WoodworkingONLINE.com

ShopNotes magazine has finally given its readers a practical reason to download Google’s design and drawing software — SketchUp. In Issue No. 102, the magazine features a great plan for a Cabinetmaker’s Workbench. And for the first time, they’re providing an Online Extra feature that I think is really cool — a SketchUp model of the workbench in 3-D.

If you’re familiar with the program, you know how powerful a tool it is. And if you’re new to it, Google has provided dozens of video tutorials, an extensive Help Center and even live training classes that make it easy to start modeling your own projects right away.

ShopNotes associate editor Randy Maxey came up with the idea to add the model to the magazines’ website. He thought it would be fun to provide readers with a professionally-designed project that they can actually take apart to really get a feel for the way it goes together before deciding to build it. And best of all, if you want to modify the workbench — make it taller, longer, or even change it to feature an edge-grain top — you can take the model and make any changes you want to reflect your particular needs

Other free downloads at the website include plans for the drawers, a short video animation of the workbench’s best features, and a fraction-to-decimal conversion chart.

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

A block plane makes quick work of chamfering the edge of a workpiece. To ensure a constant width and angle, I built the base shown in the photo above. It slips over the plane to make ¼″ chamfers and doesn’t require any setup.

The base is simply two triangular-shaped runners glued to a pair of side pieces. Then cross supports are glued into notches in the front and back to hold the sides together.

Two rare-earth magnets glued into recesses in the runners hold the plane securely in place. A shallow dado is cut in the top of the runners at the mouth of the plane for the exposed iron.

The base is easy to use. With your block plane in the base, position the V-shaped groove formed by the runners over the edge of the workpiece. Then plane the workpiece until both runners sit flush. It worked so well I made a second one for ¹/₈″ chamfers.

You can learn even more simple shop techniques, just go to PlansNOW.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

My workshop shares space with the family car. So it’s important that all of my power tools be portable and take up as little space as possible. So I made the fold-up router table you see here.

I made a simple router table top and attached it to a pair of 2×4’s with screws. Then, after removing the top of an adjustable clamping table, I mounted the router table to the clamping table stand, as shown in the left photo above. The table is firmly supported by the clamping table base.

The nice thing about the table is it can be raised and lowered to match the task at hand. Best of all, I can remove the router and quickly fold the table up to store it against the wall whenever it’s not in use (right photo).

If you’d like to see other router table plans, just go to PlansNOW.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

Drilling a centered hole in a dowel can be a challenge. It’s hard to get the drill bit centered and keep the dowel from turning as the hole is drilled. To make it easier, I built the jig shown below.

Build the jig by first drilling a hole the diameter of the dowel in a piece of hardwood. Then just cut a saw kerf through the hole from the end to make a clamp.

Using the jig is simple. Begin by centering the dowel under the bit. To do this, clamp a piece of scrap wood to the table and drill a hole to fit the dowel. Then change out the bit to the size needed.

Next, slip the dowel into the hole in the scrap wood. Then slip the clamping jig over the dowel and squeeze the kerf together with a small clamp. Now you can clamp the jig in place and drill the hole in the center of the dowel.

To learn more essential woodworking tips and techniques, just go to: http://www.plansnow.com/basics.html.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

I wanted to add an auxiliary table and fence to my drill press. But I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. So I built the simple drill press table and fence with a replaceable insert you see in the photo above. The fence is adjustable and has a sliding stop.

Table

The table is two layers of ¾″ plywood that are glued together. A dado on the top side at each end holds T-tracks for attaching the fence. Two bottom-mounted T-tracks attach the table to the drill press, as you can see in detail ‘b’ and the photo at right.

Fence

The fence is nothing more than a length of aluminum angle. A slotted hole at each end accepts a flange bolt from the table so you can quickly mount and adjust the fence to meet almost any drilling challenge.

Stop Block

To help position and hold the workpiece, I added a stop block to the fence. It’s simply a block of wood attached to an aluminum bracket. A knob and T-nut, are used for adjusting the block and securing it in position on the fence (detail ‘a’).

You can find even more ways to upgrade your power tools, just go to: http://plansnow.com/toolstandplans.html.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

The router table in my shop gets lots of use. But it’s always difficut to make fine adjustments to the fence. So I built the micro-adjuster you see in the photo above using spare parts I had around the shop.

The adjuster is easy to build. Start by drilling and tapping a strip of ¼″ aluminum to accept a piece of threaded rod. And then bend the aluminum strip into an “L” shape.

