Steve's workshop - Painting the outside walls

[Lons]

Steve
Re your eye infection.

I wore contact lenses for 35 years and whilst I never regretted them they did cause me problems. Working in a dry office environment and very dusty conditions at times I regularly got eye infections, some pretty bad. You have to be careful as tiny ulcers are common caused by grit or whatever and the lenses rub and allow the ulcer to become infected which results in a build up of scared tissue, there for life!
I spent several years contemplating laser eye surgery and eventually took the plunge 7 years ago. Best thing I ever did and not a single eye problem since. I recon it saved me at least half an hour every day on lens routines and all the money spent on lenses and back up specs have more than paid for the laser treatment.

I was very short sighted being -5.5 and -6.0 but got 20 / 20 vision which is still excellent. I'mm 66 now so never too late and procedures have advanced significantly since myne was done.

cheers
Bob

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thanks for all the support guys, it's very much appreciated.

Bob. I could have laser surgery, I think, but it would be a big risk. I have had two cornea replacement operations, 1993 and 2002. I don't want to go through anything like that again. OK, I know that techniques have become more sophisticated now than they were then. Indeed, they did the second one in a slightly different way to the first. Now they can replace just the top layer, rather than the whole cornea. But it would still carry a big risk.

With my lenses I read 6/6, sometimes even 6/5+. At one time I could even read 6/4 but those days are long gone. Without my lenses I read 6/360 or something worse by now, probably. That means that what the average person can read at 360m, I have to get as close as 6m to read. I do have some specs, and they are better than nothing, but not much. OK for pottering about the house, but not good enough to read or drive.

I was told at 16 that I would go blind (no making up your own jokes, please), but, 41 years later, I'm still functioning.

I left my lenses out for most yesterday and I've only just put them in today. Coupled with a rather generous amount of good-quality sleep since Friday, my eye is a lot better, thank you.

 

[Lons]

That makes sense Steve, I probably wouldn't take the risk either. As I said I took years deciding anyway without having your problems.

Love the build BTW and have been following even though I haven't said much.
Don't underestimate the inspiration you're giving to others Steve and keep it going. Your fothcoming holiday will be just the ticket so make sure you enjoy it.

cheers
Bob

 

[Racers]

I too had an eye infection a couple of weeks ago, same symptoms really sore eye then discharge, some eye drops from the chemist cleared it up in a couple of days, luckily as we where going away a couple of days after it started.

The workshop is looking very good, when is the opening do? :wink:

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

That is a very good Q, Pete, a very good Q.

I seem to remember originally hoping for a Bash "before the end of the year". Ah, the innocence of inexperience, eh? Fortunately, I didn't specify which year....

I'm actually thinking of having two bashes, one for the contributors (builders, helpers, senders of copper rivets, etc, etc.) and a second for the well-wishers, of which there are many here. Open House, if you like.

The reason is that there is limited parking here, as you know (also an industrial estate 2m walk away could also provide useful space). I've just read that and I realise that it could mean Two Miles. It doesn't, it means Two Minutes...).

So yes, I do intend to have a Workshop Essentials Bash (if Workshop Essentials continues to exist, given the plethora of free stuff, some of it quite respectable, on the net, which, quite frankly, makes me redundant, and who in their right mind wants to pay for stuff when they can get what they think is the same for free?). I just don't know when yet.

Ray is gone for a couple of weeks, but the weather forecast is for Summer to arrive soon, at least for a few days. Once we have a window of warm dry weather for, say, a week or two, I can get the cladding done and then the job can be signed off.

That's when it is time to throw a party.

You, my friend, will be at the front of the queue. Especially if you can tell me why my workshop wifi no longer seems to work...

 

[Graham Orm]

That is a very good Q, Pete, a very good Q.

I seem to remember originally hoping for a Bash "before the end of the year". Ah, the innocence of inexperience, eh? Fortunately, I didn't specify which year....

