Today in the shop (My very first SO project)

[reible]

SO seems to be the go to phrase over at the Shaper Community used for the Shaper Orgin.

While I have had it for a while I just haven't found the time to actually do a project with it. This one is not a big deal, just a 96mm x 96mm x 1/4" deep cut out at this point. I'll be adding some more features over the next while as time permits.

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I love routers and this one is something else. Yes there is a learning curve but I also love to learn new things so away I go. I have several projects lined up but since this one is not really a critical one I can learn without fear of mucking it up to badly. So far it has been about perfect as I imagined it would be.

Ed

[moggymatt]

GIVE US MORE!
Watching for more review.

[Gene Howe]

That looks like a fun machine. I'm with paul. We want MORE.

[sehast]

Good to see you are progressing well. Just keep up with the posts over on Shaper Community and you should have all the info and ideas needed. I have hit a road block myself for the last several weeks due to very painful back spasms that I am just now getting under control. Working with the SO seems to aggravate it more than anything else I do. Hopefully I will be getting back to it in the next few days.

[reible]

As time permits I'll do a bit more on the project over the next couple of days, and of course weather can be a factor.......

While the pocket is cut I will either make a finger lift area on one or perhaps two sides using the on board tools. I may also add some other features to allow a square insert to be put in. Right now the corners of the pocket are a radius and depending on how making the inserts goes will determine if that will stay the same or be changed. A real work in progress.

One of the next parts I will attempt to make is the insert that fits in the cavity. The SO has some on board tools that can make things like a square in the size you need. It also has an offset function that I have yet to try. For the insert I can start at the 96mm x 96mm and if it is too tight I can then move to slight off set and cut another one. Or use the off set to make my 96mm x 96mm pocket just slightly larger using the same type function.

Looking forward to playing some more.

BTW this is a drill table for the shopsmith 500 I use as a drill press. The insert allows for replacement as the old one is used up. It will feature a festool mft like top for clamping/holding. The insert is centered on the drill table and as you know the shopsmith main table is not centered so one can rotate this drill table as well as move in the x - y location as needed. Having the insert square allows one to rotate it as well to fresh areas.

To be honest I don't know how well this will work out but since it is a learning experience will at least be that.

Ed

[reible]

Got to spend some time this afternoon on my project. Keep in mind I'm using just the onboard tools and no cad software at this point. Today I wanted to add the 20mm holes and then cut the plugs for the center insert.

The tool has the ability to create a grid by touching off three places, two along one access and one along another axis. Then you can have points to reference to, in my case 1mm. So the layout I did on the machine will be done to a 1mm reference. I expect there to be some error in the pattern but since this has a life as a drill press top I'm expecting to use the holes for clamping elements and the like so if it is not quite up to MFT standards that is fine.

The bit you need to use to take advantage of the Helix Mode is a plunge bit that will work within the corrective area of the SO. In my case I had a 1/2" bit with the plunge tip. This is what it looks like:

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The top is now all "drilled" and looks like this:

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I have a video uploading at you tube and when that is up I'll let you know. It shows the SO doing its thing to make the holes.

For the plugs I went with a new to me material from Home Depot. The label calls it PVC and in comes in 2' x 4' x 1/4" sheets. They have some other thicknesses but I wanted the 1/4". The 1/4" is really 1/4" so this was the reason I wanted a chance to play with it. I use to get MDF that was pretty close to right on 1/4" but the two places were I got it no longer carry and the third place has thin MDF not even close to the 1/4" they call it.

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I used some double sided tape to stick it down before cutting them out. I did one and then checked to see if it fit and here is a shot of that.

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Again I used just the onboard tools to do the design, not that it is all the difficult. Once I had checked the fit I then copied the piece and repeated across the width of the PVC.

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This is the top as it stands now:

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I will use a guided saw system to cut it out but I have a couple of things to do yet while the tape is still in place.

I'll add another post later with the video link.

Ed

[reible]

Here is the link to the SO "drilling" the holes. This is a great feature! It takes all the work out of make thing holes and they have a nice fit for the dogs I have so I'm really happy with how this works.

https://youtu.be/LpW3CTZuazA

Ed

[reible]

I had a little time this evening and for the most part finished the project. Yesterday I cut the top and bottom out with a guided saw system. I could have used the SO but it would have been slow and added wear to the router bit.

The underside of the top has 4 holes, 1/4" deep for dowels, I wasn't sure how close the top and bottom would work out and perhaps I was a bit to cautious but I made the holes oversized to make sure it would fit..... may be next time I get brave.

The bottom has the same for holes and yes I did them slightly oversized as well. It also has hole right in the middle/center of the table. This takes a dowel as well and is designed to take what ever load might occur when drilling it the center. It is not glued or other wise fastened so it can be replaced if at some point it is damaged badly by drilling into it.

The spacing between the top and bottom needs to be minimal but I wanted to be able to use festool clamps and still reach in to tighten clamps etc. So I decided on 2-3/4".

Again you will note the center of the table is the center, while it is not going to be the center of drilling while used on the drill press it's OK not to be. Another reason for this is that I can use it as table for hand drilling where being centered is an advantage.

I grabbed out a few dogs, and clamps and other 20mm hardware to show how it looks with stuff on it.

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I also did a shot so you could see under the top table and how the dowels work. By using dowels it minimises the places where clamps will not work.

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I think I'll add some wax to protect it a bit more and perhaps do a few other refinements but for the most part it is done.

Ed

[sehast]

Great work Ed. Making the holes slightly oversized is a good idea. I have found that the best accuracy you can expect from the SO is about +/- 1/64" per 24" of span and sometimes its not quite that good. The helix hole feature is great and makes quick work for a bunch of holes.

[reible]

The problem for me was resolving how to locate the parts so the holes in the bottom of the top and the top of the bottom would be in the same place. When you touch off you use the bottom and the left side. Holes located on grid then go from that x-y locations. This is fine for the holes drilled from the top, the pocket and other things that might be located from that location. The top of the bottom can also be done from this same perspective. How ever the top needs to be flipped to do the dowel holes in the bottom. So the datum is now in the upper left corner rather then the lower left.

It was unclear to me at this point how I wanted to resolve the issue so I went with over sizing the holes and made believe the part was still in its starting location which I know would introduce an error but was the simplest solution that came to mind. I know at sometime in the future I will want to use a better way but for this project it didn't really matter if it was a little off. The summitry of this project allows this to sort of work but other projects will not.

I already have my next project on the drawing board so to speak. I want to see how I might engrave a symble. None of this is all that hard to do but learning the tools needed along with the SO is taking time. I figured doing a few simple projects would be my gateway into this new world.

Ed