Next, drill two holes in a hardwood adjusting block. One horizontal hole for the threaded rod and a vertical one for the hold-down. Then you can cut a dado at the bottom of the fence to hold the piece of L-shaped aluminum in place.

Assembly. Put the pieces together by slipping the threaded rod through the adjusting block and adding washers and locknuts, like you see in the drawing and detail below. This allows the aluminum strip attached to the fence to be moved forward and backward one thread at a time when you make fine fence adjustments.

Fence Adjustment. To use the micro-adjuster, you’ll first need to lock down the opposite end of the fence. Then lock down the micro-adjuster by tightening the knob on top of the adjusting block. Use the turning knob to adjust the fence to the desired position. Once the fence is located where you want it, lock down the other end of the fence. Then all that’s left is to turn on your router and you’re ready to go.

If you’d like even more great ideas for getting more from your router, go to: Router Tables at PlansNow.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

Measuring the width for a drawer bottom can be a challenge. I usually measure several times just to make sure I get it right.Then I made the simple drawer gauge shown in the photo below. Now, I don’t have to worry about the “numbers.” The gauge always shows me the exact distance.

It’s made from two pieces of aluminum angle joined together by a small wood block (see end view below right). The telescoping arms are two pieces of flat aluminum bar stock set side by side. A knurled knob, pressed-in threaded insert, and a penny sets and adjusts the arms.

It’s easy to use the gauge to set up your table saw for the cut. Just slide the arms until each one touches the bottom of the groove in the drawer sides. Then tighten the knob to secure the arms.

Next place the end of one arm against the blade and the other arm against your rip fence. Lock the fence in position and make the cut.
Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

When gluing and clamping small parts together, it’s always a challenge to align large clamps to hold them in place as the glue dries. To make this job easier, I built the small parts clamp you see in the photo above.

The base is two pieces of ¾″ plywood glued together and trimmed to size. Two grooves in the base hold a pair of T-tracks, as shown in the drawing below.

Next, two pieces of hardwood serve as the stop block and clamping block. They are drilled to hold flange bolts and two sections of threaded rod, as the illustration shows below.

Place a T-nut in each hole at the back edge of the stop block, slide a threaded rod through the holes in both of the blocks, and then screw them into the T-nuts, like you see in the side view below right. A little epoxy at the end of the rod will keep it from turning. Next, slide the four flange bolts in the T-track, slip the blocks over the bolts and add the washers and wing nuts. Finally, add the washers and thread the knobs on the rod.

To use the clamp, loosen the wing nuts and place the parts to be clamped between the blocks. Position the front of the clamping block to extend slightly beyond the edge of the base so you can turn the knobs and secure the stop block in place. Finally, snug up the star knobs and tighten the wing nuts to lock the clamping block in place.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber

Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

I never seem to have enough storage space in my shop. This is especially the case when it comes to screws, fasteners, and other odds and ends. Things I need close at hand, but don’t use every day.

So, to store these and other small items, I built a pull-out storage case, like you see in the photo at right. The case is large enough to hold a couple of small plastic storage cabinets with lots of drawers (the kind you find at hardware stores and home centers). I also added a few shelves to store other items.

Since I wanted to be able to move the case, I placed it on wheels (see drawing at right). A handle attached to the side lets me simply pull it out to get to the items and then push it back out of the way again.

The case fit nicely against the wall next to my workbench. It worked so well that I built a couple more cases and rolled them next to one another. Now I have lots of storage in a space that would have gone to waste.

Good woodworking,
Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

© August Home Publishing Company
2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312

Click here if you’d like to subscribe to ShopNotes magazine.

While I was vacationing near my hometown in Ohio in August, I received a phone call from a long-time family friend, Dave Corwin, from Delaware, Ohio. He and my dad are friends with a history spanning several decades. When I married, our first home was across the street from Dave’s, so we became friends as well as neighbors. The best part was, he was a fellow woodworker. There were three of us woodworkers on the block, so we could often be found in each other’s shop on any given day sipping a cup of coffee and telling a story or two.

Dave called to tell me that he made a Shop-Built Mallet we featured in ShopNotes 95. He said he really enjoyed the article and was especially tickled and surprised when I told him I wrote it. He said he had a little trouble planing the resawn stock to thickness. Here’s what Dave said about the project:

“The mallet was fun to make and was a challenging project. One problem that I encountered was that the double faced tape did not work out very well because it continually got saw dust in it. So, what I did was put a ¾” board on the planer table and ran the thin pieces through on top of this board. That seemed to work out well.”

Dave also commented that he really thought the simple resaw pivot block for the band saw was a great idea. He built one and used it for this project.

Thanks for sharing, Dave.