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Wood turning 101

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

My friend Jim has been busy with his new mini lathe making pens and other turnings. His enthusiasm became infectious. It did remind me that I had a new shop without a lathe! I asked Jim to show me his lathe and help me to turn a pen. I promised I wouldn’t buy a lathe until we got together. Saturday morning we spent some time together, and this was the result.

First Pen

The metal parts are from a kit. The walnut turning is my work. With the cool system tools Jim had, it is pretty straight forward to produce an awesome product.

True to my word I did not buy a lathe until I played with Jim’s Rikon mini-lathe. The Rikon is really nice for small work. It is super accurate and exellently machined. But I had in mind something more “industrial” for the shop, particularly something that would fit in with my old Delta/Rockwell collection of tools. By my good fortune, an excellent old Rockwell 46-450 lathe was available on KSL.com classifieds. The lathe was made in 1974, and has seen very little use. Paid about a dollar a pound!

Rockwell 46-450 Lathe

Rockwell 46-450 Lathe

Posted in Woodshop | 2 Comments »

On the path to RPT

Friday, June 26th, 2009

The Piano Technicians Guild offers the Registered Piano Technician (RPT) to individuals who have passed a series of tests demonstrating professional competence in three areas of piano technology: tuning, regulation, and repair.

Last night at the Salt Lake City chapter meeting, I took the first step to certification. I took and passed the written exam! Ahead of me in the next year are two skills tests:

  • Regulation and repair
  • Tuning

    I’ll be practicing the skills I need for the first of these as I complete the rebuild of the Stieff Grand for Syracuse Arts Academy. The tuning exam, for me, is more intimidating. I hope to have enough aural tuning skill to take and pass the tuning exam next summer.

    On the road!

    • Posted in General, Piano Technology | No Comments »

    The woodshop attracts some “new” tools

    Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

    Last week I went to the Davis School District surplus sale hoping to find some cabinets for the shop. And what did I come home with?

    1961 Delta Unisaw

    1961 Delta Unisaw

    How could I resist? If you are a car buff (I’m not!) its a Corvette — the standard of fine US manufacturing and engineering. If you are a woodworker, its the Delta Unisaw — the standard of fine US manufacturing and engineering. It needs new bearings, cleanup and a paint job, and then I’ll have a beautiful working classic in the shop.

    The motor is the original manufactured by Doerr Electric. It is a 3-phase, 2 HP motor. Since I don’t have 3-phase in the shop, I didn’t really know where to start with the motor. Did it just have bad bearings as disclosed at the sale, or was it burned out? By posting on sawmillcreek.org, I got a very generous offer from Shane Whitlock. He said, “Nice grab … I took a look at that one too and seriously considered it but decided to pass. I just got rid of one of my Uni’s so I don’t need to be picking up another. Definitely have the motor checked out, or I am not too far from ya, bring it over and we can tear into it.”

    Sunday I drove up to Perry to meet Shane. Whoa! What a deal. Shane has a superior collection of restored vintage woodworking tools in his shop, and is constantly restoring woodworking equipment. I sure fell into a wealth of knowledge. We powered up the motor with 3-phase power he has available in his shop, and determined that the motor is fine, but bearings should be replaced. I’m planning to keep the motor and buy or build a 3-phase rotary converter for the shop. After success with this, who knows, another 3-phase machine could be in my future.

    While I was touring Shane’s shop, he pointed out the 13″ Rockwell planer (1982) that he had restored, and offered it for sale. I hesitated, but said, “no … I have two planers”. The next day, I went back and bought that planer! It is more accurate (and much prettier) than the two planers I have, and the price was just too good!

    13 inch Rockwell Planer (1982)

    1982 13″ Rockwell Planer
    As pictured it has a 120 V motor. As purchased, it has the original 230 V Rockwell motor.

    Posted in Woodshop | 2 Comments »

    So you think you’re gonna ride the SLC Century?

    Sunday, March 1st, 2009

    Last week I rode my first 20 mile ride of the season. Foolishly, this week I asked my friend Troy if he’d like to go on 20 mile ride with me. I’m beat. Not quite the athlete stud I’d like to be! A couple of problems here.

    • Troy is an athlete stud, even if this was his first ride of the season
    • I foolishly suggested that we start at his house (250 ft higher than the low point on the route)
    • I let Troy determine the route, which turned out to be 27 miles, not 20 miles.
    • Troy set a leisurely pace (for him!), and I foolishly kept up with him for the first 13 miles
    • I’m carrying an extra 20 pounds THAT NEED TO GO AWAY!

    27 mile route: North Ogden through West Weber

    Posted in Cycling, General | 1 Comment »

    Woodshop progress: Lighting and Dust Collection Cyclone

    Saturday, February 21st, 2009

    I keep plugging away. After hanging ceiling drywall and fifteen light fixtures, I’m pretty good at getting up and down a scaffold. So why don’t I feel like a kid? (because its been 40 years since I was sixteen?)

