Mike's ext'n & renovation (solar panels)

[Mike G]

"The" secret compartment, hey? Singular? :lol:

 

[Phil]

Mike, looks good.

The screen - how high is it when you sit and work? Eye level?

 

[Mike G]

Mike, looks good.

The screen - how high is it when you sit and work? Eye level?

Yes, Phil. My eyes are just above the centre line. It's at about the same height as I've had it for years, so I know it works for me.

 

[AndyP]

Isn’t the while point of secrets compartments just that, a secret. Mike can never tell us where they are surely.

 

[Mike G]

Isn’t the while point of secrets compartments just that, a secret. Mike can never tell us where they are surely.

Certainly on the open part of the forum. I've shown one or two visitors, but then, they're not the ones who would ever burgle this place. I've got a few secret compartments around the house already, and that's where passports etc live day-to-day, and where computers and hard drives go when we go away on holiday. If someone were to steal my PC and hard drive, my practice would be in dire straights for a while, so whilst secret compartments are a bit of a Secret-Seven-type fun, they're also very important for me.

 

[AndyP]

In that case Mike wouldn’t off site backups not be in order? All the secret compartments in the world would not protect you from, heaven forbid, a catastrophic fire.

 

[Mike G]

That implies a level of competence which I find ......challenging.

 

[9fingers]

That implies a level of competence which I find ......challenging.

Nevertheless a vital skill to learn for any one running a computer based business in the 21st century!

Bob

 

[TrimTheKing]

And you have plenty of knowledgeable friends on here who can help...

 

[Mike G]

But latches and levers and springs and disguised access buttons are just so much more fun! :lol:

 

[TrimTheKing]

But latches and levers and springs and disguised access buttons are just so much more fun! :lol:

That reminded me of this scene in National Treasure which I made a mental note of because I will eventually build something with this kind of mechanism in for a secret compartment, just for the hell of it. Enjoy. bscene-drinkingcheers:

The bit you're interested in starts at 2:08 if you can't be bothered with the preamble.

[youtubessl]7otBGrE9WTw[/youtubessl]

 

[Phil]

Mike, looks good.

The screen - how high is it when you sit and work? Eye level?

Yes, Phil. My eyes are just above the centre line. It's at about the same height as I've had it for years, so I know it works for me.

Thanks.
Mine is similar sight on big screen, but then my table could be higher.
The laptop screen is lower but I can see and read on both without adjusting my head up or down.

 

[Mike G]

.....my table could be higher...

Mine is 640mm above floor level.

 

[Cabinetman]

But latches and levers and springs and disguised access buttons are just so much more fun! :lol:

Yep, that is exactly my thought, I think my mind just works that way, wish they had shown us a bit more of the mechanism on that desk.
As I have previously mentioned I intend to really get into Automata which will feed my inventive streak.

 

[Phil]

.....my table could be higher...

Mine is 640mm above floor level.

Mine is 740mm above the floor, same height as the table that I was using for many years.

 

[Mike G]

I've worked at that height, and eventually I get RSI in my wrist and elbow. The lower desk height solved the issue.

 

[Phil]

I've worked at that height, and eventually I get RSI in my wrist and elbow. The lower desk height solved the issue.

RSI? WWW shows me Relative Strength Index.

My chair sits me high, table is then elbow height.
Not had any issues with wrist or elbow (so far)

I can only go higher chair as the table is bolted to the wall.

 

[9fingers]

RSI is a 1st world thing Phil. It might not have made down your way! :lol:

It’s Repetitive Strain Injury where joints complain of excessive use of just part of their range of movement.
Can be quite painful if you dont take regular breaks and flex the joint in other ways.
Bob

 

[Mike G]

The final bit of structure for the office furniture is the right-hand bookcase. I visited Suffolk Timber and bought a stack of sawn square-edged oak boards at £1600/ cu metre. Ten boards for about £100. That's a real bargain these days:



Two or three boards had already been planed by the time I remembered to take that photo. I also forgot to take a picture of the joinery for the carcase, but it was the same as this, with the addition of a shallow housing:



Glued up, and that's the end of day 1:



On Sunday I de-clamped, and took it into the study to offer it up. Unfortunately, the wall it abuts is a mile out of plumb, and in a direction which doesn't help me. It leans in at the top.........but I can't make the top of the face-frame any narrower because it has to be wide enough to fit the Tudor rose carving.

