Or perhaps mostly dumb luck, a little bit of black art and a little bit of soft science. Dumb luck is definitely an ingredient!It seems to be more extreme art than hard science.
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What's On Your Workbench?
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,002
- 1
- 31,693
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Yikes! Magnesium is violently flammable, you know….
These clamps will open just wide enough to clamp this piece to the workbench. Gluing MDF with regular wood glue, I hope it holds. I'll put screws in as well anyway.
What I'm making is a router planing jig. When it's finished I'll explain all about it in the Router planing fixtures thread.
Heh. Quick magnesium story:
When I was a kid we had a chemistry set with a small coil of magnesium in it. My brother and I held it over the gas stove in a pair of pliers, in the interest of Science. We were about to give up when it ignited, producing 1,000,000 candlepower of blue-white light, and welding the pliers together. I dropped it onto the stove top where it melted through the porcelain, leaving a char mark burned through to metal. My father did not buy the “playing with matches” excuse. Grounded For Life.
When I was a kid we had a chemistry set with a small coil of magnesium in it. My brother and I held it over the gas stove in a pair of pliers, in the interest of Science. We were about to give up when it ignited, producing 1,000,000 candlepower of blue-white light, and welding the pliers together. I dropped it onto the stove top where it melted through the porcelain, leaving a char mark burned through to metal. My father did not buy the “playing with matches” excuse. Grounded For Life.
Yup, that's why when you see pictures of Ford trucks that caught fire they are usually burned completely to the ground. Because several of the chassis components are stamped magnesium. And what isn't magnesium is aluminum. Ford uses a lot of magnesium in their trucks! 
I inherited a magnesium step ladder from my slightly tool crazy grandfather. It just looks a regular aluminum ladder until you pick it up, crazy light. He probably saw it Popular Mechanics in the 50’s and just HAD to have it. He was the king of over complicating any task with ingenious Rube-Goldberg gadgetry.
Back in the 80s, people would routinely dig pits at Glamis (SoCal sand dunes) throw an old vw engine case (which are a magnesium alloy) on the bottom and then start a pallet fire on top of the case. that fire would light up the night for a few hours.Yup, that's why when you see pictures of Ford trucks that caught fire they are usually burned completely to the ground. Because several of the chassis components are stamped magnesium. And what isn't magnesium is aluminum. Ford uses a lot of magnesium in their trucks!
View attachment 5022209 View attachment 5022210
Now they throw lithium ion batteries in the pit, light, and run like hell!
I’ve gotten back to work on the old V&B plane I posted here a couple of weeks ago. I’ve taken a rust eraser to all the rusted parts - which is all the parts, really - and cleaned things up to the extent they ever will be.
The iron is really in bad shape. I quickly restored the bevel on a cheap carborundum stone:
But that stone isn’t flat enough to lap the back so I spent hours alternating between a coarse water stone and abrasives on a lapping plate; both pretty fast means of removing material and both are taking forever. This poor blade is so pitted it could take days of hand grinding to get it flat. I’m really not sure it’s worth the effort.
The stubborn me really wants to restore the original iron but the practical me is seriously considering just getting a replacement iron and being done with it.
While considering these first-world problems, I spent some time lapping the body:
The sides are about as far as I feel a need to get them. The pitting that remains is really pretty deep and it’s not going to affect the usability of the plane so I’m stopping there. I’ll go to a couple of finer grits but the main work is done there.
The pitting on the bed isn’t as deep so it’ll go a little faster but I’m tired and ready for a beer so I’m done for now.
The iron is really in bad shape. I quickly restored the bevel on a cheap carborundum stone:
But that stone isn’t flat enough to lap the back so I spent hours alternating between a coarse water stone and abrasives on a lapping plate; both pretty fast means of removing material and both are taking forever. This poor blade is so pitted it could take days of hand grinding to get it flat. I’m really not sure it’s worth the effort.
The stubborn me really wants to restore the original iron but the practical me is seriously considering just getting a replacement iron and being done with it.
While considering these first-world problems, I spent some time lapping the body:
The sides are about as far as I feel a need to get them. The pitting that remains is really pretty deep and it’s not going to affect the usability of the plane so I’m stopping there. I’ll go to a couple of finer grits but the main work is done there.
The pitting on the bed isn’t as deep so it’ll go a little faster but I’m tired and ready for a beer so I’m done for now.
