Desk Cubby Insert

I've always loved those old roll top desks with the little pigeon holes in them. I like the idea of having little cubbies for everything right where you need them when you're working on something. My desk attaches to one of those Ikea cube book shelves so that I have easy access to my books and such. Earlier this summer I thought It would be cool to build an insert for it where I could keep all my notebooks and papers neatly. 

I measured the books and papers that I wanted to include in it, and made sure there were specific places for each. One day I stayed late after work, and using the measurements I had taken, built up my cubby in Solidworks.  That way I could make a 1 to 1 pattern for cutting out the pieces and routering all the slots for the dividers. I cut all the pieces to size and then set up the back panel for routering. Each divider gets glued into the slot at the back to give it some strength and help with positioning. 

Next I had to work quickly to glue up all the pieces and try and get them all aligned at the front and clamped while the glue was still wet. It took rather a lot of clamps! 

One of the internal ribs tilted a degree or two in the glue up, but overall it worked out pretty well. I had pre waxed all the internal faces of the piece so that papers would go in smoothly, and because it would be impossible to do at this point. I did some finish sanding and waxed the outside. You get a sneak peak of some upcoming projects I was also working on in this picture too!

As luck/design would have it, it fit!! Here you can see it in context with the whole shelf. Things for a bit messy in emptying the spot where it was going.

Now I have a handy place for all my notebooks instead of them being in a big pile. It's great, and at a glance it looks like it was built right in! 

Winter Project Update

So while I seem to be doing not too well on blog posts, I haven't been doing too badly on working on projects. So here is a collection of some of the smaller projects that I've worked on over the winter. I'll be posting full projects of some bigger things in weeks to come. 

I started by re-organizing my shop. I got two sheets of pegboard and got all my tools hung up so that they'd have a place that wasn't always on my work table. I also got a light fixture to put above my worktable so I can actually see what I'm doing when its later in the day. 

Next I made this quick plywood belt and tie hanger for our closet. I got the metal hook from an old plastic store hanger we had. Then I just drill holes and connected them on the bandsaw to create the slots for the belts. Some sanding and clear coat later, we finally have a place for all our belts and ties that makes sense! 

I had a bunch of old files from my great uncle and grandfather that I like to use, but that had no handles. I took the opportunity to practice my turning and made some! I just used plumbing nuts for the metal ferrules - they're inexpensive and do the trick nicely. I used some small pieces of wood I had leftover and even tried burning in lines on the bigger one. Now I use them much more often since they're actually comfortable to hold! 

I found this cute tutorial for fabric labels a few years ago, and finally got around to making some. You print your design on iron on transfers, and then iron it to twill tape that you sew onto your projects. I did a variety of different designs and colours so I will hopefully have something handy for any project I do in the next while. 

Here's one of them stitched onto a baby blanket I made. 

I had a stash of cute flannelette that I got made into little baby blankets and got to try out the sewing labels.  

I also got this amazing stuff called padding compound. Its that weird plastic-y stuff that holds pads of paper together at the top. It's really neat because you can just paint it onto any stack of paper you have and turn it into a note pad! I think it's really fun, Jerome is sure I'm crazy.

 It's a bit hard to see as it dries clear. I've made several custom notepads for lists using both printer paper and index cards. It's really easy to use, you just clamp your paper together - the tighter the better - brush on the stuff and wait a few hours. I have lots of ideas for neat notepads!