Saturday, October 29, 2022

Toy Workshop (TWS2022-21) 10.29.2022


We held our 21st Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2022 on Saturday October 29, 2022, from 9 to noon.  This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City.  The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The attendees at today's workshop (25) included Harley, John, Bel, Bob, Jerry, Patsy, Stu, Rick, Grant, Mary Jo, Nick, Rollie, Lon, Henry, Norma, Ken, Russ, Frank, Al, Lauree, Darwin, Gary G, Dennis, Tony, and Don.  Three guests also dropped by.

Here was the plan for the day:  TASKS FOR TOY WORKSHOP 10-29-2022

1. Log in completed / filled bags of blocks (about 6)
2. Look for filled block bags from 2021 (maybe 4). 
3. Put one Necklace in each heart box (about 50)
4. Wheels on toys (several boxes).
5. Dachshund dogs-- add ears and  wheels  (will be more next week too).
6. Caravans – cut hitches – sand – polyrub - add pegs +wheels
7. Cradles – sand ends – 19 pairs
8. Pickups - add flat beds or tankers 
9. Tugboats - sand before finish
10. Backboards – need to drill holes in back boards – before gluing on hoops
11. Blocks - Sand/Router Blocks, put in bags when finished (10 long, 10 short)
12. Paddle Games - add strings  + balls – put in one gallon bags
13. Cup & Ball Game- add ball and string  - put in bags
14. Ring TOSS Games- add string + balls  - put in bags
15. ICU items – to and from Gary Graves.

Today Darwin and Tony trimmed caravan hitches (and basketball hoops) with scroll saws.  Rollie rounded the trailer hitches using the 1" sander.  After sealing the hitches, wheels can be installed, and pegs inserted and trimmed, to complete this toy.

Patsy, Mary Jo, Norma, and Don hand sanded Tugboats that had been sprayed with shellac.   They also sanded a box of sealed toys.  

Patsy and Jerry provided coffee and cookies today!

Al worked on ball and strings for cup and ball games, and ring and strings for ring toss games.  He was assisted by Patsy, Mary Jo and Norma.

Harley, John, Bel, and Don installed wheels on toys today.  There were 272 toys packed and moved to inventory today.

Nick and Jerry built flatbed pickups and small tanker trucks.  The wheel guys installed wheels (with orange pegs).  The flatbeds and tanker parts will need to be sealed before packing for inventory.

Outside today, there was power sanding and round-over routering in 63 degree weather.  Many boxes of toys and blocks were worked on,  moving them to the next operation.  Ken, Russ, Rollie, Rick, and Stu made up the parking lot crew.

Gary Graves brought in basketball games bases that survived ICU, along with a box full of surviving wheeled toys. He also picked up a bunch of toys for ICU.

Stu brought in 36 basketball hoops he made on his CNC.  This will enable us to  complete this year's basketball games.  Thanks Stu!  Tony trimmed the tabs to separate the hoops from the sheet of plywood.

Grant continued to improve the library.  He put the new bookcase in place and filled it with magazines and books.   Looking very classy!

At the end of the day, there were 5 boxes of toys ready to be sealed with shellac, three boxes of toys ready for final spraying, and more basketball bases ready to finish before final assembly with the hoop/backboard assemblies.  Several boxes of blocks were almost ready to be bagged as well.




Today was also the day to blow out the sprinklers at the church.  While blowing out the lines, the main line from the compressor failed and blew a big hole in the hose where it came in the back door.  So  there was a very loud high pitched whistle going on for a while, until the guys doing the purge who were on the other side of the building could come back and turn off the compressor.  This wreaked havoc with anyone wearing hearing aids, but the flailing hose was knocked down by Dennis, preventing any damage to anyone or the building.  It really did get our attention!

We had a visitor during today's workshop; Mike Ray from the Ray Tree Farm on Nemo Road delivered a donation of some bug pine slabs to us for our toy making efforts.  Mike says that they have a small sawmill and the main products are pine slabs.  Al Oines will be coordinating a shop tour for next spring at the Ray Tree Farm.  Thank you Mike for the wood delivery today.  (Check them out on Facebook.)

Mike has attended our Tool Sale for many years and was excited to see our facility and our toy making operations.  He was very happy to be able to help us out with the wood donation!  (Mike's one of our happy radial arm saw customers!)




Another visitor today was Sue Jorgensen from YFS.  Sue and Connie are working on a special project using some of our toy cars, so we were able to provide them to Sue today.  Sue enjoyed seeing the toy shop in action and was able to meet several of our members during her visit.  She very much appreciates our support of the YFS over the past 14 years!


Photos from today's workshop:










Rick is using a safe and sane technique to router all edges of the blocks for blocks bags.  This video demonstrates the technique using a router table with a fence and a miter fence.






For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.