What did you do in the 'workshop' today

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I put slats in seven ekes to make so-called slatted racks. That's a lot of slats! Stripwood is not cheap so I sliced up some planks into 19x19mm strips. It's great to do a job multiple times. It gets so much easier as you go, and the method gets refined too.

I use slatted racks to keep the void between the combs and the floor void - ie not filled with comb drawn down from the bottom of the frames. I like this void because it exists in some nests in tree cavities. I suspect there's not much interest on the Forum in either the void or slatted racks.

I love simple woodwork. I'm no carpenter, but spending time this way is good for my soul. There is a danger though that my beekeeping will grow larger than it should because of an abundance of kit

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I would be making bee stuff, but my table saw has been in pieces for a week or so. One of the bearings started squealing badly enough to irritate me and the blade didn't seem to be running very true, so I took it apart to put in some new bearings. That turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than I initially anticipated as it requires almost complete disassembly of the saw (and of course there are no instructions because it's not meant to be a user-serviceable thing). Half the bearings turned out to be fitted in blind (or as good as) holes and as I didn't fancy trying the bread trick straight off I ordered a couple of bearing pullers which turned out to be useless. I know I shouldn't have ordered cheap Chinese tat, but I couldn't find any decently-made ones that weren't sold in kits costing upwards of £400!

Anyhow, I finally persuaded the last two out yesterday, so today I have been reassembling everything. Cold stopped play before I got the table back on, but everything else is done, I don't have any bits left over and I've tested the motor (which I had to split, along with the gearbox) and it all seems to work under no load. Unless something more exciting comes along I shall hopefully finish the job tomorrow.

As soon as there's some dry weather I may need to have a big workshop rearrangement. I've just been offered a Boxford ME10 lathe for the cost of picking it up from not too far away, but it's a touch larger (not to mention rather better engineered) than my cheap Chinese one, so I need to find space for it.

James

I think we have the same table saw. I hope I'm never faced with what you describe

 

[JamezF]

I think we have the same table saw. I hope I'm never faced with what you describe

The Evolution Rage 5S. Or in my case the version they pared back a little to sell through Screwfix (as they did for B&Q and at least one other brand).

James

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

The Evolution Rage 5S. Or in my case the version they pared back a little to sell through Screwfix (as they did for B&Q and at least one other brand).

James

The very one, pared back too.

 

[Garry R]

I have one of those - my second one. The first wouldn't raise or lower the blade after about a year but got a full refund from Amazon. Bought another because it did the job and the guarantee still stands. It's OK but not the best but reasonable for the money.

Any recommendations on a bandsaw?

 

[JamezF]

The very one, pared back too.

I think I got unlucky, to be honest. Or possibly it's just that I do actually use it quite a lot, even for turning slices of sycamore trunk into nice little pieces that will fit into the firebox of our pizza oven. So hopefully it's not a problem you'll come across. There wasn't really any chance I could send it back to Evolution either, as I've done stuff like fitted a soft start and a big "STOP" flap over the switch. I may be butchering it a bit more soon too.

James

 

[Superlativesoul]

I think I got unlucky, to be honest. Or possibly it's just that I do actually use it quite a lot, even for turning slices of sycamore trunk into nice little pieces that will fit into the firebox of our pizza oven. So hopefully it's not a problem you'll come across. There wasn't really any chance I could send it back to Evolution either, as I've done stuff like fitted a soft start and a big "STOP" flap over the switch. I may be butchering it a bit more soon too.

James

I have a Titan table Saw from Screwfix worked well for the money paid ,the motor decided to give up the will to run ,after 10 secs no load applied would cut out ,checked brushes they were okay .Got in touch with a local motor rewind company, sent over photos of the motor type of rating ect,the chap looked on the website and said it would be cheaper to buy a new one .The reason was it would cost £450 to rewind .The trouble is you cannot get spares for this Saw so I reccomend before purchasing any equipment you can actually get spares .
Appears to be a throwaway machine .
John

 

[JamezF]

Any recommendations on a bandsaw?

We have a Charnwood bandsaw that doesn't appear to be available any more, but seems to be quite reasonable. I'd hope their current models are as good. Oddly enough I've just replaced the bearings on this too, because one spewed itself all over the table when I was cutting something. After more than ten years on the original bearings I think I can live with that.

