I finally finished my project today. My DC system now has a movable stand. This has been a long process, so the explanation will probably be too. Feel free to skip to the pictures at the end if you aren't in the mood to read the process of this project.

     I started with rough cut lumber I picked up from a local company that puts out their custom built straight-from-the-trees pallets. Everything was odd shaped, varied thicknesses along each board, and HEAVY! Once at home, I went about taking apart all of the pallets. This involved dismantling the pallets and removing as many nails as possible and cutting off sections that were unusable. Many of the "boards" were 12-14' long, as much as 20" wide in places, and over 1' thick. Did I mention they were heavy?

     Next came cutting them down to S4S. This called for the purchase of a track saw and 16' of track (yea, new tool!). After waiting for several weeks, I finally got the saw and tracks, only to send the tracks back to Amazon for replacement. I received used and messed up tracks. Once the new tracks arrived, I then set up my makeshift work table, e.g. two saw horses and a sheet of OSB, along with two stands with rollers. Once the monster track was set up, I started cutting. This was a painfully slow process because the wood is as hard as steel. I need diamond tipped blades for this wood. Once one side was cut with the track saw, I put each board through the table saw. Again, painfully slow. I squared up the ends with the sliding miter saw.

     On to the planer we went next. Quite a few of the boards were cupped, twisted, warped, and had inconsistent thicknesses. After many, many, many, many passes, I finally had the boards close enough to flat and square to use.

     To create the vertical posts I stacked three boards and glued them together. Once they dried, they were run through the planer again to ensure that I had a smooth flat surface for the front of the posts. Next, I made the base. I used the biggest boards I had for the base to give it extra weight and thickness. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them completely flat and a consistent thickness. This meant that I screwed them all together. The bottom layer is made up of three boards perpendicular to the two boards in the middle layer. To give some added thickness for the intended tenons on the posts, I added one more board at the back of the base.

     Now that the posts and base were complete, I had to create tenons on the posts. This was my first time trying mortise and tenon joinery techniques. I posted about my blunders with trapezoidal tenons. Fortunately, I was able to make the post tenons work. I also created the three cross braces with tenons as well. However, I screwed up in my measurements somehow and had to take them apart and redo them. Luckily, they weren't done very well the first time and the glue didn't really hold when I used a pipe clamp to pop them apart. So I remade the braces and they went much better. I should have made them slightly thinner to fit easily. I ended up sanding down the tenons with a random orbit sander because it's the only sander I have right now. In retrospect, I probably should have put them in the tenon jig on the table saw to shave them down 1/64".

     I also had a heck of a time creating the through mortises. This was the first time I used my mortise attachment for my drill press. It went okay at first, not so well as things went on. I ended up snapping a paddle bit and two mortise bits, plus ruining a 3/8" hollow chisel in the process. Something about this wood causes it to burn at the slightest touch of a blade or bit. It didn't matter how slow I went, it was smoking and very hard to get through. I ended up finishing the last mortise by hand. I would love to know where I went wrong with that part of the process.

     Assembly was the next task and what a task it was! I used my new glue brush set (woohoo, more new stuff!) and painted the glue on the tenons. The tenons were so tight that I had to use a rubber mallet and a 4 lbs hammer to get them in all the way. Fortunately for me, I made the tenons an extra 1/2" long. After pounding in the first three braces and cutting off one mashed end, I applied glue to the other tenons. Then I painstakingly positioned and pounded (with the 4 lbs again) to get the other tenons into the second post. I couldn't fully persuade them all to get tight with the hammer. So then I used pipe clamps on both sides of the posts (front and back) to draw them fully together. I started at the top and worked my way down cranking on the clamps. Then I went to put on the base only to discover that the very bottom of the posts were a little too close together to fit in the mortises. I then had to use another clamp and push them apart to fit into the base. Out came the 4 lbs hammer again and the posts were fully in the base. I then reapplied the two clamps at the bottom brace.

     After the glue dried overnight, I checked the strength of the joinery. The cross braces were solid. The base was a little wobbly due to the less than flat surface that the shoulders were sitting on and a little flex in the lumber I think. Just to be safe, I put in 8 3" screws into each post at the base. It's cheating, I know, but its just gotta work at this point. Then I cut off the excess tenon length on all the tenons. Next, I put the casters on the bottom. I broke two more bits trying to pre-drill holes for the caster screws. Did I mention how hard this wood is? Finally, the casters were on. I stood the stand up and scraped the ceiling slightly in the process. Talk about tight tolerances! I decided to forgo my idea of doing everything in wood and used the steel hangers that came with the DC system. I pre-drilled the 4 holes for the lag screws and then snapped a lag screw off with 1/8" to go. I drilled another hole and managed not to break the extra lag screw I had.

