A Large Work Table Just For The Tooli Machine

Three weeks ago or so I posted about the Tooli machine that  I will have to wait for until next spring to get my hands on.  In the mean time I have been working on a purpose built table for the new equipment and I am happy to say that I completed the project just this afternoon. 

This is the new equipment that I am anxiously waiting for.  It has many different functions and is capable of everything from plotting drawings to frosting a cake  ....no kidding.  I covered more information about this machine on my earlier post so I will try not to repeat myself again today.  The subject at hand is the building of a table for this rather large machine that will be solely for it's use.

 

 

This is what I came up with for the design of the table.  The top is 4' x 4 1/2' x 3/4 thick wood.  The legs are 1 1/4 diameter PVC with furniture grade PVC connectors.  These connectors are much smoother looking than regular plumbing fittings and come from a company named Formufit in Kansas City and they had a few extra shapes that were exactly what I was looking for.

 

 

I started the project by taking a 48" x 6" x 3/4" piece of Aspin and drilled pocket holes for both the upper and lower edges that you see in the photo above.  This was easily accomplished using my Kregg pocket hole jig.  A great tool that makes this type of work a breeze to do.

 

 

The six in wide piece of Aspen was then glued and screwed into a 2' x 4' panel to start the assembly of the table top.  Once the screws had been installed the clamps could be removed immediately so work could move forward without delay.

 

 

The second 2' x 4' panel of Aspen was then added to the assembly the same as the first had been put together.  I put the six inch wide board in the middle of the table top as I needed the completed assembly to be 48" x 54" in size.

 

 

Next I assembled three guide rails for the storage boxes that would be mounted on the underside of the table top.  The outer guide rails are nothing more than a 1" x 1" x 42" strip of wood that has a 1/4" thick strip of plywood glued and nailed to it to make an "L" shaped assembly.  The center guide rail needed to have a wider plywood strip mounted to it to have a double guide rail  set up to allow both storage bins to use it once it was mounted.

 

The three guide rails were then mounted to the under side of the table top using glue and wood screws.  I had to take care to make sure that the rails were spaced properly for the storage bins and centered on the underside of the table top.

 

 

Here the bins have been slid into place to double check that I got everything right. They work perfectly and will add a lot of storage for the table when I am using it.

 

 

Once the guide rails had been mounted I was able to turn the table top right side up and apply four coats of polyurethane varnish to it.  Between every coat of varnish I sanded it lightly using 600 grit sand paper.  It turned out beautifully and is very smooth so it will be a great surface to work on.

 

 

 

Next came the assembly of the casters for the table.  The photo above shows the simple parts that make up this assembly.  A caster, a PVC connector for the caster, a washer and a nut.

 

 

 

The parts are simply slid together and then bolted into place using the nut and washer.  Another simple task for this project.

 

 

From the PVC company I purchased eight of these 4-way connectors.  These are designed to fit a 1 1/4 diameter PVC tube and so they were exactly what I was looking for.

 

This part is the PVC mounting part that slides on to the top of the PVC tube for the legs of the table and then with screws is mounted to the underside of the table top to hold it in place.  Another perfect part for the project.

 

 

I did not want to have these parts just be in white so I decided to paint them a nice bright red.  I taped off the insides of the parts using painters tape to keep everything clean so that it would not interfere with the PVC piping that would be slid into it. 

 

 

I used a spray paint for plastic and it worked perfectly.  Also the fact that I had put the tape on the parts it kept them off of the board I was using to paint them.  So no marks on  the pieces made things simpler all the way around.

 

 

Here are all of the little parts sitting in the bins for the table ready to be assembled.

 

 

For the project I needed 8 pieces of 1 1/4 PVC 38" long and another eight pieces of the same tubing  11 1/2" long.  I set up a simple jig on my miter saw and again made quick work of getting all the pieces cut to the correct lengths and all matching perfectly.  It was worth the time to figure out how to put the jig together and it saved me a lot of work.

