tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72709504497161101722011-08-17T09:24:03.339-07:00Home Projects by a Do-It-Yourself DadDIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-72674935328889852242011-08-01T16:17:00.001-07:002011-08-17T09:24:03.350-07:00

Those who (still) follow my blog will note the three-year absence of updates here. Suffice it to say my absence was for a good cause. I enrolled back in college and finally finished my Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems Security. Upon completing my degree, I decided to take a 7-month break before going back to school in 2012 to pursue an MBA. That said, I'll post my latest

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-36038893631305186232008-09-26T12:45:00.002-07:002008-09-26T12:48:59.886-07:00

I came across this story on another forum and it seemed quite appropriate for my blog, so I'm reposting it here. An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-88939293663050926732008-09-13T11:10:00.000-07:002008-09-13T11:11:12.823-07:00

2008-09-13 After my encounter with the table saw mishap, I took my time trimming the MDF for the display stand project using my bandsaw.  This provided a degree better in precision cutting that I needed.  It didn't take long for me to finish the center and immediate side pieces of the display stands.  In fact, it went by so quickly that I forgot to take photos until I was on the third section. 

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-17113189331980886272008-09-01T20:18:00.011-07:002008-09-02T07:47:22.411-07:00

2008-09-01 In all the time that I've maintained this blog, I haven't made any posts regarding workshop safety...especially around power tools.  Well, that's going to change right now. Today I had a serious mishap in the workshop.  Fortunately, I am fine...but I believe this is largely due to the emphasis I place on safety at every step of the construction process.  I wear eye protection every

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-18376816870495654312008-09-01T20:18:00.009-07:002008-09-02T07:45:38.454-07:00

2008-09-01 I was finally able to break away from my hectic schedule of studying and cramming for exams to do some work in the garage on the display stand project.  After about four hours worth of running boards over the circular saw, I was rewarded with the sight of all the boards cut to size and ready to assemble.  A good afternoon well spent.  Later this week I'll spend some time assembling

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-10248546350185481262008-08-18T21:08:00.002-07:002008-08-19T10:45:24.729-07:00

2008-08-18 The wife, who makes handmade jewelry, came to me the other day complaining about the prices for jewelry display stands for her booth.  I was astounded to learn that display stand manufacturers were asking for $200.00 for a set of display stands made from styrofoam and cardboard.  Styrofoam and cardboard for cryin' out loud! I wasn't about to sit idly by and see good money thrown into

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-43856862125588229182008-07-19T16:52:00.000-07:002008-07-19T16:53:43.075-07:00

2008-07-19 After applying a couple of coats of polyurethane and letting it set for a couple of days, the shelf is now complete and ready for installation.  The shelf went in very easily and looks pretty good. At the wife's request, I mounted a 14" mini fluorescent light on the underside of the shelf.  The installation was pretty easy, and the fit was practically perfect.  Then I secured the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-31139745764836970562008-07-14T14:29:00.000-07:002008-07-19T16:40:24.951-07:00

2008-07-14 Now that all of the wood sections to the shelves are stained, I did a test fit with all the dowels in place.  Everything went together well, as shown below, so I went ahead and glued everything together.  Next I'll be putting on a couple of layers of polyurethane.  After that, I'll install the shelf in the wife's craftwork area.

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-1813248544204899782008-07-13T18:48:00.002-07:002008-07-13T18:51:46.762-07:00

2008-07-13 After completing the craft area for the wife, I added a fluorescent light under the wall-mounted cabinet.  She liked it so much, she asked me to make a mini-shelf to accommodate both her thread spools and another under-cabinet fluorescent light.  So I drew up a quick design.  Nothing too fancy; just enough to do the job she needed. For this project, I chose to use up the remaining

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-7555169486162333232008-07-04T21:39:00.001-07:002008-07-07T14:16:42.844-07:00

2008-07-04 Geez!  It's hard to believe it was almost a month ago that I started this project, but it's finally done!  Today I finished installing the last of the door catches and making the last of the adjustments to the cabinet doors.  This long project is finally over.  And not a moment too soon. Looking back on this project, I can honestly say that this is perhaps the most

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-63240670516265310052008-07-03T20:27:00.000-07:002008-07-04T21:28:54.307-07:00

2008-07-03 I've been working on the garage storage cabinet for so long, I just had to take a break and do something else for a day.  So I drew up some quick plans to make a brick liner around an Ash tree we recently had planted in the yard. I picked up a set (18 each) of different colored 3" x 6" bricks: plum, red and yellow, as shown here.  I picked these colors to approximately match the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-54850535920435665102008-06-28T19:42:00.001-07:002008-07-04T21:29:47.211-07:00

