Thread: Jarrah and Kauri Babys cot -WIP

Looks good. I think I'll be embarking on a similar project in the not too distant future.

Not sure how I'm going to address it. I've got similar goals to youself about it being able to take apart to store etc. Still pondering.

If you're feeling generous, can you send me the sketchup file, [email protected].

I'll be looking forward to see the progress.

Boz, sketch sent your way. More details re dimensions available on request

IMG_0005.
This is the blade I'm using for most of the cutting is a 24 tooth ripping blade that I got with the Felder. A couple of test cuts show that it
cuts through the tough jarrah fine, with very little tear out.
Attachment 72780

IMG_0006.
The first step is to dock the Kauri Pine into correct lengths whilst still rough sawn. The sliding table on the Felder makes this a breeze.
Having only recently obtained this saw, I'm LOVING the accuracy and power. It's a joy to use.
Attachment 72781

IMG_0008.
Once docked to length, I ripped them approx in half (as they were too wide for my small thicknesser), then through the thicknesser to obtain
finshed thickness. The grain is quite straight (which was necessary as they are to be cut in thin strips), but still has lovely detail.
Another reason for the choice of Kauri Pine for the slats, is that it is quite light weight, and as the frame of the drop down side is all
Jarrah, I needed to keep the weight down somehow (or SWMBO will need to do some serious muscle-building to get the sides of the cot up and
down!). These 2 will be cut to form the shorter slats for the 2 sides. The ends will be Kauri too, but just longer.
Attachment 72782

IMG_0009.
The saw was then set to rip the Kauri in 13mm strips (these will be the slats for the cot). I wasn't too sure how much tear out I'd get, so I didn't want to make them too close to the finished dimensions. I set the saw to cut 13mm strips which would then be thicknessed down to a finished dimension of 10mm.
Attachment 72783

IMG_0010.
All the short slats cut. As it turned out I could have cut them about 11.5mm wide as there was very little tear out at all, and minimum saw marks to remove. The slats are rectangular section at this point, but all corners will be rounded on spindle moulder later.
Attachment 72784

IMG_0012.
The 'yard forman' coming to inspect work standards! He's very particular about Occupational Health and Safety (and so wasn't impressed with my
temporary usage of milk crates to raise the thicknesser height. (a decent moveable stand for it is in the list of projects....somewhere...one
day...)
Attachment 72785

IMG_0015.
Actually, the foreman decided work should be halted, as safety wasn't up to standard, any more running of the thicknesser would wake him from
the comfy, nice smelling bed he'd just discovered! Unfortunately for him, there's no sleeping on the job, and he was asked to observe from a
distance. I'd have to remember to clean up all the shavings before he decided to relocate them all over the backyard!
Attachment 72791


IMG_0016.
The two mattress base rails, were then thicknessed, and docked to length. This length was critical as it defines the distance between the ends,
and how much free movement the matress would ultimately have. Australian Standards specify no more than 25mm gap total. As I have to factor in gaps created by centering slats in the end frames, I needed to make the base precisely the right length. To this end we purchased a cot
mattress a couple of weeks ago to ensure all lengths would be right. The rails were cut to 1290mm long which should just allow the mattress to
be lifted out, to change sheets etc, but not have any other movement within the cot.
Attachment 72792


IMG_0017.
Having docked the timber to length, a width of 45mm was set and it was cut to form the two rails
Attachment 72793


IMG_0018.
When cutting the excess off the 2nd rail, there was just enough offcut to make a beautiful 4mm veneer. This should come in handy for some box
making in the future. So, the offcut has been put in the "I'll use that in a future project" pile! (Maybe one day I'll get around to using it!)
Attachment 72794


IMG_0019.
For this next step the guard was removed (shh) and some feather boards clamped to the rip fence. The blade height, and rip fence width, was set
to cut a channel that will allow the mattress slats to sit in.
Attachment 72795


