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[Canuck]

Hey folks, this is the world famous puzzlebox craftsman Randal Gatewood, frankly I'm ashamed that I didn't recognize your profile name   It is so cool to see you here!!!  
Here's a link to the puzzlebox in the pics: 'Box joint'
http://www.quagmirepuzzleboxes.com/box-joint-box.html

[Bernhard Schweitzer]

Hi all

and here is a link to know more about the newest member Randal
http://www.cleverwood.com/randal_gatewood.htm

happy puzzling

Bernhard

[Robert Yarger]

Yes, I now recall seeing his "Ultimate Personal Box" some time back and being extremely intimidated by both his skill and ingenuiety.  I seem to recall it had 10x more possible combinations than anything I had ever built. 

[Randal G.]

Hello,
  Thank you all for the warm welcome! Indeed I am loving the new shop space. This is the best shop arrangement that I've ever had. If you can image everything that is in the new shop being in the old shop ? believe me, it was elbow room only. Not a great work environment- especially since I really like organization. The project in question is my new Box Joint Box puzzle box. It is the second gravity pin box that I have designed. I've completed about 50 of them and have got around 20 more to assemble (hopefully today).

This forum is really very nice! Good job... and a great asset to the craft. Since I've been making puzzle boxes, I have had absolutely no one to talk to that can relate to what I am doing. With this forum, I finally feel I have some place to go to communicate with like minded people that at least get what it is that I?m doing. So I humbly bow to all of you for your acknowledgement. I will definitely try to participate here as often as I can.

Eric, thank you for the personal invite to this form.
Randal G.

[Phil Tomlinson]

First, my apologies to all for being so gone for so long!  Wow, I have so much catching up to do!  I'll come back and read the 800 posts I haven't read since my last visit.  In the meantime some photos of my shop.

After I finished my cabinet prototype, I decided to stop and do some other things in the shop (and more stuff on my house too).  I re-built my assembly table in the torsion-box style to get a F-L-A-T surface to work on.  Really annoying to try putting a cabinet together on a warped surface.  I also re-located my router-table insert to the space next to my table saw because it had been doing double duty as part of the assembly table [bad], and I wanted to be able to use the saw fence as the fence for the router. 

I also built a roll-around cart to try to have more tools at hand and deal with the Phil-as-slob problem I am always up against.  It is also the same height as the table saw so it can serve as an extra hand for sliding large sheets of plywood through the saw. 

Next came the new-fangled workbench.  There are a LOT of versions of the FWW workbench floating around the Interwebs  and I think it is a terrific design.  I bought some yellow pine 2x12's at Home Depot and stacked them up in the shop to finish drying while I did other projects, then came back to build the bench.  It is all bolted together in such a way that I can tighten any joint with a box-end wrench, and I used 3/4" pipe clamps instead of 1/2" because I like how sturdy they are.

Last project (no pictures) was putting together a little spray room in the back corner of the shop.  Furnace filters cut into the walls for intake, fiberglass/poly exhaust filters in front of a greenhouse fan.  Four fluorescent lights cut into the walls and ceilings (sealed with plexi)...so far.

See if I can post some pics here: [if I screw this up, I'll try again later...been a while]

[Canuck]

Wow...I'm gonna' drool a lot first and then get come back and say somethin' else

[Kerry Verne]

Whoever calls "Phil-the-slob" might have a complex. That place looks spotless. I'd post more pics of mine for contrast, but my dignity won't allow it.

[Robert Yarger]

Phil is back?  I thought he was dead.  Didn't we all chip in and send flowers?  No, but seriously, last time I heard from him, my son was in diapers.

Phil, nice shop photos.  Wish mine was that clean. By the way, did we ever get to see entirely completed pictures of your puzzle cabinet?

[Phil Tomlinson]

Whoever calls "Phil-the-slob" might have a complex. That place looks spotless. I'd post more pics of mine for contrast, but my dignity won't allow it.

It's really just that ten minutes after I start any project there are clamps, chisels, tape measures, squares, drills, pencils, knives and handplanes strewn about at random and I quickly run out of places to put the actual thing I'm working on!

[Phil Tomlinson]

Phil is back?  I thought he was dead.  Didn't we all chip in and send flowers?  No, but seriously, last time I heard from him, my son was in diapers.

Phil, nice shop photos.  Wish mine was that clean. By the way, did we ever get to see entirely completed pictures of your puzzle cabinet?

Hey Robert,
You will see those pics as soon as these are done...hopefully before I am in diapers!   

[Canuck]

Okay Phil, I'm very impressed with your router table set-up, need more details though!
Also that 'Laguna' band saw WOW!!!  They cost like a 'Gazillion' dollars don't they?  And your 'Workbench' and 'Rolling tool cart', what the hell!!!!!!  That looks like a 'Dream Workshop'

[Johan Heyns]

Rip van Winkel!!!

Very nice setup Phil!!  As we say in Afrikaans, "Bliksem!!!!"   (i.e. thunder and lightning)

[Robert Yarger]

It's not the size of the woodshop, it is the motion of the machine.

[Johan Heyns]

The end product is the reason for the shops existence, not the other way around.    

Repeating myself!!

[Phil Tomlinson]

Okay Phil, I'm very impressed with your router table set-up, need more details though!
Also that 'Laguna' band saw WOW!!!  They cost like a 'Gazillion' dollars don't they?  And your 'Workbench' and 'Rolling tool cart', what the hell!!!!!!  That looks like a 'Dream Workshop'

Thanks John,
Yes the Laguna was pricey but the MinMax are even worse... or better I guess.

The router table is a composite of a table from FWW, something Norm Abrams did with his router setup and the Powermatic fence setup.  It is a Benchdog plate with a Bosch router, set into two layers of 3/4" mdf covered with laminate.  The whole thing is bolted into the table saw fence extensions.  I built a simple box below the table to isolate dust collection, and there is a dust port built into the fence as well.  The "gates" on the fence allow you to close down the opening, and I routed in one of those miter slots for fun.  Haven't put a lot of miles on it yet but am happy with it so far.

On another note, I am not at all happy with my dust collector which is just plain old undersized for the shop.  Dang it!  I did all the calculations and by the book 1.5 HP should really do it, but as soon as I can afford it, I'm going to sell this thing and get a 3HP.  I tried to buy the best I could afford because I really don't like kicking myself when I buy a piece of crappy equipment.  And yet, I still do every now and then.