MakingJoy

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06/14/2021

that doesn’t belong there!
it’s been a crappy few months in (or not actually in) the shop, first with a broken wrist where i was in a cast for 6! months, then getting covid at the beginning of the year … caused my time in the shop to dwindle to nothing.
i’d walk past the shop every day and honestly get angry and frustrated because i couldn’t be in my happy place - have you ever had that happen?
it’s the hardest thing that i’ve had to deal with… and honestly fell out of everything related; no more youtube, no more , loss of interest.
i guy i ally got back in today, and found piles of still where it shouldn’t be, where it got left at the end of the xmas rush. time to clean!
i’ve missed this place!

06/10/2021

i completed the shockwave set today, grabbing a few of the 8’ keychain tapes. i really love the black tapes, so much easier on the eyes… but i really think there is one missing here - maybe a 5/8” wide 12’ true tape measure (not a keychain)?
i usually carry the 16’ on my belt whenever i’m in the shop, but i really don’t enjoy the bulk of the 1” wide tape. the black widow NEVER goes onto the belt, it’s too damn huge, it just stays around for those times when you need the longer tape.
but, as a maker in a small shop - 8’ to 12’ is the perfect length. the downside of this new little 8’ one is that it’s missing the markings on the bottom, and no belt clip! the 1/2” wide tape just feels flimsy compared to the robust tape on the 16’ shockwave… but i digress.
did you know that i care so much about my idea of a perfect black tape that i reached out to a manufacturer about three years ago and almost considered a “small” run (but the smallest they’d do was 10,000) just to get my ideal tape made.
the shockwave’s will have to do for now. 🤣

06/09/2021

just posted a gadget very similar to something i threw together back in October 2019.
So cool to see another maker / inventor whom i greatly respect to build almost the same result that i came to. great work Andrew!
If you’re curious, the black plastic part on mine (blue on andy’s) is dust collection fittings which are AWESOME, and act as an articulating arm - you move them into place where you need them, and they stay there. I use mine to my , which i pull into place when sanding.

06/06/2021

It’s Hammer time.

02/14/2021

looks like it’s going to continue for a while, so i’m focusing on my work space, and making it comfortable for the long haul.
first step was refinishing my desk over the past few weeks, which i’ll post photos of soon. the next step is the space behind the desk, which is where my currently sits.
it’s a nice having it close, but that printer can get annoyingly loud over time (i cherish my silence, and refuse to wear headphones), so the next goal is to tackle my biggest project yet - an enclosure for the printer(s) and a big long countertop for other (less noisy) tools of making.
after a week in , the photos in this post show three things - a pair of steel file cabinets that i got for free when a company i worked for went under, the new enclosure, and a 12 foot countertop across the two.
the enclosure will be mostly sealed for sound and printing temp ( here we come!), have some kind of noise insulation (the granite looking material) so i can hopefully quiet down what i hear from the printers when the are running, but also make monitoring and streaming from inside the cabinet workable. the two sides will have drawer / trays that pull out for printer management, and the doors will have air-gapped dual pane acrylic panels for sound mitigation, which will hopefully be laser etched with my logo.
the whole thing will probably end up being india inked black because that’s how i roll.
i have big plans for the counter top, but they are not reflected in the model - you’ll have to wait and see.
if you’ve made it this far... tell me what you think in the comments! anything i need to add?

01/17/2021

with the orders looking to continue for a while longer, and transitioning to a new next week, i’ve decided it’s finally time to my .
this was my first project, and one of my first posts on IG. an that I crosscut on a at a , sanded the pre-finish off, stained ebony and then (unknowingly) put the worst poly finish on it ever, while doing it completely wrong.
immediately after starting to use the new top on the motorized standing base (that i never finished hooking up) i realized that the finish was put on too thick, and it would scrape off with a fingernail, and get soft from sweaty palms. it was gross!
but, it was on the third floor at this point, and i was too lazy. over the next 5 years, it’s been at the back of my mind, while i let my take over, slowly scraping swaths of the finish off with whatever was around - fingernails, credit cards, knives, etc. eventually i just lived with it.
no more! i took down the whole desk today, and with my new in hand, a fresh supply of , and just over a week until i start the new job, the time has come.

01/14/2021

my is a big fan, so my daughter and customized a , to which i designed a perfect fit heart shaped tray, cut on the . Engraved with a 60 deg Vbit, polished with .
wood is that i more than a year ago, and that i milled & dried myself. It feels great to make a gift like this from what would have been .

01/02/2021

for the to keep track of the bits & bobs during those multi-bit carves. space for a bunch of bits, the touch probe, the collet wrench, and even the remote.
one minor hiccup... the is so strong that it’ll suck up empty tool cases as it passes nearby. whoops!

12/25/2020

It brings me great , to use whatever skill i have in to gift some of my hard work to those i love.
is a mantra I try to live by, when giving a gift during the holidays, or just showing someone you care.
it’s amazing - all these different colors from the heart and sapwood of the . This is not photoshopped - just showing the .
the craziest part? this all came from a single half log, milled myself about three months ago.
everyone, may your year be .

12/24/2020

i found that holding the octane and trying to keep everything steady with ( ) was a bit challenging, and changing bits back and forth in the router table was getting annoying, so i threw together what i’m calling a .
melamine & mdf panel (from a car stereo speaker display, i think), and about 5 minutes of design, and about the same time on the , and it was done.
i can clamp this to any surface, and it works great - in this case with a 3/8 round over bit. this allowed me to have a flush-trim in the router table for cleaning up the tabs from the and then a quick round over.

12/23/2020

has some crazy colors! these are all from a single log, the array of color is unreal.
cutting a bunch of trays for , loving the for batching out multiples... took longer to finish sand than it did to cut, so fast!
more photos after .

12/17/2020

i realized earlier tonight that i never posted “finish” shots of these two ... both have errors or problems, and i didn’t like the i used.
both represent my first cut on the , trying out a few designs to sell at some point.

Address

Brentwood, CA
94513

Website

http://mkngjoy.com/

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