The Bedroom Desk 3
Remember the desk? Last worked on it way back in August…
Anyway, I finished it last Monday, and here’s the final part. Because it’s finished.
This here is the pile of wood that the desk has been for the last few months. Upon looking at the proportions of the desk, I realized it was too long.
Look after the jump to see in progress shots.
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The Bedroom Desk 2
What’s on the schedule for today? More of the same. Almost exactly the same in fact – I made a mirror image of what I made yesterday, then cut the three cross pieces. The cross pieces are located at the front of the desk, in the middle of the desk, and about 1/3 of the way up between the two back uprights. It really is an incredibly simple design.
More after the jump.
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The Bedroom Desk
And we’re off. So after rough cutting my 17 foot lengths of material down to a manageable size I started marking out and cutting the back upright. This piece, and it’s mirror, are the anchors of the desk. The writing surface and the shelves intersect with it, and it connects to the two legs, which connect to the front uprights which support the front of the desk.
So, it’s a bit crucial to get it right. I’m using this new mitre saw I bought a while back for in and around 20 euros from Homebase, and it does a great job of making sure that your cuts are straight, or well angled if you so wish. It doesn’t do compound mitres, which annoyed me slightly when taking it out of the box, but after using it today it does many jobs quite well. Cutting 2 by 2’s though… it’s about as much as it can handle.
More after the jump.
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Prospective Project #2
And here is my second prospective project. This is a desk for my room that has to fit in a very confined space: 80cm by 80cm. It’s between the end of my bed and the wall, and there’s nowhere else for it to go because my room is rather small. It’s one of the two box rooms in the house.
I am actually building this project starting Friday. I’m going to try and do it in a weekend, but it’s unlikely seeing how complicated it is. The two back uprights have 8 or 9 joints each. On one piece of wood. Man that’s going to be tough to pull off.
Did the planning and I’ll be able to make it with just 3 lengths of 50mm by 50mm. That’s 2″ by 2″ in the old money.
Prospective project #1
I have the house to myself this weekend. I’m considering doing a project. Google sketchup is a fantastic program to use when you’re thrashing out some details. The picture is of a craft table I’m considering; I could build the skeleton quite easily in a weekend.
The drawer fronts could be plastic, coloured with a tinted sheet. I really like this design so I’m going to keep going on it, and maybe I’ll build it one day.
I’ll probably make myself a desk this weekend though as I am in bad need of one.
Here’s an idea, since this is a first prospective project, maybe I’ll design 4 or 5 things then you, my loyal readers can vote on them.
Tool Review: Challenge Xtreme Impact Drill
Hello there are welcome to the second of The Mad Carpenter’s tool reviews. Today we have a look at the power drill, one of the corner stones of the woodworking world. You need a drill these days; either for driving screws, drilling pilot holes or drilling… larger holes. It seems really limited, but trust me, it gets you out of a lot of work at times.
I splashed out 30 euros for this drill, which isn’t a lot to some, but I’m on a very fixed budget. There was one for half the price of this one, but it didn’t include a carry case, and I thought I’d splash out a bit.
More pictures and reviewing after the jump.
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BP Thursday
So today is bit devoid of information, so I’ll give you something else:
Autocad design after the Jump.
It’s a coffin.
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The Other Mad Carpenters
In a moment of idle contemplation, I googled “The Mad Carpenter” and apparently it has shown up in a lot of places before I got to it.
I don’t see this as ripping off someone’s idea, I see it in the way I see many things: Good ideas never die. Two totally separate people invented the television at the same time, coming up with the combination of words “The Mad Carpenter” has obviously struck several people throughout time, and I’m just one of them.
Want to meet the others?
1. The Mad Carpenter Inn. If I’m ever in Laramie Wyoming I’ll be sure to drop in to them, get some pictures and spend the night.
2. Serology: It’s in the blood. A tale of a killer carpenter from Germany in 1901. It’s a true crime forensics deal.
3. Mad Carpenter: A Spanish Fantasy. An ebook titled Mad Carpenter. It’s a little uncanny though, in the blurb it says:
[...] who is the mad carpenter, to collect timbers for his making of her coffin
He’s a mad carpenter, that’s making a coffin? Like the coffin I made?