IMG_0020.
A close-up of that cut. As you can see, the ripping blade is still being used, as it cuts all the Jarrah well, and hasn't chipped the timber yet
(as most of the cuts are along the grain). For any cross cutting I've put sacrifical timber behing that being cut to stop tear out when docking
to length. I thought I might have an issue with the timber running mostly on the fixed bed, with only a little resting on the sliding table,
but it didn't end up being an issue.
Attachment 72796


IMG_0022.
The feather boards, and rip fence were then moved, and the timber rotated 90 degrees, and the 2nd ripping cut made. The small square section
shown is now an offcut, and the rest forms the base rail .
Attachment 72797

IMG_0023.
The Radiartus Crappus was all docked to length. This now defines the width of the mattress base. This pic shows a test assembly to check I'd measured right. The space between the slats will be 80mm, and they will be countersunk screwed into the base rails. I'm undecided whether or not to put a narrow base slat at each end made from jarrah, just so the Pine won't be visible if viewing the cot from the ends. But this is the way my brothers one was made, and once the mattress is on, I can't see how you'd manage to be able to see the pine (except when viewed from underneath, and only a crawling baby will be able to get under there). Maybe I could use a strip of that Jarrah offcut veneer pictured earlier and glue it to the outside edges of the 2 outside slats?? But I think that's getting a little overboard. I'll keep it in mind though. If you have any suggestions feel free to comment.
Attachment 72855


IMG_0024.
I had a couple of offcuts left over when cutting up the Kauri slats, and decided to run this over the saw to cut some tennons in it. I will then cut this into 3 short lengths to make some test slats. I'm still tossing up how the slats will connect to the frame. Mortise and tennon is one option, but as I don't have a mortising machine I don't fancy cutting 76 mortises by hand that all have to line up millimeter perfect. Another option is biscuits, but I don't have domino (sigh) and I think even the smallest domino would still be too big even if I did (the slats are 35mm x 10mm, so that'd have to be one real skinny domino!). Another option is to use a 10mm router bit and rout a oval channel to slot the slats into. I'd then have to get a 5mm roundover bit to make the ends of the slats a perfect half circle to match the routed slots. I'm not real keen on this option either as the slats would be free floating (depending on how close in size the routed slot was) and any gaps would stand out like, well you know what!
I'm currently thinking I'll run a 6mm wide groove about 25mm deep right along the length of the rails the slats go into. This would match the thickness of the tennon (as per test slats). I would then cut a stip of Jarrah 6mm x 25mm and dock it into short lengths to glue back into the groove between the slats as 'spacers'. It would look something like this sketch. The ovals being Kauri and the rest jarrah. There would be 2 faint glue lines between each slat. SWMBO is NOT keen on that idea - hence the test slats. All alternative suggestions welcome!
Attachment 72856 Attachment 72861


IMG_0025.
All the Jarrah was then docked to approx lengths on the crappus GMC compound mitre saw (almost out of picture, cause it's embarrassing!!). I don't have the room in the shed to put the 2.7m lengths straight on the Felder to cross cut accurate lengths, so the simple solution was to cut about 5mm oversize with the GMC, and now the longest length is 1300mm. That easily fits in crosscut mode on the Panel Saw, so I can then trim the ends accurately on the Panel Saw to get perfect right angles etc.
Attachment 72857


IMG_0029.
As I don't own a jointer (still recovering from buying the Felder ), this is the solution I came up with the get one flat side from the rough sawn timber. You can see my cheap home made solution to toggle clamps. Felder want about $350 per clamp - ouch! They are on a future shopping list, but these work fine for now. With the rough sawn timber clamped to the sliding table I can set the blade to an exact 90 degrees, and trim one side.
Attachment 72858


IMG_0030.
A Wixey clone, from Carbatec, makes easy work ensuring the blade is precisely the angle I need.
Attachment 72859


IMG_0031.
Once one side is nice and straight, I then just use the ripping fence as the guide to rip the widths I need. The right hand piece has been ripped to form the top of the sides of the cot.
Attachment 72860

Nice saw.

