"Union Jack" palette table

Although this project consumed significant amount of working hours (for sanding as always with palettes) it's really very simple and strait forward to do. Here's what you'll need...

Tools
- electrical sander(s)
- drill
- paint brush
- sand paper

Materials
- 2 x wooden standard size palettes (in EU its 120 x 80 x 14.5 cm)
- about 1.5l of paint (1l black + 0.25l red + 0.25 white)
- 4 bolts with nuts
- 4 standard furniture wheels (I recycled mine from an old office chair)
- some masking tape

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HANG .10 coffee table - version II

Well, here is version II of my original HANG .10 surfboard coffee table.  This time around I used pennies, with copper/chrome maple leafs on a white background.

Which one do you like better?

1st thing to do is make a jig...
*Take your paper template and trace its shape onto the wood that you will use for your jig. I used 1/2" MDF but you can use 1/4"  
MDF, Masonite or plywood.           
*Use your jigsaw now to cut out that shape from the MDF. Once cut out, I took a belt sander and cleaned up and smoothed all the edges around the jig. This will be your main jig now. This jig is what the router bit follows to cut out your perfect ellipse.
*Select your wood to make your table from. I chose pre-finished birch.
*Put the wood template onto the wood you've selected and clamp it down.
*Route around the jig with the router bit riding against the jig. I used a 1" pattern bit with a ball bearing. This is what rides against the edges that I smoothed out earlier on the jig.
*Once the main shape was routed out, I switched to a 22.5 router bit and routed around the edges once again. This gives me the 22.5  bevel on the edges just like the Eames table has. (actually its a 20 bevel - but who can tell;~)
*Now the table top is ready for your design.
*I masked off the edges and painted the top white. I left the edges exposed to show the different plywood layers similar to the  
Herman Miller/Eames surfboard table.
*Lay out the location of the stripes with painters tape.
*Now start adding your pennies!
*I used white glue and Q-Tips. Type of glue doesn't really matter because the whole table will be getting covered with epoxy resin   later.        
*When you are done, remove the painters tape and now you can lay out your copper/chrome maple leaf decals or whichever   
design you prefer.

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How to Create the Ultimate Tech-Infused Retro Arcade Coffee Table

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LCD Coffee Table

Have an extra LCD monitor laying around? I think most of us have upgraded their screen or TV at some point to a larger one and have their old one collecting dust. If you have the space, why not put it to good use and create a coffee table with a built in LCD screen?

- Stream anything from Mac OS or iOS with an Apple TV! (Airplay mirroring)

- Use it as a fully functioning PC! (with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse)

- Control your table from your tablet or phone! (with LogMeIn)

- Turn things on or off using an app on your phone or a small remote! (with Belkin WeMo or a remote power strip)

I have always wanted to do this, and when I got a 27 inch monitor for cheap, I decided to browse YouTube for some ideas. ( http://youtu.be/SxvrpkABloY?t=9s ) The best one I found I decided to build, and here is the result!

*EDITOR NOTE*: I'm waiting on the glass to be cut. As soon as I have it on, I'm posting the new picture! :D

      I've got a lot of comments on my photos, be sure the check them all out!

Careful when taking apart any TV or LCD panel!! I cannot stress this enough! Disassemble the plastic housing around the TV or LCD panel. Don't worry if you need to chip the plastic or break some buttons, just make sure that you don't have to fiddle with a remote or pressing of any buttons to get the TV or LCD to recognize your input device. Min was a TV, so I tested hooking up a PC, a Mac, and an Apple TV to test the three ports (HDMI, VGA, and DVI) to make sure I didn't have to fiddle with any buttons for the TV to turn on and recognize my source.

If you can't get around the pushing of a button to turn something on, think about a switch. I suggest using the wireless Belkin Switch Memo for ease of use and price.   ( http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Automation-Switch-Apple-iPhone/dp/B0089WFPRO )

Once the TV or LCD panel has been disassembled, think about getting a plank of wood. My parents had this piece sitting around, but if you are getting a piece from Lowe's or Home Depot, think about the thickness of the wood, the finish, and the durability. We're going to be using screws for the assembly, and you don't want something cracking or splitting. Also think about the finished look, do you want to keep it fresh or stain it? Paint it maybe? Think about it before you buy. 

