My First Toy Design

I have been making toys for about eight years now.  They have always been from patterns that I have found on the web or in books.  I have always wanted to design my own line of toys but really never had the time.  There are several projects that I have not done from books and really would like to complete because I think my kids would have fun with them.  There was an opportunity presented for me to make a dump truck cheaper than what a cousin saw on the Internet.  So I took advantage of it.  I have made a couple of dump trucks in the past both with good and bad points so I mixed the two and came up with this.

This is a working prototype.  I combined features that I liked from a plan that I found online awhile back and the construction set that Wood Magazine has been publishing.  The back end is completely mine.  The material is oak and maple.  A little different from what I normally use but the cost of walnut is a little prohibitive on a prototype.  The front is basically the same as the models in Wood Magazine with the exception that I grew the width to 4 inches and set back the block for a bumper.  This is because narrow dump trucks just don't work for me. The fenders are from the Internet truck design.  They are not as ornate but they come from 3/4 inch material.  The Wood fenders are 1 inch thick and really who buys 1 inch material?
The truck bed is mine.  I really did not like a dump truck with a tail flap and I wanted it to hold something round without falling out.  The bucket is made out of 1/2 maple and is re-enforced with oak dowels.  The tipping mechanism was either going to make or break this project.  The Wood Magazine has a stay that falls down with tipped and has to be manually put back to lower the bed.  This is a major fail in my eyes.  It is all about the dump and go.  The other dump truck tipping method; well lets just say I made two of them and both are sitting broken in the toy room because I am tired of fixing them. So I came up with this method.

  

It is all 3/4 inch material so I am not too worried about it breaking.  The piece mounted to the chassis is 1 inch tall  which gives me the clearance to dump.  It is also bored slightly bigger than a 1/4 dowel. The bucket and chassis are doweled together.  None of the pictures show it, but there is a lip on the back of the bucket to hold things in.  The angles are there for aesthetics and I think I did pretty good with the overall look.

Here are some of the upgrades that I did to this design where I think the other designs fell short.

 I pinned the wheels in with dowels.  I do not know why my wheels fall off.  They are glued in and tight fitting.  I am constantly gluing wheels in the trucks I have made even with cyanoacrylate glue (non branded super glue).  They were also supposed to be recessed but drill far enough in one.

I doweled all the thin  board joints.  I have never had a problem with these breaking but it looked good so I did it.  It will give it added strength for shipping.
Things that I did not incorporate in my design:
Smokestacks! These are the weakest part of the trucks.  They break off leaving part remaining and make the truck look broken.  I also left out the mechanical fasteners that Wood Magazine use to tie everything together.  After finding an acorn nut in my son's nose I am a little paranoid about them.  Even when they are glued on the threaded rods kids find a way to take them off.  I used all doweled construction.
So what did this did to me.
I have always wanted to design my own line of trucks.  This would be the first.  However this is not the design direction that I want to take.  This will be a unique build and may not be reproduced.  This pointed me in a direction that I want to do.  I want to create a mid range line of trucks for the ages 3-7.  I have the group of toys younger than that and Wood Magazine has the group older.  I want to be able to make these out of standard lumber with basic equipment.  It will not have the frills of the Wood Magazine but will be more functionality than the basic set I first built.  I don't know when I will get to it but at least I have a direction now.

A little power tool crazy?

So I was walking around Lowe's the other day and came across this. 

REALLY? I am definitely in the class of power tools, but seriously this takes it to a whole new level.  I honestly could not tell you how to safely operate this sharpener when it is chucked in a drill. If anything is out of alignment or catches, the pencil or the sharpener  breaks or the drill is twisting out of my hand.
So here are my opinions on the power tool and hand tool note.  I am completely power tool.  I am too impatient and not that detail oriented to use hand tools.  I put my kids crib together with a drill even though the box said no tools needed.  That being said I still expect people to know how to use some hand tools.  It scares me that some people do not know how to use a hammer.  There really is no replacement for a hammer.  A screw driver is another important hand tool to use.  I know all the bits and more can be put on a cordless drill but sometimes that is too much power.  I will not use the cordless drill on changing switch plates and electrical work. Being able to use a hand saw is a must.  Not that it can not be done by a power tool but just for the feel of it.  That is the extent of my hand tool knowledge.
I do own other hand tools.  I have my Grandfather's plane set and he has several planes.  None of them in great condition, but I could not tell you how to use them or how to maintain them.  I have a set of chisels.  I use these to mainly scrap of glue.  I have several hand saws.  I can use them and do use them for rough cutting.  I do not know how to sharpen them and they do need a good sharpening.
The other day I was talking to a coworker about wood working joints.  He has been doing butt joints and wanted to do something with a little more strength and looks better.  He wanted to know the investment and equipment needed.  I went right into biscuit joints, lap and dado joints and dove tails.  Each of these methods has a machine associated with them in my mind and all were out of what he wanted to spend.  Then he asked if there was a hand tool or something like that.  I told him there was but I know nothing about hand tools.  It is more practice and time that I am willing to put in.  I have a deep respect to those individuals who make wood projects from hand tools. They truly are artists in their own right.

