710 Sound Bar for the Flat Screen Tee Vee

2008-02-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

I purchased a 52" Sony LCD the other day and mounted it on the wall. You can see in the picture below, I had a pair of left and right speakers on the stand (center hidden in the stand) but of course it didn't look clean once the tv was on the wall.

I looked all over the web for a set of speakers that would mount to the wall and flank the tv. The prices for speakers like that cost more than my Sony receiver! I also began searching for what they call a speaker bar that sits under the tv and has a left, right, center & surround all in one unit. Those were even more expensive. So what did I do?

I built one out of 1/2" MDF. It is the same length and depth of the tv. I'm still waiting for my speaker cloth to come in the mail. The existing speakers fit in there great. Once it's covered with a frame / speaker cloth, you'll never know the difference.

This was also my first time spray painting MDF. Once primed and then sprayed about 3 to 4 coats, the thing looks like glass.

The only thing I wish I would of done was angle the back corners to mimic the way the back of the tv is.

Here is the completed speaker bar with the cover installed.

More pictures located on Flickr

Magnetic Fish Tape

2008-01-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

Surfing around some tool blog sites today and I come across this. I wonder how well it would work behind plaster and lathe?

"To use the Magnafish system, you drop the rare-earth magnet leader through a 7/8″ hole, then capture it with a paddle magnet. Move the paddle magnet toward the opening, then extract the leader and attach your cable or wire."

On a side note, I picked up a good tip from the comments section of Toolmongers post on this item. One guy uses a rare earth magnet to find those "lost" electrical junction boxes in the wall.

More information can be found here

Cutting Corners

2008-01-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

The page that gets the most hits on my small blog has always been my "Make your own Rosettes". Toolmonger picked up the images out of my flickr account this week and made a post about it.

While surfing Toolmonger I saw a neat little tool to be able to round corners on wood without having to bust out the router all the time or sand, sand, sand. It's called a Cornering tool set.

This would work great for moulding and casing with it's sharp corners that do not take paint well, or any corner you need to round out to make it more comfortable to the touch. Check it out.

Mr. Heater will be your buddy

2006-11-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

With it getting colder in St. Louis recently and my workshop in the detached garage, I need to be able to stay warm. That's where my buddy comes in. Mr. Heater Buddy that is. Within about 20 minutes my 26 x 26 garage chill is knocked out and I can shed my coat and wear just a sweathshirt.

Mr. Heater uses 1lb camping propare cylinders or you can get the optional hose package to hook up to larger propane tanks.

It has a built-in blower fan can circulate heated air for enhanced heating efficiency when using it indoors. The fan operates on 4 x D-Cell batteries or with a 6 volt A/C adapter (not included).

Many safety features including: Low-Oxygen shut-off system, tip-over shut-off and heavy duty safety wire guard.

I purchased mine at Lowes, but they are avaiable from Amazon or other web stores.

Heirloom Tools

2006-10-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

I'd love to be able to hand tools like these down to my children. I have a tool box from my great-grandfather that he used to work on cars, but to have some wooodworking tools like this...

From This Old House
These are masterpieces of the toolmaker's art, patiently crafted from rare woods, gleaming bronze, and thick steel. Sure, they're meant to be used, but we think they're equally satisfying just to look at.

Tools of this caliber don't come cheap—you won't find a handmade level in the next aisel over from the putty knifes at the hardware store—but we're talking about legacy here. They have heirloom quality. - Tool Photos w/ discriptions

2006-10-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Housing Bust Posterboy?

Came across this very intersting blog about a could be/would be housing investor....

"I started investing in October 2005 and went full-time in January of this year (2006). This is after going to numerous real estate investing seminars, reading books and learning from other investors for the past 2 years. I did my first successful deal in October while still at my full time job. In January I quit my website programming job and went all out!

From October 2005 to May 2006 I bought 8 houses in 4 different states, mostly with the help of 100% stated income loans (liar loans). Most are fixers - I was going to rehab and flip each one within a month or so. Buying was easy, but man was I in for a surprise (or a lesson?)...."

He began to write a tell all blog about his adventures. Here is the reason why.

Cedar Fence

2006-10-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

Cedar Fence

I recently helped a neighbor up the road construct a 180' long - 6' tall cedar fence at the edge of his property. All in all it was an good time and I always enjoy helping out at other peoples houses.

