Completing a few long time projects

This past week I was able to complete a couple of projects and a puzzle.  Remember the Alien Nativity?  Here is the stable that goes with it.

 The pieces were cut a forever ago and then put together last year and finally finished and hinges added this week.  It was not hard but it was a lot of parts that are just glued together.  Then to add to the problems, the parts are only 3/8" thick.  The screws are for 1/2" material.  Yes, they went through.  I backed them off so they don't show as much.  It will be interesting where we put it up this year for the holidays.  (It will probably left up year round.) It is a decent size Nativity.

Here is another installment of the the construction set through Wood Magazine.  Now I am only two trucks and a skip loader behind. The other parts can be found under the trucks label.  I did finally finish the bulldozer.  It was complete just needed to be finished in the last post on it.

This is not my favorite in the series.  I really like the movable parts on this series but I do need to get some Loctite Red to weld the nuts on the threaded rod.  Kids have pulled off a couple of them.  The blade rotates and moves up and down.  If I make another one I will probably make the back wheels bigger.  I think that is my problem with this grader.

Last of all is the shark puzzle. It came out of my last scrap of yellow heart.  Thank goodness.  I hate the stuff.  It is too hard for me to work with.  I burned three scroll saw blades with it and it still came out with all the inside edges burned.  The puzzle also does not work well because the blade curved inside the wood while cutting.  It is done.  I wanted to use the yellow heart for something and now it is gone.

Motivation

Motivation has been on my mind for some time.  I have needed to find out for some time what motivates me.  Recently my company held a weight loss challenge.  It was a biggest loser style competition and this was the second that they held.  I did not participate in the first one due to project load, stress and a general lack of interest.  So what convinced me to participate in this one?  The simple answer money. There was a $100 gift card to the winner.  The last winner lost about 12% of his body weight.  I figured I would have to lose around 25lbs match the percentage. I figured $100 dollars was worth the effort.  So I signed up and was ready to go.  My first weigh in was a 201 lbs.  I never wanted to be over 200 lbs but there I was.  So the competition started.  My wife and I planned the meals a little better, cut out snacks and I started running again.  It also helped that the mud run was in the middle of all this.  It was a good motivating factor to start running again.
Long story short, I won.  I am the biggest loser at work.  Yes there are a lot of things you can comment on in that sentence. I choose a $100 gift card to Wal-mart.  I think they allow you to buy other gift cards with them.  I was going to purchase Visa and by wood.  They gave me a Target gift card and Target does not allow you to do that type of thing.  So we bought things we needed for the house and clothes for the boys.   But I did get this nice little plaque:

So now what?  I ended up losing about 28 lbs.  My pants don't fit and I have the need to continue being healthy.  I have found out a few things about me that I have forgotten.  I have more energy and I feel lighter.  After completing something like this I find the question is "Now what?"  Does it end?  Many times it does.  What is the motivation to keep going?  With the weight loss I like how I feel and that I can now run two laps around our table chasing our sons before getting tired.  I can fit in some clothes that I have had for a couple of years hoping that I would fit in them again.
What motivates me to to continue at work, continue at woodworking, self improvement, religion, being a friend.  These are just a couple of things that I have been thinking about.  The motivation is different in the different areas however there has to be something driving one to do things.  I have also thought about is there better types of motivation.  I would have to think yes.  I could have lost weight to be healthier but my initial drive was the money.  It has been interesting to reflect on the motivations in my life.

Yes that was a little to abstract, not about woodworking but I needed to get it out.  I have been working a lot with some puzzles.  Here is my latest one.  It is a unicorn on hard maple.  It turned out nice.  I am getting better at the scroll saw.  My wife said it looks mean, so it is at work.

 On a side note, I just purchased a mattress for the bed and found out it is the same size as the other one.  The internet lies, but the bed still looks great.  My son loves it.