Spooky.
4. A piece of fractal art. Speaks for itself really.
5. The Mad Carpenter by Jalan Crossland. A song and everything. That video is not actually 20 minutes long. Check out the hat on that guy. I’m starting to think that us mad carpenters are of an ilk.
Jalan Crossland “The Mad Carpenter”
Oh and by the way, the reason I chose “The Mad Carpenter” is because I’ve always liked the idea of being a “Mad Scientist” but I was never any good at science. What I am good at, is making things out of wood.
So there’s my top 5 other Mad Carpenters. Obviously, I’m number 1.
Tool Review: Challenge power screwdriver
Hello and welcome to the first of, hopefully, many tool purchases and reviews. As an amateur carpenter there is seldom greater a joy than purchasing a new gizmo or whirlygig with which to make working with wood and metal not only easier, but more fun. Who doesn’t love a good gadget?
Today’s tool is a 3.6V power screwdriver from the budget tool range Challenge which I’ve only ever really seen stocked at Argos, a strange mix of warehouse and retail shop.
Just to explain Argos to the those of you out there that don’t know; you walk in, look through the laminated catalog of dreams, fill in your slip with the tiny pens provided, then wait for the great computer God ARGOS to call your number and deliver you your wonderous delights.
Enough of that, on to the screwdriver.
This is the little box that it came in, promising lots of goodies and joy inside. However for you kiddies, the goodies and joy are after the jump.
Guess who got mentioned on national radio?
That’d be me. I was mentioned on the Ray Foley Show yesterday.
On Today FM, one of the national radio stations of Ireland.
So there you go. Minor fame. Don’t discount local publicity outside of the internet.
Hundreds of views in a single day, due to a little mention on the radio.
Thanks Ray.
The Mario Cube: Phase 2
Welcome to the second installment of the Mario Cube project.
When I last updated youse, the box was a mere skeleton.
But now, the box is covered in skin, the hinges are installed, and the construction phase of the box is done. All that’s left to do is to phase 3 – paint. But that’s fodder for another blog post.
The skinning of the box is a relatively simple task, but it is really fiddly. There is a great deal of shift and shimmy, a lot of nudge and bump… I’ll just say this, I’m really glad that I’ve got my new belt sander.
If you’d care to step this way, and glance downwards you’ll see the nearly finished project.
Here it is. Notice the bolts, I’ll get to those later.
Each side of the box was a little fiddly to fit, but these things usually are. I decided to have the plywood overlap on one corner of each side so that end grain would only appear once on each side. This decision also made each of the sides closer to each other in size. I tacked the plywood to the skeleton after cutting and then belt sanded three of the sides; I belt sanded the fourth after the second side was tacked in place. It made the whole thing nice and uniform. Brilliant.
Pictures of the inside and details about the bolts after the jump.
1 UP! The Mario Cube Project
Hello St. Louis!
That is, if there’s anyone out there from St. Louis reading this…
Anyway, you may have been wondering: why, on a blog called “the mad carpenter” has there not been any carpentry?
Well, today there is. This project is titled “The Mario Cube”
I’m sure most of you that have had any experience of the Nintendo 64, the SNES or the Wii will know their anchor character – Mario. One of the early modern video game characters, and much beloved by what must now be two (or three) generations of gamers.
Practically the first task one must complete in the original Mario game is to hit a box with a question mark on it in order to obtain a mushroom that makes you grow in size.
The box that I am creating, paying homage to, is that box.
The build:
Step one
I started off by buying the necessary wood: 1 x 1 inch pine and some 1/4 inch plywood. I planned on making the cube 12 x 12 x 12 inches, but knowing my very basic style of carpentry, there would be wiggle room, and as long as it works well, I’m happy with it. So, about 12 inches cubed.
I decided to build a skeleton of pine, and then skin it with plywood. I could have used mdf, but it’s more expensive. I created 2 mitres frames which would be the top and bottom of the box, and then attached 4 upright pieces, using metal brackets, to form the rest of the cube. All the attachment of the skeleton is done using screws
Step two after the jump Read more