 

 

Another task that needed to be done to the PVC tubing after it had been cut was to remove all of the printing that normally is on PVC tubing.  I started out using Acetone but found that this was more work than I thought it would be.  So instead I used 180 grit sandpaper to remove the lettering and then smoothed everything afterward using 600 grit sandpaper.  You can see the end results by comparing the lettered tubing to the clean tubes sitting next to it.  It took me a bit of time but it is much nicer looking without the lettering to be sure and I don't have to paint the tubing to get this look.

 

 

Now assembly could finally start.  I  laid out the necessary part that I needed for the upper portion of the legs to get it centered on the underside of the table top first.  Then I took a nail and made a small indentation into the underside of the table top where three screws would be mounted at the tabs on the PVC top mounts.

 

 

I used # 8 1/2" wood screws to hold the mounts in place.  My measurements and prep work again paid off as this was another easy task to accomplish in the assembly.  At this point I needed to remove the upper portion of the leg assembly and only leave the mounts on the table top.  This being as the final placement of the table when it is going to be used will not be in the workshop itself but rather an adjacent room when it is completed.  So with the legs removed I was able to start the final assembly in the other room.

 

 

With the table now moved into it's final assembly room it was another easy to complete the rest of the legs assembly.  This all slid into place easily and tightly without any hassle at all.  Just as I had planned.

 

 

Here's a good look at one of the leg assemblies with the caster assembly added to it.  The red connector parts really stand out now and give the table a great look.

 

 

At this point the table only needed to be flipped over and placed on to it's wheels.  The plastic bins were slid into place using the guide rails that I had mounted earlier.  These bins by the way I found at Walmart and are normally used for storage under a bed.  They are 16" x 32" x 6" deep so the look and purpose of the bins will add a lot to the table.

 

 

So that's about it.  The table will be covered up for now in it's new area of the workshop to keep it clean until the new Tooli machine arrives in the spring.  I especially like the fact that the table has casters on it so I can move it around the workshop if I need the space for video taping another project or anything else that comes up.  The table turned out beautifully and should serve me very well once the new equipment arrives. When it does I will be sure to let you know and fill you in on that part of this project as well.  Have a good one and keep on tinkering!

 

For more information about the PVC connectors that I used in this great project check out the link below.

 

http://www.formufit.com/

Free Fusion 360 CAD Design Software From Autodesk!

It has been some time since I have been online looking for new CAD software.  The software that I currently use will some day no longer work with my computer system.  Case in point when it comes to the new version of Windows 10.  Not sure when I will upgrade to this version due to my concerns with using my CAD software so I was pleasantly surprised to find free software from Autodesk once again over the past couple of days.

Autodesk's CAD software is called Fusion 360 and is free!  It has been out for a couple of years now. Not finding it until now may not be unfortunate as with all software it takes time to get the bugs out of any of it.  I have used Autodesk Inventor for a few years and it no longer works on my main computer system.  Fusion 360 is very similar to Inventor with the look and feel  of the user interface.

 

 Here's a screen shot on the Autodesk Fusion 360 website.  The software is free from students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and startups!  Sounded good to me so I clicked the "I" symbol  in the text and was shown the next pop up window.

The pop up window reads " Access the same design software used by industry leaders worldwide.  A free 3-year license is available for students, teachers, and academic institutions.  A free 1-year start up license is also available for hobbyists, enthusiasts, makers, and emerging businesses that make less than US$100,000 in revenue per year.  At the end of 1 year, you can reselect the start up entitlement or transition to a commercial entitlement. "  How can you lose?  Free software for a year and then you can just renew it and use it again.  I was sold so I downloaded it.

 

In the software there are tutorials to get you started designing whatever you have in mind.  This little desk lamp was the first training exercise and are the actual images of what I put together.  The images were created within the Fusion 360 software. Looks just as good as the Blender 3D software that I use for my graphics projects.

