Summer extravaganza

Things happened this summer! This was supposed to be a single post about the worktable project, but summer went by so fast, and projects so slowly, that I decided to add everything at once!

Here are the things that happened, and that we will be talking about!

Worktable Project
La Baniere and Bowmaking
A distinct lack of quadcopter and electric scooter
A new computer appears! Skylake i5-6600k
Elucidate!





Worktable Project

For the past months, I've been trying to bring some order into the workshop in my parent's basement. It was so cluttered, I couldn't do anything, and everything would get lost: tools, parts...even cats. I did not take pictures of the disaster zone, so you'll have to believe me.

This cute picture of a cat will have to do instead of the disaster that was the workshop

I'd say i'm about half done, and here what it looks like now:

Still pretty bad...who knows what i'll find...Carmen Sandiego?

We've bought a few Stanley organizers, thrown out lots of things...mostly unlabeled mixes of bolts and bearings dating...probably from the late iron age, and i'm barely exaggerating.

One thing I always disliked in that space was the worktable. It's one of those cheap table, with the fold-able legs. The only thing more chancy than this table is this:

Yes...that is a chancy table.

And so, I set out to design and build my own table. As usual, with blackjack and hookers! In fact, forget about the blackjack and the hookers.

Here are the criterion it had to fulfill:

• The top must be flush with the table saw. This gives a nice height to work on things on the table while not always being hunched over. This also let the table be an extension of the saw.
• The table must be easily movable.
• It must have some drawer space, along with enough space under it to hold the following tools: belt sander, scroll saw, air compressor, and a miter saw.
• It must be smaller than the current one, except for height.
• It must be able to support at least 400 lbs, in addition to it's own weight.
• It must have space for at least 16 Sortimo Stanley organizers

So without further ado, here is the worktable Mk.3:

Worktable Mk3!

It's important to note: yes, this is the Mk.3, there was a Mk. 1 and Mk.2 before it, and the Mk.3 will probably incur a few changes still before I commit to getting everything to make it...mostly in the "How the hell will I attach this to that" section, and the "what hardware will I actually be able to get"...which is really what I have trouble with in all my designs. The problem of living in Canada is that we don't have access to the wealth of...EVERYTHING that is McMaster Carr. As such, I never really know what part I will be able to get my hands on, or even what will be at the home depot that week, as such, it is quite difficult to design around supposedly standard parts.

The front and back have doors that are protecting shelves from dust and stuff. The doors and flush with the front. he sides are recessed, so i'll be able to add a tool rack to it later on.

Here's the workshop without any table or anything. We made the shelving in the back less deep, which gives us way more space to work with!

We used the ceiling as a ghetto shelving space for long wood stock

And we added electric plugs on the ceiling so we can plug in pretty much everywhere in the shop without using an extension cord.

The table is almost done! Gotta do those doors though!

I've stolen got learned this neat idea from Jimmy Diresta. It's a simple U channel to hold rolls of tape! It fits well with the first-order-retrieval thing i'm failing trying to do. Everything visible, everything in reach. See those 4 rolls of Duct Tape? That's because my workshop wasn't built on the principle of first order retrieval. They went into drawers, and they died there.

I just need to say, those things are magical (Self healing cutting mat). I'm going to try to build more props in the future, and that's a nice addition to my tools. And just looks at it heal!

La Baniere

Back in June, my friends at La Chope Gobeline decided to have a banquet that would gather people from far and wide across the LARP community. They wanted me to attend and help them keep the people entertained until the pig gets roasted. Since I've made multiple bows in the past, including one that can be used for LARPs, I set up an archery stand and held a competition, which was easilly the most attended competition of the day. Sadly, I am not one to take many pictures, so...well, beside this blog post, there isn't any records of me being there.

I also got offered by a certain medieval-themed shop to have a spot in their shop the sell my bows. I tried making 10 since then, but, with other things and my full time job, I only managed to make one. As such, I don't think  my production capabilities are good enough for me to sell them in a shop.

A distinct lack of Quadcopter and Electric scooter

I know I promised I would do those...but well, they got pushed back. Money problems and stuff. First of all, in order to understand what I was doing with the quadcopter, since I want to program everything from scratch, I needed to understand how my RC-plane radio sent data to everything. In order to visualise it, I looked around the interwebs for electrical test equipments. Now i'm almost as well equipped as an EE! (Aaaaaalmost). I snagged a LEADER 100MHZ, 3 channel analog scope, a Topward function generator and a Topward Universal Counter, all for like 180$. Sadly, that means my budget for the electric scooter's battery fell to...well...20$. So, for with the remaining 20$, I got a UNI-T UT139C multimeter. Then, my part-full-time work, the table project, animes and gaming took the remaining time.

A new computer appears! Skylake i5 6600k

Yep, new computer, here's the pcpartpicker list:

LIST!

The PSU and GPU comes from my OLD Nehalem based desktop, which I turned into a CAD slave/ NAS.


Elucidate!

Since I finished the worktable, and I was waiting for windows, GW2, Diablo 3, and stuff, to install on my new desktop, I decided to paint the Elucidator I started to work on a year ago. For those who don't know, Elucidator is a sword used by the main character in the anime Sword Art Online (SAO)

It's the one on the left.

Surface pro 3 for scale

Since it's from an anime, it's appearance change a bit during the series. Since it's my first-second cosplay prop ever (The first FINISHED being the windwaker) I decided to do the one that looked the simplest. Here's the final result, after having to paint it TWICE! I painted it the first time last year, but a big chunk of black peeled off with the painter's tape, making me all salty and rage-quit-y.

But it's done!...Now I need to make Dark Repulsor (The anime's main character's OTHER Sword) And the 2 scabbards, and his coat, for some convention next year. Maybe Nadeshicon?


And that was my whole summer! Next week i'm going on a trip to Baie-Comeau to visit part of my family, and then Uni restarts!