I butchered the carcase to get it in closer to the wall. There's a good chunk cut out of the side of the top, and a rebate to clear the corner post of the house frame. My new Stanley No. 10 (Coachbuilder's rebate plane), was perfect for the job (thanks Sam):



Having planed up and roughed out the face-pieces, ploughed a groove a random distance back from the front face in which I could insert a "shadow gap"-type filler piece:



Here it is fitted, after I had done the scratching to the front face:



Obviously it had to be fitted after scratching the face, because you need straight edges to reference:



I carved the roses:



Only, it wasn't quite as easy as that. One of then produced a big chip I couldn't work around, so I had to glue it up. Thank goodness for Superglue:



Gluing a rogue chip back in isn't as easy as you think. I had to use cellotape, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see if the chip had moved whilst taping it in place. I then weighted it down with a roll of lead and went to lunch. At the same time I glued in the "shadow gap" filler piece to the other facing:



These two boards represented 7 or 8 hours work. This hobby of ours isn't a race against the clock:



I cut up a piece of veneered MDF for the back board, and glued and pinned it into the rebates. Interestingly, not one of the factory edges was straight or square. Something I've not seen before. Then, with the help of a couple of locator-blocks temporarily screwed to the back of the RH face piece, I glued everything up:



That was a long day, finishing at about 8pm (my wife was out). It will now go all quiet on the workshop front for a while, as I've a ton of drawing work to do.

 

[Malc2098]

Nice.

 

[Cabinetman]

Yes very nice, proper woodworking, that worked out at £45 per cubic foot, which is pretty good for nowadays, but that looks a lot of wood for two and a half cubic ft Mike, I reckon he did you a special favour there, £100, as you say is a real bargain.
Veneered mdf, not noticed it being not straight or square but it sometimes isn’t what you would call a clean cut edge, it’s as if the edge is "fluffy"- not finished.

 

[HOJ]

As always Mike, fine work, that Oak is an absolute steal at that price, I think I will be putting a call in to Suffolk Timber, very envious of your Stanley No 10 plane, been on my list for a long time to get an upgrade, but can't justify the price of some i have seen that look serviceable and I'm not prepared to take a chance on a rough looking one, (I use a cheap Faithful one, which actually works very well and wouldn't be a loss if it gets dropped and broken)

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

My new Stanley No. 10 (Coachbuilder's rebate plane), was perfect for the job (thanks Sam):

My pleasure Mike; it's VERY gratifying to see the 'old girl' tidied up and working properly. The blade in that plane was - consistently - the best I ever bought for taking, and holding, an edge.

I neglected the plane because I have an unremitting tendency to 'throw' or 'cant' a plane toward its right side, leading to sloped-bottom dadoes Therefore, I started using a router and the habit just grew..

 

[AndyP]

Catching up a bit on this thread. Quite some progress as ever .

Occasional missing images, by the way, is definitely a consequence of dodgy internet connections. Happens here sometimes but only when using a VPN

 

[Dr.Al]

Catching up a bit on this thread. Quite some progress as ever .

Occasional missing images, by the way, is definitely a consequence of dodgy internet connections. Happens here sometimes but only when using a VPN

Weird that it only happens with imgur.

 

[AJB Temple]

Nice oak work as ever.

Oddly enough I bought one of those Stanley 10's, boxed, from eBay about 7 years ago. I used it a few times but could never get the bottom of a slot consistently at dead on 90 degrees to the side, even though the blade was square. So it hasn't been used for almost 7 years as the workshop has a router table set up permanently. Needs to go on the sell list.

Funny how tastes vary. I like oak best in a natural state, not stained. I've pretty much sold all of my old stocks now as the wholesale clear out is underway.

 

[AJB Temple]

Catching up a bit on this thread. Quite some progress as ever .

Occasional missing images, by the way, is definitely a consequence of dodgy internet connections. Happens here sometimes but only when using a VPN

Mark has gone ominously quiet about the promised forum software Image drop out is not confined to imgur, but I do agree that internet patchiness is a factor. We envy those with proper internet.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Catching up a bit on this thread. Quite some progress as ever .

Occasional missing images, by the way, is definitely a consequence of dodgy internet connections. Happens here sometimes but only when using a VPN

Mark has gone ominously quiet about the promised forum software Image drop out is not confined to imgur, but I do agree that internet patchiness is a factor. We envy those with proper internet.

Life just getting in the way I'm afraid, and while it's a pain it's not killing things (unless someone tells me differently) so I will get there, but when...

 

[Mike G]

......Life just getting in the way I'm afraid, and while it's a pain it's not killing things (unless someone tells me differently) so I will get there, but when...

