The new Tug Boat

There are many people that have received a tug boat from me.  It seems to be the baby shower gift of choice.  The original tug boat came from the Making Heirloom Toys.  It was a pretty simple toy that could be made in mass quantities.  There was a couple things that I did not like about it.  The first was the wood that wasted in making these tug boats.  It was a lot of template work so the board had to be wide enough to fit the template.  The second (this was my choice) they were made out of two different woods for color.  This involved gluing pieces together and so there was a a little bit of preparation to make these. I was also not a fan of the router work.  It was a lot of passes for a good smooth finish.  However they were an easy build and I enjoyed making them.  I have worn out two templates and four router bits to make these boats. Each one is unique and does float even though I do not recommend it.  This pattern changes some of the things that I makes it easier for me to make while still maintaining the parts that I love about the original design.

The main thing that I changed was no more pattern routing.  It was a pain to set up and there was a fair amount of waste.  All the parts are cut out either on the table saw or scroll saw.  I still have the two different species of wood for color even though the oak and dark maple do not create a lot of contrast in this one.  Scrap and setup has been reduced.  I also don't ruin router bits and bushings to make this toy.  The roof can also be made out of the cut out from the part that sits on the hull.  My favorite part about this toy.  It is compact and fits in small hands.  There are a lot of places to grip and touch.  It also slides really well on carpet.

Here are a couple of pictures of the old and new versions of the tug boats.  Sorry about the color combination of the old version.  I had beech and green poplar when making them.  It looked better prior to staining.

Here are a couple of things I took away from this project: 

• This is not in my normal scope of design. I would like to design everything our of standard dimensioned lumber.  This has some 1/2" thick pieces in it.  It is not the end of the world.  This is how I am designing all my trucks.
• Shellac goes bad.  It does not take much to finish toys so my one pint of shellac lasts a little while, so I thought.  I ruined some measuring sticks because the shellac did not cure.  I noticed when finishing the boats, it took a little while for the shellac to not be tacky.  I guess shellac does not last long after the bottle has been opened.  So my two options are to make my own shellac or buy the aerosol cans.  I think I will try making my own.  Like most wood terminology the mixture is confusing.  Good thing there is the internet to define what is a  2 lb cut of shellac.
• I am debating whether I need the lower cabin windows.  Opinions would be appreciated.

Monster Truck

Roughly 2 1/2 years ago I started these trucks.  I have been diverted doing other things and projects.  Mostly I was dragging my feet solely on finishing the wheels.  Literally all I had to do was the wheels.  The plans came from the book Tremendous Toy Trucks.  I have done several of the plans and they are well done.  My only complaint is the the undefined shapes.  A lot of the cabs and detail is done when it "looks good".  I have some artistic merit, but really I am an engineer and like things defined.  Overall the monster trucks came out really well.  I made four in total.  My kids get two and I am donating two to a local charity. 

 There was a lot of sanding and shaping.  The majority of the parts were roughed out with a band saw and then shaped into the look.  I have a real appreciation for those individuals who only use hand tools.  There is a trick and a talent to using a rasp and file.  I personally like my belt sander.

 There are some details that were on the plan that I did leave off.  Mostly for safety reasons.  The plans called for a drive train.  I didn't feel some dowels on the under carriage would hold up to the abuse my kids would put it through.  Then I forgot the back bumper.  Opps, it still looks good.

The wheels were seriously my hold up.  It is not that they were that hard.  It is up my ally of cut and sand smooth.  Here are my issues with them.  Each wheel takes two pieces of 3/4" walnut multiplied by four for each truck (16 wheels in total).  Each wheel was cut out using a 2 1/2" hole saw.  It was then sanded down because the hole saw leaves a nasty edge.  The table saw was then set up to make the grooves in the tires.  There were lefts and right for both inside and outside parts. So I had to keep them straight.  I am amazed that I even kept them straight with only a couple of mistakes.  With the cutting the grooves there was a lot of blow out.  I was told that these would be sanded out.  Some blow out was a little deep.  Then each groove had to be hand sanded. When gluing the two parts together I needed to make sure there was no squeeze out because there was no way to sand it out.  Now that they are all done I have to confess, I only made wheels for three of them.  The fourth received manufactured wheels that I purchased.  My wife says it makes the truck look wimpy and she is right.  I could not make another set of wheels.

Here are the cool things that came out of this build:

• I actually made these trucks
• I had a lot of practice sanding and shaping
• I made a circle sanding jig for my belt sander for the wheels
• I got a good after market miter gauge for the table saw
• I have happy kids for the current time

This was a fun build  I really do not anticipate me making any more.  These are almost solid lumber.

Grader

 The grader had a few more issues than I wanted.  The first and most disappointing was the blade did not work.  The lift worked just fine and it rotates.  In the design, I failed to realized I had only a single dowel keeping the blade vertical.  So when the blade pushed something, it would just flop back.  It was solved by a couple of brad nails.  I have fixed the drawings and everything works well now.  The other disappointment was the size.  It was huge compared to the other two pieces.  I took about three inches out of the overall length. and some out of the height.  It is still a pretty wide piece of equipment. 

The overall dimensions are 16 3/4" long, 10" wide (blade), 7 1/4" tall.  The material is poplar and finished in shellac.