Year in review

So did I get everything done this year that I wanted, no.  Did I reach the goals I wanted to do this year, no.  Is this disappointing or unexpected, no.  There are always things that I want to do but I do not get to because something more interesting comes up.  So here are some of the highlights:

• I had a goal of making enough money to buy a lathe.  I did not even come close.  I did have some sales but as most hobbies, I lost more money than I spent, but I almost broke even.  My wife says I will never get a lathe because there are more important tools that I need or want.  To be honest, she is probably right.  I am going to need another belt sander.  My current one is starting to jump the belt and I feel it is going to die soon.  I also need to build a router table and get a plate for it also.  I am also going to need a miter saw.  I will someday have to return my father's saw, but right now it works where it is at.  In fact I have his planer also.
• I still want to make the Marvelous Transforming Toys from a few years back.  I even have some of the patterns attached to blanks.  There are just other things that came up.  I did catch up on all the construction equipment in the Wood Magazine publication and then another one came out a couple of months ago and there will be another piece in a month.  It never ends.
• I never did any of the craft shows or online sales.  It is not that I cannot do it, it is the fact that I am scared.  I have a firm belief that if I commit to something then I fulfill the commitment.  These toys and projects take a lot of time and I want to make sure they are safe.  I want to have the toy complete before it is sold rather than take orders in fear that I will miss a child's birthday or Christmas.

Enough with the things I did not accomplish this year and on to the stuff I did do.

• The biggest thing is that I now have a garage. I can go out there when I want (and if it is ok with the wife) and spend a few hours and then come in to spend time with the family.  I have a decent set up and I like how it all came together.
• I have switched to shellac.  Not a huge thing but it is a pretty drastic change for me.  I am glad I have all the equipment to use it.  
• I finally finished a bed that fits a mattress.  I love it.  Beech was very nice to work with and it came out great.  I have one more to make.  I do not know if is going to be a bunk bed or not.  We had a recent addition to the family so I have a couple of years to plan it all out.
• I have become a lot better at the scroll saw, evidenced with the last Christmas project.  I am starting to lean more that way.  The projects tend to take less time and setup is a breeze as long as I do not change the angle of the blade.  I do not believe I will ever get into intarsia.  It seems a little too precise and a lot of "sand until it looks good" projects and all the pieces have to fit perfectly together.  
•  I am listening to the Wood Talk podcast and realize there is a lot of stuff that I do not know about woodworking.  One of them is strictly hand tools and so I am not even in the same league.  It is interesting the things that I am picking up and they have the same problems that I encounter.  So I am moving into using some of the technology that I have had at my fingertips. 
• I also learned there is a difference in sandpaper.  I am in love with the Ekoforce by Uneeda.  I am getting smoother finishes, the paper is lasting longer and it does not clog up.

Goals for this year:

• Finish the monster trucks! I am almost done but the handwork is killing me.  I also have some planes I need to finish.
• Of course catch up on the Wood Magazine construction equipment.  It is a fantastic set.  Maybe I will design one that is more toddler friendly.  The acorn nuts keep coming off despite super glue and they are a choking hazard.
• We just got a CNC milling machine in the sample shop I manage.  I am planning on learning it.  I will not abuse my responsibility but I do have some access for personal projects.  This is not the CNC machine that will carve ornate figures or designs.  It is meant for sheet goods.  The smallest tool I have on it is a 1/4" ball end mill.
• Of course there is a Christmas project I have one planned.  I don't think it will out due this year's.  I am open for more.
• Last but not the least, not to accomplish anything but have fun doing it.