I also have a Charnwood planer/thicknesser. It's an amazing bit of kit for turning wood into man glitter. My workshop vacuum can barely keep up. Definitely one of my favourite tools and gets a lot of use when I'm planing down scrap timber to turn into floors and crownboards etc.

Axminster Tools also seem to have a fairly good reputation and aren't a million miles from you if you wanted to visit and kick tyres, as it were.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

I suspect there's not much interest on the Forum in either the void or slatted racks.

I have built slatted racks for a couple of my hives!

 

[JamezF]

I have a Titan table Saw from Screwfix worked well for the money paid ,the motor decided to give up the will to run ,after 10 secs no load applied would cut out ,checked brushes they were okay .Got in touch with a local motor rewind company, sent over photos of the motor type of rating ect,the chap looked on the website and said it would be cheaper to buy a new one .The reason was it would cost £450 to rewind .The trouble is you cannot get spares for this Saw so I reccomend before purchasing any equipment you can actually get spares .
Appears to be a throwaway machine .
John

I don't think I'd touch any of the "Titan" branded stuff any more. It's definitely built to sell at a (low) price, and as you say appears to be considered (or even designed to be) completely disposable.

I discovered recently that huge numbers of the lower-end power tools come from the same company in China that specialises in producing "budget" tools based around the same underlying design with the branding of your choice and small variations in features. I started looking because I had two different brands of cordless combi drill that were near-identical, but the battery cases had clearly been deliberately moulded with keyways designed to make them non-interchangeable. Find a charger without the keyways however (and I eventually did) and it will charge them all. After that I started looking and found at least ten different brands, most quite commonly known in the UK, that were fundamentally the same product. It's quite depressing really. They're often sold at wildly-varying prices, but if you recognise the same underlying piece of kit and can't see how it could really be any good at the lowest price, the chances are that the expensive ones are going to be equally rubbish. Paying more often doesn't mean you'll get a better product these days. It just means you get ripped off for more.

None of this stuff appears to be made with the intention that it should be repairable either. One of the significant positives of the Evolution saws (and hopefully their other power tools) from my point of view is that they actually do sell spares. Some might be a struggle to find in stock, but at least they have an online shop and parts diagrams and many replacement parts are available within a couple of days.

James

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I have built slatted racks for a couple of my hives!

That's just over three dozen still to make then. Your bees will love you.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I use slatted racks to keep the void between the combs and the floor void - ie not filled with comb drawn down from the bottom of the frames

Those look good. Do you have to make sure they line up exactly with the frames?
Stan is busy in his workshop this winter converting all the spare OMFs to solid

 

[pargyle]

I would be making bee stuff, but my table saw has been in pieces for a week or so. One of the bearings started squealing badly enough to irritate me and the blade didn't seem to be running very true, so I took it apart to put in some new bearings. That turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than I initially anticipated as it requires almost complete disassembly of the saw (and of course there are no instructions because it's not meant to be a user-serviceable thing). Half the bearings turned out to be fitted in blind (or as good as) holes and as I didn't fancy trying the bread trick straight off I ordered a couple of bearing pullers which turned out to be useless. I know I shouldn't have ordered cheap Chinese tat, but I couldn't find any decently-made ones that weren't sold in kits costing upwards of £400!

Anyhow, I finally persuaded the last two out yesterday, so today I have been reassembling everything. Cold stopped play before I got the table back on, but everything else is done, I don't have any bits left over and I've tested the motor (which I had to split, along with the gearbox) and it all seems to work under no load. Unless something more exciting comes along I shall hopefully finish the job tomorrow.

As soon as there's some dry weather I may need to have a big workshop rearrangement. I've just been offered a Boxford ME10 lathe for the cost of picking it up from not too far away, but it's a touch larger (not to mention rather better engineered) than my cheap Chinese one, so I need to find space for it.

James

The ME10 is a cracking lathe - built to last, You won't pick a decent one up for much under £1000 and good ones with the variable speed fetch as much as £3000. Incredible, considering what they cost new in the 1970's and 80's. The only downside is working in imperial. Lots of them were used in schools .. I learned my metal turning on a Boxford but it would have been an earlier model than the ME10. We looked at a couple when my son bought his lathe but as he's fully metric he could not get his head around inches. They are heavy - good luck moving it !

