Making a Tiny Hammer in 60 seconds

Watch how I make a mallet in 60 seconds using the lathe.

Tools Used
Mini Lathe - http://amzn.to/1PAOAsG
Turning Tools - http://amzn.to/1PAOMIf

Equipment Used
Macro Lens - http://amzn.to/1qboiII
Canon 80D - http://amzn.to/1UpYPrQ

Making an Articulating LED Task Lamp

This is the latest video I made for the Make Youtube channel. For quite some time I've been wanting a task lamp over my tinker area where I do electronics and design work. I needed the light to be flexible for different tasks, so I thought it would be perfect to design one with articulating arms. 

Media Stand with Hardwood Countertop

This media stand features a beautiful hardwood top, turned tapered legs, matching wooden knobs and a white base. I built this tv stand to house my speakers (on the sides, as well as on the shelf), and hide things behind the doors. There are several different parts to this build, including the top, the body, the doors and the accents. So let's get started!

I have been saving some ipe wood up on the rafters for a year now, so time to bring those down. So these were 4x4 posts, so I resawed them on the table saw into three pieces, just a touch under an inch thick.

Once I had five boards cut up, I brought them inside where I arranged them so they looked good and they butted up tight without any gaps. Then I made some chalk marks, to remind myself which side is up for later. Then just drawing some five straight marks across for where I want the dowels.

Now I'm using a doweling jig here, and I'm going for 3/8 inch dowels. So lining the jig up on the mark, clamping it in place, and then drilling a hole down, and I also have a stop on the drill bit so I only go down a touch over half the length of the dowel. And then there was just a whole lot of clamping and drilling to do, making sure I'm lining it up right.

Now I'm getting ready here to glue and clamp this counter together, putting down some wax paper so it doesn't glue stuck, and then putting the dowels and some glue down. When laminating several boards like this, I always like to clamp each section together before moving on to gluing the next board together. And then just doweling, gluing and clamping the counter together, one board at a time. And love that part when the last board comes together.

Once the glue had dried, I cut the counter to size using a circular saw.

Next, to create a roundover edge, I decided to use my number 5 smoothing plane. First I was thinking of using the router and a roundover bit, but then ipe tears rather easily so I decided to use the plane instead for a little more control. And that worked out really good.

Then a whole bunch of sanding.

Once the top was smooth, I brought it inside and gave it a seal coat of this gel wipe on urethane product. And I will proceed to give this a couple more coats.

OK, now let's move on to the base. I started with checking over the plywood to mark out my cuts, and it was a little bit of a puzzle to get them it all to fit, and here are the pieces cut up.

Here's the sketch for this media stand - I wanted something that would hold my speakers perfectly, a shelf underneath, and two doors to hide things behind.

So I started with putting together the base here and I'm simply using glue and screws. So after making my marks, I'm predrilling and countersinking, and then clamping the piece in place which really helps to line everything up square. Then just continuing on with the other side.

For some support pieces in the pack, I'm drilling some pocket holes here, and then attaching that, to add some additional rigidity. Also drilling some holes to attach the top through later.

Then priming, spackling and painting the base here.

Now, let's move on to attaching the doors. So I've got this hinge installing jig which really came in handy here. So I'm using Euro style hinges, and I'm setting the jig up for how much of a gap I want in between the door and the side here. Then marking out where I want the hinges, adding some support underneath, securing the jig in place and then drilling down the rather large hole with the drill.

So I'm using these inset hinges and then marking the same distance as I did the doors, then using this template to mark where my screw holes need to go and attaching the connecting part of the hinge.

and I'm using this really handy self centering interchangeable drill bit kit here, and then just attaching the remaining hinges.

Then screwing down the hinges on the doors too, and clicking them in place, really like these euro style hinges. Then inside the cabinet I have room for a shelf, so drilling some pocket holes here and then I set up some support with some clamps and connected the shelf in place. Then doing a final coat of paint.

Ok, now let's move on to the legs. So since I have an ipe counter, I thought it would be really cool to turn some tapered ipe legs. So that's exactly what I did. I made one leg that I liked that measured 4 1/2 inches in length, and then I replicated three more legs.

Once they were done, I drilled a whole on the drill press, and then I epoxied in some 3/8 inch bolts and let that dry. Now on the bottom shelf of the base, I drilled four holes on the corners, and then I clamped some tee nuts in place, and these bar clamps really worked well for this. Then I could simply screw the legs in place. I also decided to add some shellac for protection on the legs.