My view on Toys

Now that my boys are being boys, the toys I have made are getting a little more abused and showing wear.  It is a lot of fun to watch them play with the toys.  Unfortunately there are times where the play is a little too rough and the toy breaks.  Here are some of the casualties of being a toy:

There have been others.  I knew that toys would be broken.  The nice thing is that most of these can be repaired.  I do not have any yet that have to be thrown out.  My pride and joy is not, nor will it ever be, the completion of a perfect toy that looks too good to play with.  My joy comes from seeing kids play with and enjoy the toys. 
Here is a warning to all those how have received or will receive a toy from me either through purchase or gift.  If I see it on a shelf for display not for play you will never receive another wooden project from me again.  This would be an insult to me and I would take it personally because the toys are meant to be played with.
I do not nor will I ever make a model for display.  It does  pain me to see these toys broken however it warms my heart to see kids happy and smiling because of them.
 My furniture is purely functional.  When it has lost its function it needs to be replaced.  As in the post with the desk, I do not have a problem throwing stuff away that has outlived its usefulness.  Now I did keep the hardware.
I like what I do and I love the smiles I receive.

Fail...Maybe not so bad

In the words of my son "FAIL." The Internet lied or maybe I have a different mattress.  I was so proud of the design and worked hard on making this bed come together nicely.  However I failed on several different fronts.

My son knows to measure twice and cut once

Screwing together the foot board

Adding the drawer glide rails

My son put all the screws in the holes and helped tighten them in

He was also the strength test

Have to check hiding spaces

Adding drawers and yes I was a little frustrated

Drawers pass quality check. 100  lb rated glides are a wonderful thing

Too bad the crawl space was filled with drawers

He wants an addition to his bed

 Was this project a complete waste, no.  It turned out nice despite the fact that I can not measure and follow my own design.

Completed bed with drawers showing

Sectioned drawers.  All three are the same

So here are the problems with the bed:
First I had originally built the bed upside down.  The thinner rail needed to be on the bottom and I put it on the top.  This error caused the drawer rails not to fit how they were designed.  The plan was to be able to disassemble the bed with the drawer glides in the rails.  This error was fixed but at a great cost.  Glue bonds are stronger than wood, so on disassembling the front of the bed chucks of wood were also removed.  The good thing is that all the damaged areas are not visible when the bed is assembled.
The mattress is two inches too narrow and two inches too short.  I designed this bed off of dimensions from the Internet.  So either the Internet lies (that is obvious) or I have mattress made for a trundle.  I think both statements are true.  The mattress is on loan to us currently.  So if anyone has a real twin that they would like to donate to us it would be much appreciated.  I am cheap.
Last major fail, the screws for the hardware are too short.  The drawer is supposed to have hardware and the screws are in, they just do not show through to the other side.  On one of the drawers I did not check be for I drilled it and it shifted 1/2 inch down.  Oh well I can fixed that problem too.

Now for the fun stuff.
The project was actually good for me.  I used some different methods to join wood.  For the most part, when I followed the drawings there was not very many problems on assembly.  All the parts came together and will come apart.  I probably should have protected the threaded insert when finishing.  Some of the screws needed a little more than gentle persuasion to go in.
Here are the specs.  All of the visible face material is pine.  It is cheap and works well for kid furniture.  If it gets ruined no big deal.  The drawer rails are out of beech and oak.  It was a long board I had which was not delegated to a project.  The drawer boxes are out of pre-finished plywood. A very cheap grade with one almost clean face.  Loved the stuff.  It had a nice smooth finish that I did not have to do.  It did tend to chip out on the cross cuts. I had to slow my cutting down a lot to keep the cut clean.  This was the best discovery of the project.
The part that I am most proud of is the ability to assemble and disassemble the bed.  All main rails and top and bottom are screwed into place using threaded inserts and screws.  There are 28 holes that had to line up perfectly.  Half were one size and the other half another size.  The header and footer holes had to line up with the holes on the sides.  All the drawer glide rails had to be at the same height so the assembly was universal.  For these 28 holes I probably sent upwards of two hours on setup.  This was not easy but it came out perfect.
Two drawers are mounted on 22" ball bearing glides and the middle drawer is mounted on 24" ball bearing glides. I have to admit I really like ball bearing glides.  They have a load rating of 100 lbs do they hold up to kids standing on them.
The plans did take some time to work up and figure out all the potential problems.  The fun thing was I was working in 3D space.  This allowed me to find out some of the problems before  I encountered them in the build. 

Plans are located two posts below this.