I'm actually thinking of having two bashes, one for the contributors (builders, helpers, senders of copper rivets, etc, etc.) and a second for the well-wishers, of which there are many here. Open House, if you like.

The reason is that there is limited parking here, as you know (also an industrial estate 2m walk away could also provide useful space). I've just read that and I realise that it could mean Two Miles. It doesn't, it means Two Minutes...).

So yes, I do intend to have a Workshop Essentials Bash (if Workshop Essentials continues to exist, given the plethora of free stuff, some of it quite respectable, on the net, which, quite frankly, makes me redundant, and who in their right mind wants to pay for stuff when they can get what they think is the same for free?). I just don't know when yet.

Ray is gone for a couple of weeks, but the weather forecast is for Summer to arrive soon, at least for a few days. Once we have a window of warm dry weather for, say, a week or two, I can get the cladding done and then the job can be signed off.

That's when it is time to throw a party.

You, my friend, will be at the front of the queue. Especially if you can tell me why my workshop wifi no longer seems to work...

Have a look at this Steve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nJbf4HhHV0

 

[Racers]

Thanks Steve its been a pleasure to help out.
I feel guilty I haven't been there as much as Ray.

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

Having had a couple of days away from the build, I was ready to start again today, but rather than working on the workshop, I wanted to work in it.

I don't have a lot of storage space yet, and I have lots of stuff just lying around, waiting to get damaged, so I decided to do something about that.

I was quite surprised to find that the rails do not hang perfectly vertically. The thicker edge makes them kick to the side slightly, and as some hang one way and some the other, it looks a tad disconcerting.

The other thing I wanted to tackle was this pesky Incra router plate. You will remember that it has a 3/4" radius corner. If you don't have CNC this is not the easiest radius to cut. But I have bought a replacement rebate cutter. I thought it was 1.5" dia, but it's not, it is about 35mm, just a tad tighter. But it's not far off.

So my plan was to cut an aperture 1" smaller than the plate, then rout a 1/2" rebate to take the plate itself.

The first step was some rather careful measuring and marking.

Then I pinned some OSB to the underside and drilled an access hole for my saw.

I cut out the waste but tried to leave a generous margin as I could see that the blade was canting.

Then a flush trim bit

Because of the length of the bit I had to do it in two passes, the second one without the OSB frame, to complete the job.

But I had a problem. The blade had canted so much that I had overshot a little bit on the underside, which is the working top surface. Not by much, and the rebate will remove it, but I can't use it as a bearing surface for those couple of inches. What to do?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Most of it I could rebate just using the bearing,

but If I'd just run the bearing all the way around, it would be very slightly wonky for a short length, so I clamped a straight edge and used that for that section.

It took a couple of attempts to get the straight edge in exactly the right place, just tapping it over a hair each time, but I got it looking right.

And so the moment of truth, and
v
v
v
v
v
v
it didn't go in. Oh, the length was right and the width was right, but the corners were not quite tight enough. What's going on, the cutter is slightly TOO tight. The problem was that the flush trim cutter, 1/2", is bigger than the bearing. So I hunted out my corner chisel, a really handy little tool, and squared up the corners inside.

Now the rebate cutter could get right in

And, then, like Cinderella's slipper, it fits

It isn't perfect, the radius is about 1mm tighter than perfect, and that does mean that the little corner cam which is designed to lock the plate in place, doesn't work, as it does not have that much throw, but it's not really necessary.

As an aside, I was really pleased to see that the glue line for my laminated top was nice and tight. This is the piece that came out

So I have had a very productive day. I started just after 9 and it was nearly 6 when I came in. It is a very long time since I have felt like working like that. I could have carried on, as well, but I'm supposed to be going out tonight. Might give it a miss though.

Nice feeling.

I'm not sure if I have a problem with my camera, it seems to be be changing the colour temperature on its own. Slightly worrying.

PS It's great being able to get down there without getting my boots muddy!