I am amazed at the traffic my blog gets.  It isn't that great but it is interesting.  I will occasionally see the traffic that comes through, where it originated and what they were looking at.  To my surprise the most popular post is the "rocker template".  I do not know why.  There are a lot of hits also on the construction equipment and scroll saw projects.

Christmas presents and decorations

I guess I can post this now that these have been opened and given away.
In the grocery store I was looking at the hobby section and there was a scroll saw holiday issue.  I found some things that looked interesting and so I purchased the magazine.  This is the first of a couple of projects that will come from this publication.

The picture does not do it justice: "O Night Divine" with the star and a dove

 
Each side has a depiction of the the nativity.  The top does come off so things can be put in it.  I cut the notches in the side panels on the table saw.  It would be impossible for me to cut a straight line that far into the wood on a scroll saw.  This way the sides fit together snugly.  I made four boxes so I stacked them all together to give me a good stable base to cut the grooves.

Mary, Joseph and Christ

Shepard and sheep

Camel and Angel

Three wise men

The blue tape was a life saver.  I would have never been able to sand off the pattern without damaging the project.  There were a couple of areas that did not come out as I had hoped but they still came out.  I made four of them.  I thought my wife would like the maple one but she opted for the figured oak one because maple did not have the color for a Christmas decoration.  The cuts were really not that difficult when I had a sharp blade.  I knew when the blade was getting dull it would walk all over the place, especially in the figured oak.  There were a lot of holes that needed to be drilled.
 The interesting  part of this project was all the sharp cutouts.  I though I would have a lot cutouts all over the floor.  I did but not as much as I had thought, most were really thin or the cutout completely turned to sawdust. It also was neat to discover the blades can go through very small holes.

The second project came from a project that I did 25 years ago.  It was made in leather.  This was not a good medium for me.  I am trying to redeem myself and make them out of wood.  The leather ones have slowly fallen apart and are being thrown away this year.  My grandmother had ornaments with all of her kids, their spouses and grandchildren.  I am doing the same for my mother this year.  I have plenty to add to the family still.

Here are the original sleds that were made 25 years ago, what  is left of them anyway.

Here are the new sleds.

These were my design.  I had fun building and figuring out how to make the fixture to put them together.  They are still a little more fragile than I would like them, but I think they came out nice. 

Christmas Projects

So I have been making a couple of Christmas gifts this year.  My wife says one of them is her favorite thing that I have ever made.  Unfortunately for you, the reader, I am not going to post any pictures of the finished projects because they are gifts.  I will go through the set up.  The first project is a scroll saw project.  I keep hearing to use painter's tape to protect the wood and it is easier to remove the pattern.  I think I will be investing in painter's tape from now on.  Sanding these patterns off would have been a nightmare.

The other part of the scroll saw is that designs can be cut inside of the wood.  Starter holes need to be drilled to to put the blade through.  There were a lot of holes on several parts.  My sons did help drill the holes on some of the parts so their initials also appear on the project.  I cannot take all the credit. 

One thing I did learn about the scroll saw: Don't use it to blow off steam.  It will be even more frustrating.  The blade comes loose, or the board is not cutting where it should be cutting and is all because forcing the board on a thin blade does not make for a good combination.  There is much more finesse and art when using the scroll saw and it does not like being pushed around.

On to the second project.  I am diving more into smaller scale things.  This project I wanted to make several and so I build a jig to make repeatable assemblies.  These things are not as easy as I thought.  The first one I cut with the parts that were going to fit inside the jig.  I assembled the jig with the proper spacing and found out that the parts were too tight to even fit in.
The second attempt I got the spacing right and the first one came out just fine.  I would call this beginners luck. The second, third, and fourth I broke the parts trying to remove them because I was not pulling them straight out.

The third time is a charm, right? well at least it is in this case.  I drilled large holes in the bottom to push the low pieces out.  This proved to be a better way to remove the part without breaking it.  I thought better of drilling all the way through the first time.

There are the setups for my Christmas projects.  Pictures will follow later of the finished projects.

Noah's Ark

I finally completed the Noah's Ark Maypole.  I liked the Nativity one so much I bought this plan also.  I am not as excited about this design.  It is flawed in many ways.  Here are the problems with the design:

• The sides I would thin up.  This would allow the base to be lower to the bottom.  Right now it sits about 3/4" above the base so the noses of the animals don't hit the ark.
• The top of the ark does not allow the base to to spin very much.  
• The animal legs are so thing they are attached with 1/8" dowel.  So the animals are glued into place instead of being removable.  
• The strings tend to catch on the top stopping it from turning.
• I would probably use a lazy susan base if I did it again.

