I am always trying to keep my ques full so I am always working on new projects to keep my productivity up. I bought a used Nova 1624 II Lathe Tuesday. I had a Nova 1624 1 and sold it but regretted it. The original lathe had an outrigger, bed extension, bed extension hinge so it was loaded up. Well I never used the outrigger but the bed extension with the hinge was handy because you could put the tail stock on the extension and fold it out of the way. So after sellers regret I have been looking for a replacement. So I found one on Craigslist in Houston and went and bought it. The original and this one have a small hand wheel and I always wanted to make a larger hand wheel (longer). So I designed up one and will cut it in a few days. The material is 4" X 4" and 1.5" thick.
I recently made a wedding box for my grandson and showed a picture to a friend. She liked the pic and asked me to make her a wall hanging sign. I designed it up and will carve it next week. This project is 12" X 10" and .75" thick. I will carve and fill with white colored epoxy. I have not picked the material but will likely be mahagoney. I have a bunch of 24" x 2" mahagoney in the shop already planned and just needs to be glued up into a panel. The dark mahagoney and the white epoxy will give good contrast. I will put some key holes in the back to hang it on the wall. I always give some hollow wall hangers with screws and a drilling template to help hang the sign.
So I got started on my que this week. I got the Nova 1624 II Hand Wheel started. I only have a 1.5" 1/4" cutting depth bit. So I cut down to 1.5" and used a forester bit to hog out the center. Tomorrow I will use the bandsaw to cut the outside around and likely mount it on the lathe and smooth it out and sand it smooth. My hand will be on that wheel to help slow down the lathe rotation. The cutouts for the bolts that attach it to the existing steel hand wheel are cut with a #102 1/8" bit. So I cut the larger recess .25" and the smaller hole to .375" deep. The #102 does not have that great of a reach. So after taking it off the Shapeoko I used a 7MM brad point drill to drill the holes all the way to the bottom. Everything on the Nova is metric. The material is just a piece of oak I had laying around but was 1.85" deep. My original plan was to make one that was 1.5" but sometimes you just use what you got.
It was about 100 degrees F today but I got the Williams sign started. I got the carving done which took about 4 hours. I also got the epoxy poured and tomorrow I can sand down the epoxy and start finishing the sign. I still need to put some key holes in the back but I have to wait until I get the epoxy level.
I am going to participate in a craft fair in Nacgodoches in November. I am starting to decide what to make for the fair. The fair is Friday and Saturday and we have 5 people from out Woodworking Club going to display and sell. I am going to turn some pens and started on making some catch all trays. This is the first one.
This one is Walnut and had Old Glory in the center. I used my battery Dremel with a brush to clean up the flag. That worked well to get the fuzzies out. I then applied a coat of Watch Danish Oil Natural to enhance the Walnut color. I will add a second coat tomorrow.
The project is 4" X 6" and about .9". The pocket was cut .5" and then the flag was carved with a 15 degree vee bit. I think it came out well. The carve takes about 45 minutes to cut. Since the size is so small I dont think I can make it go much faster. The material is some left over material from other projects. I have some cherry and oak cut offs I will also use and have a Wavy American Flay, a soceer ball, a basketball and may a few others I have not designed yet. I am thinking about $25.00 for the trays.
I finished the lathe hand wheel. I think it will be better than the skinny steel one that comes on the lathe. I had to make some modifications. I thought the holes in the steel wheel were threaded but were not. So I bought some 6MM bolts but since they were not threaded I just drilled them out to 1/4" and put some 1/4’20 bolts and nuts on to hold it in place.
The Williams sign is almost complete. I sanded the epoxy off with my drum sander and rounded the top edge with a 1/4" roundover on the router table. I put some key holes in the back and always engrave the width of the holes on the back. I will include a couple of hallow wall hangers with screws and a paper template for drilling the wall holes. I applied Watco Natural Danish Oil. The wood is South American Walnut and is very dark with the oil applied. I will wait until tomorrow to see if it needs a second coat.