Next, think about the wood. My parents had this piece laying around, but if you're going to buy a slab, think about the thickness, the finish, and the quality of the wood. Remember, we're using screws, we don't want to split the wood. Think about the finish. Do you want to paint it? Stain it? Keep it fresh looking? Also, take into account the kerf, or the thickness of the blade, when you cut. Get a pice of wood with some extra length, don' get it exactly the right dimensions. Cutting wood to the same dimensions -> ( link ) 

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Mini Picnic Table

A fun and easy craft to make that looks really cool and realistic when completed. This is my 3rd instructable and I'm very satisfied by the turnout. Hope you all enjoy.         Materials: *Six pieces of 1"x6" wood about a quarter inch thickness*Six popsicle sticks*Two large clothespins*Cardstock paper*Various types of glue(Wood, Extra Strong, and Craft)*Wood Finish*Tape*Brown and Red Sharpie   Here I laid four pieces of wood side by side with the edges as straight as possible. Then I cut a piece of the cardstock paper slightly smaller than the wood. This will allow all the pieces of wood to grab on to the same surface and so I didn't get glue running through the cracks to the good side.

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Build a Bunch of Table Top Tardis

Lets Build Them:

Parts List:

25 Boxes from Uline 

4-5 cans of Sail Blue color Rustoleum paint (Lowes or Home Depot). The color is close to Tardis blue and I found the color value on line to make a swatch from to use in inkscape. If you want to be true to the show, there is the BBC Authorized TARDIS Blue: Pantone 2295C

5 8' sections of 3/4”X1/4” screen molding 
This gets cut into 5” pieces and each Tardis uses 4. Make extra! They make great refrigerator magnets.

40 11X17 prints of the attached pdf.

20 1W LED's mounted on a star

20 75Ohm 1/2W Resistors buy 100 they are cheap

20 nine volt battery clips 

20 nine volt batteries (Alkaline!)

1 can spray glue 

Wood glue or white school glue for paper
Tools:

Hot Glue and glue gun

Utility knife (with new blade)

Small piece of cardboard (to make cutout template)

Pencil

Scrap wood to use as cutting surface

Paper shear (or scissors) I borrowed one.

Small hand saw and miter box.

Fine Sand Paper

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ergonomic table

I always use my laptop in bed.
Using the laptop in bed is very difficult without the appropriate table. Given that I'm living in iran and global markets are not available. Table if there is such a price is too expensive, I decided to make it myself.
Hopefully, the description is understandable given that they do not speak good English.

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Resaw wood on the bandsaw and table saw - Made at Techshop

Resawing is a very useful skill to have in the wood shop, it's a fundamental type of cut, just like ripping or cross-cutting, but instead of cutting a board to length or width, resawing is cutting a board to thickness. This allows one to get multiple thin boards out of one larger, thicker piece of wood. This can be used to stretch money and materials further, or to create interesting effects using patterns in the wood grain.

In this instructable I'll be comparing three methods of resawing that I've learned and observed working at Techshop, San Francisco: resawing on the bandsaw with a tall fence, resawing freehand on the bandsaw, and resawing on the table saw.

Just for good measure, I also found a walkthough on how to resaw a board with a handsaw. I'll stick to power tools for this task since I have access to them, but I always admire those who work with hand tools.

As always, I'm still a relative newcomer to woodworking - if anyone has any corrections or additional information, please share it in the comments. Just keep the criticism constructive.

