DIY

Project Pantry : Freedom Cleat

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ 1 Comment

I live in an odd house that is slowly becoming less odd. It was originally a small residence, then it was a slightly larger residence, then it was a business, and now it is reverting back towards a residence (or possibly compound). Needless to say it still has some quirks.

One of the areas I’ve been slowly addressing is the pantry / laundry room. It originally had a place for a washing machine, but the dryer was in a shop space about 50 yards away. KIMG0203I have moved some things around for the pantry to include a dryer with the washer, but there has always been a large gap behind the appliances (shown to the right).

I wanted to fill in the gap for quite some time, but I didn’t have a solution I liked. Initially, I planned just to mount a shelf to the wall to at least provide some storage. I planned to build an enclosure under the shelf since there would be a large open space, but I was worried about access to plumbing and electrical connections.

My basic design requirements were:

  • Easily access (to plumbing and electrical connections)
  • Sturdy (able to support a load)
  • Inexpensive

I was going to use hinges and complicated fasteners for access, but I thought about it some more and found a simple solution. I am posting it because someone with a similar issue might find it useful. It involves a French (or preferably Freedom) Cleat.

A French Cleat is basically a mounting system in which a matching pair of 45 degree pieces of molding are used to hang objects on a wall, such as cabinets or televisions. They can easily be made by ripping a 1×4 in its long direction with a table saw set at 45 degrees and mounting one piece to the wall and the other to the item to be hung. They can hold quite a bit of weight and the 45 degree ramp holds the object firmly against the wall. A google search will provide numerous examples. In the past, I have found French (Freedom) Cleats to be an excellent, simple, inexpensive, quick way to mount flat screen televisions.

The gap between the appliances and the wall behind them is shown above. It is hard to tell from this view, but the gap is about a foot wide. The picture also shows the half of the cleat that is attached to the wall behind the washer/dryer.

KIMG0204The picture to the left shows the underside of the shelf/enclosure. The back of the shelf has the portion of the cleat that mates to the cleat on the wall. The lower portion of the front of the shelf/enclosure has foam weather stripping to minimize the gap between to the washer/dryer and reduce wear as the washer/dryer vibrates during operation.

The installed shelf/enclosure is shown to the right.

KIMG0205

There are several features to this solution:

  • There is virtually no gap between the shelf/enclosure and washer/dryer
  • No fasteners are used for attachment, so the shelf/enclosure can be removed and replaced in a matter of seconds
  • The French (Freedom) Cleat can hold a significant amount of weight
  • A nice feature of the Cleat is that adding weight to the shelf has a tendency to suck it towards the wall rather then bending it away from the wall like a typical shelf might.

I hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or use a French Cleat for anything interesting.

 

TURNING the Interior Decorating World Upside Down

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ 1 Comment

IMG_0030A metal working lathe is a machine which spins (“turns” in machining parlance) a work piece and allows the operator to cut that work piece with extreme precision. It is an incredibly versatile machine with gearing and attachments to allow for cutting threads, tapers, radii, and just about any profile that a mechanical part might require. I have a fairly modern lathe in the shop for years, and I probably found it to be one of the most exciting acquisitions I’ve ever made.

What does this have to do with interior decorating? If you haven’t guessed by the title and the brief background, this post is about a metal working lathe and how it relates to my version of interior decorating.

I’ve always been fascinated by gears, wheels, motors, machinery, and just about anything requiring electricity or gasoline. Several months ago, a good friend who knew about my interests mentioned that his neighbor had an antique lathe and needed some money. I really didn’t need another lathe and had just been laid off, but I really like machines. I like them even more when the are antiques.

This presented two hurdles:

  • How to mentally justify my need for another lathe
  • How to get it working

KIMG0101My first hurdle didn’t take that much to get over. Firstly, I have more house than furnishings. Secondly, I’ve seen classy looking households that highlighted antique Singer sewing machines as sculptures. Why not a lathe?  Sewing machines and lathes are both industrial machines with belts and gears. In fact, a lathe is a much better machine as it has more gears, more belts, more power, more speed, and can even be used to make a sewing machine!

