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I’ve been working on another dining table, this one a “Prairie Style” table for a client out of quartersawn white oak. The design includes a bunch of mortise and tenon joints, which of course I decided to cut on the ShopBot (is there another way?). A dilemma stemmed from my lack of either a … Continue reading >>> Machining Solid Wood – Mortises Occasionally I get to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing a long-term project come to fruition. I recently completed an odyssey that began over 5 years ago when a large black oak tree fell over across the street from my house, and ended recently with the completion of a twelve-sided dining table. I had … Continue reading >>> My Magnum Opus Our quest to create the perfect solid wood raised panel door on a ShopBot raised many questions. We began by measuring the thickness of our current door panels to determine the needed depth of cut and create a plan for two part jig system to hold the door panels in place while they … Continue reading >>> Making a Perfect Door, II: Construction and Reprogramming Our quest began when our bit supplier mentioned a bit that would allow us to cut the coves for raised panels. We build 5 piece solid wood doors; until now the panels have been sized with a cross-cut saw and shaped by means of a Grizzly G7214z 7.5 horsepower spindle shaper. Then … Continue reading >>> Making the Perfect Door, Part I: Concept and Programming This weekend the ShopBot Jamboree returns to Durham and we’re all looking forward to getting together with ShopBotters from around the country. We’ve enjoyed doing the Jamboree on the West Coast and then in Texas, but it’s good to be back home too. Our Jamboree is a lot of things, but most of all … Continue reading >>> ShopBot Jamboree Coming This Week … I have been wanting to post some thoughts on two recent, heavily discussed, blog articles , Chris Anderson’s (of Wired Magazine) report on new kinds of small manufacturing operations and Joel Johnson’s (of gizmodo) spirited critique. Between the two, there’s been a lot of good discussion of the ways in which new technologies do … Continue reading >>> Thoughts & Comments on Digital Fabrication and the New Industrial Revolution While puttering on various MAKEcation projects, I’ve continued to ponder the economy and how to relate to today’s conditions as a small business. Last week’s government report of continued job losses in December prompted me to get some of the thoughts down. These have grown to be a bit extensive, so for convenience I’ve … Continue reading >>> It's Still the Economy, of Course … [Part 1] Getting More Specific for Us at ShopBot The specific problem that confronts both ShopBot and ShopBotters is that it’s not possible to know exactly what form the new opportunities I’ve vaguely described will take — or the exact directions we should move or the projects we should undertake. But the issue has our attention. … Continue reading >>> Economy, continued … [Part 2] Well, I finally took the plunge. A little over a year ago I reached the point where drilling and cutting full sheets of material was pretty routine, but having to manually draw, nest and toolpath the sheets full of parts was so time consuming – and occasionally error-prone – that it was becoming obvious … Continue reading >>> Cabinetmaking Software Continuing with the discussion of my MAKEcation art project introduced in an earlier posting, I’ve had a general idea of how I’d like these paintings/carvings to look — that is, the feeling I’m going for — yet, I’m not really sure about the specifics of how I’m going to do it. I am sure … Continue reading >>> Testing Painted Bas-Relief Methods |
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