CONSTRUCT BUILD GET CREATIVE WITH

A MOTORIZED THESE PINE YOUR

TRIKE BUNKS MAILBOX

NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2018
ISSUE 81

PRODUCING
GUITARS
FROM RECYCLED
NATIVE TIMBER

NZ $14.95 INCL. GST

AUS $15.95 INCL. GST

ELECTRONIC CRICKET
045002

REINVENTING THE GAME

771177

OF SPOTLIGHT
9
 Editorial

ISSN: 1177-0457

EDITOR
Greg Vincent, editor@theshedmag.co.nz
SUBEDITOR
Sarah Beresford
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Jude Woodside
PROOFREADER
Odelia Schaare
DESIGN
Mark Tate

It is good to give
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Adam Croy
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Renae Fisher
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

I
f you have had kids you will have experienced family and you can just imagine how secure Danielle Williams
those Christmas mornings when they all and cosy some young ones are going to be CONTRIBUTORS
sit on the couch like wee little angels just sleeping in these wonderful, brand new bunks. Mark Beckett, Ray Cleaver,
What a difference that will make to these Jude Woodside, Rob Tucker, Sue Alison,
waiting for you to pass over the gifts that Santa Juliet Nicholas, Ritchie Wilson,
has magically left under the tree in the middle children who have been through a tough time. Enrico Miglino, Des Thomson,
A big thank you once again to the team at the Coen Smit, Ian Parkes, Adam Croy
of the previous night.
1RUWK6KRUH0HQ·V6KHGIRUVXFKDPDJQLÀFHQW
And the thrill of opening then discarding
job on these bunks — they are fantastic. SUBSCRIBE
paper and gift as they attack the next present
Other giving articles include a Timaru dad ONLINE: magstore.nz
in the pile, with high anticipation that one of PHONE: 0800 PARKSIDE (727 574)
who has built a ride-on battery train set for
these surprises will be the one to change their POST: Freepost Parkside Media Subs
his children and their friends. We have an PO Box 46020, Herne Bay, Auckland 1147
lives forever. I recall that children do change
electronic cricket you can make and gift that EMAIL: subs@parkside.co.nz
as they grow up and the present fervour seems
will transform the game of spotlight for one
to dissipate as the years go by, but it really
and all, and how about making a bespoke CONTACT US
doesn’t seem to be until adulthood that things
mailbox for family or friends? Now that would
really change. The saying “It is better to give
be a unique gift! Heck you could even gift our PHONE: 09 360 1480
that to receive” seems to children to be just the FAX: 09 360 1470
magnetic sweeper, a guitar or a magic mirror.
dumbest thing anyone could ever say. We did of POST: PO Box 46020, Herne Bay, Auckland 1147
Give, give, give — this is the giving issue. EMAIL: info@parkside.co.nz
course, constantly, declare that the day would
Best to get all this giving out of the way
come when they would get more pleasure from
because the next issue is not about giving away PUBLISHER
giving a present than getting one.
but enjoying summer and giving to yourself. Greg Vincent, gvincent@parkside.co.nz
Well the reason for these giving memories is
*LYHÀUVWSOD\ODWHU GENERAL MANAGER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
that as we hurtle towards the end of the year,
Also this issue, we welcome back as a Michael White, mwhite@parkside.co.nz
this issue has something of a gift-giving theme
regular columnist The Shed’s previous owner/ GENERAL MANAGER, OPERATIONS
to inspire and help you navigate the upcoming Simon Holloway, sholloway@parkside.co.nz
publisher, Jude Woodside. Jude takes over the
giving time. PRINTING
Back o’ The Shed spot and we welcome him
Our gifting issue starts with a story of a PMP Maxum
to his new regular opinion slot. So, The Shed
Cambridge sheddie, Kim Dawick, who built DISTRIBUTION
will now begin each issue with the new owner
a whole bunch of motorized drift trikes for Gordon & Gotch
and close with the previous one — a couple of PHONE: 09 928 4200
himself and his mates to all race about in and
senior bookends to the magazine.
have a laugh and a bloody good time. A very
generous bloke. NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS
Parkside Media uses due care and diligence in the
Another of our main articles is on a set of Greg Vincent preparation of this magazine but is not responsible
or liable for any mistakes, misprints, omissions,
bunks built by the North Shore Men’s Shed in Publishing Editor or typographical errors. Parkside Media prints
advertisements provided to the publisher but gives
Auckland. This will be gifted to a needy local editor@shedmag.co.nz no warranty and makes no representation to the
WUXWKDFFXUDF\RUVXIÀFLHQF\RIDQ\GHVFULSWLRQ
photograph, or statement. Parkside Media accepts
theshedmag.co.nz | theshedmag | Subscribe no liability for any loss which may be suffered
by any person who relies either wholly or in part
upon any description, photograph, or statement
contained herein. Parkside Media reserves the
DISCLAIMER right to refuse any advertisement for any reason.
No responsibility is accepted by Parkside Media for the accuracy of the instructions or information in The Shed The views expressed in this magazine are not
magazine. The information or instructions are provided as a general guideline only. No warranty expressed necessarily those of Parkside Media, the publisher,
or implied is given regarding the results or effects of applying the information or instructions and any person or the editor. All material published, gathered,
relying upon them does so entirely at their own risk. The articles are provided in good faith and based, where or created for The Shed magazine is copyright
of Parkside Media Limited. All rights reserved
appropriate, on the best technical knowledge available at the time. Guards and safety protections are sometimes in all media. No part of this magazine may be
shown removed for clarity of illustration when a photograph is taken. Using tools or products improperly is reproduced in any form without the express
dangerous, so always follow the manufacturer’s safety instructions. written permission of the publisher.