Does it have to be you that does all the work on this? Couldn't we bung in a few quid each and get somebody in to do the job for you? It saddens me how many people join, post for a few weeks, then disappear, and I am sure that the forum software is at least part of the issue.

 

[Mike G]

......Oddly enough I bought one of those Stanley 10's, boxed, from eBay about 7 years ago. I used it a few times but could never get the bottom of a slot consistently at dead on 90 degrees to the side, even though the blade was square. So it hasn't been used for almost 7 years as the workshop has a router table set up permanently. Needs to go on the sell list.....

Well, you kept pretty quiet about it when I asked if anyone had got one! I could have relieved you of your problem.

 

[TrimTheKing]

......Life just getting in the way I'm afraid, and while it's a pain it's not killing things (unless someone tells me differently) so I will get there, but when...

Does it have to be you that does all the work on this? Couldn't we bung in a few quid each and get somebody in to do the job for you? It saddens me how many people join, post for a few weeks, then disappear, and I am sure that the forum software is at least part of the issue.

Nope absolutely doesn't have to be me, and I'm not precious about owning it, so if there's someone out there who wants to take it over I'm more than happy to accede.

In terms. of buying in the skills to do it, I'm sure there are people out there but finding them, and trusting them, I wouldn't know where to start tbh.

 

[Mike G]

I wasn't suggesting taking over the hosting from you, rather, that we find someone to take over the swapping over from the old software to the new one. I don't think any of us would want to see the hosting move unless it had to.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Yep appreciate that Mike, what I meant was more if it's that annoying to people that someone did want to take it on to move it more quickly I have no issue with that.

To be honest, I have done some work in the background and migrated a copy of the live DB to the latest version of phpBB in the hope that the picture issue would be sorted and would take out the issue with migrating to another software, but sadly the picture hosting is no better, in fact slightly worse from a back end perspective because the mod I added to shrink the pics to smaller size to take up less hosting space, has not been updated to run properly on the latest version, so file sizes are as per the original.

This is a concern for me because obviously I would prefer uploaded pics to be at the minimum file size they can be to conserve expensive hosting storage.

I'll get there with it...

 

[AJB Temple]

......

Well, you kept pretty quiet about it when I asked if anyone had got one! I could have relieved you of your problem.

Yes, sorry about that I only re-discovered it again this last weekend when I had to do an emergency hunt through the workshop (the garden one) to find some bee hive buts as we received an unexpected swarm on Saturday evening. You would have been most welcome to it.

 

[AJB Temple]

....
Nope absolutely doesn't have to be me, and I'm not precious about owning it, so if there's someone out there who wants to take it over I'm more than happy to accede.

In terms. of buying in the skills to do it, I'm sure there are people out there but finding them, and trusting them, I wouldn't know where to start tbh.

What skills do you need Mark? My understanding from past conversations over a year ago now I guess was that you had selected a software replacement and begun transitioning. I do know people who are very adept with software and coding and some modern forum software, who owe me a sizeable favour, but I think the challenge may be understanding the old software.

 

[johnward]

Very interesting Mike. I've just started (planing the boards) a bookcase of my own and am particularly interested in your method for fixing the shelves to the ends. I was considering the housing and dowel method but your mortice and tenon detail for top and bottom shelves is now in the running.

 

[Mike G]

Very interesting Mike. I've just started (planing the boards) a bookcase of my own and am particularly interested in your method for fixing the shelves to the ends. I was considering the housing and dowel method but your mortice and tenon detail for top and bottom shelves is now in the running.

If you do use that joint, John, then my tip is to chop the mortices before you house out. It's just that marking out in the bottom of a housing is quite tricky. Obviously if you are using a morticer then you can set stops etc and it makes little difference, but with the old fashioned way it is slightly easier as I just described. It makes a really strong joint.

 

[johnward]

Thanks Mike

 

[Mike G]

Very little to report I'm afraid. I cocked up my timings over the weekend, and failed to get a glue-up done by the evening, which meant I lost most of a day's work by gluing up the following morning. You'd think I'd have got this woodworking thing sorted by now, wouldn't you. Anyway, a bit of the glue up:



Declamped:



I've since applied a coat of the stain and the oil/ varnish jollop.

 

[Cabinetman]

Looks too nice to stain to me, but we’re all different. Really like the beads with the carving and the proportions.
Now if this were a certain site on FB somebody would ask where you got the plans from, always makes me grimace.