Light Duties

I think this is the first time I’ve had the beginnings of boredom since I retired. What with the weather and the fact that I fell on the ice in the first week of snow and wrenched my left shoulder. Have now got full mobility back but still painful when lifting above head height.

In desperation I have had to resort to laying new flooring in the kitchen and repainting the bathroom.

The bench planer is still unserviceable but Lumaco say the circuit board is repairable but they are having to wait for an unusually small 240v relay which I presume is coming from China, so the skylight is still on hold.

In the meantime it’s back down to T-A to refit the radiator in the bedroom and bathroom towel rail. Looking at the wall brackets for the radiators I’m not too confident about the security, they are just held up by a No.8 screw and a square nut for a washer into just 12mm of ply. Another case of ‘You won’t see it once it’s in place’

To make me happier the screws have been replaced by insert nuts and bolts.

 

Looks like  the radiator in the lounge will have to come off as well because the fixings appear to be the same.

Back in the shed and it has just been timber cutting from stock. Length of 3”x4” of sapele cut from 3” board to form mast but I still need to plane it. Looked at hiring but it seems that the only items up for hire are hand planers and looking at prices if you hire for a week it costs the same as buying a cheap one so heaven knows how much to hire something larger.

Ah well! Better not complain too much or Karen is likely to find me plenty of jobs.J

Down Time

The bench planer packed up on Wednesday which was a pain. Just as I started to plane up the new timber the machine decided it was going to shut down. It started up OK but every time it reached operating speed it shut down again. A quick dismantling session showed that the circuit board for the soft start had fried.

Joined to Get Woodworking forum to try and find a solution and sure enough like all good forums a suggestion was soon forthcoming. So now the circuit board is in the hands of Lumaco in the hopes it can be repaired or replaced. If that is unsuccessful then I’ll try wiring the switch directly to the motor but I have doubts about being able to overcome the inertia of not only the motor but the drive rollers and cutting cylinder without continually blowing the fuse in the plug or doing other damage.

Two of the four shut frames have been made for the skylight but now I’m out of planed timber, so looking for other work to do routed out the bottom lip on the skylight frame to make a weather tight seal.

On Saturday went down with Karen to try the framework for size. Good job we did as it was fine for width but 3mm short for length. While we were in the Loughborough area Karen took me over to Screwfix to buy me an early birthday present – a nice new router to add to the collection on the grounds that I might as well have it now if I can use it.

Tried it out today trimming up the lip on the framework and it works just fine

Preparation and Maintenance

We went down to Kettering for a very pleasant evening to see the new year in with friends Tony and Les and since than have not done much at all.

Karen’s car was not fixed until Friday so all the week has been spent setting up the dovetail jig, routers and cutting timber for the skylight

Popped down to T-A on Saturday  to see if everything OK and pick up stainless steel screws and a few tools.

Started to assemble the skylight but didn’t get too far as more timber was needed

 

It is slightly larger than the old one so as not to have a lip running round the bottom which I believe to have been part of the problem

This time there are to be four opening lights to allow for extra drainage between and being smaller the shuts should be more rigid – apart from them being thicker and jointed using stile and rail joints reinforced with dowels

There will be a variety of joints – already we have dovetails on the corners, dowel and screw at the centre edges and biscuit joints on the centre ridge.

This is definitely the job for the next few days/weeks.

Yesterday it was down to Glenmere Timber at Market Harborough to get plenty more sapele and ash – I’m told we are having shutters to replace the curtains in the lounge- blimey I thought I was retired.

Today was just pottering about in the shed, firstly to sharpen the saw blades and then make a jig for the table saw to make it easier to do the tapered cuts need for the skylight. In the planning I decided on a 1 in 3 slope to allow rain to run off without making the skylight too tall – this works out at 18.4 degrees. To ensure all angles match I used bits from the off cuts from the end boards to mount a leftover piece of oak flooring with bolts through the rip fence on the table saw.

