Saturday, February 25, 2017

Toy Workshop - Feb 25, 2017


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Attendees (25):  Al Oines, Ed Pike, Rollie Lynde, Bob and Kathie Buchanan, Lon Gose, Julian Wigen, Paul Douglas, Grant Coffin, Darwin and Lauree Buus, Rick Weisbeck, Ron Fisher, Paul Douglas, Richard Rasmussen, Jerry and Patsy Hood, Danny and Mary Green, Mary Jo Anderson, Ken and Carol Maron, Don Roberts, Frank DiCesare and Kevin Gregg.

The Toy Program effort consists of 5 major phases:

Phase 1:  Tracing
Phase 2:  Cutting toys to shape
Phase 3:  Milling - routering, drilling, and machine sanding
Phase 4:  Finish - sealer coat - sanding - final spray coat - final sanding
Phase 5:  Wheel installations

This was the third workshop for 2017, and we are still in phase 1, so the plan for the day continued to be tracing.  Rollie Lynde again brought in a trailer full of 2x6 lumber that Steve Larson picked up from Dakota Craft.  Steve planed the wood in his shop last week, then brought it to Rollie's shop (before the snow storm) for delivery to the workshop.  

Over 450 toys were traced on the planed stock today including racers, caterpillars, trucks, PT cruisers, batman cars, some new prototype trucks, a new older VW Bug, some new prototype small cars, buses, VW Micro-mini Bus, small cars, a new jeep and new smart car, mini-vans, soccer vans, and new delivery vans and maintenance vans.  We finished tracing over 200 of the 10" racers for the Club for Boys pinewood derby.

Lon cut the traced 2x6s and 1x6s down to a useable size for packing in boxes using his Miter Saw.

By noon, we had finished tracing all toys made from 2" thick material that we have planned for 2017.  We actually had a few pieces of 2x6 wood left.  We will be planning the production of the Give Away Vans using 2" stock soon.

Critters were traced on 1" stock in the overflow room.  Using the new supply of 1x6's from the trimcut line at the Hill City Sawmill, we completed tracing all critters patterns.  















Other Activities today:

Supply:
Rick filed the new sand paper supply into the file cabinet for easy access.
Rolllie brought 2x6 material for tracing.
Danny and Mary brought 1x6 material for tracing critters.
Kathie brought cookies, coffee, and scones for breaktime.
Darwin brought in some items received from Spring Cleaning at the Magnums Rubber Band Gun Factory.  This included wooden pegs, dowels of various sizes, and lots of other sundry items that can be used for toymaking.

Other than tracing:
Richard brought a box of toys in that area ready for phase 3 - routering and sanding.
Lon and Ken brought in two boxes of toys that are ready for Phase 4 - finishing.
Danny and Mary drilled window holes in a couple of boxes of small toys.
Rollie brought in his bandsaw and cut toys to shape including racers and other small toys.
Ed Pike cut out Turtle Banks to shape on the scrollsaw.
Lots of boxes of toys went home with members to be worked on at home shops!
Lots of boxes of toys are now stacked in the shop at the Club for Boys.

A guest - Jimmie - a retired plumber from Wisconsin - brought in a small wooden marble game to show us and see if we would be interested in making some.  He also showed us a wheel making bit.
Progress to date:  Not counting Critters, we have traced over 1,850 toys.  We can now concentrate on Phases 2 thru 5 for these toys.  We also will be starting on the toys which must be assembled from several parts, such as basketball games, rocking chairs, tugboats, boxes, chalkboards, cup and ball games, blocks sets, cradles, and ring toss games.  Our goal for this year for the Christmas toy program giving is 2,300 toys.

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You look as confused as a pine tree in a parking lot.  (wood working humor) 

Click on the link below to learn more about the Rapid City Woodworkers Association activities on the main page of the website:








the end

Monday, February 20, 2017

Wood Recovery - Hill City Sawmill - 2-20-2017

Rushmore Forest Products Inc

23848 Highway 385, Hill City, SD 57745

(605) 574-2512
On Monday, Feb 20, 2017,  Danny Green and I traveled to Hill City to get some 1" pine wood scraps for making critters and other wooden toys for our RCWA TOY PROGRAM.  We left Danny's about 10:30 am.  It was our mission today to gather (and rescue) trim cuts on their way to a large machine called the HOG, where scrap lumber is literally pounded with huge hammers into small pieces, then sent to the furnace to be burned!  

The mill was trimming 1 x 6 material today.  The technique involves waiting for the trim cuts to come down a shaking table where they fall onto a conveyor belt to be taken to the HOG.  We were allowed to intercept the trim cuts/cut offs after they landed  on the conveyor belt, and pick them up one by one and put them in Danny's truck.  