Excavator

 

The excavator is my favorite of the three because of all the moving parts.  I am truly grateful for 3D modeling systems.  Without one I would not have been able to design all the moving parts so that they fit together without interference the first time.  This is the only one that requires metal hardware. There are other ways of making the unit spin but lazy susan hardware seemed the most logical and easiest.  I also had to pre-finish most of the parts.  The best part of the excavator is there is a way to move the bucket.  I was not all that pleased with the range of movement of the arm and bucket but I can pick up M&M's and dump them in the dump truck.  That is good enough for me.
The assembly was not all that bad.  I was worried about parts breaking or not lining up. It could not have come together easier.  I am trying something on this.  I hope it works but I do not know.  There really was not a good way to glue in the dowels.  So I cut the dowels 1/4" short and then filled in the space with glue.  I am hoping this works, time will tell.
I felt that the excavator was a little small.  So in the plans I grew the tread a quarter inch and made it wider by a half an inch.  I think this will make it look bigger.  I also changed the cab to look more like the dump truck. I was not really pleased with the set on top roof.  These are reflected in the revised drawings and not on the prototype.

The excavator measures 24" long 7 1/4" tall and 6 1/2" wide and is finished in Shellac.

The Dump Truck

 

This is the first of three projects that I just finished.  I was really excited to start and finish these toys because they are my design!  I have always like to design and so this is a natural step for me.  I have decided to break up each project in its own post.  The first will be the dump truck.
This was probably the easiest of the three but it had some challenges.  It is made out of poplar and oak dowels.  I consider these prototypes so I used a lighter and softer wood.  I used basic power tools and was impressed how easily it came together.  My favorite part of the dump truck is the cab.  I went through about three designs before I realized I could make it hollow.  This made it much lighter, not as many glue ups, and looks a lot better than the solid cabs that I have seen.  The dumping mechanism is the same as the first dump truck I designed.  I also added a lip so that things will actually stay in the bucket when transported instead of falling out.  It is sturdy and not easily broken.  My kids stand and sit on their toys so I knew that I needed to make it durable.  The dowels are both for decoration and strength.  I changed the cab side drawing a little because if the back and top are a little thick, so  the edge can be seen through the window.  So I gave myself a little more factor of safety.

The finish is Shellac and the truck measures 17 1/4" long 8" tall and 6" wide.  It is a good sturdy design for the 3-8 year old child.

Testing Sessions

I think I am finally going to do this.  My wife and I have talked about it for some time, but when ever we have a date planned something comes up.  So here is the deal.  I have always wanted to have other kids come over and play with the toys that I have made.  I think I am going to use Facebook and link this post to it to give the general details.  I hope to do this when I introduce new toys into the collection.
Here is the deal.  I will open the toy collection to 3-4 kids between the ages of 3 and 6.  Most of my toys are construction equipment and cars.  Play time will be between 10-12 noon.  We will have pizza for lunch around 11:30.  Here are things to note:

• The toys are played with in sawdust/shavings in the garage.  The area will be dusty with dust in the air.  
• Kids have to be potty trained.  Sorry I will change my kids' diapers but not yours.
• Lunch is provided for the kids. Please make sure I know of any allergies. It is pizza so there there are many different ways to make it and the kids will have some input.
• Kids will be expected to play some what nicely.  I will not tolerate the toys to be thrown or abused.
• It is a first come bases.  Please email me your phone number and names of your kids and I will contact you if there is space for your kid(s).  My email is located in my profile on the right.
• Each time will be a new list, so you will need to sign up each time.  There will not be a waiting list. 
• Please pick up your kids promptly at noon.

I will post on Facebook each  time I am going to do this. 

Cubby Book Shelves

I was asked a little over a month ago to make a cubby shelf unit for a preschool.  The owner pretty much had the design they wanted which made it a lot easier than designing the unit from scratch.

 There was some pretty big huddles that I needed to overcome to make this unit.  The first was that I no longer have a truck.  5x5  birch sheets do not fit in a mini van.  I ended up tying them to the roof.  I really was scared that I would end up with 5 sheets of birch ply all over the street.

Although they did not fall off, the rope loosened to give the boards about a  1/2" of play in all directions.  This was enough to make me nervous and I will have to tie down better if I do this again.
I also worried about how I was going to put it together.  The largest claps I have are 48" bar clamps and these units were going to be 60" long.  I thought about stringing claps together but that used up clamps fast.  I ended up borrowing 60" pipe claps from work.  They worked great.
The next was the finishing.  There were a lot of areas that were going to be very difficult to finish after everything was assembled.  I decided to pre-finish the parts.  I went through an entire role of masking tape to mask off all the grooves and glue joints.  It took forever.  I did everything but the outside faces.  I probably should have pre-finished everything.  I will say it was a pain to mask everything off and then take all the tape off, but is was in the end easier to pre-finish than it would have been to finish the assembled units.

The first dry fit was not as good as I had hoped.  I did all the grooving on a CNC mill.  I could have done it on my own with a handheld router.  The CNC router saved me about two Saturdays and a lot of set up.  I messed up on the notching distance so I had to finish the cutouts by hand.  This was a minor price to pay for the time saved.
Overall it was a good project.  I only made a couple of mistakes and all but one was covered up well.  it is a pretty sturdy unit which should last a long time.  Everything is grooved into place.  I also arched the frame rails just because I could.  I am kind of tired of the square look so I wanted to try something different.  It was interesting to use the drum sander on the long arches.  There must be a trick to getting one smooth arch.  I think I would push too hard because the arched went bumpy.  It took a little while to sand out the bumps.
The build was fun, I think toys are more my thing.