Evolution

Of designs. About a year and a half ago I made some 'distance increasers', or a pair of tongs. The blog entry is here:

First generation

and a picture of the tongs are here:

 In the best tradition of evolution, there was some selection pressure from the user of these tongs. The first problem was the size. My hands are bigger than the person using these and, while they fit me fine, they were a bit too chunky. Secondly, my handmade hinge, while an outstanding item in it's design and execution, did unfortunately have the side effect of being painful to have around.
The same goes for the stop on the side, which prevents the spring from popping out if the tong are opened too far.

So, the second generation:

 Altogether less chunky and softer in features. The hinge is now part of the wooden arms, and the stop is a leather strap between the two arms:

The hinge is simpler and should be less sharp. This was pretty easy to do on the bandsaw:

We'll have to see how the second generation goes...

Bandsaw

The chair project is moving on a bit: I'm going to make a full size model of the chair design using scaffolding planks. These will be routed to shape using templates, the shapes roughly cut before routing. I tried using the Japanese saw and the electric jigsaw, but they both had trouble cutting vertical to the line. So, finally, I have bought a bandsaw. I know, it should be the first tool you buy for the workshop, not the last, but I buy tools as I need them and I never really needed it up until now.  I decided to buy the Axminster BS11-INV, as it has an inverter ( and hence speed control) on the motor, which allows the blade speed to be slowed to the extent that you can cut metal with an appropriate blade. 10mm thick steel apparently.

I've built a base for the saw to sit on, which is itself on a wheeled base so I can move the saw around the workshop. It took three hours one morning to set it up, quite a bit of tweaking here and there was necessary.

Variable speed is nice as you can use the best speed for the job at hand. It looks like it will be a useful tool.

It looks like I won't be able to use scaffolding planks in the final design, the supply is too tricky. I'll have to hunt around for another supply of wood, and that will hopefully let me get something closer in size to the parts so I won't have to remove too much material on the thicknesser.