Don't you hate it how the rip fence and the sliding table is Aluminum so the magnetic feather board won't stick.

Nice to see that you have a out rigger sliding extension. Makes panel work a breeze.

The Kauri pine looks great and is a beautiful contrast to the dark rich red of Jarra.

dlim, yep, i love my Felder....some days I just walk in the shed and admire it..... (OK I'll stop now )

I only obtained it quite recently, and every time I use it, it's just a joy. I agonised over one for about 18 months, but I'm so glad I finally made the investment. (now if only I could upgrade the SCMS and thicknesser!)

Funny you should mention the magnetic feather boards, that had crossed my mind too, but I guess no saw is perfect, right! Toggle clamps are on the list of add-ons to get, but at $300 a pop, they'll have to wait till I find a money tree no one wants...

The Kauri -I spoke to Bennett at Anagote, and one of the guys at Trend. I told them I wanted something nice and light weight, to reduce the total weight of the drop side. SWMBO was concerned that the Jarrah would make it too heavy to lift that side. I wanted it light, and light coloured to contrast the Jarrah, and straight grained so the slats wouldn't bow (and no too expensive ).
Anagotes suggestion was the Kauri Pine, and Trend suggested Mountain Ash.

Anagote were a lot closer to home, and very helpful so I went with them. I don't know how Mountain Ash would have looked, but so far I'm happy with the Kauri. I guess the finished product will be the ultimate answer.

Hi Nut

I'm looking at a saw upgrade and currently have the Felders brochers to review. What mod is your saw and what options did you purchase with it? It's a big purchase and I would be interested in any comment re your decision to go with Felder.

Thanks

Ian

Hi Hitch

I have a Hammer, which is the poor man's cousin to the Felder, my experience is that having had the Hammer for over 3 years, I only needed the cross cut sliding table only 5 - 6 times.

This is because I very rarely use manufactured boards (mdf, ply and melamine). I have a dedicated cross cut bench with compound miter saw.

Another draw back is that it can't take a dado blade. There has been many times when I wanted to use a dado blade but couldn't because the saw can't take the blade.

The dust extraction on the hammer is a bit of a problem as well. I find that when I rip small section down, say from 90mm wide board down to 80mm, your left with a thin bit that goes into the cabinet and gets caught in the dust extraction tube. After about 10 - 15 pieces going down, it blocks up the tube and no-more dust extraction. It takes about 2-3mins to remove the blockage which is a pain in the back side. From TimberNut's photos, the Felder might not have the same issue.

Also its very difficult to clean out the interior of the cabinet of the saw. Saw dust builds up inside and slowly seeps out of the saw over time which is quite annoying as well.

Thats my 2 cents worth.

Originally Posted by dlim2986

Hi Hitch

I have a Hammer, which is the poor man's cousin to the Felder, my experience is that having had the Hammer for over 3 years, I only needed the cross cut sliding table only 5 - 6 times.

This is because I very rarely use manufactured boards (mdf, ply and melamine). I have a dedicated cross cut bench with compound miter saw.

Another draw back is that it can't take a dado blade. There has been many times when I wanted to use a dado blade but couldn't because the saw can't take the blade.

The dust extraction on the hammer is a bit of a problem as well. I find that when I rip small section down, say from 90mm wide board down to 80mm, your left with a thin bit that goes into the cabinet and gets caught in the dust extraction tube. After about 10 - 15 pieces going down, it blocks up the tube and no-more dust extraction. It takes about 2-3mins to remove the blockage which is a pain in the back side. From TimberNut's photos, the Felder might not have the same issue.

Also its very difficult to clean out the interior of the cabinet of the saw. Saw dust builds up inside and slowly seeps out of the saw over time which is quite annoying as well.

Thats my 2 cents worth.