Ordered another custom tapped J PU set from Tom Brantley…these will be even better than the last set. The lower tap will be a higher volume.
He does great work, highly recommended.
My previous order.
He does great work, highly recommended.
My previous order.
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Not really bass related, but a few months ago I picked up some ceiling speakers off FB marketplace for $10 ea, brand new, but previously installed. (They're building a bunch of "high end" houses around us which come pre-wired for surround sound.) They've been shuffled around the shop since then...
I've put a pair in my garage shop connected to an old receiver I've kept kicking around. I've got a Bluetooth receiver coming from the Amazonians. Soon I will have the ability to play tunes on something more sophisticated than either earbuds or a small portable speaker!
The other 3 will probably get integrated into my home theater and bar area downstairs.
I've put a pair in my garage shop connected to an old receiver I've kept kicking around. I've got a Bluetooth receiver coming from the Amazonians. Soon I will have the ability to play tunes on something more sophisticated than either earbuds or a small portable speaker!
The other 3 will probably get integrated into my home theater and bar area downstairs.
I'm super jelly of your speakers. I want some for my house, but haven't figured out exactly how I want to go about it. My biggest problem is, my son works for a home automation company (SnapAV) and I have a Snap system in my house that controls all my lighting, HVAC and the front door lock and I REALLY want some of his speakers to integrate into the overall system.
But yeah, super cool!
But yeah, super cool!
It's a problem, because the SnapAV ones aren't cheap and you won't find them on a used market. They need to be able to integrate into my system, which is the problem. And currently I have been told that I don't have the funds to just buy some.
On a good note, the kid said he has a box of security cameras he is gonna ship me as soon as he gets off his butt and does it. So that's cool.
On a good note, the kid said he has a box of security cameras he is gonna ship me as soon as he gets off his butt and does it. So that's cool.
Use snap av to connect a regular receiver. Buy regular 8ohm ceiling speakers. If the receiver has serial or IR remote control capabilities, snap should be able to control it.
This is literally the kind of stuff I do for my day job.
This is literally the kind of stuff I do for my day job.
So, I was about to give up and order a new iron for that V&B plane but I started thinking…. That usually leads to trouble.
The original iron is taking too long to hand grind with abrasives. I f I buy a new iron the old one will sit on a shelf and never get used. So it’s as good as ruined.
If it’s ruined then what’s preventing me from using something more aggressive than abrasives? Like a file? Like a big, nasty, double-cut bastard file? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If the iron is ruined then I have nothing to lose by trying to save it except a little more time.
Double-cut followed by single-cut followed by emery cloth on the lapping plate to keep things from getting too far from flat. …and it’s working.
You can see by how much blue marker is by the edge that there’s still a lot of work to do but, with this method, as crude as it may be, I can actually see progress and that makes a huge psychological difference. I don’t mind putting in the work if I actually see results.
When all is said and done the iron will be thinner than it was 90 years ago and time will tell whether or not it will cut well. If it sucks I’ll need to replace it anyway but at least I tried!
The original iron is taking too long to hand grind with abrasives. I f I buy a new iron the old one will sit on a shelf and never get used. So it’s as good as ruined.
If it’s ruined then what’s preventing me from using something more aggressive than abrasives? Like a file? Like a big, nasty, double-cut bastard file? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If the iron is ruined then I have nothing to lose by trying to save it except a little more time.
Double-cut followed by single-cut followed by emery cloth on the lapping plate to keep things from getting too far from flat. …and it’s working.
You can see by how much blue marker is by the edge that there’s still a lot of work to do but, with this method, as crude as it may be, I can actually see progress and that makes a huge psychological difference. I don’t mind putting in the work if I actually see results.
When all is said and done the iron will be thinner than it was 90 years ago and time will tell whether or not it will cut well. If it sucks I’ll need to replace it anyway but at least I tried!
Yeah, I mean, when all else fails, just go to a courser grit. A file is really just a coarser grit, right?
I'm totally on board with this method!
I'm totally on board with this method!
I have dubbed this bass as "Butch", there's a few pieces in the body...
And the control route seems low to me..
Body came to me with the neck pocket, bridge location and control route.
It's my build over the summer thing.
And the control route seems low to me..
Body came to me with the neck pocket, bridge location and control route.
It's my build over the summer thing.
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