2008-06-28 Lately it's seemed to me that this project is taking an inordinately large amount of time.  And as it goes, it looks like I've got a few more days to go before I can call this one done.  All the same, I managed to add nine doors to the cabinet today and have only three doors left to go.  Each of the door sets needs a bit of tweaking to improve their fit. I'll resume this project

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-53706121280231454242008-06-22T20:12:00.001-07:002008-06-22T20:12:41.999-07:00

2008-06-22 I had a lot of odd jobs to do around the house today, so I wasn't able to devote much time to the storage cabinet, but I did manage to fashion a couple more doors and affix the requisite hardware to them and get them mounted to the frame. The fit was a little tight, but I'll be fixing that later this week.  Everything works fine, though. And here's a close-up of the door catches

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-38274515974087064422008-06-21T20:21:00.000-07:002008-06-21T20:22:14.637-07:00

2008-06-21 I spent a lot of time today just ripping boards for the door mounts and door panels.  Because I work alone in the garage and often use only pieces of scrap lumber to push wood past the spinning table saw blade, I figured it was time I made a permanent tool for this job. What you see here is the product of two ½" MDF boards glued together and then cut out with a jig saw.  The forward

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-37232231484325789382008-06-20T20:16:00.000-07:002008-06-20T20:17:19.684-07:00

2008-06-20 Work continues on the storage cabinet.  Today I finished cutting the door openings on the front panels.  Then I reattached the panels and secured them to the frame.  The sections went on well and now the next step is to prep the panels for the door hinges.  Meanwhile I'll measure the ½" MDF boards for the doors and see about finding some outside corners to tidy up the edges of the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-59204446854102311732008-06-17T21:14:00.001-07:002008-06-17T21:16:03.986-07:00

2008-06-17 Today I finished cutting the front panels and test fit them to the frame.  Everything fit pretty much as expected, and I'm pleased with the results.  After fitting the fourth front panel to the frame, I drew up the cabinet door openings and drew the lines using my 2' level.  This assures that the door openings and mounted doors will all line up fine after I take the panels down and

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-23599415310829478822008-06-15T19:44:00.001-07:002008-06-16T09:47:20.226-07:00

2008-06-15 After dealing with a nasty summer cold, I resumed work on the storage cabinet. Work's resuming slowly, but steadily. Today I affixed the ¼" MDF board to the side as shown here. Then I secured the ¼" MDF to the opposite side as shown here. Then I got to work on affixing the MDF on the top. All MDF sections were affixed using 1¼" screws. Next I'll be making the face of the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-14806298466583520692008-06-10T21:11:00.003-07:002008-06-11T11:28:50.756-07:00

2008-06-10 I'm coming down with a nasty summer cold, but it's not severe enough to keep me from working on this project...at least today. So I start out by test fitting the remaining shelves. Everything went just fine, so I proceeded with the cutting and mounting of the horizontal supports. About an hour and a half later, the storage cabinet frame was complete. As can be seen here, the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-78267174946657924672008-06-09T21:49:00.001-07:002008-06-09T21:51:17.068-07:00

2008-06-09 Got to work in the late afternoon on the project and finished the left frame box by adding two horizontal supports and the 2x4 vertical post.  This completed the left frame box, so I moved on to starting the right frame box. Next I added three short horizontal frame stubs to support the left corner 2x4 vertical post. Once the three horizontal supports were in place, I levelled

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-78477053217122947522008-06-08T21:14:00.000-07:002008-06-08T21:15:32.265-07:00

2008-06-08 I got a late start this morning, but got things rolling quickly.  First I marked up all vertical boards for notch cutting, then I started checking the floor boards for level. I quickly figured out that the slope of the floor was not a perfect mathematical slope, but had slight imperfections along the length of the rise.  To accommodate for this, I put together a number of shims to

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-42585792497566850962008-06-07T23:01:00.003-07:002008-06-07T23:08:04.120-07:00

2008-06-07 It's always interesting starting a large project on an uneven surface.  The garage floor is sloped to accommodate quick water runoff with an appreciably significant rise over a 20' run.  The area I chose has a net rise of 2½" over a 12' run, but it also has a level beveled edge where the floor and wall meet that I also had to take into account. To get accurate measurements, I

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-22128449591170081712008-06-06T15:25:00.002-07:002008-06-16T19:19:07.586-07:00