The next problem is that when making thin stock you run the risk of the leading edge dropping down the gap between saw blade and face plate. To this end I made a zero clearance face plate from some 6mm acrylic

Not sure as I like seeing the blade spinning around under your hands – think I may make another in some opaque material or spray the underside of this one.
This entry seems a bit disjointed but thats the way my head is spinning at the moment, trying to sort which joint would be best for each item and how best to overcome any possibility of error. The last skylight caused a great deal of problems with it leaking so badly that I am determined that this one will not be the same.

 

Smashing Christmas

It has been a great Christmas. Just the right mix of family and friends with time to yourself in between and even managed to get in two Christmas dinners, but not on the same day.

Working on the cutting list for the skylight I realised that there would be a lot of routing involved so decided to streamline the router bit storage. You know how it is, you accumulate sets and individual bits over the years until you spend half an hour looking for the right bit for the job. Plenty of off-cuts around at the minute so decided to run off a box from what I had to hand.

It’s meant to be wall mounted but can be closed off to become a case if I need to take them down to the boat

The only cost has been the foam to line the doors.

Looking forward to the new year and hoping it will be as good as Christmas.

Happy new year everyone. J

Knock Knock

Is anyone there?

Still waiting for it to get light today so I’m wondering if the world did in fact end yesterday and nobody’s told us. J

Having a forced period of idleness as Karen’s car has started making strange noises and the local garage cannot fit her (the car that is) in this side of Christmas so she is using mine to go to work.

Even so, managed to get down to T-A yesterday to check everything is all right. Oops – water on the bathroom floor but not coming from the newly connected plumbing. There is a leak from the right hand porthole coming in around the frame and running down behind the wall lining and dripping out at the shoulder. Easy enough to trace because I have not yet replaced the capping under the gunnels after the rewire.

Up on the roof and worked some heavy grease in around the frame to seal it for now. Looks like it will be a job for next year when we are out cruising because I will need to get alongside to remove the frame which I can’t do on these short finger moorings. Hopefully the grease will keep the water out for now – we don’t need the floorboards curling up like the last lot.

In the meantime while at home I’m keeping things moving by drawing up a cutting list of parts for the skylight, got some nice pieces of 22 and 34mm sapele board that should do the job.

Things Are Changing.

At last it seems as though we are moving forward rather than one step forward, two steps back, after all there can’t be many more problems to find.

The under bed storage has been finished.

As was  

and now.

No ballast to be seen. The only ballast that may go in there is trim ballast

Made these up out of some bar steel that I had lying around (as you do). Each weighs just over 30lb with a handle for ease of movement.

In the bathroom the vanity unit has been reinstalled

And no longer has unsecured water pipes coming out of the floor and just flopping around

 

Even though there’s lots more to do it’s starting to feel as though the finish is in sight – but I’ve thought that before.

Trouble is that I'm enjoying myself so much that I will probably always have some project or other on the go - though I think Karen may direct some of my efforts towards the house.

Floorings Down

At last all the flooring has been laid (big sigh).

 

It now goes into the cupboard and vanity unit bottoms so we will no longer be faced with spray foam spattered base board every time we open a cupboard door.

All the bare woodwork where the cupboards were mounted is now varnished as are the walls behind the radiators.

At the moment I’m remaking the vanity unit base as it seemed very flimsy when removed.

The braces are made from bits of old oak flooring and all pocket screw holes have been plugged save for those that are still required during the fitting – they will be plugged on completion.

I know they will not normally be seen but to my mind a job should be finished off properly whether it’s seen or not. Always been a bit of a finicky so and so but that’s me.

The original 270^o turret is reduced to a 90^o corner. The original looked pretty but served no purpose other than to increase the footprint of the unit and there is not enough room on a narrowboat to waste space.

Been out buying toys again.

This router bit was on special offer and it seemed rude not to get one. It’s for making finger joints like this

And even without any glue it makes quite a strong joint. It will come in handy joining boards together when I come to remake the cupboard in the saloon. Never was to keen on the original glued butt joints.

Other than that there has only been time for two Christmas gatherings with old railway colleagues – nowt like a good old reminisce.