Carmen from the front office contacted Scott in the cutting area, who directed/escorted us to the conveyor belt area and away we went.  After we had filled all the boxes we brought, we started stacking the wood on the floor of Danny's stake truck bed.




We were able to fill the truck in about two hours.  The feed rate varies depending on what the final length of 1 x 6 is being cut, so at times it was furious picking, and other times it was hurry up and wait.  After lunch in Hill City, we brought the load back to Danny's. There it took Danny, Mary, and I about 45 minutes to unload and stack it in the RV Barn.  We finished about 4:45 pm.  Not a bad day's work!

It has been about 6 years since we received trim cuts.  That time, a gentlemen from the Spearfish sawmill, Dave Degen, had collected them at his home for us, where Grant Coffin and I loaded them up and brought them to the church basement at 910 Wood Avenue. My truck was filled up past the box about 12".  That load has lasted over six years, and we made and distributed over 4,800 critters for the critter bags during that time.
Hill City Sawmill - Rushmore Forest Products Inc.

This is the trim cut loading zone.

This is the trim cut shaker table to the upper left.
This is another view of the shaker table.

This is the trim cut drop zone.

This is the long conveyor belt trip to the HOG!




The long pipe near the top of the photo is the ride to the furnace.

Truck almost fully loaded - a very addictive operation, when do you stop if the lumber just keeps coming!

Many thanks to Carmen, Scott, and the Hill City Sawmill!


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You look as confused as a pine tree in a parking lot.  (wood working humor) 

Click on the link below to learn more about the Rapid City Woodworkers Association activities on the main page of the website:








the end

Friday, February 17, 2017

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Feb 13, 2017 - General Meeting of the RCWA











Monday nite Feb 13th at 7 pm - February 2017 General meeting at 910 Wood Ave

Friday, February 10, 2017

TOY WORKSHOP - FEB 11, 2017

ALL - we will be having our Toy Workshop on Saturday Feb 11th from 9 am to noon at the Club for Boys Shop.  We will be continuing our tracing exercises, so bring the miter saws, boxes, and pencils again.  We have a stack of wood about the same amount as last time, but 2x6s this time.  We will also start tracing the CFB pinewood derby toys if time permits.
-----------------------------------------------------Other dates to remember:
Monday nite Feb 13th at 7 pm - February 2017 General Meeting at 910 Wood Ave
Thursday nite - Feb 16th - SS SIG at Rick's Shop in Black Hawk at 7 PM

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Attendees (24):  Al Oines, Ed Pike, Rollie Lynde, Bob and Kathie Buchanan, Lon Gose, Julian Wigen, Paul Douglas, Gary Graves, Grant Coffin, Darwin and Lauree Buus, Rick Weisbeck, Ron Fisher, Bel Felix, Jerry Norsen, Paul Douglas, Gary Graves, Harley Schmadeke, Richard Rasmussen, Jerry Hood, Mary Jo Anderson, Ken Maron, Don Roberts, and Kevin Gregg.




This was the second workshop for 2017, so the plan for the day continued to be tracing.  Rollie Lynde brought in a trailer full of 2x6 lumber that Steve Larson picked up from Dakota Craft.  Steve planed the wood in his shop last week, then brought it to Rollie's for delivery to the workshop.  Over 500 toys were traced on the planed stock today including racers, caterpillars, trucks, pull type toys (rabbit, whale, hippo, turtle), some new prototype trucks, two sizes of locomotives, new tater cars and crayon whales.   By 11 am, we had used all the available 2x6 wood.  Critters were traced on 1" stock in the overflow room.  We completed all patterns on the wood available.  We will need to procure larger pieces of 1 x 6 to finish the rest of the critters.


Using the overflow room, we traced critters on 1" pine scraps.









Exchanges:  Rick brought in 100 basketball game bases cut to size and loaded them into Bob’s truck for further milling.  He brought in 53 turtlebanks with centers cutout with  a holesaw.  Ed Pike then cut out Turtle Banks to shape on the scrollsaw.  Rick has cut out 38 tractors on his scrollsaw since the last workshop and cut 14 cradle ends on his CNC.
Progress to date:  Not counting Critters, we have traced over 1,400 toys, with about 410 toys to trace. Our goal for this year for the Christmas toy program giving is 2,300 toys.

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You look as confused as a pine tree in a parking lot.  (wood working humor) 

Click on the link below to learn more about the Rapid City Woodworkers Association activities on the main page of the website:








the end