Go figure we chose to build our fancy new climbing wall during El Nino, when we end up getting more rain than we’ve had in years! Needless to say, my temporary heavy duty tarp roof didn’t last more than a few months before it started leaking. Unfortunately we didn’t have the $$ to put a permanent roof on right away, so we limped through monsoon season and a wet fall until we could buy all the materials to put a corrugated metal roof on. Finally, during my Christmas break, I was able to finish the install, so she’s now ready for all the rain Mother Nature can throw at her! The roofing is bare steel, so eventually it will form a nice bright orange oxide layer and look really cool!
Evidence our woody took a pot of gold to build…even before the new roof was purchased!Starting to install the plywood sheathingShot from one endPlywood installed!Time for metal now! Working on placing the flashing on one side.Working the shady side nowAll done…she’s a beauty!!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all rang it in right and are ready to start fulfilling your resolutions! Our first day of 2015 started off with a huge undertaking…the birth of our new climbing wall. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen as we drove home last night from Mario and Maria’s house watching snow fall all around us. We have been trying to beat the weather ever since we got home from vacation at mom’s house and it looked like we would probably be losing this battle. I had enlisted the help of some of our good climbing friends to come over this morning and help us, but wasn’t sure anyone was actually going to show up…especially when half an inch of snow was covering the ground and the temperature was 32 degrees. I had promised them a delectable breakfast but wondered if even that would tempt them. Climbers, after all, can be pretty flaky. However, to my delight and surprise, every single one came and helped out…on a holiday, no less! I am so grateful for such awesomely good friends. =)
Unlike most of our projects, the assembly of this massive beast went off WITHOUT a hitch. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see putting the trusses up, but when we finally had them all erected, I was in utter shock at how massive and beautiful our woody was. Tommy has such a beautiful brain (haha!) and the vision of what he wanted is exactly what is standing outside in our yard right now. I am so excited to get everything together and start climbing on it!! Our plan is to start putting holds on next Saturday…we’ll have a setting party and get everyone over here to help out. So stay tuned…those should be really fun pictures. =)
Hope everyone is well and had an awesome New Year! Love you all – enjoy! And Thank you Grandpa for coming and watching the boys today! This couldn’t have happened without you!! xoxox
I spent all day Monday moving the lumber from the garage to the back patio…and almost died.I somehow tricked Henry into helping me move little pieces…and he impressed the hell out of me by moving ALL of them by himself in his wagon. =) My heart!The sill plates…these are what the trusses will be attached to.Tuesday morning…Tommy starts assembly of the trusses. He gave himself 2 days to get 16 done. I thought it would be a breeze until I realized the labor involved and the fact that we were racing against a storm.It took him about an hour to assemble one…and of course there was nothing I could do to help except cheer him on. =(I had to waterproof the sill plates with a disgusting concoction…It stunk up everything!
End of Tuesday…He was able to complete 7…and the kids loved playing on them.Wednesday. 80% chance of rain at 3 pm and he had 9 more to go.The rain ended up coming around 4 pm and he had 2 left to assemble. He figured he could go to bed and and get up early to finish the rest. Little did we know it would be SNOWING when we went to sleep…at 1 in the morning.Happy Frickin’ New Year! Ugh.Our faithful crew arrived to save the day and stuff their bellies full of Green Chile Casserole and baked French toast. Mmmm.Then they all got distracted looking through our climbing holds…Ha!First Truss up…the worst part. After this, it went so quick it was crazy.Our buddy Mario spotting Tommy. Uuuuuhhhh…When we weren’t hauling these behemoth pieces of wood, we were all mesmerized by Tommy on the ladder. Hahaha!Goofing off…Liz making sure it gets done…The wood around the concrete swelled from the water and it was messing up the set of the truss. We just had to chip away the wood…Coming together!Almost there!Screwing in the last one!Woo hoo!! HOLY COW, LOOK AT THIS THING!!!Our new view…Yeah baby!!Gus was so stoked, he started climbing on the skeleton. Haha!Figuring out a date for our setting party!Shock and awe…
It’s been a long time since I’ve put anything up in this category. Not because I haven’t had my little projects, but because over the last couple years, I’ve been focusing my time and effort more into metal working. It started with a small hobby mill from Harbor Freight, and then developed into something more advanced. Like a lot of mechanical engineers, one of my main jobs is to design complex parts for various things. These parts are usually made from metals such as aluminum and steel and are fabricated using advanced machines that operate under computer control.
Well, a few years back, I stumbled across some information on the web that talked about how you could convert a standard bench milling machine into a computer controlled (CNC) machine. Since then, this has been my obsession…to build my own CNC machine that will allow me to make some really neat stuff out of both wood and metal. In a way, I’m bringing what I do at work into my own garage, only now I’m the one doing everything from the design to the fabrication.
