the bowl with my random orbital sander and 400 grit sandpaper. To finish off, I wiped off the sawdust with mineral spirits and added a second coat of walnut oil, leaving the bowl with a beautiful finish. The end result is a stunning box elder bowl that I'm proud to have created. Thanks for watching and don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe for more woodturning content!
I post my pieces occasionally on Esty . I have just put up 3 bowl for sale on my Esty site etsy.com/shop/FrankMakes
0:00 (introduction) 1:25 (rough turning) 3:57 (finish turning) 8:59 (finishing)I’ll Never Misplace My Lathe Accessories Againfrank howarth2023-02-26 | In this video, I'll be showing you how I created a custom storage system for my lathe accessories. As a woodturner, I have a storage rack for my lathe tools, but I needed a designated place for my grinders, sander, chucks, tool rests, and faceplates. To solve this issue, I decided to build a custom storage system using pinewood. First, I built a rack system off of a French cleat on the wall next to my lathe, where I could easily hang my grinders and sander. Next, I added a shelf to hold my tool rests, which I drilled holes in to hold the stems on the tool rest. Below that, I hung some shelves where I could put the lathe chucks and faceplates. The end result is an organized storage system that keeps all of my lathe accessories close at hand, making it easy to swap out accessories as I need to while woodturning. I made the entire system out of pinewood that I had been using lately in the shop, and I attached everything with finish nails and glue. If you're a woodturner in need of a storage solution for your lathe accessories, I hope this video provides you with some inspiration and a great DIY solution that you can easily customize to meet your specific needs.
0:00 (introduction) 0:05 (design) 1:29 (making parts) 4:45 (putting it together) 7:47 (conclusion)Carving a Coffee Tablefrank howarth2023-02-12 | I have made a coffee table. The top is made from red alder. The legs are made from maple. I connected the legs to the top with a radial joint similar to the joint I use to put my carvers mallets together. I cut the joint on both the top of the legs and the underside of the table on the CNC machine and then glued the two pieces together. Once everything was set, I carved the legs and the bottom of the table to reveal the joint. This also gives the legs and underside of the table a very curvy organic feel. This form contrasts the very rectilinear top. The legs splay out at a slight angle. I think this gives the table a more dynamic form.
0:00 (introduction) 1:10 (legs) 4:10 (top) 8:50 (leg turning) 11:05 (underside of top) 14:40 (attaching) 16:07 (carving) 19:34 (finishing)7-Year Journey: Box Elder Burl Wood Bowl Turned on Lathefrank howarth2023-02-04 | In this video, I am showcasing a beautiful woodturning project that I've been working on for almost 7 years. The journey began when a viewer gifted me with some box elder wood. I carefully cut the wood into slabs and blanks for turning bowls. I then turned the blanks on my lathe, using my bowl gouge and scraper to shape the wood. After allowing the bowl blanks to dry and cure for several years, I've finally finished one of them. The bowl has a stunning burl grain pattern and is truly a work of art. I finished the piece with a coating of walnut oil, bringing out the natural beauty of the wood. #shorts
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMy CNC Setup: Organizing Tools and Improving Stabilityfrank howarth2023-01-15 | In this video, I showcase a few upgrades I've made to my CNC setup. I've added some storage solutions to keep my tools and equipment organized. I've hung a spindle wrench holder on the French cleats around the computer cabinet, as well as a tray for the Z axis touch plate and a tray for the panic stop button. Additionally, I've added some beefier cross supports to the CNC frame to prevent shaking when using the 4th axis. Finally, I've made a cabinet to hold the chuck key for the 4th axis and wooden chuck interface pieces for future projects.
0:00 (introduction) 0:58 (tool holders) 5:11 (bracing) 8:15 (cabinet)Drill Press Camera Jigfrank howarth2023-01-05 | I have made a jig that holds a small camera to the drill press quill. The jig allows the camera to go up and down with the movement of the drill press. When taking a video this way, the drill bit appears to stay motionless and the workpiece moves up and down. It is slightly more interesting than just pointing a camera at the drill press while drilling something. #shorts
To see upcoming projects follow me on social media
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking A Christmas Orbfrank howarth2022-12-23 | This year's Christmas ornament is a sphere made from a walnut dodecahedron. I have cut a simple Christmas graphic on each of the 12 sides of the dodecahedron. Overlaid on this I added some colored pencils to add some detail. For example, there's a wreath that is a simple donut shaped inlay out of wood and the colored pencils make the bow and the decorations in the wreath. There's a simple gingerbread man shape with colored pencil frosting. The simple graphics on the sphere are made from cherry wood and the sphere itself is made from walnut wood. The sphere turned out larger than I had expected so it's really a little bit big for hanging on a Christmas tree.