Resawing is one of the fundamental ways to cut wood. For any given board, there are three possible types of cuts - rip cuts, cross cuts and resaw cuts. The difference between these cuts is the direction the grain is facing during the cut (see first picture below).
Rip cuts are the most common cuts on the table saw, and involve cutting along the length of the board with the grain of the wood, splitting a larger board into narrower sections. Cross cuts are also very common, and just like the name implies they involve cutting across the grain of the wood, shortening the length of the board. Re-sawing is a bit less common, but very useful for certain applications. It's like a rip cut, with a twist - it involves ripping straight through the center of a board the thick way, producing two thinner boards.
Imagine I have a bunch of 1" thick boards, but my project only calls for 3/8" thick lumber. I could go out and buy some pre-milled thin lumber (which is expensive) or I could sacrifice 5/8" of my current boards by milling them down to size (turning good wood into sawdust). Neither is a good option, but by resawing my wood I can go ahead and use my rough-cut lumber, and end up with twice as much 3/8" wood. That's a good deal!
Have you ever seen nice furniture where all the front panels have matching or complementary grain patterns? How about a nice guitar top with perfectly symmetrical sides? Or a wooden box where the wood grain lines wrap completely around all four sides? Resawing is one way you can create those effects. When you cut a board down the middle, you will have 2 pieces that are almost mirror images of each other.
There's no need to stop at cutting a board in half. When you slice off very thin sections (1/8" or less) you are basically creating your own veneers. This can be quite useful for creating interesting grain patterns, like I mentioned above. But it can also be useful for stretching the usefulness of very rare or expensive pieces of lumber.

Also, with store-bought veneers, you only have 1/32" of wood to work with, and if you're not careful you can burn straight through them while sanding, scraping or planing. By making your own veneers, you can start by making them extra thick, then plane or sand them down as thin as you want.

So that's why you should learn how to resaw. Next I'll show you how I 've done it.

Bandsaws are the most common tools for re-sawing. They are useful because they can handle almost any standard size board, and can even be used to resaw whole logs. Bandsaw resawing can be difficult for beginners to master, but a properly tuned bandsaw can greatly improve the process. Table saws are useful for resawing narrow boards. The biggest advantage of table saws is that they produce very clean, repeatable cuts. It's easy for beginners to get started, because resawing is just like rip cutting, but with thicker wood. However, as always, table saws are one of the most dangerous tools in the shop - and resawing is no exception. Resawing carries a higher risk of kickback than rip cutting, if the board tips away from the blade or falls into the blade after finishing the cut. Photos found through google image search

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Garden side table with hard stone top (all re-used materials)

A while ago I found a disposed hard stone polished kitchensink top. I carried this treasure home, although it was HEAVY and I didn't know what to do with it yet, but a creative person doesn't have junk lying around, only new ideas.
The purpose came to me later when I changed my front door to a new one and combined these two thing with some hardwood I got from a neighbor (He had it lying behind his house for years, used to be the base of his garden shet) and the legs of our old pine dinner table: These had to be transformed to a very sturdy garden side table.
Here is how I did that (although I might have missed some steps because I didn't took pictures of every step.)Well, as I said. I used a very nice 180x40 cm's polished kitchen counter-top out of hard stone. I found it in the garbage. Every month or so I like to dumpster-dive in my street when my neighbors dispose there treasures. Usually it's quite a goldmine (I even found some original screen-prints of some famous artists. Being an artist and art teacher myself I knew what they were. I've sold them for a few hundred euro's!).
Another day I got these big and heavy hardwood beams from a neighbor. They had a routed notch/angle (?) in them, in which the stone plate perfectly fitted.
My old merbau wood front door provided me the rest of the frame and last I used metal angles and the legs of our old diner table made out of pine. This table has been used in the garden for a few years on the place where this new table is standing now but it was to big for this small roofed space. The table top itself I used for another interesting project about which I will make another Ible later.

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Homemade Table Saw Sledge - Part 4 - Jig to build Tetrahedrons and Pyramids

In this build I made a jig which fits onto the table saw sledge with the intent of cutting sides to form a regular tetrahedrons and pyramids of various sizes.  I have to admit that the final jig in the video quickly left the realms of functionality because I based the design on the angles of a two dimensional triangle and needless to say I have now re-discovered Euclidean geometry.  That is to say, the dihedral angle of a three dimensional, regular tetrahedron is not the same as the angle of a two dimensional equilateral triangle.  While all the angles of a triangle equal to 180 degrees and that an equilateral triangle individual angle are 60, the angle between two faces of a tetrahedron is actually 70.5 degrees.  For a  pyramid this would be 109.5 degrees.

I haven't had to use pure mathematics for quite a while and we probably all know that in fabrication and woodworking there are many tricks to avoiding sums.  Had my table saw been one which allowed the blade to tilt, I could have compensated for my error but as it stands the gap left inside the tetrahedron is too wide and would probably require hot glue to join.

When I have time I will add a link to a correct sketch up model and write up a step by step with accurate angles.

