Toy Workshop held on Nov 16th, 2013 at Club for Boys Shop

Fourteen toymakers from the Rapid City Woodworkers Association (RCWA) gathered at the Club for Boys Shop on Saturday morning, Nov 16, 2013 at 8:45 am.  This is the third to last week for completing our goal of over 2000 handmade wooden toys for delivery to less fortunate children in the Black Hills and Sioux Falls area in early December. 

This workshop was the culmination of many weeks of work on basketball game parts, as 100 basketball games were assembled, ball/string assemblies attached, and the game was tested for final delivery. 

 

The first step in the process is to plane the rough lumber.  This was done in January by one member, Julian Wigen, who planed all the rough oak and cherry stock.  Then another member, Larry Borg, cut, routered, and sanded all the basketball bases and the backboards.  One of our loyal supporters, J and D Woodworking of Black Hawk, SD, prepared the plywood hoops using their high-powered CNC machine earlier this summer.    Launchers were fabricated at Bob's shop, complete with a  5 degree spoon slot.  Adapter posts used to facilitate final assembly were fabricated at various shops over the past year.  At the previous workshop, several members finalized the bases by drilling holes to accept the posts, drilling two sided holes for the strings, and drilling holes for the launcher mounting screw.  Then members glued the adapter posts to the bases, and attached the launchers to the bases.  The hoops were glued to the backboards and then attached with screws at the previous workshop.  With both halves assembled, they were taken to Bob's shop where Kathie applied a sanding sealer/lacquer thinner mix using a brush.  This raises the grain slightly, so each part required some sanding with 220 grit sandpaper (again by Kathie).  Then the two parts were sprayed with two coats of quick drying lacquer as the final finish.   All this had to happen before today's workshop. 

Today, the hoop assembly and the base assembly were joined with a 1/2" dowel post (also fabricated previously).  With the game almost complete, the strings were inserted in the holes in the base.  Final assembly required tying the string so that the ball lands exactly in the bowl of the spoon.  Final test - the ball must go through the hoop before the test is passed.  A pair of spoons were attached with rubber bands and the toy was packaged for moving to the storage room.

 

 

 

A slight modification was required to make the newly designed Wendy's spoons fit the launcher slots.

This workshop was also the culmination of many weeks of work on tugboat parts, as more than 100 tugboats reached the final assembly stage.  One member, Steve Larson, cut, routered, sanded, and drilled all the tugboat hulls and the cabins during October.  Bob cut and drilled dowels for stacks, and cut small dowels for the tie downs.  Five members formed the assembly line today, and attached the cabins, then the stacks, and finally the tie downs, to complete the toy.  All tugboats are now ready for final sealing, sanding, and lacquer finishing. 

Wheels were installed on 94 wheeled vehicles as the last of the 2013 model cars, racers, busses, and small cars rolled off the assembly lines.

Strings were inserted in the last 50 cloth toy bags as we prepare for a slurry of the wooden critters that members have been cutting for the last several months for the toy bags.  Members cutting critters include Lon, Darwin, Rollie, Gary G, Bel, Gary K, Larry, Rick, Steve, Julian, Harley, and Bob.

Almost a dozen two - sided cradles were prepared during this workshop, including cradle ends cut on the CNC machine.

Attendees at today's workshop included:  Julian, Frank, Harley, Bel, Larry, Barb, Kathie, Rick, Greg, Gary G, Rollie,  Darwin, Lauree, Bob, Grant (home shop) and Ken.


To get to the HOME PAGE of the Rapid City Woodworking Association website, click on the link below:

https://sites.google.com/site/sdguildrcwa2/home

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