Bringing the lathe back to functionality wasn’t that much of a hurdle either. Disassembly wasn’t bad, and the motor worked fine after a bit of rewiring and repairing some shorts.IMG_0042

After getting everything working, an unforeseen hurdle popped up: how to display it so people wouldn’t find it offensive.

The first step required hours with rags, tooth brushes, and solvents. It still isn’t perfect, but it no longer slings grease. It can even be handled without leaving one’s hands and clothing dirty.

The next step was presentation. I thought a metal cabinet like most lathes rest on would be harsh, so I decided to go with wood.  I just happened to find a guy on Craigslist who makes benches from scrap pine, and he had a smaller one that nobody seemed to want.  I bought it, stained it, added a directional switch with a linkage to a forward/reverse handle, and voila.

KIMG0103The lathe can be seen on the edge of this picture of my dining room.

I’d like to finish by mentioning my reason for this post. I’ve mentioned putting a lathe in my dining room from time to time, and some people have responded with confusion or even downright anger. I hope this post will act as a tool to explain my reasoning so that we can all just get along.

 

 

 

 

 

Best Thread Gauge Ever or Reunited After All of These Years

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ 2 Comments

KIMG0090I haven’t posted in a while for several reasons:

  • I’ve been working on a super secret project
  • I’m waiting to see results on several other projects
  • All else has been mundane (lawn mower repair, flat tires, swapping alternators, fixing hydraulics….)

However, I am very excited to present these thread gauges (sorry about the poor picture quality).

I purchased a set like this about 18 years ago and was amazed at how simple, accurate, and useful they are. They each have a hole to determine the bolt diameter and serrations around the outside to determine pitch. Two are Imperial threads, one is metric threads, and one is a combination of NPT and spark plug threads. If you want a set, look up Thexton part number THE432.

You are probably wondering why this isn’t in the “mundane” category that I mentioned above. You probably think that thread gauges are pretty boring to write about, even for an unemployed guy. BUT, there is a story behind them.

7 years into my ownership of my first set, I brought them to the Tavern to measure some threaded parts from a friend’s gun (yes, this is Texas) but mostly to show them off. It was a fun night, and I went home after finishing my beer ration. Several days later, I needed to measure a part and my gauges were missing.

“No bid deal,” I thought, “I must have left them at the Tavern.” I went to retrieve them from the lost and found.  No suck luck.

“No bid deal,” I thought, “They weren’t that expensive. I’ll just buy a new set.”  I went online, and I found nothing. I drove to my favorite stores: Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, Grainger, Wholesale Tool, Tractor Supply… nothing. I think the lady at Tractor Supply almost laughed when she saw a tear forming in the corner of my eye. I was at the end of my rope.

About a week later, I was back at the Tavern drowning my sorrows over the loss. The bartender from that fateful night had been on vacation, but before leaving she had noticed my thread gauges sitting on the bar at closing. She stuck them them in her purse because she realized they were far too important for the lost and found. We were reunited at last!!!

8 years later, I moved from my house near downtown to one with decent shop space and plenty of parking. During the move, I put my treasured thread gauges somewhere safe so they wouldn’t be lost. Unfortunately, the place I chose was too safe. They have not been seen since. I’ve searched and searched, but they are still safely tucked away somewhere.

Out of desperation, I finally decided that it was time to move on with my life and settle for an inferior style of thread gauge. A week ago, I searched to the deepest depths of the internet for the best thread gauge. To my surprise, these are available again!!! Now I just need to find somewhere safe to put them so they don’t get lost. Once I figure out that place, I’ll probably find my other set!

 

On a side note, I’m glad nobody reads this drivel. They’d think I’m crazy.