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 1

 Contents

ON THE COVER
Guitar maker Trikes
26 Making stunning guitars from recycled
native timber 4 A sheddie builds some fun drift trikes for
himself and his mates

112

54 60
BBC Micro Bit Magnetic sweeper Unique mailboxes
How to make a smartphone- A simple but effect way to gather Put your individuality on show with a
controlled robot swarf bespoke mailbox

+LÀVSHDNHUEXLOG Workmate
78 Can’t afford those top-shelf units?
Well make your own 90 The fascinating history of this well-known shed
staple, often called ‘a shed in a cupboard’

2 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 Bunk build Magic mirror
42 Follow our step by step build of a set
of wooden bunks 104 Yes, your mirror can talk back to you —
we show you how

68 72 98
Battery train Battery safety Electronic cricket
“Dad, we want a train please” — Things you should know about Spotlight for the kids will never be the
a sheddie tells the tale battery charging and good practice same once you make this

1
Every issue
Editorial
18 Subscribe
and be in to win
This issue we have a Charmate
18 News Offset BBQ and Smoker pack,
24 Letters worth $1300, to be won by one
lucky subscriber
40 Subscribe to The Shed
121 Shed books for sale
124 Shed back-issues order form
126 Nationwide Menzshed listings
128 Back o’ The Shed
We welcome our new
columnist, ex–Shed publisher News
A Taranaki sheddie invents a unique
Jude Woodside
drilling aid for the oil and gas
industry 40
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 3
 Building a
motorized trike

A CASUAL CHALLENGE TO BUILD

A DRIFT TRIKE LED TO EIGHT
MORE AND A SPECIAL RALLY

FUN
THE MOST
YOU CAN HAVE
ON THREE
WHEELS By Ian Parkes
Photographs: Adam Croy

4 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 A beautifully organized shed made
it easier for Kim to keep nine trikes
on track

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 5


C
ambridge man Kim Dawick knows
a thing or two about building drift
trikes — he’s built nine of them and
no two are exactly the same.
His plan was the opposite of creating
a production line — that would be too
boring. He has tweaked the design
from build to build, but not through
DQ\SURFHVVRIUHÀQHPHQW7KHFKDQJHV
were driven by the parts that he had on
hand and wanting to make them look
different. “It just encourages you to be a
bit creative,” he says.
“For me the most important thing
ZDV MXVW WR NHHS WKH FRVW GRZQµ 7KDW·V
something that many successful capitalists
6 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
“I haven’t asked for
money for any of them;
it’s just for fun —
but I didn’t want to
throw $5K at it”
would agree with but Kim’s motives
are different. He was building these for
IULHQGV QRW IRU SURÀW $QG KH KDV QR
intention of building them commercially.
“I haven’t asked for money for any of
them; it’s just for fun — but I didn’t want
to throw $5K at it,” he says.
Can you add an engine
to that?
Kim has a long history of adding engines
to toys. He has several motorized scooters
in his garage, featuring outrageous
H[SDQVLRQFKDPEHUVWKHÀUVWRIZKLFK
he hotted up when he was 19. He worked
as a mechanical engineer but has spent
most of his time as a professional hunter
for the Department of Conservation
(DOC). He’s now a structural inspector
for the department. Being handy with a
welder and a lathe are the most complex
skills required; the rest is just down to
KDYLQJWKHFRQÀGHQFHWRJLYHLWDJR
7KHLGHDIRUWKHWULNHVFDPHXSZKHQ
having a beer with a couple of mates
after seeing some similar homebuilt
GULIWWULNHVRQ<RX7XEH2QHRIKLVPDWHV
half-jokingly prodded Kim to build one,
so he tucked the idea away, got stuck
in and, a few weeks later … “I made
him one as a surprise for this 40th,”
says Kim.
Above: When Kim accepted the challenge to build nine trikes, keeping the costs down was
vital to a successful outcome
Left: Now to put it all together
Below: Weld a bike frame to a quad bike rear-axle bearing carrier and you have the bare
bones of a trike