I think the hardest part was digging the fence posts. Along his property line, we encountered a lot of tree roots and concrete. Living in an established area means anything can be underground. The biggest item we pulled out was at the end of the fence line. It was a concrete section that was approx. 2' x 3' x 3' deep section. It must of been from an old firepit or garage at one time. Each picket has 6 screws attached to the 2 x 4 horizonal cross members. 6 * 160 = 960 My drill had a workout.

It was approx a three day job. One to dig and set the posts, one for the 2 x 4 cross members and the last day to set the pickets. It was his job to stain the fence with a clear stain.

More pictures can be seen on my Flickr Set

2006-09-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Growing Tomatoes in the Gutter

It's true the gutter cleaner pulled out a small tomato plant out of the gutter. He said that birds sometimes drop the strangest things in gutters, like seeds and worms.

I had been neglecting my front gutters recently due to the fact that it's near my power line coming into the house. I really didn't need to get fried with my 40' extension ladder trying to manuever it around the power lines and my steep roof.

A quick search on the internets found a man a few blocks from the house that has been in the gutter cleaning, installation, maintance for the past twenty years. Just Gutters John over at Just Gutters came promptly and cleaned out my gutters and installed some simple ez-lock black coated gutter guards. He brought all his own gear (ladders, hoses, trash bags) and cleaned up very well.

It's been raining on and off since he left yesterday and the gutters are flowing just great.

So if you live in the St. Louis, Mo area and need any kind of gutter work done. Call John at Just Gutters

2006-09-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Look Mom No Hoses

For the longest time, I wanted a cordless brad nailer. But I didn't want to shell out my hard earned cash for a fancy dewalt cordless nailer. Everytime I was at Lowes I'd eye a Black and Decker combo kit that had a 18v drill and 18v brad nailer for $199. I didn't really need another drill. I already had three cordless and one corded drill at my disposal.

Last week, I'm crusing the closeout table near the tool area and I spot the 18V Black and Decker Brad Nailer for $40. It was the display. Now since I already had a few B&D 18v tools, I didn't need the battery. It was payday and I had a few bucks burning in my pocket.

It's not a bad product for the small jobs. (Making wall frames, tacking small mouldings like window stop, fastening wood when gluing up, etc...) It can accept 18 gauge nails up to 2" and can shoot 500 times under a full charge. I don't know about the 12v version they have. But the 18V works great for those times you really don't want to drag out the compressor and hose for a few nails.

How to make a Rosette

2006-09-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I said I was going to show a tutorial on how I save money making my own rosettes.

Normaly rosettes are approx 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 1". Normaly I glue up two layers of 3/4" poplar and plane them down to 1" thick, but you could glue up a 1/2" and a 3/4" pieces of (insert your choice of wood that can be stained or painted here" After the glue-up is complete and out of your clamps, I draw a line 3 1/2" parallel from the long edge as a refrence point and then true up an edge with my jointer. If you are using stock from your local big box store, and not rough lumber you can skip that step.

Next step is to set the rosette cutter in your drill press and center the bit with a stop block and rear fence. This really helps when you are making 20 of these at a time. Also a few test runs with the cutter to determine the stop depth of the drill press. It really makes making these a no brainer.

The next step is to mark and cut the board so that you end up with a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" square section that you can take over to your router table to round over the edges with a round over bit with a bearing on top. Youc an prob use any edge profile you like, but I started with the roundover bit with my first batch of window casing installation.

Now your rosette is complete for staining or painting. I have a few other pictures of making the rosette on flickr If you want to see them.

2006-09-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

I don't do windows, (But I do window casing)

After spending a few weeks on the outside of the windows (read: scraping, heatgun, sanding, painting) gettting them ready for the new windows. I began to tackle the insides today. The previous owner decided not to shim up the 2 x 4's with lathe before installing drywall (nor insulating for that matter) This made my job 100 times harder. I had to glue an extra 1/2" to the edges of the new butterfly moulding so that when they sat on the window jam, it would sit up against the wall. One window down, 5 more to go. (on the first floor, 14 on the second floor still left to do)

130 feet of new moulding and homemade inside window stop. No need to buy rosettes, when you can buy a cutter for your drill press. In a few days, I'll post a how to on making your own. (and save lots of dough doing it) Once you make about 5 or 6 of them, it's paid for it's self.

You can see the PO painted a nice pink on the walls, that had to go. The first thing I need to do is cut away into the old weight pockets to be able to stuff insulation. I wish they would sell the spray foam that contractors use. Those cans do not go very far. It's a lot easier to stuff regular insulation in the cavities.

Finished product. New window sill, apron, window stops, rosettets and casing. Poplar sure paints up nice.