My Saturday

It was a cool (cold for Californians) morning at Irvine lake.  It was overcast and even a slight drizzle of rain occasionally.  You would think this is going to be a nice peaceful post about being out in nature and seeing some of the beautiful things our God has created for us to enjoy.  However the picture does not show the blaring music, announcers, or the noisy cheering from the volunteers.  It has been about fifteen years since I have competed in a race.  Yesterday was the Irvine Lake Mud Run.  I do not know my time but there were several things that I remembered or learned in this race.
My work put together a large team for this mud run.  The better thing was they paid the registration, so I was in.  I had about three months to train which was plenty of time to prepare for a 5k.  My wife also ran but she ran in the individual race earlier.  She did well.  I do not have any pictures of her in this post.  She will post on Facebook  or maybe her blog about her experience.  This blog is not about my family and out of respect of my coworkers I will not mention their names even though I ran with six of them.
There are no pictures of first part of the race because it was up a hill and really not a lot of good obstacles.

I am at the top of this 20 ft hill.  At the bottom is a deep water hole

The last mile had about 25 of these mud pits.

First of five mounds in this obstacle.  I am a little tired.

The bottom of the mound

This is one of the last obstacles before the finish line. No mud but the mind thought there was.

 

The vary last obstacle was going through a tube.

After the run.  I was a little dirty

 

Other obstacles included walls, ramps, cargo nets and the worst was running in a simi-dry clay lake bed.  Runners lost shoes.  I sunk knee deep and could not get out. There were parts where it was like running on a water bed.  I have been asked if I would do it again, yes I would.  Maybe not this year and not in March again.  It was a lot of fun.
I am going to bore some of you with things that I have learned from this race.
First, I had to prepare.  I was not going to be able complete this run if I was not going to get in shape for it.  In order to accomplish this I need to have a goal.  I would not be running again if there was not a goal insight.  Several times I have wanted to train for a marathon.  I figured it would take about a year and a half.  I would start and get discouraged and stop.  I have found that it is a lot easier accomplish smaller short term goals to accomplish a larger goal.  Now I need a 10k in about 6 months.
The value of a team is important even though running an individual sport.  It was nice to run in a group.  I did not know how well I would do or even if I would be able to run the entire 4 miles.  There were six of us that would be within eye site of each other.  So many times we are focused on our part we forget that we need to encourage the others around us.  They help us and we help them.  I will have to admit.  I ditched the four person team that I was on.  We were a group of all different running capabilities and decided to run at our own pace and in groups with similar capabilities.
Encouragement has to be honest and sincere.  The volunteers were here to help and guide the runners and they were a great help and energetic.  There were a couple at the last mile that were saying the finish is only a quarter of a mile left.  Runners mustered up more energy to finish strong.  In reality, a quarter of a mile ended face to face with a 20 foot tall dirt mound with water before and after this obstacle.  This is more discouraging than encouraging.  Focus on the good that has been accomplished and sense of accomplishment after.
Somethings just cannot be done on your own.  In mile three there we ran over half a mile in a clay lake bed.  This was freshly wet from recent rain and the water table underneath.  Two things I was not doing.  Looking ahead.  I did not see what people ahead of me were doing.  I was not looking at what I was currently doing.  I made it five feet before I sank to my knees in clay and fell forward and sank to my elbows in clay.  I was suck.  Looking ahead no one was running the path.  They were running on the out side where the clay was not so soft but very slippery.  This was the hardest part of the race.
Showers are ok but a fire hose is better.  They had a set of outside showers to rinse off, then they had a person with a fire hose on the other side.  Once numb the cold water was not too bad.  Good water pressure and lots of it removed the mud faster then the showers.  There are times were we cannot just lightly put in the effort, we need to come at a task with full effort and force.
Last, there is great power in the mind.  I was lucky in the first couple of obstacles I was able to break free from the main group and insert myself in the lead pack of my work's team.  I did not imagine I would ever be able to keep up with them but I was in a good pack.  After two miles I was ready to give up, but through encouragement and keeping a positive outlook I stayed with the group. 

I had lots of fun and was very dirty.  It was a little cold for me to do again in March maybe in the summer.

Bed part one

 Here is the bed frame.  I do not have the drawers completed yet but they are next.  It is actually turning out quite nice.  The entire bed will be able to be assembled and disassembled.  I am trying threaded inserts this time.  The two piece biscuits seemed to work last time but they seemed to come apart at assembly which made it difficult to assemble.  Screws and inserts will not come apart so easily.  I also made the drawer glide rails attach with screws.  The neat thing about this bed is I had to be extremely accurate.  If the holes did not line up it would not assemble.  Here are pictures of the dry assembly.  It went together perfectly.