 

[pargyle]

I don't think I'd touch any of the "Titan" branded stuff any more. It's definitely built to sell at a (low) price, and as you say appears to be considered (or even designed to be) completely disposable.

I discovered recently that huge numbers of the lower-end power tools come from the same company in China that specialises in producing "budget" tools based around the same underlying design with the branding of your choice and small variations in features. I started looking because I had two different brands of cordless combi drill that were near-identical, but the battery cases had clearly been deliberately moulded with keyways designed to make them non-interchangeable. Find a charger without the keyways however (and I eventually did) and it will charge them all. After that I started looking and found at least ten different brands, most quite commonly known in the UK, that were fundamentally the same product. It's quite depressing really. They're often sold at wildly-varying prices, but if you recognise the same underlying piece of kit and can't see how it could really be any good at the lowest price, the chances are that the expensive ones are going to be equally rubbish. Paying more often doesn't mean you'll get a better product these days. It just means you get ripped off for more.

None of this stuff appears to be made with the intention that it should be repairable either. One of the significant positives of the Evolution saws (and hopefully their other power tools) from my point of view is that they actually do sell spares. Some might be a struggle to find in stock, but at least they have an online shop and parts diagrams and many replacement parts are available within a couple of days.

James

I gave up buying modern Far East crap and most of my machines are older models from the days before things were built down to a price and those bits that are likely to wear out were made to be replaced. I have:

Myford ML8 wood lathe
Myford Mystro Wood lathe
Hegner HDB200XL Wood lathe
Union Graduate Bowl lathe
Record RPML 300 Wood lathe
Startrite Inca Planer thicknesser
Kity 613 Bandsaw
Elektra Beckum TKHS 315 Table saw
Dewalt DW 125 Radial Arm Saw
Startrite Mercury PIllar drill

Most of the above are well over 30 years old and some older but all work well and are clearly going to outlast me !

I do have a modern Triton Oscillating spindle sander which actually is not bad .. and seems to be lasting quite well and a Sealey Belt and disc sander which is OK but it's awkward swapping belts. A variety of powered hand tools - mostly Bosch or Dewalt which seem reasonable for what they cost.

Would I swap any of them ? Probably the Kity Bandsaw, it works well, will cut veneers accurately but I could use a bit larger machine with a better tilt table - perhaps a Record Power RPBS12 if I find one at the right price.

 

[Newbeeneil]

That's just over three dozen still to make then. Your bees will love you.

If I was to make them for all of mine it’s more likely to be 6 dozen!!!
How deep are your ekes? Mine are 75deep.

 

[AdrianH]

I take it that you agree that it is as good as the ads say then?

Buy small jars of Gorilla. It sets on storage.

 

[JamezF]

The ME10 is a cracking lathe - built to last, You won't pick a decent one up for much under £1000 and good ones with the variable speed fetch as much as £3000. Incredible, considering what they cost new in the 1970's and 80's. The only downside is working in imperial. Lots of them were used in schools .. I learned my metal turning on a Boxford but it would have been an earlier model than the ME10. We looked at a couple when my son bought his lathe but as he's fully metric he could not get his head around inches. They are heavy - good luck moving it !

This one at least comes with a set of metric changewheels, but obviously the slides are still imperial. Also comes on an original Boxford cabinet, which I didn't initially know. Moving it suddenly became more complicated

James

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

If I was to make them for all of mine it’s more likely to be 6 dozen!!!
How deep are your ekes? Mine are 75deep.

70mm deep.

These are a luxury for your own hives. Your clients don't need them.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Those look good. Do you have to make sure they line up exactly with the frames?

Not exactly. I don't take any account of dummy boards. My template has marks for the centres of the slats at 38mm intervals. So far no brace comb under the slats (in about 20 hives for a few years now.)

 

[pargyle]

This one at least comes with a set of metric changewheels, but obviously the slides are still imperial. Also comes on an original Boxford cabinet, which I didn't initially know. Moving it suddenly became more complicated

James

I think you will find that the motor is underslung and mounted in the cabinet. The beds will be fastened through the tray with studs so you should be able to split the lathe from the cabinet which should make it a bit easier but the lathe itself is going to be 2 - 3 cwt - there's a lot of cast iron on them. Removing the slides and tailstock will reduce some more weight. Lots of fun but for a free lathe of that quality ... no brainer if I had to enlist the whole of the local rugby team I'd do it !