What I Did This Weekend - In Pictures!

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Ooh Ooh!! Have we seen your photos of said upgrade??? Asking for a friend, ya know like ;)
 

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
Ooh Ooh!! Have we seen your photos of said upgrade??? Asking for a friend, ya know like ;)
And I 'liked' it! Memory like a sieve....................
 

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
And the 'finished article' on 14th Dec.
Seriously, there's a mahoosive vacant space where the memory part of my brain should be.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Well, I've had a little project that didn't matter much, but kept failing to progress, for logistical reasons.

Lidl has been selling metre-long, self-adhesive steel measuring tapes. It seemed a reasonable idea to mount a couple on the benches in the Shed - but, I decided that, although the tapes are thin, about half a millimetre thick, they would probably suffer attrition much faster if they were just stuck onto the surface, rather than installed in a shallow recess, to be properly flush with the surface.

Doing this shallow groove proved a more difficult manoeuvre than it should have been. Whilst I do have a selection of router bits here, the router itself is 200 miles to the east.

I had decided to leave this task until my next return, assuming that I do remember to bring the router then - or see if I can borrow one here, then I realised that it may be possible, by a bit of a bodge.

A test-run now has proved that a reasonable outcome is possible, though I may leave the real jobs for another day.

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By mounting the 12mm bit in the 'spare' cordless drill, then mounting that in the Wolfcraft drilling jig, modified by removing the springs, it was possible to create a cordless router, capable of such a light task.

The tape is half an inch wide, so a slight move of the guide to create the extra 0.7mm of width is necessary, but that is a small price to pay. Although running a bit slow for the job, it made a reasonable attempt, even on the cross-grain groove.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
It being an actual weekend and a bit of a chilly day outside, I decided to finally risk doing the inlaid tape on the centre bench.

A guide rail was positioned for the main cut.

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Marks were added to indicate the desired ends of the groove. The tape, although steel, could then be trimmed to suit the round ends.

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It all went reasonably well and the tape is in place, a touch below the bench surface, so it should survive for a while.

I nudged the guide rail a small amount, to turn the 20mm groove into a half inch one to suit the tape width. This took two goes, but all seemed well at the end.

DSC_0746.JPG


This is probably the most useful place for the permanent tape, but it was also probably the hardest to do, being a cross-grain groove. The other two possible locations are along the grain and might be a bit less stressful to do.

We'll see - maybe.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I've never been a huge fan of the fluorescent light over the bench, it was a 'temporary measure' twenty five years ago and is 'OK', but I resolved to replace it with six 5W LED GU10s.

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It was a bit of a fiddle to do, but it'll be worth it - a better spread of light and a 'nicer' colour temperature, too.

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There is also the bonus of them hanging loose, so they should survive being hit with the end of a bit of wood, or something similar, although this has not caused the failure of the original tube in all those years.

This is all part of the great "joining up of the shelves" project along the back wall, although there is a long way to go on that project yet.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
I've never been a huge fan of the fluorescent light over the bench, it was a 'temporary measure' twenty five years ago and is 'OK', but I resolved to replace it with six 5W LED GU10s.

View attachment 13763


It was a bit of a fiddle to do, but it'll be worth it - a better spread of light and a 'nicer' colour temperature, too.

View attachment 13764

There is also the bonus of them hanging loose, so they should survive being hit with the end of a bit of wood, or something similar, although this has not caused the failure of the original tube in all those years.

This is all part of the great "joining up of the shelves" project along the back wall, although there is a long way to go on that project yet.
Hmmm I can see more detail of everything in the first picture....
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
There has been a hiatus in the supply of the plywood for the current Main Project, but other things have happened in the meantime.

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I made this undershelf from oddments - it will keep the 'pantry supplies' more easily accessible, and free up bench space.

Also, under the trivet on the main bench is a loose piece, covering the gas valve and quick access to that may be useful in the event of an 'event'. In the past, this would have meant shifting most of the stuff that is now on the shelf above.


I also popped into a 'useful shop' today and got a load of rubber feet, so the stools I modified earlier and the step-stool don't rock now.
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
The frost having completely ravaged my cordelline I've had to cut the trunks down to ground level, this allied to the root ball swelling to about 6 inches above ground level looked pretty awful so knocked a planter up to surround and hide it.
20230410_184043.jpg

Hopefully the new shoots will survive any late frosts we may have.
 
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