This is the front of the bed

This is the drawer rail attachment.

End of the cabinet.  Sorry did not take a picture of the foot of the cabinet

 This bead will have some extremely deep drawers on full extension ball bearing glides.  I am excited to get this project finished.  Then I get to boot both kids into their own room.
The visible faces of the bead are pine (not going to make a maple bead for a couple of boys).  The inside is what ever I had that could be planed to the same thickness.  there is pine, beech and oak for some of the components.  If you would like the drawings they are located here.  Same rules apply for all my plans.  These are not for sale, use them as you like.

New Computer Desk

Another one of my original projects has been replaced. The computer desk is one of three pieces that I first designed and built. The first being the bookshelves and then I built the desk and the entertainment center together. The entertainment center now resides with my in-laws. The desk now resides in a landfill and the bookshelves are still in use. I built these pieces over ten years ago and they have served as building blocks for what I have accomplished now and what I am capable of doing.


The original desk was a very functioning desk and was great, but slowly became out dated and could not be modified to fit current needs. This desk was built to hold a big CRT monitor. Never would I have thought flat screens would be so affordable. I don’t think you can buy a CRT monitor anymore. The drawers and tower could not be child protected. This created a problem when small children arrived in the Anderson household. We did not have much of a problem with the computer freezing as much as we did with it randomly turning off because someone pushed the lighted power switch. It was a little rickety because I had not found a good way to brace the three pieces together. The main reason it was replaced was because it was big.

It is interesting looking back at the construction and how I built the units. The basic construction is out of ¾” plywood. This made the unit very heavy and over designed. It could have easily been made out of ½” plywood. I built it to look good and unique with a lot of storage. I think that I accomplished this purpose. The drawer boxes are what fascinated me the most. They were nailed together with a butt joint and the drawer bottom was stapled with a staple gun on the bottom. I do not remember making drawers like this. I thought I had at least grooved in the bottom. The main fastening system was pocket screws and brad nails. Not a bad way but not my preferred way anymore.

I used a lot of the things from this desk into the desk that I just built. I like the idea of having a file drawer in the desk and space on top to write things on. I did not like that it was so large that we could almost have dinner around it because it accumulated so much stuff. Some of the main differences are that this is only 15” deep and this is framed with overlay drawers. I saw no need to put a place for the tower because it is going to be integrated into the TV and I had a child locked door on the TV stand. All drawers now have a child lock on them.

Paper drawer

File drawer

Here are some of the specs of this desk. It is made out of hard maple and birch plywood. The drawers are full extension and ball bearing glides. The sides are ¾” thick because it was available. They really should be ½”. I tried some new things with the drawers and top. The drawers are all tongue and grooved together. My joints were not fantastic but it made it a lot easier to square things up. The top was a bread board style top. I took the plywood and cut a groove around the parameter. The wood banding has a tongue cut in it. It came out beautifully. I rounded the corners for safety reasons. Each of the drawers are child locked and the cords are out of the way along with the power switch.

Things I learned from this project.

• Don’t ever buy cheap ¾” plywood. I honestly do not know what I got. I think it was luan or Russian birch. The veneer was thin and chipped out even on rip cuts. When I was finishing parts of it lifted and bubbled. 
• When buying several glides make sure they are all from the same manufacturer. Out of six sets of glides two of them were from a different manufacturer. You would think they were interchangeable. They were not. 
• Bottom panels are not always needed. In the dresser I used a way that removed the bottom panel and with these drawer banks I only used a corner brace. 
• Make sure you know how to install the locking mechanism and adjust the plans accordingly. The top two drawers were suppose to have a key lock to them. I don’t know why, I just thought it would be cool looking. I am glad it did not work out. When I went to test the lock I did not cut the relief big enough so the lock did not fit. On top of that I did not allow enough room for the lock to fully engage before hitting the face frame. It was worth a try but I like the clean look better anyway.

We will see if this works.  I am attaching my plans if any one would like to make this,  The top is completely up to you and is not in the plans.  These are in millimeters and the the conversion is 1" = 25.4mm.  Sorry you will have to do a little bit of math. Here are the plans.  Use them how you would like but you are not allowed to sell them.  Please let me know how this works, it is through Google.docs.  I don't think you can edit but if you can please let me know.  I think I have restricted access to read only but anyone can see the plans if they have the link.