They’re Gnat my Problem Anymore

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ Leave a comment

I know, cheesy title. It made me giggle so I do gnat care. It was a silly way to introduce a serious problem. I want to relate the beginning of my gnat problem and how it has been alleviated. Who knows? Someday this might help someone out.

1440091556041Several years ago, I worked with a woman that had a large vase on her desk that held a beta fish. I was surprised how much I enjoyed watching that stupid thing swim around his confined universe. I thought it was interesting that she also had some ivy growing with the fish. The ivy was fertilized by the fish excretions while it filtered the water. Neat!

I happened see some beta fish at Wal-Mart several months ago and remembered how much fun I had watching the one back at the office. I bought a fish and ivy and went home to set everything up. All was well, but I had much more ivy than I needed AND it kept growing. I became somewhat fascinated and began experimenting with different ways to increase its growth rate. More ivy led to more pots and more wet potting soil. That led to gnats. I know they are small and just an annoyance, but they are an exceptionally annoying annoyance.

My researched on gnat elimination produced a number of commercial and DIY options. I didn’t like the commercial options because they all had fairly short life spans, mixed reviews, and required stocking more stuff in my pantry. I didn’t like the DIY options (mostly a water bottle cut in half and  taped back together like a funnel) because they didn’t look nice.

After more research, I found a guy that was fairly scientific about testing the commercial and DIY gnat eliminators. He planned to try about 10 different options and record the number of dead gnats from each. About halfway through, his experiment was cut short because he accidentally left a bottle of wine open one night. The next day there were no gnats for further experimentation. It turn out wine is more than just a healthy, wonderful meal.

My final solution (pictured to the left of the fish) is a combination of wine, dish soap, and a twist on the DIY water bottle funnel . I used a wine bottle instead of a water bottle for asthetic reasons. I “simply” cut it in half, flipped over the top, and stuck it back in the bottom. “Simply” is in quotes because I found that step to be anything but simple. The wine is for bait, and the dish soap is a surfactant to reduce the surface tension of the wine. Without surface tension, the poor little drunks sink to the bottom rather than floating on the surface with the ability to haphazardly fly away in a drunken stupor. I thought I was going to need to put a seal between the wine bottle halves to trap them, but that hasn’t been necessary. Each sinks as soon as it lands, hiccuping its way to an intoxicated demise.

If you want me to make one of these for you, bring me a unopened bottle of red wine and give me a couple of days to get the trap back to you. When making the wine bottle selection, keep in mind that the effectiveness of the trap is directly related to to the price of the wine. Expensive wine bottles make much better traps.

Let’s Mix Things Up

~ joelshaw@sbcglobal.net ~ Leave a comment

KIMG0063For some reason, I have been fascinated with KitchenAid mixers since I was a little kid. I think it is because my parents had a large Hobart mixer at their restaurant, and I thought the smaller home edition was novel. Or more likely, they have gears, mechanical attachments, and a motor… three of the things that are dearest to my heart.

I bought one a while ago from Craigslist, and it leaked oil the first time we tried to use it. After getting over the initial horror of oil dripping into the dip we were concocting, I read up and found out this problem is fairly common. KIMG0064The grease they used breaks down over time and becomes a combination of a cakey substance and a fairly thin oil which drips from the case. I disassembled it, replaced the grease with Food Grade Machinery Grease, and all was good. This was about a year ago, and there has not been another drop of oil.

Tonight I was at a good friend’s house, and she mentioned she was having the same problem. She was even thinking about getting a new KitchenAid. I brought it home, did the same procedure, and it is now as good as new. I am posting this as a public service announcement. Don’t throw out your KitchenAid mixer if it drips oil! It is a fairly simple fix.KIMG0065

I included some pictures of the inside in case you’re curious. I know that I was. I didn’t include a picture, but it also has an interesting electromechanical governor system that adjusts the power delivered to the motor to maintain the selected speed under varying load conditions.

A couple more things:

  • Yes, the pictured mixer is purple.
  • No, it is not mine. Mine is much more masculine.