    The lighting is beautiful to my eyes – pretty much drafting room quality. Its fifteen dual-tube 8′ fixtures (T-12), for the 28X30 space. About 1900 watts total. I have it wired on two 15A circuits. I haven’t yet "split the ballasts", but will do that. When that is done, I’ll have the ballast in each fixture light just one tube in of its own and one of a neighboring fixture. That way I can have uniform lighting at 50% and 100%, depending on the need at the time.

    The fluorescent fixtures are not state of the art. Current lighting is predominantly efficient T-8 (1 inch) fixtures which are very nice and quiet! While I would like to go premium, the cost savings of my used T-12′s (1-1/2 inch) paid for the ClearVue cyclone. I found 20 used fixtures with tubes for $400 and grabbed the deal.

    Here’s today’s photos:

    Posted in General, Woodshop | 1 Comment »

    Spring is coming!

    Thursday, February 19th, 2009

    When I got up yesterday, I decided to encourage spring a bit by shaving off my beard. It worked! Yesterday afternoon the sun came out and snow began to melt. It was in the mid-40′s when I got home at 4. I installed the mesh seat that Terri repaired in November. I pumped the tires up to 90 PSI and I got on my bike and went for a ride! I rode like the wind. Well, not quite. The bike wanted to go fast, but my body didn’t. 2.5 miles, and I was well … I was pooped. 3 months of no riding just is not a good training program. But I sure felt alive afterward! Clean air and ice-free roads are coming soon. Let’s ride!

    Posted in Cycling, General | 1 Comment »

    Whew. February 15

    Sunday, February 15th, 2009

    Each year, my quartet, Sound Accord, delivers singing Valentines. It’s always a joy! This year since Valentines Day was Saturday, we sang on both Friday and Saturday. We delivered songs to 21 sweethearts on Friday and to 11 on Saturday. It was two days of tears, laughter, and kisses. What a love fest! We sang for teenage sweethearts and for octogenarian sweethearts. We sang before hundreds, and to just one. Each of the 32 events was unique, but each was a clear expression of love. I just plain love being in the middle of it.

    Posted in General, Music | No Comments »

    Singing Valentines in Utah County

    Monday, February 2nd, 2009

    Sound Accord Quartet Singing Valentine

    Once again my quartet, Sound Accord, will be delivering singing Valentines for the big day. We will schedule our biggest day on Feb 13, so that we can deliver to schools and businesses. We will also be available mid-day on Feb 14.

    If you are a man who would like us to sing to your girl friend, wife, or other female significant other, please call Duane at 801-830-5858. If you are a woman, who would like us to sing to a man, well … NO. We did that a couple of times early in our career. It just doesn’t work! (At least not for us!) We will be singing in Utah County only. (Provo UT, Orem UT, Lindon UT, Pleasant Grove UT, American Fork UT, Lehi UT, etc.)

    We deliver 2 love songs and a long stemmed rose as your Valentine for a fee of just $45.

    More about the quartet is here: SoundAccord.com

    Posted in General, Music | No Comments »

    Woodshop progress: insulation and drywall

    Friday, January 2nd, 2009

    My shop is too big! OK. That’s the last time you’ll hear that. Though the work continues it seems slow! There’s just a lot to do. I had the week off from work. It has been nice. Most of the insulation is done on the lower level. For now, I’ve just sealed off the attic room. I love insulation! Though temperatures have been in the 20′s and 30′s a very small fire in the woodstove keeps the place nice and comfy. Sheetrock is installed on 90% of the shop ceiling. The storage ceiling is yet to be done. Most of the ceiling was a two-person effort, with the help of Terri or Erin. (That’s the way to do it!) But I did about 5 panels on my own. The drywall lift I rented made the job pretty easy. I don’t know how else I could have managed to install drywall on an 11-foot ceiling. Cool stuff. I hope the engineer had an equity position. The Telpro panel lift is a great tool!

    Drywall lift

    Shop Ceiling

    Posted in General, Woodshop | 2 Comments »

    Barn at Sunrise

    Friday, January 2nd, 2009

    December 31, 2008 – Plain City, Utah
    Plain City UT Barn at Sunrise
    This photograph was a “team effort”. I was the driver. My daughter, Erin, was the photographer. In my youth, I enjoyed photography, and apparently the genes have successfully transferred. Erin visited for the holiday week, and brought her new high-end digital SLR camera. It was my suggestion that we go out to photograph some of Utah’s vanishing agricultural landscape. I’ve had the project in mind for some time. We had a great time and took lots of pictures. The photo above is the masterpiece of the week. We visited the site first on Tuesday, then decided to return Wednesday at sunrise for this shot.

    Vanishing landscape? This particular barn is across the street from a new subdivision.

    Posted in General | 1 Comment »

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