Again, I didn't get a lot done this weekend in the workshop. I did however, get my trailer fixed... again... I replaced the right side hinge that allows the trailer to be folded. This wasn't a super complicated operation but it took a little time. I've got to say I am a little disappointed with Harbor Freight. Yeah, I hear you... Harbor Freight? Yup, I have a folding trailer from Harbor Freight. I'm not disappointed with the quality of the trailer. I am disappointed with their spare part fulfillment. I ordered two sets of hinges so I'd have a backup set in case I torqued them again. Unfortunately instead of sending me four front hinged and four back hinges they just sent me 8 front hinges. The difference between the front and the back hinges is that the back half the hinge has a bend in it that allows it to wrap around the outside of the front hinge. Without that the hinges cannot slide past each other when the trailer folds. Karen, the woman I talked to on the phone, was very nice and sent me another set of rear hinges. Unfortunately they were just another set of fronts. I'm betting someone miss stocked the parts. Anyway, I cut two of the extra hinges in half and used them as big washers so I could get the trailer put away. Very happy with my Harbor Freight angle grinder that I used to cut the hinge.
I also made some Braciole... I used Wegman's recipe which doesn't look like any other Braciole recipe on the internet; however, it still makes a decent meal and can be frozen for later cooking.
I also mowed leaves. That took a bit of time. I've got three maple trees in the front and a half dozen in the back. I also get a share of my neighbor's maple leaves.
At least I wasn't just sitting on the couch watching YouTube videos. Not that I haven't spent entire weekends doing just that, I prefer when I can look back on a weekend and mark off things I got accomplished.
This weekend's woodworking started with adding the missing trim to the back of the sharpening station top. I didn't grab a photo so I'll point it out in a later post. Since I was milling an offcut into the top back trim I also milled a bunch of 1/2 inch x 3/8 inch x 16 inch pieces for drawer runners. It was Saturday evening and it was getting close to my bedtime so I just cut the back molding to length and glued and clamped it on.
Today I focused on making the tray for holding the Tormek on the right side of the cabinet. I don't know how often I'll store it inside the cabinet vs on top but I wanted it to be easy to "put it away" easily in case I notice it is getting dusty sitting on top. Or more likely if I want to use the top for something else (like sharpening with water stones.
My tray is going to ride on full extension slides. Unlike the trays in my workbench this one is basically going to be a sliding shelf without sides. However, to ride on side mounted slides it needs to have sides to screw the hardware to. I'm going to put them underneath the sliding shelf with the shelf covering the drawer hardware.
Normally when I am building drawers I do a lot of exacting measuring and careful cutting to get the drawer to fit inside the opening minus the thickness of the slides. In this case since the "sides" are just going to be runners glued to the bottom of the shelf I came up with a shortcut.
It's kind of hard to see in the photos but I am using the case for alignment. It's upside down. The shelf is sitting on the bottom of the case. I used the actual drawer slides to fit the tray sides and added a couple of spacers to make sure the sides stayed vertical. Some glue, a few clamps and Bob's your uncle.
After an hour I pulled it out of the clamps and added a white oak front to the tray. That'll help keep the sides from buckling in, will provide a hand hold for pulling the shelf out, and will hide the hardware when the tray is in the cabinet.
Okay, it needs a little fitting but it fits. The sides are there underneath. You just cannot see them because that's the way it is designed.
I made the hand hold in the front by using a 1 inch Forstner bit to define the two ends, drew lines between them and used a jigsaw to connect them. I rounded over the inside and the outside of the opening with a 1/4 inch round over bit in my router table.
I'll come back later this week and do some trimming on the sliding shelf so that the gaps around the shelf are even and it slides in and out easily. I'm a little afraid it is too tight but it's also just a couple of pieces of plywood. Next one I'll make looser than it needs to be and I can shim the slides to get a good fit.
