Hi everyone; my apologies for the lateness of the mid-week video, and thanks so much for all your kind comments. So unpleasantness aside, it was a productive week with the garden gazebo removed and dismantled - probably for firewood, but we’ll see.
I shot the rest of the plywood boxes video, and that’s all settled; I did plan on trying my hand at box joints and a box joint jig, but decided that I just needed to crack on with them, so made them into another basic build video. That was a bit of a challenge as I haven’t introduced a router the the basic toolkit yet, so I made the rebates on the box fronts with the plunge saw, worked surprisingly well! The boxes were simply pinned together, and after nailing 5 boxes together with a hammer, I can really appreciate the benefits of a cheap nailer and compressor!
The latest loose tenon jigs are doing well; the first batch sold out fast, and pretty much killed sales of the ‘classic’, but my YouTube pal Stew at Bisch Bosch Basch did a review of the plain plywood version and that’s rekindled interest in the entry-level model, as well as the plans.
Which is just as well, as we’ve learned that the next batch of 12mm Melamine-faced Birch (MelB!) will be close to double the price of the previous, which will make it a difficult product to sell so we’ll be looking at alternatives like HPL; keep you posted on that…
There are a couple of Steve jobs quotes that pop up in my mind from time to time - “Design is how things work not how things look, and everything you see around you was designed by someone no smarter than you are… “ is a good one to contemplate when you’re trying to figure something out; I’ve been fiddling around with an idea for a folding set of steps/stool, and while I was tinkering with it this week I found that the folding part is relatively easy - it’s the stopping it from folding that’s the hard part!
The other ‘Jobs-ism’ that surfaced this week was “A thousand No’s for every Yes”
You can take that a couple of ways, but I was reminded of it this week especially, because the rail hinge just isn’t going to fly as a product - certainly not a complete ‘kit of parts’ product, anyway. I’m still tinkering around with a few ideas, and I need to remake the hinged parts to accommodate the fantastic hinge pivots that Stu Parker - of the OF1010 guide bush fame - 3D printed for me. I don’t know how strong they are, or if they’re a viable option to machined aluminium at modest volume, but they certainly offer an accessible alternative.
And talking of accessible, yes, I bought a 3D printer, and thanks again to Stu for the advice; as I say in the video I won’t be competition to anyone who 3D prints stuff for sale through their own stores, it’s more to get some experience of the general process and for me to gain a better understanding of what’s possible.
And finally, I had an interesting visit from the Head of Product at Trend over the Maker Central weekend; they were keen to stress that most of the jigs Trend sell are made under licence, and he would ‘welcome the opportunity to discuss common goals…’
Given the amount of interest in an imperial version of the loose tenon jigs for the US market, that’s a conversation I’d be interested in having. Keep you posted on that one too!
That’s it for this one though, thanks you as always for your amazing support, and I’ll catch you in there week with a few more tidbits.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Peter
Direct video link - https://youtu.be/mDmQcFo4AR0
Stu Parker on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Stuparkercreations
Bisch Basch Bosch LTJ review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klTYQMG43iY&t=9
Opmerkingen