A trike Grand Prix it would be great to get the old crew back

Now, at this point, Kim had only built together,” says Kim. “We all used to be
one trike, but he has a lot of mates, and into cars and doing them up, so each
all agreed that it would be a lot more bike has a bit of the owner’s personality
fun to race them at their own Grand Prix in there. If you had a yellow Monaro, you
event. So, naturally, one of his mates said get a yellow trike.”
that he’d arrange the venue, food, and Just two of the nine have two-stroke
drink if Kim would build the trikes. “Be motors, one 50cc and a tiddler with just
careful,” said Kim. “I might just do it.” 33cc, while the four-strokes use Honda’s
This idea also took hold. Once Kim 212cc stationary engines putting out a
KDGÀQLVKHGWKHQLQWKSODQQLQJIRUWKH whopping 6.5hp (4.8kW).
event got well under way. “I just thought None of the trikes is exactly the same

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 7

 “We all used to be into
cars and doing them
up, so each bike has
a bit of the owner’s
personality in there.
If you had a yellow
Monaro, you get a
yellow trike”
as another. “They are all like your
children,” says Kim. “You don’t have any
favourites — except you do.”
His own favourite is the titchy two-
stroke: “No doubt the four-strokes are
faster but I just love two-strokes and
the fact that even though it’s only 33cc
it’s nearly as good as the four-strokes,”
he says.
And while the trikes can reach
NSKDQGRQH³PRGLÀHGIURPDSLW
bike — can top 80kph, speed isn’t the
main objective. “It’s all about losing
traction,” says Kim. “These things are
Adding motors to things generally makes
like drift cars on three wheels.” them more interesting for Kim. He built
You will notice that their go-kart a school trolley derby entry for his nine-
year-old daughter that he designed to
W\UHVDUHÀWWHGZLWKSODVWLFSLSHWUHDGV look like a go-kart. She came second
This ensures that they have minimal in the race at school but Kim soon got
grip and will slide at the slightest bored with pushing it up the drive at
home so added a motor to turn it into a
provocation. As there’s no differential, real go-kart

8 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

This is the flashiest trike according to Kim,
mostly because of its rear axle that he was
lucky enough to source from a go-kart

