Playhouse Rocketship - Part 2

I was almost out of time after making up the bandsaw circle cutting jig.

I unclamped all the blanks I had glued up for the rocket motors, used a chisel to remove the excess glue and then used a belt sander to clean them up a little. Next I used the sliding miter saw to cross cut one edge straight, measured over for the center hole and drilled it for a finish nail to use the with circle cutting jig.

Lastly, over to the bandsaw to cut the circle. They'll still need a bit of sanding on the edges, I'll use the oscillating spindle sander for that. I got about half of them done. Here's one - there's one more smaller circle to go on top.


Caution - Bandsaws Bite!

Bandsaw Circle Cutting Jig

As I posted yesterday, the next thing I needed to do for my rocketship project was to build a circle cutting jig for the bandsaw and router. I figure they'd take about the same time to build, but the bandsaw will cut quicker than the router, so I decided to start with that one and see if the router is required or now.

In the Google 3D Warehouse, you can find a sketchup model of this jig.

Very easy to build.

First, find some 3/4" plywood and cut it a few inches larger than the width of your bandsaw table. In my case, 17". It'll be easier on you if the piece is squared up, so do that before going on.


You'll need to attach a couple of supports to the plywood that you will use to clamp the table in place. See the locations in the picture or the sketchup model. Make sure they are parallel to the edges of the plywood. I found it easiest to use a pin nailer to hold the pieces in place before I flipped the table over and counter sunk some screws in to hold them permanently. I didn't bother gluing them in place, the screws will be enough to hold them.


Next, clamp the table in place on your bandsaw, and either cut some 2xs to use as legs or use an adjustable height stand to provide support at the far end of the table. You are almost done.




Draw a line perpendicular to the center of the blade, parallel to the edge of the table. This will mark the center of your circle.

Now start cutting - almost. Measure out from the blade half the diameter of your circle and drill a hole on the line matching the size of a finish nail you've got lying around the shop. Drill a similar hole in your circle blank. Drill the hole half the diameter of the circle from the edge of the blank - you'll put the nail in the blank so that it is sticking out of the blank, then put that into the hole in the jig table. Your wood blank should just rest against the bandsaw blade. Turn the bandsaw on and spin your blank around and you've got your circle.

Playhouse Rocketship - Part 1

Joshua's birthday is in about a week and I decided a few days ago that I'd build him a rocketship playhouse for his birthday. One of his favourite things to do right now is to play in a little IKEA KOJA tent. He is always asking for one of us to go in the tent with him.

His little sister Lauren and Oscar the cat both like playing in the tent as well. Hopefully they'll all like the new rocketship.

With a little more than a week to go I'm not sure if I'll get this one done. Maybe the time crunch will be a good thing and force me to finish this project off in a reasonable amount of time.

First I drew up a quick plan in Sketchup :


Using Sketchup, I haven't been able to figure out how to cut the door out of the cylinder. It'll be easier to cut the hole in the wood :)

For the cylinder and cone I'll use some 1/8 masonite, white on one side and brown on the other. This'll save me from having to paint it. The floor and support rings will be out of 3/4" good one side plywood and the rocket motors are from leftover dimensional lumber.

I picked up the plywood last night and stacked it in the shop. Next I scrounged up some leftover dimensional lumber and glued up almost enough blanks for the rocket motors. I managed to use up all the Bessey clamps in the shop - does that mean I can buy some more?


Next up - a circle cutting jig for rotor and bandsaw table.

Craftsman Mailbox - Step 4

The mailbox is shaping up nicely. After a quick coat of stain (Minwax Provincial) on the bottom panel which will be floating, I glued up the mailbox.




I cut 1.5" off the solid top and glued it on top of the mailbox. This way when the mailbox is opened there will be sufficient angle in the top to lean against the house while the mailbox is filled or emptied.

I dropped the top off at a local engraver who will laser engrave 'Post' into the top. Once I get it back I'll stain and finish the piece. I still haven't picked out the hinges yet - I'll get some the next time I hit a hardware store.

Here's the image that I gave him to engrave :

Craftsman Mailbox - Step 3

This project is moving a bit slowly as any time the sun is shining I am out painting the house. In any case, I've got the front glued up.

I did a two part glue up, on the first operation I left out the two middle horizontal rails, I did put them in place to help align the pieces.

In regards to joinery, there are many good ways to join the vertical styles to the horizontal rails. Mortise and tenon, dowels or dominos are a few. I had every intention of using dowels. I even drilled a few holes. I used dowel centers to mark the matching holes but try as I might was unable to get the parts to line up. After several tries I gave up. Maybe next time I'll have a dowel jig. For now I just butted them up and glued them. I used good glue (Titebond III) so hopefully it'll stay together.



After the first glue-up had dried, I sanded the piece flush, cut the dado for the bottom then glued in the middle rails.

For the rest of the mailbox I cut the dado in the back and sides, trimmed the sides at a 13 degree angle, then planed down the bottom shelf to fit in the dado. Last I sanded everything to 120 with a random orbit sander.