2008-06-06 Time to take on another large project!  This one will be for my workspace in the garage.  About a year ago I purchased several Workforce Storage Organizers for storing things in the garage.  They work fine and all, but with the increase in woodworking I've been doing, everything they hold gets covered in a fine layer of sawdust, which is kind of problematic after a while.  So to

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-17173698710490627592008-06-02T20:01:00.001-07:002008-06-02T20:02:43.121-07:00

2008-06-02 As with all projects, there are invariably mid-project course corrections and revisions.  The craftwork area project is no different.  I had originally planned to make the wall-mounted shelves with backboards and mount two units to the wall.  But in the process of making the shelf, the wife indicated that she preferred a single shelf without a backboard.  Seemed reasonable, so I

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-54726542695339049952008-06-01T12:17:00.002-07:002008-06-02T20:01:20.055-07:00

2008-06-01 Yesterday I cut out the door panels for the under-table storage area.  These panels were cut 20" wide and 24" tall from ¼" MDF board.  This morning I drilled the pilot holes for the hinges, door handle, magnetic catch and catch plate.  I drilled the holes on one board and then used that board as the template for drilling the holes in the second board.  The task went so quickly that I

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-54832115449516050122008-05-28T22:00:00.000-07:002008-05-28T22:01:28.500-07:00

2008-05-27 Today I painted the rest of the craft work area and it really looks good.  Next up is the making of the storage cabinet doors and the wall-mounted shelves for additional storage.  We're in the home stretch!  I hope to have this all wrapped up by the end of this upcoming weekend.

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-53348356150765681112008-05-26T17:15:00.000-07:002008-05-26T17:16:36.126-07:00

2008-05-26 Today I've nearly completed the wife's craftwork area work bench.  To start off, I installed the shelves in the under-table storage area.  The installation went very smoothly with support pegs located at all four corners of the shelf area. Once I was satisfied with the storage area shelving, I began anchoring the table top boards to the bench frame using 1¼" screws at each board

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-90513341376842685872008-05-25T23:07:00.001-07:002008-05-25T23:10:27.514-07:00

2008-05-25 Today was a busy and productive day, but you wouldn't know it from these two photos.  Today I cut a dozen custom-fitted boards for the craft work table and under table storage area.  I also gave 7 of those boards two to three coats of paint. What you see here is the work area frame with four of the table top boards laid on for test fit.  I'm pretty pleased with the initial fit,

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-24534629895121885532008-05-24T19:40:00.003-07:002008-05-29T21:04:34.161-07:00

2008-05-24 I resumed work on the craft area work bench for the wife this morning and things have been progressing nicely.  Each corner of the support frame is reinforced with a metal right angle brace.  This may be over-engineering the frame, but the goal is to have this last for several years and take a lot of heavy use.  My view is that it's better that the design be tougher than it needs to

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-61279266146345290162008-05-23T22:12:00.006-07:002008-05-24T20:02:18.264-07:00

2008-05-23 I've been so busy making things for my garage work area that it was something of a necessity that I make something for one of my wife's craftwork areas.  My wife has a love of sewing, scrapbooking, and semi-precious jewelry making.  Unfortunately, her work area has become too cramped and cluttered to do much of anything. Her work area has been entirely makeshift for the past

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-81717617642022457802008-05-22T19:57:00.001-07:002008-05-23T19:35:19.199-07:00

2008-05-22 Finally!  After many hours of working on this beast, the water heater cabinet is finished at last!  I've finished attaching all drywall panels and have applied drywall mud and drywall tape where the panels meet. As a novice in working with metal, I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome of this project.  It was difficult and required some re-engineering from the original design, but

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-9125630361410014142008-05-21T11:48:00.001-07:002008-05-23T23:10:37.963-07:00

2008-05-20 Time marches on and work continues on the water heater cabinet.  I've now mounted two drywall panels to the metal frame and things have come together quite nicely.  First I cut, fitted and affixed the left wall panel as shown here. Then I cut the right drywall panel to size.  Once that was done, I cut out the vent holes by holding the vent grill to the drywall; scoring the vent

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-71100698430982427332008-05-17T22:10:00.000-07:002008-05-17T22:11:44.421-07:00

2008-05-17 Work continues on the water heater cabinet.  This weekend I picked up a 80"x30" folding louvered door for the front.  It's a nice fit, but it was a bit difficult working it into the metal frame.  Metal is a forgiving medium, but it is uncompromising to say the least.  I've found that for every addition I've made, I've had to undo at least two previous steps just to proceed one step

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-82443183432202566262008-05-13T11:42:00.002-07:002008-05-14T07:47:19.530-07:00