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 9

 you couldn’t turn the trikes without
their plastic overcoats.
“Go-kart tyres are so grippy that you’d
just go straight ahead,” says Kim.
The enthusiasm of the super-slippy
rear wheels for sliding also means that
Kim and crew have never managed to
ÁLSRQH
“I’ve got no intention of building a
go-kart that goes where you point it,”
he says. “That was always the point —
no traction.”
To see what he means, check out his
ÀUVWIRXUVWURNHPDFKLQHDQGLWVWHVWUXQ
at youtu.be/D9SJCgrmESs.
10 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Getting more punch from
a two-stroke
The two-stroke engine in Kim’s trike
started out at 33cc but he ported it,
got a bigger carb, and added one of his
bespoke expansion-chamber exhausts. A
well-designed chamber can really turn a
WZRVWURNH HQJLQH LQWR D ÀUHEUHDWKLQJ
demon. Getting the right swirl and draw
in an expansion chamber is quite an art,
but Kim says that you can get tips on
anything from the internet now.
He also bounces ideas off a friend in
the US who also likes to add an engine
to anything.
+H VD\V WKH ÁDVKHVW WULNH LV IRU KLV
friend Naomi but mostly because he
picked up half a go-kart at a swap
meet, so it’s got a better rear axle. The
meanest is his friend Flea’s, which has
a pit-bike engine mounted between the
rider’s legs, and is capable of 80kph.
That uses an old mountain-bike frame.
Another trike got the tapered bars,
headstock, forks, and front wheel from
D IDW ELNH ZKLFK DOVR IHDWXUHG D ÁDVK
disc brake. He cut off the standard
headstock to weld this on.
“It would be expensive to do that but I
had them left over from another project,
and just thought I’d use them to make it
more interesting,” he says.
However, Kim has settled on a
reliable formula that gives a great
result at minimal cost — which is
just as important to home builders as
commercial success is to entrepreneurs.
How to build a drift trike
The basic requirement is a kid’s trike
from The Warehouse or similar. Kim
ÀQGV WKH PRGHO ZLWK WKH FXUYHG VSLQH
robust enough for the job. The complete
front end — bars, headstock, forks, and
ZKHHODUHDOVRÀQHDVLVWKHEDVHIRUWKH
seat. All of Kim’s mates are tall, around
190cm, so for their trikes he welded an
extension onto the seat platform to move
it back, but this may not be necessary
for ordinary-sized humans.
The business end of the trike is the
rear axle from a 110cc quad bike. These
axles are already the perfect width,
VD\V.LP7KH\KDYHDÁDQJHWREROWWKH
sprocket to. But you have to get new
sprockets as the gearing is wrong. Some
have centrally placed bearing carriers
that simplify the job, but others are offset
to allow for different motor designs. That
means you might have to weld a section
of box steel onto the bike’s central spine
to marry it to an offset bearing carrier.
“It’s simple enough,” says Kim. “It’s all
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 11
 Trike Grand Prix a roaring and screaming success
The idea was simply to get a bunch of
mates back together again and, after
Kim had made a drift bike for mate
Mike’s 40th birthday, they realized
they had a winning formula. Mike said
that if Kim would build another few
trikes, he’d organize the event, and
The Drift Extravaganza was born.
Kim wound up building nine trikes,
all different, reflecting the different
personalities and motoring histories of
their intended pilots. They had different
frames, forks, engine layouts, and a mix
of big four-stroke engines and a couple
of tiny two-strokes.
Kim was amazed that the event went
as smoothly as it did, and with such
close racing.
“The two-strokes lacked power on the
sharp corners, and there were a lot of
12 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
corners, but they had great top-end
power on the long straight,” he says.
Two-stroke-fan Kim says there were
only a couple of seconds between his
trike and eventual winner Mike’s four-
stroke, even over two laps covering
about half a kilometre.
The track was laid out over an L-shaped
concrete pad joining a 100x30m
strip to a 50m square pad at one of
the racer’s family’s engineering yard
in Morrinsville.
“Skinny told us at great length to take
care going around some gear that had
just come out of the workshop, and
then he was the one who crashed into
it, going backwards over it,” Kim recalls.
Despite the craziness of the concept the
final toll was some minor paint damage
to the gear that was supposed to be
avoided, and the worst rider injury
was a scrape that didn’t even justify
a plaster.
Kim says that they took care to keep the
risks reasonable, with two racers only
on track at a time, with a five-second
gap between them, and the winner was
decided by the time gap at the end.
He was delighted with how the trikes
held together under the pressures
of racing. Two dropped their chains,
but the skills in the crew meant they
were able to refit and adjust them
themselves for the next rounds.
At the end of the knockout competition,
event organizer Mike claimed the
trophy and the top step of the podium,
as well as the incredible mana attached
to that feat, and bragging rights for the
year.
 Gubby also scored a hat-
This is Gubby’s four-stroke engine and even though these engines are faster, Kim loves two-
trick of awards, being strokes because although they have pint-sized cylinders in comparison, they are nearly as
good as the four-strokes
garlanded with the
toilet seat of shame —
the You Stink award —
mild steel and weldable.” A $20 engine score
The wheel hubs also have to be turned Kim says the best-value engines are the
for bad sportsmanship, down and redrilled so that they can be +RQGDRU+RQGDFORQHKSVWDWLRQDU\
and he also carried bolted inside go-kart rear wheels. The engines. These unburstable units are
D[OHV FRPH ZLWK D GLVN EUDNH ÀWWHG
R̆WKHSDGGOHIRU complete with calipers and hydraulics.
now very popular for kids’ go-karts and
a whole range of accessories has grown
biggest stirrer Some early models had drum brakes. up around them. He picked up a brand-
One of Kim’s bikes has that arrangement new engine advertised as faulty after
but the disc brakes are simpler and it had been returned to the vendor. At
Second place — or “Not First” as it was EHWWHU KH VD\V :KLOH WKH WULNHV KDYH D D FRVW RI  ZLWK DQRWKHU  IRU WKH
labelled — went to Flea, and third place, VLPSOH ELF\FOHW\SH IURQW EUDNH WKH\ FRXULHU .LP WKRXJKW WKDW LW ZRXOG EH
or “Not Even Close”, went to Gubby. aren’t very strong. The rear brakes — good for parts. The engine wouldn’t
Gubby also scored a hat-trick of awards, even with the low traction plastic treads turn over — for the simple reason that it
being garlanded with the toilet seat of — work much better. They are also great KDG EHHQ ÀOOHG WR WKH EULP ZLWK HQJLQH
shame — the You Stink award — for bad for initiating the skid. oil and was hydraulically locked. Kim
sportsmanship, and he also carried off the
paddle for biggest stirrer.
“The whole thing went way better than
I expected,” says Kim. It achieved the
main purpose of bring the crew back
together again.
The mates were all school friends in two
form years at Morrinsville College. “We
had drifted far and wide since then, so it
wasn’t easy to get everyone together,”
Kim says. “We all agreed [that] we’re
going to do it all again next year. We
might do other things in between but at
the very least we’ll do this again.”