Now I also wanted some knobs, and I thought it would be cool to make those out of ipe as well. So I've got a small block of ipe here that I'm drilling a 15/64 inch hole all the way through. Then I'm screwing on a mandrel piece that's attached to a drill chuck on the lather, and then I started turning. I decided I wanted the knobs about 1 1/2 inch in diameter and I went from there.

So I really liked using the parting tool here to create the shape, and these smaller tools were perfect for the size here.

I've got some really neat hardware here which makes it really easy to turn your own knobs. Then I simply replicated the knob I made, put on the hardware and attached it to the doors, and there you go - custom knobs, I really kind of like that.

Now to finish the piece, I of course added some of my beeswax polish, this is the tung oil version, since this is a really nice counter.

And there you have it. A really nice media stand, where the speakers fit quite perfectly on the sides, I have a center speaker on the bottom, and the receiver behind the doors. I really like having the doors there, so you can hide things inside. And I really think it's the little touches that make a big difference here - the turned legs, the custom knobs, and of course the counter, you really can't go wrong with a hardwood counter.

Awesome DIY Desk Lamp w/ LED Strip Lights

This cool desk lamp is made with LED strip lights and maple. It features a very simple design where the wood is really in focus and has a remote control that attaches to the back of the lamp. This lamp would be great in a lot of different settings, and of course you could use whatever wood you have on hand.

So I started off with this pretty big block of maple. First I needed to make sure it was square, so using a smoothing plane here to joint the edges to make it easier to go on the table saw. Checking with a level and doing some more planing.

Then out to the table saw to do some resawing. Since this wood is really dense, I'm cutting it a little at a time here. Now you could definitely do this cut on the band saw as well.

When I had my measurements drawn up I went outside to do some sanding before cutting the pieces to size. And I'm just cross cutting these parts on the miter saw.

Now let's move on to the lights. So I have this LED strip here, and you can cut them every three lights on the copper section. So for this design, I need six lights on each cut and a total of 13 strips. Then you simply peel off the back, and stick the strip to the wood. It adheres pretty well to unfinished wood. And just go on all the way down. Then just making sure each strip is well attached.

Next I'm just tinning each of the contacts on the positives on one side, and the negatives on the other. Then I've got a piece of wire here and I'm stripping it to remove the insulation, and I'm attaching it with hot glue on each side. Then I'm tinning the wires, and then cutting up small little pieces of wire here to connect to the contacts. Then soldering each wire to each tinned contact, which means all the positives on one side, and all the negatives on another.

And just going down the line, cutting up some more wire. I'm using a new soldering iron, and this one is so much better than my old one, it's definitely one of those things I wish I had upgraded sooner.

So let's see if this works, and it does. With the variable power supply here I can see how much light it gives at different currents which is kind of cool. OK, so we're done with that part.

Now let's get to work on the wood. So I need to cut a dado in the base, so the back can sit inside it at an angle. I also need a dado in the back so the light part can sit inside it straight.

So I'm starting with cutting a dado on the back piece of the lamp. And I'm simply taking repetitive cuts on the table saw here. I'm creeping up on my marks to make sure I get a tight fit.

Next I'm doing the same thing but at a 22 degree angle for the base, and this matches the 22 degree bevel cut I made on the bottom of the back piece so that it fits tight.

And this is what it will look like all together. Then I'm cleaning up those cuts here with a chisel.

Now, I'm going to run a wire down from the light so drilling a hole here so I can get it to the backside. And testing if that fits and that was a little too tight, so changing the bit. And now the wire fits through much better. The wire will run down a groove in the back piece, so that's what I'm cutting now on the table saw. Just making a very shallow groove with a few light passes. Then sanding the pieces a little.

Now, let's work on the base a little. So I'm drilling a hole in the side here, and that's where I want the plug to fit. On the underside of the piece I'm drilling a large hole with a forstner bit, and that's where the wires will be connected from the plug to the lights. Then I also need to drill a hole on the base here so the wire coming down the back can reach to the underside of the lamp

And I made enough room to get the plug in from the underside to the side.

So here are all the pieces now, the base, the back piece, and the light.