0:00 (introduction) 1:28 (making pentagons) 9:22 (the sled) 13:43 (the glue up) 16:46 (wood turning) 22:12 (finishing)Typographical Trimming Sawfrank howarth2022-12-11 | This summer, I acquired a typographical trimming saw (Sawliner Milwaukee Saw trimmer Corp.) at an auction at our old tool group meetup. I have not been able to find much information on the saw. It was used in publishing, I'm assuming, for making small cuts on books and paper. I would like to use it for cutting small parts out of wood as it has a nice fence system for making cross cuts and making square pieces. Upon bringing it back to the shop, I cleaned it up and I ordered a new blade for it. However, the blade that came did not cut very well and I was somewhat disappointed with it. I have gone back to the blade that came with a saw which works much better. I also bought and put together a mobile base for the saw so I can move it around to various locations in the shop.
In the cabinet of the saw are a series of cubbies. I thought it would be nice to make some wooden drawers to fit into these spaces. I made these drawers out of pine wood I'm trying to use up. The drawer bottoms are from a scrap piece of ¼ inch plywood and the handles are from a scrap piece of walnut wood.
I have made a wooden stand for my CNC computer. Since I built the CNC, I've been using my red adjustable cart as a computer stand. This was supposed to only be temporary, but it has become somewhat permanent. I'd really like my red adjustable cart back. I began designing this computer stand as a cart on wheels that would have an inner shell wrapped by an outer piece. This would allow the inner section with the computer and monitor desk to move up and down and I could have a sitting and standing desk. But after looking at this, it seemed too complicated and I should make something simpler. My next design was to make two vertical strips that would hold a shelf for the computer and a shelf for the monitor. This was much simpler and much thinner as the new stand, computer and me have to fit between the CNC and dust collector. I also made a drawer for the keyboard that fits under the monitor desk and protects the keyboard from dust and makes the whole cabinet thinner in that area. I can pull out the keyboard only when I need it. I also made French cleats on the outside of the cabinet so I can store the various tools that I need at the CNC.
0:00 (introduction) 2:36 (Maker's Mob) 3:29 (the cabinet) 16:56 (the rails) 19:30 (installation) 23:52 (conclusion)Making More Malletsfrank howarth2022-11-13 | I am using up the last few pieces of ship dunnage tropical hardwood that I have for making mallets. I am going to use this wood for the heads on a new batch of mallets. I will use more readily available maple and walnut for the handles. Also, I made two segmented mallet heads. One is birch plywood made into a woven pattern on the outer surface of the mallet head. For the other segmented mallet, I glued together a stack of bamboo plywood and wood turning that into a mallet. I made the joint between the mallet head and the handle on the CNC router by cutting a radial finger joint. I also roughed out the shape of the mallet on the 4th axis of the CNC. After that, I finished the final form of the mallet on the lathe. After sanding, I applied walnut oil.
0:00 (introduction) 3:32 (addition) 12:25 (subtraction) 19:16 (finishing)The Industrial-Organic Table: A Lego Gear Creationfrank howarth2022-10-16 | When I made the Lego gear table a couple of months ago, I only made three legs for it thinking it would work like a three-legged stool. But it was pointed out, and it is kind of clear now, that the Lego gear has four quadrants in its design and having three legs is a little odd. So I've made a fourth leg. I've also wanted to play with sculpting in Blender (modeling software). This was a good opportunity to make something more interesting than just a cone shaped leg. I used Blender to sculpt a leg with a ball and claw foot. I glued up pieces of the same maple that I used for the other legs to make something with a large enough diameter. I cut out the leg on the 4th axis on the CNC machine. Then I finished up the ends on the lathe. I like the juxtaposition of the biological leg next to the industrial look of the Lego gear. It feels a lot like pieces put together just like Lego.