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 13

 The nitrous look
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14 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Kim tweaked the design from build to build, with changes
driven by the parts that he had on hand and could adapt
Sourcing parts is not hard D[OH DVVHPEO\ DORQH ZLWK QR EUDNHV RU
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When is a motorbike not a motorbike?
This is one of the trickiest motorcycles
you’ll see in these pages. It definitely
looks like a motorbike and rides like a
motorbike, but the trick is that it’s not
made with a single motorcycle part.
That’s the challenge Kim accepted
when he set out to build it two
years ago. He admits to spending a
lot of time on internet forums and
this annual competition offered the
kind of challenge that fired up his
engineering creativity.
He’s already building a Harley-Davidson
bobber, which he’s nearly finished,
and while that kind of customization
might satisfy some builders’ need for
expression, Kim couldn’t resist the
freedom of having just one rule: you can
build anything you like (apart from a
death-trap) as long as you don’t use any
motorcycle parts.
As soon as Kim found an interesting
motor and frame from someone else’s
stalled attempt, he was on his way.
“The previous owner had done a great
job but I had a different vision to his. I
changed it a fair bit. I lowered it quite a
bit, changed the angle of the downtube.
In fact only the backbone is the same. I
like the line to the back axle.”
The bike, especially with that vertical
downtube, has a real vintage-racer vibe
and Kim says that that was the look he
was going for. Hence the leaf spring
front end. The bike uses the rear tyre
from a fat-tyred mountain bike but
he didn’t want to use the push bike’s
modern headset and fork, so that
became a stylish front end on one of
his trikes.
Kim welded a box under the steering
head to locate half a leaf spring. He
cut down the leaves and reduced the
overlap to make it softer. He also built
the forks, and the rockers and rods that
transfer axle movement to the spring.
“The geometry is amazing,” says Kim.
“It’s brutally low, so you have to be
careful, but you can lean it right over
and it responds beautifully. It’s a real
“It’s a twin-cylinder
180cc motor and it
puts out about 9hp
[6.7kW]. It’s a really
interesting motor”
thrill.” That’s not entirely down to luck:
“I calculated the rake and trail and
thought it should work.”
Kim loves two-stroke engines and the
unusual engine in this one hooked him
immediately.
“It’s a Wajax. They were commonly
used on fire pumps,” he explains. “In
the US they were called ‘Disston’ and
were used on two-man chainsaws with
about a 2m bar. It’s a twin-cylinder
180cc motor and it puts out about 9hp
[6.7kW]. It’s a really interesting motor.”
Restoring the magneto would have been
a big job so Kim fitted two old car-type
ignition coils, one feeding each plug.
They are powered from a battery that
lives in what looks like an oil tank. It’s a
total-loss system but Kim says that he
gets about two hours of riding out of it.
Perhaps the most impressive part is not
obvious from the side view. When he
bought the bike it had a gearbox with
linkages fashioned from Ford Escort
handbrakes. Ingenious, but it was
inclined to throw belts.
Kim had another idea. He installed
a continuously variable transmission
repurposed from a wakeboarding
winch. The engine drives a cone on a
shaft which is linked via a rubber belt
to a cone facing the other way linked to
the rear axle. The belt finds its own ideal
position between engine speed, torque,
and the load on the rear wheel.
Best of all, all the entrants in the
competition will get together at a
meeting in November to compare
