The Music Box Project-Pt. 2-The Mechanism and Completion Photos

 Hi Everyone,

Well, the music box is done. Getting the mechanism screwed in place was a hassle but I eventually managed to set two screws in it and get attached securely to the bottom of the box

Here are the screw holes for the tiny screws:

Here is the box with the mechanism in place:

 

And this is the completed music box:

 

Ok, this one is done.

_________________________

What's next? Well, I have several bedside tables to make, a couple of patio chairs, and several bowls and platters so I'll be busy this summer.

But right now, I think I'll get some coffee, put my feet up and watch an old movie.

 See you all soon,

VW

The Camera Works-We got Photos! The Music Box project continued-Part 1: Completing the Box portion

 Hello Everyone,

Well, the batteries for the camera got here and I got them charged up so we have photos again. 

I've finished making the box part of the music box project so I'll post that right now. Later today I'll post part 2 which will be the installation of the mechanism.

Here's what it looks like right now:

In this photo you can see the replacement top out of redwood and I added a finial out of ebony. I really liked the rounded shape of the box and the top together but I'm very pleased with the finial. It contrasts well with both the shape of the box and the red and soft ivory colors.

I just finished making and installing the finial and here is how that went:

I had a small piece of ebony leftover from a prior project and decided to use that. In the photo you can see 3 lines on the surface of the ebony-the left section will become the stem to attach the finial to the box top, the middle section will be the finial, and the last section will be turning waste:

The stem needs to fit into the box tightly and it needed to be small enough to disappear underneath the finial so I decided to turn it to a 1/4" diameter. The easiest way to do this is get a small 1/4" diameter wrench and use it as a measuring jig. That way I can drill a 1/4" diameter hole in the top and have it fit perfectly:

 

 

I set up the wood on the lathe and started turning:

 

 

 

 

In this photo you can see it much narrower. Most of the wood has been turned away:

 

 

 

 

Lastly, here is the finished finial. The stem is a perfect 1/4" and the hole in the top is 1/4" too. It fit tightly:

And here is the top and finial together:

I'm going to stop for lunch and then screw in the mechanism. I'll be back with photos and completion photos later today.

VW

The Music Box Project-still alive with a new lid

 Ok I'm back,

 The music box has a new lid out of old growth redwood. It's a very simple shape (unfortunately the camera is still down-no photos) and it fits the shape, size, and contrasts well with the box. Here's what happened:

I picked up the pieces of the original lid and after deciding that the lid was not reconstructable, I discarded the pieces and went looking for another piece of wood. I found a small piece of white oak and proceeded to turn it to shape. The problem with it was I couldn't get it to spin true on the lathe. It had a terrible wobble to it in spite of my truing it up carefully. I checked everything and the lathe and equipment was working normally so I eventually gave up and set the oak lid aside.

I looked at the pieces of wood I had left and decided to use a piece of some old growth redwood that I've had forever. The wood was a part of a bookshelf that my fiance (now husband) had made of bricks and some redwood boards. The bookshelf and most of the redwood is long gone-I have a couple of pieces left and decided to use one of them.

The redwood turned perfectly. Its very soft wood but it is turnable and without a finish, it's a soft pink color. And since it's been in the family for almost 44 years now it's appropriate that it go to our grandson. 

Tomorrow I'm going to do a little more sanding on the box portion and then apply the first of several coats of polyurethane to both pieces. 

I'll also go out and see if I can replace the camera battery tomorrow.

So the project is back on and headed for completion.

Stay tuned,
VW

The Music Box Project-the lid self destructed

 Well Good Morning Everyone,

 To make this short and sweet, I put the lid on the lathe and began turning it and after about 5 minutes of turning, it broke into 3 pieces. The finial split off first, then the middle section came off. When I tried to salvage the large piece, it fractured along the grain. So this was a short turning experience.