The only catch to all of this, and the reason why this has been over two years in the making, is because it’s expensive!! But I’ve been able to piece-meal it a little at a time, and now have finally got it up and running!!!
This is the stock mill that I bought as an upgrade to my little Harbor Freight version. It’s a good size and has a ton of good info on the net on how to convert it to CNC.Here’s a shot of it now…converted over to CNC and complete with a custom-made coolant/chip tray to catch all the debris from the machining process.A look at the milling head and column. I had to custom-machine an adapter (big black rectangular part between the head and column) that extended the head away from the column to provide more machining travel and capability.Here’s a shot of the custom mount for the lateral axis motor. It’s a belt drive version that allows me to mount the motor in more of a compact manner.Here’s the beefy Z-Axis motor, resting atop the column. Each motor is mounted to a corresponding ball screw that when rotating, moves either the table or the head.In addition to making mechanical modifications to my mill, I had to build a set of electronics to actually drive everything via computer. This is a custom circuit card that I designed and built based on some info I found on the web. It acts as a safety interface between the computer and mill such that if it detects an error, it cuts power to the mill. I made the CCA using stencils created from our vinyl cutter and etching away the un-needed copper…leaving the traces you see here behind.Here’s a shot of the custom electronics enclosure I built to house the computer, power supplies, CNC electronics, and custom circuit card. It’s a major rats nest, but allows me to have a single box to house everything.This is the front panel of the control box. It has an old LCD monitor, a small keyboard, a touch pad mouse from an old laptop, and a series of industrial buttons and indicators to help run the machine.
So given all that, it took me a few months to get everything wired up and working. I even got it set up to run manually using an old joystick that I didn’t need anymore. Maria about sh*t herself when I showed her how it worked for the first time!
To help motivate me to finish this project in a timely manner, as well as repay my wife for her patience as I spent hours and hours in the garage, I came up with an idea for the CNC’s maiden project: a 10 year anniversary gift for Maria. I didn’t want to do something too complex, as I wasn’t sure if the rig would work that well, so I decided upon a custom set of wood grips for her little Kimber 1911.
I based the design off of some grim reaper grips I had got for her a long time ago for a different pistol, and found some really cool graphics to engrave into the grips after they were carved out of the wood. I found a beautiful piece of tropical Bocote hardwood to use and decided to go for a white inlay on the engravings. All in all, they turned out pretty good, but being the perfectionist I am, I plan on redoing them again some time in the future…maybe for our 20th anniversary :)!
Here’s a time-lapse video of a test piece I did. The first step was a roughing-out of the general shape, followed by a fine cut of the rounded profile. Next, the mounting holes were drilled, followed by the engraving of the graphics.
Here’s a look at the freshly milled grips lying on top of the raw piece of Bocote.Here’s the finished product! It turned out pretty well, though the graphics could be a bit more crisp. The wood is gorgeous though, and goes great with the stainless steel of her 1911.
So all and all, it was a good project, and the CNC did great! I’m really excited about this rig and can’t wait to dive into some metal projects…stay tuned!!!
Well, it’s been about 3 1/2 years since my last furniture project, and even longer since I made something for our own enjoyment. This project came about after we finally upgraded our TV from the 300 lb behemoth that I got after college to a nice, new flatscreen. With all my audio equipment, DVD, CD player and everything else sitting in disarray underneath the new TV, Maria politely suggested that we get a TV stand. Being the frugal person that I am, I decided that rather than drop a hundred dollars or more on something that would look decent, but still not match our other living room furniture, I would come up with a design of my own that mimics our coffe and end tables. However, since I didn’t have any substantial amount of mahogany on hand, or a fancy production line to make elaborate glue-ups, I had to get creative to mimic the ‘butcher-block’ table top and stain the cherry that I had to match. The result turned out great, and since I had 90% of the materials on hand, the project cost less than $30!!
This is our mahogany coffee table. It has a subtle oriental style with slightly flared, big-block legs and is topped with a butcher block-style tableThe trick to mimic'ing butcher block is how to glue up 1-1/2" wide sticks of wood without being able to clamp them end-to-end. My solution was a good 'ol pocket screw!A look at a few of the glued and screwed sticks.The entire tabletop getting glued together from a batch of 14 random length 'sticks'.The tabletop after rough sanding...quite the awesome effect!A look at the rough assembly before final sanding and staining.After applying the dark mahogany stain...beautiful!Sanding down the dust nibs after the dark brown and clear spray coats of lacquer.Starting the final assembly.Proudly posing with the final result.A close up of one side of the table. I added 'distressed' nicks & bumps to give the stand character to match the other furniture.A look at it finally in place...just awesome.Fully accessorized!
Tommy finished the new pantry and installed it today. It looks amazing and I’m so excited about the roll out shelves and the additional space it will give us. VERY nice.