 

[Racers]

Nicely done Steve.

Can you set a custom white balance on your camera? if so you could set it to your lighting in your workshop, I have a couple of ones, one set for my halogen lights in the house.

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think so, yes. It has lots of functions I never use. I do almost everything on Intelligent Auto

I just don't understand how two consecutive photos can be taken on different Auto settings, when the subject is virtually identical in colour and lighting.

S

 

[Lons]

Change as good as a rest Steve. Great to see you back in the saddle. =D>

cheers
Bob

 

[sploo]

I think so, yes. It has lots of functions I never use. I do almost everything on Intelligent Auto

I just don't understand how two consecutive photos can be taken on different Auto settings, when the subject is virtually identical in colour and lighting.

S

The vagaries of a camera's brain

If the camera can shoot raw then that'll solve the problem of white balance entirely, as a raw won't have the white balance "cooked" into it like a jpeg.

Given the lighting in the workshop will also be farliy consistent (I assume) you could also set the camera to manual and dial in a good setting for the series you're about to take; that'll ensure consistent results.

 

[Wizard9999]

Glad you got the router plate in Steve. But I have to say, reading what a PITA it was to do has been enough to help me decide I will not be buying an Incra plate myself.

Terry.

 

[yetloh]

Steve,

Is it possible that one shot was entirely lit by your workshop lights and another had some added daylight? If so, that would explain the phenomenom. I do agree about shooting in RAW mode though, it makes it much easier to adjust the white balance after you have taken it.

Glad to hear you are heartened by being able to get on with something you really wanted to do rather than what you felt you had to do. It's amazing how therapeutic a satisfying day in the workshop can be. It has obviously been a gruelling journey but, you have certainly given readers of this forum a lot of pleassure along the way.

Jim

 

[petermillard]

I just don't understand how two consecutive photos can be taken on different Auto settings, when the subject is virtually identical in colour and lighting.

Fluorescent tubes in the workshop Steve? The light emitted from florries is of continually changing intensity and colour so best to keep shutter speeds below 1/50th sec (50Hz, AC waveforms, all that...) for consistent results. In the early days of digital photography even the light output from heavy-duty studio flash wasn't consistent enough to be able to shoot with a fixed shutter speed.

HTH Pete

 

[Doug B]

Good to see you're making progress inside the shop Steve, take it steady though with all that Festool gear on show you'll have the willey measuring mod round :lol: :lol:

Hope to be up for a pint this month, had my stitches out so should be good for a jar in a couple of weeks.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Doug - glad you are on the mend

All- Thanks for the photo advice. I don't think my camera does RAW. But there have been one or two other glitches with it, which makes me wonder if it is working properly. E.g. when I switch it on, it says "Dial ot in proper position" when it is. Just touch it and it comes to life. And the image display can be very dark. Move the dial to something else and then back and all is well. It never used to behave like this.

 

[sploo]

Doug - glad you are on the mend

All- Thanks for the photo advice. I don't think my camera does RAW. But there have been one or two other glitches with it, which makes me wonder if it is working properly. E.g. when I switch it on, it says "Dial ot in proper position" when it is. Just touch it and it comes to life. And the image display can be very dark. Move the dial to something else and then back and all is well. It never used to behave like this.

Sometimes if you leave a camera in a manual mode (with manual settings that would be too dark for the current scene) you'll find the display is very dim until you either change the settings or spin the dial to one of the automatic modes. That said, it does sound like it might be a bit ill. What model is it?

If you wanted something that'd shoot raw without spending big money, I believe that many of Canon's consumer point and shoot models can be "hacked" using CHDK - which is a sort of third party extension firmware that can enable higher-end features on a budget camera. Adobe's Lightroom is then the ideal companion for tweaking and managing the photos - though it'd be overkill if you don't actually take many shots.

 

[Racers]

Hope to be up for a pint this month, had my stitches out so should be good for a jar in a couple of weeks.

Stitches?

Pete