     Finally, I arrived at the point of reassembling the DC system itself. Being alone for this process required me to get creative. I created a temporary stilt out of scraps to get the filter section connected to the motor housing. I used additional scraps to stack a riser to connect the cone section. Then I put the drum in place and realized that I needed to cut out a partial circle at the back so it would sit flat. This was my excuse to use the new circle jig I picked up on FB Marketplace for the first time. Finally, the drum was in place! This was a heck of a lot of work, but I learned a lot in the process. I also got to buy multiple new tools and use new things I purchased earlier but hadn't used yet. All in all, a good experience overall. It ain't pretty, but it's functional! Considering I'm just starting in my woodworking journey, I think I did alright. Please feel free to correct that notion if I'm wrong.

 

Edited September 2, 20241 yr by Drumone

Cool build!

 

There's a trick to setting up the mortice chisel/bit. 

 

https://www.conwaysaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/mortise-chisel-and-bit-setup-instructions.pdf

Thanks @lew! I read something similar in the manual, but it didn't quite click in my brain. The PDF you provided makes sense!

I would not have thought a structure like that (2 uprights on a moveable base) would support that much weight. Well done! As for the pretty versus functional, for my shop stuff I'm very much function over form....so to my eyes it looks great!

Edited September 2, 20241 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Nice job. A tip on M& T is that it should assemble with a slap of a hat. Just use chisels to adjust the tenon. Well there is always a next time

If you can't be handsome, be handy. - Red Green.

Nice project. Looks good from here. Any project that demands a new tool purchase is a successful project.

Drumone, I am with you and Fred. I'll take functional over pretty every time. Good job.

On 9/2/2024 at 5:32 AM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I would not have thought a structure like that (2 uprights on a moveable base) would support that much weight.

I had the same concern! Before I put the machine on the brackets I tested it with my own body weight. When I hung on the brackets and didn't hear any cracking sounds, I figured it was safe enough to hang the machine. It was also a sad reminder that I need to get back in shape.

4 hours ago, Drumone said:

It was also a sad reminder that I need to get back in shape.

 

Round is a shape.....

2 hours ago, Gunny said:

Round is a shape.....

Wise guy! That's the problem though. My roundness is preventing and making difficult the things I like to do!

 

On 9/2/2024 at 5:32 AM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I would not have thought a structure like that (2 uprights on a moveable base) would support that much weight.

I should add the dimensions of the posts. They are about 3" wide and 5" deep. Plus about 3" of tenon at the bottom. These are some seriously heavy and strong boards glued together.

 

On 9/1/2024 at 8:58 PM, lew said:

There's a trick to setting up the mortice chisel/bit. 

Yeah, after I spent way too much time installing the mortis kit, I realized it wouldn't handle long pieces.  In my case, the "trick" was donating the kit* to Habitat.

*The kit was a gift from a friend who after the fact told me he tried it once, then "never again".  I always have to learn the hard way.

20 minutes ago, PeteM said:

Yeah, after I spent way too much time installing the mortis kit

I started with one of those drill press kits. Little did I realize that the "kit" dimensions and the drill press quill diameter were vastly different. "Fortunately", I was working at the Vo-Tech school and had the machine shop kids make a reducing collar. It would work for soft woods but never really was satisfactory for hard woods and deep mortices. Eventually bought a dedicated machine. Still a pain to put mortices on the side of long pieces.

Bought one of those drill press "kits" (Northern Tools IIRC) bundled with some other items in an on-line auction. Bundle was about $12. Kit was unused in its original hard case but includes several quill collar adapter sleeves. Haven't used it yet..in fact I'm not sure where it's stashed away. Forgot about it until I read this thread. Time for a scavenger hunt.

On 9/1/2024 at 10:58 PM, lew said:

There's a trick to setting up the mortice chisel/bit.

Okay, showing my ignorance here. The PDF referenced a helical lip. What is a helical lip? I tried to Google it, but got pictures of human lips, ears, and even one of a syphilis sore on a lip. Ugh. But nothing related to a mortising machine. 

Thanks @Fred W. Hargis Jr