0:00 (introduction) 1:10 (making cylinder and model) 8:20 (on the 4th axis) 10:50 (finishing) 13:10 (conclusion)Maple Knot Bowlfrank howarth2022-10-02 | On the side of a piece of wood I was cutting up on the bandsaw, I found a place where a branch had been cut off from the trunk of the tree. It looked like a nice piece that I could turn on the lathe into a bowl. I cut this particular piece of wood out of the larger piece I was working on and put it on the lathe and began to turn it. I found that the center of this piece, that used to be the branch, had completely rotted away and I ended up having to cut off what was going to be the bottom of the bowl. I made a segmented ring and glued it to the bottom of the bowl, making a new bottom to the bowl. It is made from pieces of the same maple tree and some thin walnut inserts. I also had an angled section on the top of the bowl that was missing. I made a segmented piece similar to the ring and glued it to the top of the bowl. It makes a wedge-shaped segmented section on the rim. I finished the bowl with tung oil. I like the juxtaposition of the monolithic section of the bowl and the very regular segmented sections of the bowl.
0:00 (introduction) 0:40 (wood turning) 10:13 (conclusion)Wood Turned Segmented Spheresfrank howarth2022-09-25 | I have wood turned two segmented spheres. I started with two dodecahedrons. I made these by first gluing a series of wood strips together starting with a darker wood on one side and a lighter wood on the other trying to create a gradient of color between the two. I then cut these strips into triangles. In doing this, I ended up with two different sets of triangles. I glued these in sets of five forming pentagons. These pentagons became the 12 sides of the dodecahedron that I wood turned into spheres. I used walnut, cherry and maple. I used the CNC to cut a rough sphere into the dodecahedron and with that I could then wood turn a final finished sphere.
0:00 (introduction) 2:15 (making strips) 7:26 (making triangles) 9:28 (making pentagons) 13:57 (making dodecahedrons) 20:46 (wood turning) 26:04 (conclusion)Framing a Paintingfrank howarth2022-09-04 | I have made a frame for artwork that our friend, Irene Henjum, painted. I used reclaimed pine paneling to make the frame. I made a wide face that surrounds the painting. I mitered the edge of this and attached a thinner piece of the same pine wood that takes up the thickness of the painting. With these two pieces mitered together it gives a look of a much larger, thicker piece of wood wrapping the painting as a frame. As I had a lot of room on the back side of the frame, I attached triangles in the corners to hold the miter of the frame together and to the top of these triangles, I added some tabs that spring from the corners of the frame towards the center and hold the corners of the painting. This allows the painting to float in the frame without any noticeable connection.
0:00 (introduction) 0:47 (making the frame) 4:38 (mounting the painting) 7:33 (hanging the painting)Holding up a Sunflower #Shortsfrank howarth2022-08-31 | I had an extra piece of wood leftover from a frame I am making. I thought it would be great to use this piece to hold up a sunflower I have that is falling over. #Shorts1X1 LEGO Coastersfrank howarth2022-08-28 | A little over a month ago, I made a coffee table based on a 40 tooth LEGO gear. The table has been working well but it doesn't really have a top as it is just the surface of the gear. I made two coasters that fit as Lego pieces into the top of the gear. They are made from oak with a cork inset. They have a round LEGO type bump that fits into the gear like a 1x1 Lego piece. The other thing I had noticed about the table was that the legs had loosened up. To fix this, I cut the end of the legs and then added a wedge to the top of the leg. This helps to tighten up the leg within the gear. The table seems to be much more sturdy now.
0:00 (introduction) 0:47 (making coasters) 5:14 (printers saw) 7:18 (making coasters) 8:03 (tightening legs) 10:06 (shim sled) 13:49 (tightening legs) 14:40 (conclusion)The Dodecahedron and the Sledfrank howarth2022-08-21 | I have been wanting to make a dodecahedron out of wood. A dodecahedron is a 3 dimensional object made from 12 pentagons. I decided I needed to make a new sled for the table saw to be able to cut out the pentagons as well as the angle between the various pentagons. I cut two t-tracks into the bed of the sled which would allow me to attach an adjustable fence to the sled. This would allow me to cut any angle I needed to. The dodecahedron worked out and glued together quite easily. It has fewer pieces than the 20-sided icosahedrons I have made in the past. In the future, I would like to make segmented dodecahedrons that I can wood turn into spheres.