Sounds terrible I don't know how you can stand it, I will send a courier around first thing tomorrow to remove the pesky thing and rid you of it

Hitch, PM me with any questions, and I'll be happy to help. Don't expect too many negative comments though, cause I don't have 'em (so I'll probably talk you into buying one).

Unlike dlim I've gone the other way. I only have a crappy GMC SCMS (and embarrassed to admit it here ) but I use the cross cut sled extensively, and I don't work with panels much either. For me it is a must-have.

Burnsy, you're welcome to come and drool over my Felder if you are feeling left out, but bring a towel to clean up your mess, and no, you can't take it with you.

Looking good
That saw seems to be a ripper!

IMG_0032.
Once all the timber was ripped to width, and docked to length, it all went through the thicknesser to get to finished dimensions.
Shown (L-R):
63 x 33 x 1290 (x2) - sides (top rails)
45 x 33 x 1290 (x2) - sides (bottom rails)
49 x 33 x 627 (x2) - sides (left and right verticals)
75 x 31 x 1000 (x4) - legs
95 x 31 x 662 (x4) - ends (top and bottom horizontal rails)
60 x 19 x 850 (x2) - ends (top capping panels)
Attachment 72966


IMG_0033.
As you can see the OH&S issue remains with the thicknesser. The Yard Forman was observing the sorry state of affairs with his other 4-legged offsider (who turned away in disgust ) ). I think I'll be finding red sawdust in places I didn't know it could possibly get, for years!
The boss came out to observe proceedings, and promptly donned some earmuffs and fell asleep (geez, pregnant women can fall asleep anywhere!). Actually, as she was there during the last of the thicknessing, I think she'll give birth to some jarrah, or at least a red-headed bub! I'm telling you, that sawdust was EVERYWHERE!
Attachment 72967


IMG_0035.
The horizontal rails for the ends will be attached to the legs with mortise and tennon joints. The Felder doesn't take Dado blades, so I was limited to the same 3mm ripping blade. I started with the innermost cuts that will be the shoulder of the tennons. As you can see, I used a sacrificial bit of jarrah floorboard behind the one being cut, to prevent tearout. The flip-over stop on the crosscut fence made getting all 4 rails exactly the same a piece of cake.
Attachment 72968


IMG_0036.
A close up shows the first cuts. Very little tearout at all, and what there was, was on the waste side that would be removed anyway.
Attachment 72969


IMG_0037.
All 4 end rails grooves cut. The loose bits will be chiselled off nice and smooth to make the finished tennons (no, no power tools for that step, really !!!)
Work to continue probably next weekend when I can crank up the tools again without the neighbours losing the plot (man, I've gotta get out of suburbia, so I can build a DECENT shed, and run these tools whenever I want).
Attachment 72970

Originally Posted by TimberNut

Burnsy, you're welcome to come and drool over my Felder if you are feeling left out, but bring a towel to clean up your mess, and no, you can't take it with you.

Thanks, and believe me I would if I lived near by. I looked at the Hammer machines last year and am hoping that I will be able to afford them some day, Felder would be just pushing it a little to far I think.

Originally Posted by TimberNut

As you can see the OH&S issue remains with the thicknesser. The Yard Forman was observing the sorry state of affairs with his other 4-legged offsider (who turned away in disgust ) ). I think I'll be finding red sawdust in places I didn't know it could possibly get, for years!
The boss came out to observe proceedings, and promptly donned some earmuffs and fell asleep (geez, pregnant women can fall asleep anywhere!). Actually, as she was there during the last of the thicknessing, I think she'll give birth to some jarrah, or at least a red-headed bub! I'm telling you, that sawdust was EVERYWHERE!
Attachment 72967

Can't believe the boss fell asleep there mine is also about the same way along with our first and she is plenty tired but hasn't done that yet. Love the cot, really wanted to make ours but time before the arrival would not permit so I had to buy one.