In the short term, if you have the time to make one and don't fancy the maths, use an online calculator to work out your angles such as the one in the link bellow!

http://www.slyman.org/m_projects_mathematics_pyramids_polyhedra_intersurface_angle.php?alpha=60&n=4&p=45&submit_pyramid_parameter_calculator=Calculate

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Antique-Inspired Drawing Table w/ Built-In Lightbox

I wanted a bigger, perhaps even fancier, drawing table than what I've been using for a few years; and I had a pile of wood left over from other projects, so! I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

The instructions here are different from what I did in a couple places, because I realized after the fact a better/more efficient/etc way of doing it.

Hi-Res Blueprint

What You Need
Wood: I used mostly mahogany and poplar; but the pegs are oak dowels, the roll guard (not the real term, but I don't know what it's actually called) is pine; the lightbox, pivot plates and angle rings are plywood (obviously would be fancier with real wood); the bottom of the lightbox is pressboard
Glass or Plastic Sheet: 24x36" piece; glass is cheaper, but plastic--plexiglass, acrylic, etc--would be sturdier; if you do go plexiglass, you'll need a thicker piece than with glass, as it's not as stiff, and so will need to route out more of the top to make it flush
Light(s): I used a set of under-cabinet lights; might get more even illumination with a flourescent bar-type light
Spray-On Glass Frost: in addition to diffusing the light in the lightbox, this also gives the glass a decent enough texture to keep stuff from sliding around on the desk
Stain 1: a light color; this will be your base; I went with a "sunbleached" shade; you just need a small can of this and your other stain color
Stain: a darker color; I went with a burgandy; again, just need a small can
Shellac: I used an amber shellac, as it imparts a warm, aged look to the wood; you could substitute lacquer or polyurethane; you'll need enough for at least 2 coats, more if using a more porous wood (mahogant, oak, etc.) and wanting a very smooth finish
12 Small L-Braces: these are used to strengthen the pivot plates and angle rings
2 Wooden Knobs: these will be fixed to the angle rings' pegs
2 Small Chains, 6" each: these are fixed to the pivot plates' pegs
Screws
Wood Glue

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The Farm Table Workspace

A long desk made with cedar planks and recycled wood. A sun-filled window. And plenty of plants. Today's featured workspace is warm, rustic, and unique.

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors takes salvage items and turns them into inspiring items. That's certainly the case with this 12-foot long, 3-foot deep desk. Besides the loose cedar planks for the top, 4x4 pallet oak posts serve as the legs and chunky reclaimed 2x4's make up the sturdy framing. Black accents, including rolling file carts, a built-in computer pad, and, yes, that cat in the window, round out the rest of the space. Hit up the link below for more shots of this nature-inspired workspace.

If you have a workspace of your own to show off, share them with us by: a) posting it in the discussion below, attaching your image to the post, b) posting it to your personal Kinja blog using the tag featured workspace, or c) adding it to our Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Flickr pool. Make sure any photos you include are at least 640x360. Keeping them to 16:9 helps, too! Include a little text about the stuff you used, how you came up with the design, and any other relevant details. If your clever organization and good design sense catches our eye, you might be the next featured workspace.

Pallet Farm Table Desk - Part 3, The Reveal | Funky Junk Interiors

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Folding Book Art - Wedding Table Numbers

I am getting married soon and my fiance was looking at how to mark the table numbers.

The wedding is a village fete / vintage sort of theme. My wife to be is an english teacher, and we both like books...

As she was looking for inspiration she came across one of the folded books with words in. I'm sure you have seen them before, but if not check out this link:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=folded+book+words&client=safari&hl=en-gb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tCmCUbBejdfsBry-gbgD&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=320&bih=505

At this point I thought "I can do that!". So I set about folding numbers in to the books instead of words...

After I had done my first number, I tried to search the Internet for instructions to see if there is a better way of doing it. I couldn't find instructions (without paying $15), just a couple of free templates (for a crown), but no instructions on how to use them.

So I stuck with my method, and this is what I will go through here.

In theory you should be able to use the same method for words or picture.

Date Made: May 2013
Approx Cost: £0.50 per book
Approx Time: 1.5 hours per book
Difficulty: Medium

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