 

 

The image here of the bicycle frame again is part of the training that is included in Fusion 360.  So far I am very impressed with what I've found in the software and the capabilities that it has.  I need software that has the tools I need to create the projects that you've seen on my blog here.  I wanted to know if this software was capable of creating drawings as well as STL files for 3D printing.  The answer to my questions were a big "Yes"!  It also can set up CNC milling for my CNC machine.  Lots of possibilities with Fusion 360.

The modeling in the user interface as you can see is very detailed which makes it even more inviting to use. 

 

This radial engine was modeled in Fusion 360 by one of it's users.  An amazing piece of work to say the least.

Another finely detailed piece of work here with the details that are in this shaver. 

 

I did more digging into information about Fusion 360 and being that it has been available for the past couple of years there is a large community of users and tutorials available. So should I need questions answered concerning the use of the software it should not be a problem.

The Fusion 360 user interface is very well laid out with either online or off line use available.  With using the software online your design files are stored in the Cloud.  This makes it possible to go online anywhere in the world to work on and share your design with anyone.

  I want to go through the rest of the training to learn more about Fusion 360 and how it all works.  So far it is looking very good and may be my next standard software for creating future projects.

 

To learn more about Autodesk Fusion 360 and how to download a free copy here's the link to their website.

 

http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview

 

Blender 3D VW Bus Project Part 7

The post I have today brings some nice additions to the VW bus project.  After eight hours of modeling I've been able to complete the front and rear bumpers, refinements to the convertible sun roof, rear tail lights, rear license plate, and minor tweaks here and there along the way to improve various alignment of previously modeled parts. 

I was happy that I took the time to collect all of the reference photos for this project.  I had to double check several photos to get the trim figured out for the front and rear bumpers along with the piece of trim shown in this photo that is below the rear passenger doors.  I also refined the rear view mirrors a bit to get the stem for the mirror to be a bit more correct. 

   I also removed the indentation for the wiper blades that I had previously modeled just below the windshields.  The wiper blades will be next on my to do list in the coming week or so.  This will be a fairly easy task to create them as once I get one modeled I will just duplicate another one and place it in the model.  I had to figure out also how the wiper blades are placed on the bus if the front windows are open.  What is done I found out is to have the wiper blades cross one another like you would fold your arms. A simple thing to model so it will be an easy task to complete.

The rear of the bus was interesting as well to model and find the photos I needed for the parts you see in the image above.  I managed to track down the correct font for the Volkswagen name plate that is on the rear door of the bus along with a photo of the "T" handle to open it.  

  The tail lights were simple enough to model as they are just an elongated circle with a chrome piece surrounding the light.  The lights also have a small rubber gasket that goes between them and the body of the rear of the bus.  The rear bumper is similar to the front but without the center bumper over-rider tube so that the rear engine cover can be opened up. I originally had it modeled with this center tube in place and thought it was kind of strange that it would be this way and again with my reference photos I was able to correct this before I completed the model. 

The front chrome and black trim on the bumper is very similar to the chrome and black trim that is on the body.  It is only a little different in shape and size.  I was going to add a front license plate but I think I will leave the model the way it is as I like the nice clean look of the bus without the plate covering up a good portion of the front end. 

In this upper shot of the bus you can see plainly that the interior needs to be put into the model.  So it will be added as planned in the coming weeks.  For now the exterior is nearly complete with what I've shown you today. 

   I was really happy to get the top vinyl folded cover for the sun roof tweaked a bit more.  It looks a more realistic now with the folds in the top coming together a bit more believably.  So I am constantly looking the model over again and again as I work on it at all kinds of different angles.  This helps me get a more detailed model in the end as I pick it apart and refine it when I see something I don't particularly like.  

  With the additions I've mentioned here the hours have stacked up pretty well with all the work I've added to the bus.  Eight more hours to be exact.  So the total now for the model has come up to 49.5 hours total.  I will be pretty accurate in saying that the completed model will be close to 100 hours time to complete. Another interesting fact of my bus is that at this point there are 179 individual parts in the model. This does not include parts that are mirrored in the model.  Lots of parts to be sure but every little piece adds to the detail in the model.  I'm again pleased with my efforts so far.  I hope you agree and enjoy the images.  More posts on this project will be in the works. 