0:00 (introduction) 0:44 (the sled) 9:33 (The dodecahedron) 14:42 (conclusion)Making a LEGO Coffee Tablefrank howarth2022-07-24 | I have made a coffee table from a piece of Douglas fir that I cut in 2019. I used the form of a 40 tooth Lego gear to make the coffee table top. I cut the Lego gear on the CNC machine. I did a drawing of the gear. Then I used that drawing to cut out various shapes at various levels to form the gear. I started by cutting one side of the wood, and then I flipped the piece of fir over on the CNC machine to cut the other side. I matched up the two sides by cutting Lego bumps on a sacrificial spoil board on the CNC table that the gear would fit into and hold it in the exact location. This allowed the two sides of the gear to be aligned. I woodturned three legs out of a piece of maple that I had. The end of the legs fit in with a plug into the circles of the gear so the legs work like big Lego pieces. I did not glue the legs in place so in the future I could try something different. The coffee table is going to go in the sitting area next to our dining room.
0:00 (introduction) 1:32 (flattening fir) 2:07 (bacon ties) 4:52 (plywood prototype) 6:05 (carving the fir) 19:06 (wood turning legs) 22:27 (finish) 22:50 (conclusion)Crafting for Cats: Wooden Scratcher Holdersfrank howarth2022-06-17 | 99¢ Makers Mob Woodworking Sale: rlnk.cc/fm99cwoodworkingsale CMT Thin Kerf Table and Miter Saw Blades: https://lddy.no/15sw1 CMT Full Kerf Table and Miter Saw Blades: https://lddy.no/15sw2 CMT ½" Shank Router Bits used in this video: https://lddy.no/15sw3 CMT ¼" Shank Router Bits used in this video: https://lddy.no/15sw5 CMT Sign Bits used in this video: https://lddy.no/15sw6 For an Additional 10% off use promo code: CMT10
Our cats have always been very good about not scratching our furniture and instead scratch the things that we have gotten for them that they are supposed to scratch. I have made them two wooden cardboard cat scratcher holders. I made these by making a single wooden box and cutting it in half at an angle. This gave me a sloped support for the cardboard scratching piece. I did wood inlays over the knots in the wood and at the corners to strengthen them. The wood is red alder that I cut down a few years ago and the inlays are walnut. Both cats seem to enjoy the scratchers.
0:00 (introduction) 1:56 (Processing alder) 3:11 (making inlays) 3:36 (The Makers Mob) 4:40 (more inlays) 9:45 (Taylor Tool Works) 10:27 (making the box) 15:55 (making the frame) 21:04 (conclusion)Making the Most Beautiful Trash Can in the Worldfrank howarth2022-06-05 | We were in need of a trash receptacle in our family room. I found a nice sized plant pot that I could reuse as a trash container. I wanted to make a wood turned wrapper around this plastic pot. What made this project complicated was its size. It had to be big enough to completely encase the plant pot. I made the project in three sections: two sections for the body of the wrapper that covers the pot and a third section that is a rim at the top that holds the plant pot in. The rim is also shaped so that it is removable and laps the inner edge of the plant pot so things that are thrown into the container don't get stuck between the pot and the woodturned wrapper. The inside did not need to be pretty. It just had to fit the plant pot. I spent time making the outside of the trash can beautiful. I made a section of the outside with a chaotic segmented pattern made from scrap wood I found around the wood shop. I like the metaphor of trash on the outside and trash on the inside.
0:00 (introduction) 0:54 (Processing maple) 1:37 (making rings) 3:01 (chaotic pattern) 8:03 (more rings) 11:39 (wood turning inside) 16:34 (wood turning outside) 19:50 (conclusion)Hanging Rugs on the Wallfrank howarth2022-05-15 | We have four antique, woven rugs that we wanted to hang on the wall of our basement family room. My wife’s great-great aunt and uncle bought them on a trip to Mexico in the 1920’s. After looking at a few different ways to do this, I came up with an idea to clamp the string fringe at the edge of the carpet between two pieces of plexiglass. Then I could hang the plexiglass on a nail on the wall allowing the rugs to hang. This ended up working very well. I like the way that the fringe at the end of the rugs points up on the top and hangs down on the bottom.
