I have iterated on at least 3 different means of hanging my laptop on the monitor tree. Here is the latest arrangement in the prototype form. It still looks kind of like a jumble of wires here but it's very ad-hoc. essentially i've got my laptop sliding into interior groves of a box, with a lot of the wiring plus a supplemental cooling fan hidden underneath. I've learned that laptops are very tempermental with regard to heat dissipation, and bluetooth interference.
Saturday, July 31, 2021
multimodal monitor tree V1 part ii
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
multimodal monitor tree V1
This is a continuation of a monitor tree concept that i've been working on for some time now. With the pandemic, I mostly worked from home, and having a mobile base for my system really made life a lot easier, allowing me to bring my system to a couch, or the kitchen, or the desk, or...
I've spent a lot of time over the year trying different hoisting mechanisms for my monitor tree prototype, finally settling on block-n-tackle (we'll get to that a bit later). It's time to begin work on the next version of this piece, focusing on a bit nicer finish and using sapele. Here's where the tree stands today
The feet are just half-lapped together. The angle that they're joined at is not square, but 96deg sweep at the front. this minimizes the depth of the piece and reduces chances of bumping my feet when i'm seated at a desk.
Lap joint was pretty tight
The Post is built up from 1/2" thick resawn wood, with some "plugs" at the ends from some redwood offcuts i had. The feet will be carefully finger-joined to the base. Sorry i forgot to take a photo with the thing apart to show what it looks like, but it's hollow on the inside. This also allows the possibility of a chase where i could run the power cord.
Here I'm using blue painter's tape to assist in the layout of scribe lines. Pencil does not show up well on dark wood. The battens you see clamped to the side will provide a way to secure the feet while i scribe the cut lines exactly
I use a Hock marking knife for this
the first cuts for the finger joint are fairly challenging. Try not to worry and just let the saw do the work.
Once i had the defining cuts made, i made a few progressive diagonal cuts with my saw to remove as much waste as possible. Here, i'm standing on one of my sturdy saw horses (-:
The finger joints mated with the feet better than i thought they would be. There are some very small gaps but with so much glue surface area, i don't think i have to worry about it coming apart.
Sunday, September 6, 2020
handling an open-sweep hook knife blade from wood-tools.co.uk
Use some 5 minute 2part epoxy and a few clamps to produce this rough piece
Sunday, May 10, 2020
lil' lodi apple wood serving spoon
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Serving Spoons in Laurel wood
Dad sent a section of laurel from the farm years ago. I had it sitting in the garage staring at me like the velveteen rabbit all this time, not sure what to do with it until this weekend.
Forgot to take a pic of the whole section, but here's one half after ripping. about 3" in dia.
Monday, April 27, 2020
thyme is in full bloom, driving neighboring bees crazy
Sunday, April 19, 2020
carving from a lodi tree that i grew up with
countless helpings of apple sauce and pies made by mom originate from this one Lodi tree planted almost 50 years ago on mom and dad's farm. Dad sent me a few lengths from a recent pruning to try out. these were smaller ones, meant to test the wood for carving, and justify sending more.
my findings? yes, please keep 'em coming