Shed Wood Idea

Ive been trying to design a new desk/office for a long time but am never quite happy with it. One feature I know Im going to want in my custom desk is a built-in USB Hub. Instead of waiting around until I have the perfect plan and time to build it I decided to purchase a 3" Belkin In-Desk USB Hub (model F5U402-03IN-KIT) while I was upgrading my PC and add it to my current desk.

I decided to mount the In-Desk Hub to the return of my desk. It solves a couple of problems I was having. First, it obviously gives me additional USB ports which are easy to access for the times I need to plug-in a thumb drive, camera, charge my bluetooth headset, etc. without having to reach around to the back of my computer. Second, it acts as a traditional desk grommet which allows me to run some cables from peripherals on top of my desk return to my computer chassis underneath it. Ive been trying to be neater with my cable management.

The 3" In-Desk USB Hub kit comes with a 3" grommet, 4 port powered USB Hub that fits in the desk grommet, USB cable and power adapter.


The USB Hub will work without the power adapter being pulled and just off of the power from the USB port you connect it to. For devices that draw more energy, such as external hard drives, you can choose to plug in the Hub.

Belkin also makes a smaller 2" In-Desk USB Hub that fits into a 2" hole. It only has 3 USB ports but still has holes on the side to run cables.

I chose the Belkin because Ive used their products in the past and have always been pleased. I saw another model that also

What Youll Need

Materials

Step 2: Install the Grommet

Step 3: Prepare Hub

Step 4: Insert Hub Into Grommet

4/27/2011 ... well, ok .... first morning above 55 degrees ... it actually felt like really spring this morning ... kit and i had our coffee in the garden, wandering around .. admiring the green and enjoying the weather and the signs of spring and life in general ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
leo was chasing chipmunks, to no avail
the fish were really hungry ...
kit was tending her waterfall
admired the daffs
and the apple blossoms
the radishes and a couple of the peas are up ...
theres wood to stack yet ...
and the asparagus should be ready by the weekend ....

even a late spring is a good spring ... golf in a half hour ....

Were taking a break from sanding to share with you some progress photos of the writing desk and chair.

David actually told me today that he likes sanding ... I think he is the only one! 


The desk is coming along ... the top has been completely sanded, all that is left is the little crevices.

We are using the orbital sander with 80 grit sandpaper for the flat surfaces and a combination of sanding blocks and sheets of sandpaper for the rest.

I said earlier that the desk is oak (the drawers are but the top isnt) Anyone know what type of wood the top is?


The chair has been sanded and primed, now it just needs a top coat and an upholstered seat ...

Hope you are having a great weekend!

I first heard this song by Tom Waits on CBC radio while working in the shop. It really grabbed my interest. It evokes so many things; memories of obsessively nosey neighbours, in this case, paranoid nosey neighbours, creepy news stories, which are probably the things that make the nosey neighbours paranoid, small mindedness, small town fear of outsiders.
What really caught my attention as I was working away were the lines “He has a router and a table saw”. Now that really changed the picture for me. A devious psycho who is pounding nails into the hardwood floor would not be using a router and a table saw to build a dungeon for his torture victims. Maybe he is just setting up his woodworking shop so he can make some grandfather clocks and birdhouses.
When I got home I looked up this video on YouTube. It’s pretty creepy and fits with my first impression of the song, but here is another layer.
When the video gets to the lines “He has a router and a table saw” the image for the router looks like a plastic “T” joint with a few wires routed through it. This I find hilarious because it reveals that whoever is making the video, in spite of the context does not think of a router used in woodworking but the only kind they know, which is some kind of electronic networking device. This person definitely did not take woodworking in high school, but I bet Tom Waits has made some sawdust in his time, or at least , has seen it done.

10/9/09 We have had our Multicam 1000 CNC router now for about four years. Trevors been running it for almost 3 of them and weve refined our technique for reproducing stuff so that it goes remarkably smoothly. This table came to us recently. It was a Grand Rapids piece, probably from the 20s, not particularly valuable except sentimentally ... The end piece was broken off and missing but we had the broken off molding. So, heres how we get from the first picture to the last picture below ... Holman Studios is doing a little orange shellac and colored lacquer work on just the top and new piece to get it looking good... Click the pictures to enlarge them.



The table as it came to us

The table when it left ...

Close up of the new end that Trevor made .... Below shows how he did it ....

First step, photograph the good end

Get the image full size, (in this case 13.06 x 1.81) in Photoshop and save it as 1 to 1 (1306 pixels x 181 pixels

Import it into your CAD program in a box 13.06 x 1.81 and draw over it ... Save it as the right kind of file for the toolpath program to read

Import it into Enroute and toolpath (have the program tell the router how to cut it, what bit, what order,etc.) it

Make a sample in luan to check it ... In this case ... perfect

Trevor then made a 3 ply replacement sandwich piece (two vertical pieces of veneer on a horizontal grain 1/8" solid wood core ... net 3/16ths " thick

Cut the real thing, stain it, install it and take it to Steve .... Start to finish ??? Hmmm, well see when we do the time clock, but probably less than you might think ... 4/16 total elapsed time for Trevor, 4.27 hours, stained and ready to finish ...

We do all kinds of custom cnc work for our clients and for other furniture makers, both local and nationwide. This week we made the (200?) chair parts below for one friend and Monday we have a couple of big slabs to mill flat for another ... keeps Trevor off the streets....

The finished parts before running them through the planer them to release them

CNC at work ...
There are some links to other blog posts below showing this technology at work. Check them out if you have a minute ...
A video on you tube of the cnc cutting an inlay
Some custom inlays in the Greene & Greene Style
A custom corporate logo inlay
An Art Deco Style Mother of Pearl Inlay

at my age, 64.5 years, i think that most people would agree, time accelerates (is it already the 15th of january?), memory becomes less able, and when we think back, we sometimes wonder, where did last year go? so, for the last 3 years i have collected relevant (to me) photos in folders on my computer appropriately called 2011, or 2010 or recent work 2009. this morning i uploaded the 2011 folder to my picasa account and it is now online and i can access my photos from anywhere with an internet connection. looking through it, i might have included too many pictures but it makes me realize that the year was actually full of life, full of work, and full of important moments. if you are a new reader, there are dates attached to some of the groups of photos showing the relevant blog post, which, if you are interested, you can access through the archives of my blog.

if you are interested in how to create online slide shows for your ownself and dont have an easily accessible young person, i wrote a blog post back in december of 2010 with instructions for downloading picasa and uploading your pictures ...

its a beautiful sunny winter day and i am outta here ... on to 2012 ...

This childrens bookcase with wainscot back panel offers plenty of adjustable shelf space capable of changing to accommodate a growing childs interests.