0:00 (introduction) 1:50 (Making) 6:06 (mounting) 9:05 (hanging) 10:10 (Mount St. Helens) 11:35 (conclusion)Mounting and Framing a Jigsaw Puzzlefrank howarth2022-05-08 | 99¢ Woodworking Sale: rlnk.cc/fm99cwoodworkingsale
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We had a puzzle made from a photograph my mom took of all five of her grandchildren. She has now completed the puzzle and I framed it for her for Mother's Day. I mounted the puzzle on foam core by flipping the puzzle over, applying spray adhesive to the back of the puzzle, and placing a clean sheet of foam core onto the glued surface. I then trimmed the foam core to center the puzzle in the foam core frame. Next, I made a wooden frame out of red alder that I cut down a few years ago. I also made a picture framing sled to cut the miters on the wooden picture frame. I mounted the foam core, puzzle, and glass in the wooden frame and we hung the puzzle in my parents’ dining room. Happy Mother's Day!
0:00 (introduction) 2:48 (Makers Mob!) 4:27 (cutting glass) 7:10 (making wood frame) 8:16 (making picture framing sled) 12:03 (making wood frame) 15:48 (putting it all together)Making A Small Table Topfrank howarth2022-05-01 | We have an antique sewing machine stand that has the foot treadle to work the sewing machine. I have wanted to make a top for it so it can be a small table in our basement family room. I have a piece of red alder that I cut into shorter lengths and turned the live edge inward to form a valley in the center of the new table top. I then stitched the two halves together with walnut bone shapes that I cut out on the CNC machine. On the top of the table I cut out a space for a piece of plexiglass to cover the valley formed between the two pieces. The table looks quite nice but somehow I feel it is almost too delicate to put anything on.
After I finished this project and had edited the video together, my wife pointed out that it's on a sewing table and I should have done some kind of stitching pattern like a sewing machine would do. How did I do a project about putting two pieces of material together on a sewing machine table and completely miss the idea of stitching the two pieces together?!?!? So pretend the bones are some sort of stitching sewing kind of shape. It's the same project, but maybe it has some kind of cohesive idea.
0:00 (introduction) 0:41 (wood) 1:36 (making the top) 12:51 (conclusion)Making a Chaotic Patterned Segmented Spherefrank howarth2022-04-24 | I have made another segmented sphere. In building this sphere, I used a random pattern of segments similar to that used in many chaotic cutting boards. I cut the scrap pieces of pine wood into short lengths and stack them together to make a length of end grain material. Then I cut this at a 30° angle to start to make a pattern of angled segments. I did this three times. Then I cut the chaotic pattern into equilateral triangles and glued them into an icosahedron. I rough cut this icosahedron on the fourth axis of the CNC into a sphere. Finally, I finished the sphere on the lathe. I had meant for this to just be a prototype to play with and study how the patterns work, but it ended up being a nice project in itself so I made it into a video.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking A Cat Playground - Part 2frank howarth2022-04-10 | I have made more of our cat playground. The first new part I made was a hexagon that is wider so there's more interior space for the cats to lounge. Also, a big part of this build was cutting the rabbets and dadoes on the CNC machine instead of on the table saw and the radial arm saw. The second part to this project was making two square frames that are 7 inches deep and have holes cut in the sides to allow the cats to get into them. They hang on the French cleat system. These give a place for the cats to hang out above and watch what's going on in the craft room. I also made some walkways for the cats to get between the various parts of the cat climbing wall. They also hang on the French cleats. The cats seem to enjoy it and have been climbing and lounging around on their own.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking A Cat Playgroundfrank howarth2022-03-13 | I have started a cat climbing wall playground on the French cleat system in our craft room. The first part of this climbing wall is five hexagons that our two cats can climb through. The hexagons fit together so that the cats can climb through the sides that touch the adjacent hexagons. I made the project from the wood I got at an auction last fall that has been sitting in the middle of the shop and needs to be used. The cats seem to like it. I think they are warming up to it.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking a Mosaic Globefrank howarth2022-02-27 | have tried my hand at another globe project. I wanted to experiment with making a sphere from a 20-sided object (icosahedron) of equilateral triangles. I laid out the map of the world onto those 20 triangles as a mosaic of scrap pieces of wood. I poured resin in the gaps between the pieces of wood that I had glued down to the map. Then I cut the map into the 20 triangles. Next, I cut the angles into the sides of those 20 triangles and glued those triangles into an icosahedron. I turned that object on the lathe into a sphere and it became an impressionistic and recognizable globe.