There's no point in crying over spilt milk so I'm currently digging through the wood pile to find another thick piece of wood that I can turn in one piece. Stay tuned for that.

Oh, and the battery in the camera has bit the dust. I'll have to go and fine another one.

 Hang in there,

VW

Music Box Project-box and lid

 Hi Everyone,

Well, this was a loooong day in the wood shop but I got a lot done.  The battery in my camera ran out of power ("The battery is exhausted." yeah...) so I don't have photos for everything. So let's get going with the photos I do have:

The Box

This photo below was the box when I began working this morning. It was hollowed out to 3/4" deep but I needed to remove enough wood to make the bottom of the box about 3/8" thick so the winding stem would jut out from the bottom enough to make winding an easy task. So what I did rather than do a lot of measuring was to drill a 1" diameter hole straight though the box and out through the bottom. That way I could easy measure the thickness to the remaining wood with a depth gauge.

This is the box after it was drilled. I used a series of Forstner bits to hollow out most of the box and hand turned it when the bottom reached about 1/2" thickness.

 I went upstairs and got the music box mechanism and did a dry fit and it fits (the camera fizzled at this point so I don't have any photos but it did work).
I did some sanding cleaned up the inside of the box with scraper and some sandpaper. Other than the finish, this part of the turn is complete.

The Lid

I let the camera charge up a bit, had a bit of lunch, and went back down to the wood shop to work on the lid.

The lid consists of 3 parts-2 parts are for the lid and the 3rd part will be a finial. It is made out of Brazilian cherry and it will be a dark red color when finished.

I wanted to make this box really memorable so I decided on making the basic shape similar to a Raffan box. Raffan boxes are a type of small turned box made popular by wood turner Richard Raffan that have a wide base, a narrow opening, and a lid that is about as wide as the base. So I looked in my wood pile and I had a piece of Brazilian cherry wide enough for the lid.*

 

I cut three pieces and drilled a small hole in each piece so I could correctly line the pieces up when it became time to glue them together.

Before I did any gluing though I cut the lip that will fit in the box. It's just a tad loose but not enough to discard. I sanded it smooth so it's ready for a finish.

The next step involved creating a heptagon out of the round lid. I did this to create a "winged" effect. I'm a little hard pressed to describe this so I'll just have to show you tomorrow when I turn the lid:
 

The last several photos show how I glued it up. It's down in the wood shop clamped together and drying. I used JB Weld extreme glue for this as I don't want the parts to come apart when I'm turning the top.

Ok, tomorrow I'll turn the lid and sand it smooth and hopefully that part of the project will be complete. 

The last steps involve placing the mechanism in the box with small screws and of course applying the finish which will be done before I put the mechanism in.

Stay tuned we're almost there.

VW

*Those of you who are wood turners I'm sure are familiar with the work of Richard Raffan. His designs are simple but beautifully executed.
His first book The Art of Turned Bowls is a classic and has a place in my wood working library. I'm not sure if it's still in print but it bares looking for a copy.

Lathe Up and running

 Hi Everyone,

 Well the lathe is up and running again. Here's what went wrong:

The lathe has a series of pulleys that are held in place with very small screws called set screws. In the first photo below you can see the pulleys inside of the lathe housing.

In this second photo you can see a small black dot which is on one of the pulleys inside the housing. This black dot is the drill hole for the set screw.

 

The set screw hold the pulley in place while the motor is turned on and this all causes the wood attached to the lathe to spin in a circle. The pulley in the photo has two set screws and they have to be screwed in tightly.

What happened was the vibrations that the spinning causes, caused the screws to loosen and then fall out. So when I was working last week on a small box, it suddenly stopped turning while the electric motor keep on working.

So I got some replacement screws for it and used some Loctite to hold the screws in place. I let the Loctite dry for several days just in case and decided to give it all a go this morning.
 
I have another pizza server to make and I set aside a small piece of marble wood for that project. Since its small I decided to turn the handle for the server as a test project and it came out very well.