It works and look nice but the finished product really did not excite me.

A couple of weeks ago my company sponsored us in a color run.  I took my younger son and we had fun.  I turned out looking and feeling like a Cheetos.  On the same day in the area was the Wood Working Show.  I wasn't really impressed again with this show.  It has become extremely small.  The majority of the show space was Peechtree and Wood line vendors.  The only tool vendors that showed were Jet and Bosch.  There was no good deals.  I was talking to some of the clubs to see if there were any in my neck of the woods.  Supposedly there is but I cannot find them.  I will have to email the contacts I made to see if they have phone numbers.My son loved the show.  I think it was the first time he saw some of the tools being used.  I was disappointed that we were not able to see the lumber mill band saw demonstration.

On a more upbeat note I did learn a new trick from the scroll saw group.  It was probably in the instruction manual but I didn't get that far.  When doing inside cuts I always loosened the top arm and blindly put the blade through the starting hole on the back side of the part.  If I loosened the bottom arm the top arm has enough movement to pull the blade all the way out.  I can now see the end of the blade and the hole, making it much easier to thread the blade through the small starter holes. 

Finally After the Third Bed

I finally finished the bed for my son.  He had about six more inches before he grew out of the converted the crib.  We also needed the crib for the next one.  So the changes from the last bed:

• I used beech not pine.
• Already had a mattress so I had the actual dimension instead of going off the internet.
• The sides are the same rather than having one a complete slab.  
• Added more mattress supports.
• It is finished in shellac instead of polyurethane.
• Tried a new profile for the drawers.
• Reduced the height of the drawer box .
• Used handles not knobs for pulls

So why beech, because the company I am working for is starting to use it.  Since I am asked a lot about the characteristics of wood I thought I would try it out.  It is interesting because it is harder than maple.  It has ticking like oak and is a reddish in tone but is closed grain.  It is a substitute for maple in a dark finish; the ticking is still visible in lighter finishes. I found it to show tooling marks more.  These were easily removed with a light sanding.  Granted my tools may not be the sharpest in the world.  It was a good wood to try, but I think I like maple better.  Maple is whiter and looks better with a clear coat.  Just some random information about the wood and why beech is becoming more prominent. It is actually German beech and they have a better sustainable forest system than we do in the States.  Beech has constant buys for all the grades of lumber so not a lot of the tree is firewood or press board.  Maple is going up in cost by a lot.  The demand is high while the supply is shrinking.  Maple is also not as clean as beech for the same grade of material.  This gives a better yield and less scrap.

Mattress supports are more important than I originally thought.  I put about eight slats on the last bed.  The problem is that they have a tendency to move so occasionally I will sit where there is no slats and sink further than I would like.

The profile change was because I wanted to try putting a bead inside the slab.  It was alright.  I burned in the corners.  The setup was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I clamped some scrap boards and used a bushing and a router bit to rout the inside profile.  It made it a little nicer.

The first set of drawer boxes we about a 1/4" from the top of the frame.  It makes it a deeper drawer box which is better right? Wrong! We tend to pack drawers full of clothes and clothes are not very consistent.  If the stuff in the drawer was above the drawer box by more than a 1/4" the drawer would not shut.  So by lowering the drawer I have psychologically proven to myself that the drawer will not get stuck as much. The other thing it did was create a perfect yield on a 5x5 foot birch plywood sheet.  I think I wasted a half a square foot total.

Why handles, because kids cannot unscrew them!!!

I still had my issues.  For some reason I could not drill my glide supports straight.  Then there was the small mistakes and underestimating the lumber that I needed.  Overall the bed came out well.  The beech will make it last longer and does not scuff as easy.  I am glad I had a respirator.  The fumes on shellac are strong even with an open garage.

For the record, my kids did help me put this together.  They picked out the large screws for the bed and the small screws for the drawers.  They also screwed in the screws if they could or gave me parts.

Here are the things I love about the bed; I can fully disassemble and reassemble  for moving and everything should be interchangeable but that is still to be discovered.  It is a solid bed and can be jumped on and abused.  The style will last and looks a whole lot better then the metal frame and it will not be out grown as my kids grow up.  It has full extension glides with deep drawers (drawers only pull out 3/4 extension).  My kids have jumped in the drawers and they work fine and hold up.