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking a Spoonfrank howarth2022-01-30 | I modeled a spoon in Blender. Then I carved that spoon on the 4th axis on the CNC machine using Aspire. The spoon is about 14” in length and has a large paddle section with spikes on the back. I made a prototype at first by gluing up some pine scraps to make a big enough piece from which to carve the spoon. Then I made another version out of a maple block that I had. This was cutting great until the CNC machine for some reason flipped the piece around and started carving in the wrong location. I had to stop the machine very quickly. I then found a piece of red alder and I cut the spoon from that. I slowed the cutting process down and this seemed to help it cut the entire spoon, first with a roughing pass and then with a finishing pass. I'm not exactly sure what to use this spoon for but it turned out very interesting and it was a fun project. It also gave me ideas for future projects on the 4th axis of the CNC machine.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesWoodturning a Puzzle Bowlfrank howarth2022-01-09 | I have made another segmented wood turned bowl. This bowl is made from half a icosidodecahedron which is an 80 segmented sphere. The segments in this bowl are triangles and on those triangles I wanted to make a puzzle pattern that wrapped around the entire surface of the bowl. I made this pattern by cutting the puzzle tabs from one triangle into the adjacent triangle allowing the puzzle pattern to wrap across the structural pattern of the triangles. The segments are made from cherry wood and kaya wood.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesA Year of Making Tomatoesfrank howarth2021-12-26 | I have documented a year's worth of tomato growing. I started in the winter of 2020 building a grow wall along one side of our furnace room. This wall consisted of a French cleat system that I hung trays off of. On the top of the tray, I put the tomato starts and on the underside of each tray I put LED grow lights. The tomato seedlings did very well in this setup. I then planted my seedlings in the late spring. In one of my garden boxes, I wanted to try a method of stringing up the tomato plants. This holds the tomato plants upright and allows for more air movement around the plants and easier picking of the tomatoes. This method worked well. I really enjoyed training the tomatoes up the strings. I built the frame to hold the strings out of some small cherry and maple tree trunks that I had cut down earlier in the spring. This saved me having to buy expensive 2x4s. Last year, I had purchased a large pot for making canned products and I was using it for the tomatoes. I had a stirring spatula but it just was not big enough for the size of this new pot. So I thought it would be nice to wood turn a stirring implement for the tomatoes. I started with a piece of driftwood I had found in the spring during our trip to the coast. But after cutting into this piece of wood, I decided it was too sappy and may flavor the tomatoes too much so I moved to a piece of cherry. This worked well. I made a large paddle shaped utensil that I could use for stirring the tomatoes. This first attempt at making a utensil had a very flat end. It worked great as a masher to mash the tomatoes as they cooked, but I thought I could make a better stirring implement. Next, I made a very similar utensil but it had a flatter, slightly wider spoon and a slightly shorter handle. This one works better for stirring. So now I use both one for mashing and one for stirring. Before harvest, I made two tomato boxes which are wood boxes that consist of two solid ends with slats running between the ends. It works very well for carrying and storing the tomatoes. I find these garden grown canned tomatoes taste very, very good and I use them in many recipes from spaghetti to chili to lasagna to pizza sauce. Here's to a fabulous 2022 for everyone.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking A Christmas Ornamentfrank howarth2021-12-12 | I have made this year's Christmas ornament from a 20-sided icosphere. I made the 20 triangles forming the icosphere by gluing up a length of wood pieces that formed a Christmas tree graphic. I then sectioned that length of wood into the 20 triangles that I needed. I made a jig for the table saw that allowed me to cut the precise angle on the sides of these triangles so that they would all fit together to form the 20 sided sphere. I then woodturned this 20 sided object on the lathe to form a true sphere of about 6” in diameter. It has 20 differently decorated Christmas trees around its surface. It is made primarily of maple Christmas trees in a walnut field. I then decorated each tree by drilling holes in the face of each triangle and inserting different types of dowels.
The Maker's Mob has put together a video of three of my past wood turned projects. These projects are the segmented mallet, the snowflake Christmas ornament, and the woodturned football. All of these were segmented projects that were then wood turned. The mallet and snowflake ornament were both made from segments with more traditional woodworking methods. The football was also made in this method but I uses the CNC machine to cut some of the patterns of the football lacing.