Time to assemble. So making sure I'm getting the wire through, and then gluing the pieces together. And a little gentle tapping to get it in place. Then gluing the light piece in and putting on a few clamps to let it set up.

Now, to give the base a little weight, I decided to drill another hole here. And I've got some lead. I'm just hot gluing this in place. So I used this because I already had some lead on hand, however you could definitely use bbs or any other type of weight just to make sure the lamp is a little more stable. And then I'm just covering the whole thing with hot glue.

OK, so time to connect the wiring. So I have the wire coming up through the back piece, so I split it off, and I'm soldering the positive to the positive side, and the negative to the negative side.

Then I'm simply hot gluing the wires in place, and hot gluing the wires into the back.

Then attaching the plug into the side here with some hot glue, and then soldering together these wires. I'm using some heat shrink here to protect the wires. And then since I have the room, I decided to add an addition piece of lead, can't go wrong with extra weight.

So almost done, a little fine sanding, and then I'm putting on a coat of my tung oil wax polish.

OK, so to really finish this piece off, I'm cutting up a piece of black fabric for the base, and I'm simply hot gluing that in place as well.

Also, these lights are operated with a small remote control, so I'm gluing on a piece of velcro on the back here, and another piece on the back of the remote - that way I'll always know where it is!

Building an Organization Caddy System for the Desktop

Making a custom desk organizer caddy can really be practical as you can make it fit a lot of things in a relatively small space. For this project I really wanted to make something that felt very finished, almost like a miniature piece of furniture, that also was very practical to help staying organized at the desk. You can either have this unit stand on a desk against the wall, or you can hang it on the wall, if that works better. In terms of material, I'm using MDF and ipe wood, however any wood would be nice and provides excellent contrast against the white MDF.

Well, it all starts with a plan, right. So this time I started with cutting up a model in some brown paper to get a feel for size and proportion. Sometimes I find it a little easier to visualize that way. So I'm adding what I need here - space for envelopes, pencils, a ruler etc... Then once my cutlist was complete I went out to do some cutting. So for this project, I'm using 1/4 inch mdf which is really a nice size, doesn't feel thick or heavy and easy to work with. So I cut up a bunch of strips and then cut them to size on the miter saw. 

Then let's put the puzzle together. And that's really what this is, once piece on top of another. You have side pieces, then a front to cover that, shorter side pieces on top, a bottom, and a short front piece to cover that. Then support for the middle here which uses the same bottom as the right, and a front to cover that. Then the section on the left is completely separated from the other two, and creates a little cubby.

So to attach these pieces, I'm using yellow glue and a nailgun, and you just have to be a bit careful to nail right since these pieces are pretty thin. I started with putting together one section at a time, the envelope holder, sides, front, then the bottom, and then it's easier to add to that once you have something a little more stable. 

And this just takes a little bit of time, putting everything together. Then finally when I had the two basic sections completed, I attached them to the back, again with glue and nails. 

OK, next I've got some ipe cut up here for shelves, as well as two triangles of mdf for support. So just measuring out where I want them and attaching them to the back. Also, time to put together the drawers. So I've got mdf for the main drawers, and a piece of thin ipe cut up for the drawer fronts. Now as a pull, I decided to use these nice looking brass screws, so I'm putting in a nut on each side of the wood to secure it in place. Then attaching the fronts to the drawers, and they're so tiny.

OK, now I wanted this whole thing nice and bright, so painting it white, with some basic cheap paint. Then I'm sanding the ipe for the shelves, and gluing those in place.

Now for the side here, I have space for a small ruler, so to hang it, I have a matching brass screw, so I'm just drilling a hole, and gluing this in, it's not exactly going to carry a lot of weight. Then I want some hooks, so I'm finding   the position I want for each, making a mark with an awl, and a drilling a small hole before screwing each hook in. OK, so I can now put the drawers in, and it looks good. 

To protect the paint, as well as the wood, I'm putting on a few thin coats of spray lacquer here, and it's nice because it dries so quickly and it doesn't add a yellow tone either. 

And then, I decided to add a coat of my very own tung oil polish to the wooden parts to add some softness - and you can find the wax polish in my shop if you're in interested in picking up a tin.

Now time to fill this up! I'm putting in pens, envelopes, note cards, a ruler, erasers and other small things that fit in the drawers.

For a much better view and perspective, make sure to watch the video that goes over each step.