2008-05-10 I've been sidetracked with a lot of little projects lately, and progress on my larger projects have slowed down as a result.  Finally, after several weeks of delays, I've been able to resume work on the water heater cabinet.  In doing this, I essentially constructed the entire frame horizontally as shown here. The cabinet is 8' tall, but the longest metal brace sold at the local

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-14604368392652928462008-04-22T12:02:00.003-07:002008-05-14T07:46:37.805-07:00

2008-04-22 I'm going to be taking on a new project with a new medium. Until now, nearly everything with which I've worked has been exclusively made of wood. That's about to change with this new project of making a cabinet to encase the water heater in the garage. Since I do a lot of woodworking, my activities generate a lot of sawdust. With a water heater pilot flame not far from my work

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-35119536325217394912008-04-21T10:02:00.004-07:002008-04-22T21:04:10.861-07:00

2008-04-19 I live in a play-your-own area when it comes to music offerings on the radio. And since most of my expendable income goes to my projects, buying a new MP3 player for the garage just wasn't in the cards. Fortunately, I had an old (~6 years) Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 doing nothing but gathering dust, so I drafted it into garage service. This is really an optimal solution since the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-80359923853060125912008-04-20T20:35:00.003-07:002008-04-22T14:15:14.784-07:00

2008-04-18 My wife and I love to read to our son. And because of this, we've acquired a fair number of books that are kept in his room and in our family room. So it only made sense to design a book shelf just for his books. I chose to make this book shelf capable of holding all types of his books, both large and small. Because this book shelf is intended to serve our children for years to

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-2652265159645672272008-04-20T19:07:00.004-07:002008-04-22T14:14:52.109-07:00

2008-04-10 This woodwork is a simple one, but it's just the first step in a much larger project. Our toddler is going through his teething phase and loves to gnaw on all sorts of things. Unfortunately, one of them is the plain plaster windowsills of our house. After doing about a half-dozen spackling repairs, I figured it was time to look into making the window sills much more durable and

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-72705511816321597472008-04-20T17:12:00.001-07:002008-04-22T14:14:10.443-07:00

2008-03-30 Now that I've got my work bench nearly finished, it's time to do my first home project of a shoe rack for the laundry room. Using some scrap MDF board and pine wood left over from the construction of the work bench, I've drawn up a three-level shoe rack that will accommodate the outdoor shoes for every member of the family. I constructed this to be very sturdy since it will

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-61881587674571983612008-04-20T16:17:00.002-07:002008-04-22T14:13:20.204-07:00

2008-03-28 Got the pre-treated moulding for the sink this week, whipped out the mitre box, and cut out the framing for the sink edge. The edges were sealed with bathtub/shower caulk and everything set up just fine. It's a rare treat when things come together so quickly, so I marched on and installed my new vise on my work bench. This vise has a 270° rotating base, so I bolted it in using

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-9250091544121467332008-04-20T15:39:00.005-07:002008-04-23T09:48:25.578-07:00

2008-03-26 Today I took the inexpensive circular saw blade I mentioned in a previous post and made my workshop clock. The design is exceedingly simple and uses an equally inexpensive, battery-powered clock movement. These can be purchased at most craft stores for about $5.00 or less. I got the movement for this clock from an old, busted up mantel clock I'd salvaged years ago. Mounting the

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-42510769263843663122008-04-20T12:16:00.004-07:002008-04-22T14:13:00.144-07:00

2008-03-25 Almost done! The work bench surface is now covered in ½" MDF board which is similarly priced as plywood and more durable than particle board. I've secured each of the MDF sections to the pine frame using wood screws and washers. This will allow for easy replacement of any MDF section in the event that it gets worn out or damaged. The area around the sink is looking good. I'll

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-91463327684875721342008-04-20T11:43:00.008-07:002008-04-23T09:42:24.117-07:00

2008-03-24 First things first. In order to build the stuff I'd like, I first had to build the means by which I could build stuff. Since I plan on doing big things, I set my sights on a big work bench: a 14' long, 30" deep and 34" tall work bench to be precise. The work bench was constructed of 2x4 pine boards built as two separate boxes: one 8' and one 6', each reinfored with right angle

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7270950449716110172.post-35357982556001093792008-04-20T11:27:00.003-07:002008-04-22T14:12:31.676-07:00

2008-03-17 Like Dirty Harry says, "A man's gotta know his limitations." And a draftsman and architect I ain't. The design documents on display here are drawn up only so I can keep clear the basic elements of what I intend to build. I usually stick with the top view, front view and side view to give a good idea of how the objects should be crafted and bolted on. Other than that, everything I

DIY Daddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03333159554925072240noreply@blogger.com0