Music Licences: FMCJ7QEX9HDTRBIC VHJOAZCVFWDGU968 GKLHQ82BOXBEOCC6 FBSWDUAAIR5UVUY1 GESIKO11TPZLC9S0Making Jimmy’s Tool Boxfrank howarth2021-11-26 | Get My 27 Plan Bundle Here: rlnk.cc/27plansfrankmakes
I have been challenged by Jimmy DiResta, for our Maker Mob maker challenge, to make Jimmy's bandsaw toolbox with my own take on it. Watching Jimmy make his bandsaw toolbox, I thought, wow! he's making a CNC project on the bandsaw. So my first thought was to make the joinery and the parts for his toolbox with the CNC. I drew up a set of drawings that I could cut out on the CNC and I cut out all the parts and amazingly they went together. I guess I was following a good design. At the bottom of the toolbox, there is a drawer that can slide out of each side of the toolbox. I thought it would be neat if that drawer was on a rack and pinion system so you could turn a knob on the side of the toolbox and have the drawer open to either side of the toolbox depending on the direction you turn the knob. I made the toolbox out of the salvaged pine I got from an auction a few weeks ago and I made the gears and the drawer at the bottom of the toolbox out of some cherry I got from a neighbor a few years ago. The toolbox will be my new glue tote and I will fill it with all of the things that I need when I glue a project together. This will be really nice to have all of these items in one place
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking a Dining Room Lightfrank howarth2021-11-21 | I have finally made a dining room light for our house. I started this project two and a half years ago by modeling a star fruit in the computer with photogrammetry. In that project, I sliced the starfruit model into sections, cut those sections out on the CNC, and made a scale model of a dining room light. The intention was to build a larger version of this and put two 4 ft light tubes in the structure of the star fruit. However, I could never find a good material I was happy with to make such a large light fixture out of. So I took a step back and now I have made three panels that are made of sections through the landscape of the moon. I used height maps of the moon to make three small sections of the lunar surface. Then I sectioned that surface to get a contour I could cut out on the CNC machine. Next, I stacked these pieces vertically to make a light panel that I could put two 4 ft LED light tubes in. The wood I made the project from is salvaged pine that I got at auction recently. I left the wood with just a clear lacquer finish. We now have plenty of light over our dining room table and it makes a nice definition for the space to have our meals.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesMaking A Globe Standfrank howarth2021-10-24 | I have made a stand for the globe that I recently made. I like to think that when you're looking at a globe, you are in space looking at the earth. So I went with a space theme for the stand. I made a single arc to hold the globe. That arc has an abstracted rocket at the top and the arc itself is then the smoke trail from the rocket wrapping around the earth. The legs that hold up this arc holding the globe is a tripod like a telescope. I made the legs and the arc out of a cherry log that I salvaged from a neighbor's tree.
Facebook facebook.com/FrankMakesHow to Wood Turn the Worldfrank howarth2021-10-03 | I have been working on this woodturned globe since early last April. It is now October. The idea behind this woodturned globe was to cut out the patterns of land and ocean as a flat map into a series of 80 triangles. Then those triangles will connect and fold into a sphere. There are two problems to be solved in doing this. The first problem is figuring out how to draw the bits of land and ocean onto each triangle. I used Blender to unwrap the sphere made of triangles. This allowed me to map the world onto those triangles. The second issue is that there is an angle between each triangle that forces all of the triangles into a sphere. The first thing I did was cut out all of the triangles with the land inlaid into the ocean using the CNC. Then, I cut the angles into the sides of the triangles with some jigs that I made for the table saw. When I went to glue everything up it started out okay, but as the pieces got bigger and bigger, the discrepancies between the triangles also got bigger and bigger. Something was terribly wrong. I put the project down for about 5 months while I thought about how this was supposed to work. I decided the error I had made was looking at the surface of the sphere and taking the angle between the triangles and just dividing this in half to get the angle of the sides of the triangles. This is not quite correct. I modeled a sphere using the actual thickness of the triangles and actually measured what the sides of the triangles would be in that sphere. This gave a subtle difference in the angles. I cut out an entire second batch of triangles and remade a new sphere and this time it worked. Once I had the sphere built, I could wood turn it on the lathe to get a smooth surface. It turned out beautiful.