I had no vibrations and the wood turned true. I came out really nice. Here's a photos:

Marble wood is really wild looking wood and this is going to look great for this project.

I'll post some finish photos in a day or two.

______

Now that the lathe is up and running I'm going to take a quick coffee break and go back outside and begin the music box project.

Stay Tuned.

 

 

Lathe not working

 Hi Everyone,

The lathe is down for the time being so I'm stopping all the projects for the next week until I figure out what's wrong.

Stay tuned,

VW

Music Box Birthday Project-discussion and plans

 Hi Everyone,

 While I'm waiting for some equipment to arrive, let's get started on the music box project.

 

Discussion

I'm going to make a small music box for my grandson who will be turning 9 years old in a couple of weeks. He's a delightful little guy and I love making things for him and since he doesn't have a music box, that made deciding to do this project easy as pie.

Plans 

I'm going to start with a block of hard maple for the box part of the project that was part of the wood plank I bought for the maple salad bowl. It's 3" thick and has a 4 3/4" diameter. I turned it into a round blank last weekend and I trued up the sides. I choose maple, not only because it was readily available in the shop, but because maple is dense enough to turn the sides and especially the bottom of the box very thin.

I also have a square piece of purple heart for the beginnings of the lid. Lastly I have a music box mechanism from the folks at Music Box Attic in Canoga Park, CA. Their website has all sorts of stuff for music boxes, mechanisms, you name it. I bares taking a look at the website if you're considering a project like this.

Anyway, placing the mechanism into the box so the winding stem protrudes far enough through the bottom of the box to be easily wound but not be seen from the outside. So that's the key here.

I also ordered an extra long winding stem that is 1/2" long so the thickness of the box bottom will have to be thin enough for this.

So the first thing I'm going to do is make an outline of the bottom of the mechanism and mark out where the winding stem and screw holes go. Then I'll make a drawing of the thickness of the bottom of the box. Then I'll begin turning the box, then the lid and finial, and lastly the finish. When this is all done, it will be time to screw in the mechanism and the project will be finished.

Ok, grab some coffee and stay tuned!

VW

Hard Maple Salad Bowl project

 Hi Everyone,

The maple salad bowl project will be delayed. 

Having equipment issues.

 Stay tuned,

VW

Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued-finishing phase

 Hi Everyone,

 Here is a photo of the bowl at present. I've finished sanding it and wiping it down to get the dust off of it:

 

 So I'll be applying the finish to the inside and outside of the bowl over the next several days. When that's finished I'll polish it and then turn it over to refine the foot and apply finish to that and then it will be done.

In the meantime I'll be gearing up for the music box project.

Stay tuned,
VW

Hard Maple Salad Bow, continued-near miss with disaster

 Hi Everyone,

 Well, I finished all of my chores for the day and decided to reward myself with several hours of wood turning. Wow, what an afternoon this turned out to be. 

I finished hollowing out the bowl, got it to the depth I wanted and it looked really great. The next step was to refine the bottom and sides of the interior and I began this with some bowl scrapers I have. The bottom looked smooth but the sides had a lot of ridges and some torn fibers that the bowl scraper wouldn't remove.  

The project had gone well up to now and I'll admit I got a little cocky and reached for the fingernail gouge to smooth out some of the issues. I adjusted the tool rest, turned on the lathe and before I knew it -BANG!!-I had a catch. Not just any catch. A catch long enough and deep enough to nearly cut the bowl in half. And it almost came off the lathe. 

I let out a big yell and stopped the lathe. My husband came out to see what was going on and my heart nearly stopped when I realized what had happened. If that bowl had come off the lathe, I'd probably be in a hospital ER someplace with some terrible injuries. And heaven knows where the bowl would be.

So I collected myself and looked at the bowl and decided I could remove the catch. So I put it back on the lathe, turned the speed down, and got out the bowl scraper again and patiently removed the catch. The walls of the bowl are still substantial and the bottom of the bowl probably closely match the thickness of the walls. So I decided to end the turn at that point and begin sanding.