Blender 3D VW Bus Project Part 6

Today's progress on the VW bus project has taken a good portion of the day to complete.  New headlights, signal lights, mirrors, and door handles have now been added to the model. The headlights and signal lights took the most amount of time to get this detail correctly modeled.  I'm still fussing with the lighting as you can see from these few images just to get some more ideas for the final renders that I want.

The headlights took several tries in order to get the right look that I was going for.  I was happy to have collected all of the reference photos so this helped out quite a bit in getting it all worked out.

I am quite happy with the detail of the signal lights and even the housings for the headlights.  The chrome rings around these lights show up nice and bright to finish off the front of the bus perfectly. I also had to add chrome rings around the inner mounted headlights to get the right look to match the real thing. 

I am looking forward to adding the bumpers to the bus which will give the bus a bit more bright work to the model.  The mirrors and door handles add a bit more detail and were not terribly difficult create. The plus side with most of the modeling of the vehicle when it came to these parts was the fact that these parts could be mirrored on the model.  So if I made one side the other side of the vehicle would match perfectly.  This is how the lights on the vehicle were also set up. 

  With all of the detail on the outside of the bus it would be pointless to not finish the model off and do the inside as well.  This was exactly what I did when I created the VW bug Blender model.  It made it much more realistic in the finished images so it's something on my to do list for this model as well.  An additional 6.5 hours have been added to the model build time now which brings the total up to 41.5 hours.   I'll post the next installment as soon as possible.  Enjoy the updated images.

Blender 3D VW Bus Project Part 5

Today's installment of the Blender 3D VW Bus project has taken me a bit longer to create.  As usual with trying something new it takes a while to figure out just exactly what you need to do in Blender to get the end result that you planned on in the first place. This has been the case today.  I have accomplished some smaller tasks on the model over the past day or so with modifications once again to the body of the bus to refine it as I tweak it here and there to make it as flawless as possible. (If that is even possible.)  But the big task that I wanted to accomplish was the installation of the vinyl sun top roof.  To make a closed roof seemed easy enough but to have a view of the roof being open was another matter all together. 

Here is how the roof looks closed now that I have it modeled.  It took me a couple of tries to get it the way I wanted and in the end learned a couple of new things along the way.  The ribs in the roof were a simple matter of dividing the roof into sections that matched the blueprint drawings that I started with to create the model in Blender.  

Once I was happy with the look of the top I had to figure out how to open the roof up and have it look the way it does on a real VW bus.  

Here's the reference photo that I needed to show me how the roof should look once it has been opened up. The problem I had with the Blender model was to figure out how to duplicate the roof that was laying flat and then convert it to show what it looked like opened up and folded similar to what you see here.  I took the computer modeled roof and divided it several times at the locations for the ribs  and started moving things around.  These became a jumbled mess of vertices in a big hurry to the point that I didn't know what to choose next to move that would give me the shape I was trying to make.  With a little research online at the Blender 3D  site I found my answer.  

  What I wanted to do was be able to select a single row of vertices in the roof and then make each row an individual group.  With three separate ribs having a group to each segment and eight additional groups for the spaces between each rib I was better able to control the shape of the roof as I adjusted it to get the desired shape I was looking for.  

Here is the final result from my efforts today on the project.  I like the way the roof is opened up now as it is much more believable than when I started on it.  The process of creating vertex groups was something new that I've never used before but will be another handy tool that I will surely use in Blender projects down the line. For detailed  information on how this process is done  here is the link to the Blender site that explains everything in much more detail. 

How To Create Vertex Groups In Blender

With the roof opened or closed it is another great detail that will add that much more realism to my Blender model.  The hours are adding up with this segment of the project.  Total now has come up to 35 hours at this point. 

 A lot of the time was spent today just trying to figure out how to do something new which in itself is always a good thing and turned out to be a worth the effort once again.  Enjoy today's images and have a good one on your latest Blender project as well.