Here are some photos of the bowl at this point:

Here are two photos of the inside of the bowl. I think you can see the depth of the bowl better in the first photo. The bowl is nearly 2 1/4" deep:

The next several photos should the side and the underside of the bowl. I will be removing some of the thickness of the foot of the bowl at the very end of the project:

When I stopped turning, I began sanding the inside of the bowl. I usually begin with 100 grit paper but today with the amount of scratching inside of the bowl sides, I began with 80 grit sandpaper on a disc. The bowl will require more sanding with 100 grit sandpaper and this will take time so I'll be working on this over the weekend.

As for the fingernail gouge, it's resting in the very rear of my tool drawer where it will stay for a while. 

And I'll be taking a nap.

VW

Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued-hollowing out

 Hi Everyone,

 Well I had a very productive afternoon in the wood shop. Made a huge mess but removed most of the inside of the bowl. Here are some photos and comments:

Here's the beginning of the hollowing out process. I've been turning about 10 minutes and the depth is about 3/4" deep. If you look closely at the center you can see the screw holes from the faceplate:

 

I was using a fingernail gouge to work on the sides when all of a sudden I got two deep gouges  along the inside of the bowl. I haven't used a fingernail gouge in a long time so I'm out of practice with it. I have a large heavy bowl scraper and I removed the damage with that.

 

 I wanted to shape the inside of the bowl to match the outside shape so here you can see the upper sides are straight. Next I'm going to curve the bottom half of the bowl to match the curved surface of the outside-bottom of the bowl.

 

 And here is where it's at right now. The sides are looking good but there is still more wood on the bottom to be removed. As it's getting cold, I'll stop here for today.

 

Tomorrow I'll finish hollowing out the bowl and then refine the inside surfaces and if all goes well the turning part of the project will be finished.

 

What a mess! I have enough wood shavings to stuff a mattress!!

See you all tomorrow,
VW

 

Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued: working on the foot

 Hi,

Well, the side of the bowl came out very well. I've sanded it to 320 grit and it's very smooth:

Ok, the next step is the foot of the bowl.

There are several ways to attach a bowl blank to a lathe-I have a face plate that I could screw on to the foot but that would leave screw holes that I would have to deal with later so that leaves a bowl chuck:

This is a large Nova chuck that I use for very wide turns. It's heavy and very solid-it's 7 pounds of steel-and it fits snugly and firmly on the bowl foot and that's what I'm going to go with:

This will give me a safe attachment and dampen some of the turning vibration that occurs with spinning large heavy blocks of wood.

It's beginning to get cold and windy so I'm going to stop for the day. I'll be back tomorrow to begin hollowing out the bowl,

 

VW

 

 

Hard Maple Salad Bowl, continued-shaping the side

 Hi Everyone,

Well I just came in from examining the bowl on the lathe and there are several considerations here:

First-the volume of the bowl. I've wanted to preserve as much of the volume of the blank as possible. Salad bowls are typically large and deep so a salad can be tossed easily without the contents spilling out. This bowl will be a little under 21/2" deep which is not very deep. But the width is just around 13" at this point so that should mitigate the shallowness of the bowl. 

Second-Salad bowls are also typically very eye catching. If you go to Pinterest and search for wooden salad bowls you'll see some really gorgeous bowls in a variety of woods with all sorts of detail turned into the sides. This bowl is solid maple and has very little in the way of visible grain pattern. But the color is a soft white which is unusual for a salad bowl so I think it needs a little detail to catch the eye. As I don't like adding details to bowls that stand out from the surface (and which can break off if dropped) I'm going to add a band to the upper part of the bowl that is depressed from the surface.

I'm going down to the wood shop a little later on to work on the side. When I'm done I'll do another posting about the foot.

See you later,

VW