machines and to race.
“It’s not slow,” says Kim. “It’s by no
means the fastest, but it’s got quite a
look about it and it’s a pleasure to ride.”
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 15
 These trikes are made to
drift; no grip or traction
required here, thanks
the 35-pitch chain. The driveshaft is
WKUHDGHG VR \RX QHHG WR ÀQLVK LW RII
with a bolt and washer to stop the clutch
walking off the shaft.
Installing the power plant
The next step is to marry up the motor
to the frame where it will align with the
sprocket on the axle. Kim says that with
WKHODVWÀYHWULNHVKHVLPSO\ZHOGHGDER[
section frame to the rear of the carrier.
He bolted the engine to a mounting plate
16 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
and slid that along the box-section frame
until the chain came tight. He marked it
and welded the mounting plate in place.
He says that you could cut slots in it to
make it easier to adjust the chain later
but “the lazy way” of adding washers to
the mounting bolts to raise the engine
worked just as well.
Another thing to make sure of is that
you install some kind of chain guard so
WKDW LI WKH FKDLQ EUHDNV LW GRHVQ·W ÁDLO
forward and hit the driver.
Kim has also flirted with furniture-
making. One of his earliest pieces is
a chair that he made for his future
wife, as you do, which combined his
metalwork and wood-working skills.
As his wife is into art, at his brother’s
suggestion he turned what was going
to be a plain seat into an artist’s
palette. Kim has also built some nifty
wooden units for storing bangles
and necklaces, a TV stand inspired
by apple boxes, and a 40m flying fox
for his three children on their place
outside of Cambridge. Kim’s time in
the shed works for all the family
Kim designed and made his own
H[KDXVW SLSHV DQG HYHQ VRPH PXIÁHUV
That’s half the fun of it. He was keen
WR JHW YDULHW\ LQ WKH ÀHOG VR ORRNV
were important.
Some of Kim’s bikes feature BMX pegs
instead of pedals, but Kim says that’s
just on the bikes that had standard or
motorbike front wheels, which don’t
have pedals. The trike front end has
pedals on a freewheel hub, and they
PDNH SHUIHFWO\ ÀQH IRRWUHVWV .LP VD\V
there is no point changing them.
He says that you could weld bolts onto
the forks for BMX pegs but you wouldn’t
be able to use the axle in the freewheel
hub, so he reasoned that it wasn’t
worth it: “You can rest your feet on
the standard pedals and it’s absolutely
no problem.”
Some unique touches
Standard plastic tanks look a bit ordinary
so on several bikes Kim replaced these
ZLWKROGÀUHH[WLQJXLVKHUVSDLQWHGDQG
labelled to look like nitrous-oxide tanks.
He made brackets and carriers to hold
them at dramatic angles. So cool.
One of the essentials of the drift trike
is the plastic rear-wheel sleeve. Kim
had some culvert pipe of just the right
size handy but says it’s hard to come
by. The standard item is Humes storm-
water pipe with an internal diameter of
259mm. It’s available in 6m lengths for
about $500 but it’s also available pre-cut
in the 130mm widths needed for tyres
at $90 for the pair.
“It’s easy to install. It’s just a matter
of letting down the tyre, slipping it
RYHUE\KDQGDQGWKHQUHLQÁDWLQJWKH
W\UHZKLFKKROGVLWÀUPO\LQSODFHµKH
explains.
Kim bought the sets of sleeves as he
had not set out to build nine bikes, but
says you might want to consider the
6m length, as having just one trike is
never enough.
“We had several guys who like their
macho cars or trucks and were reluctant
DW ÀUVW EXW HYHQWXDOO\ WKH\·G JLYH LQ
and then you could never get them off
them,” says Kim.
Building drift trikes is only the start of
the fun.
 News — a shed invention
Problem solved
A TARANAKI ENGINEER HAS COME UP WITH A PATENTED DEVICE
THAT ENABLES DRILLERS TO WORK ON PROBLEMS THOUSANDS OF
METRES UNDERGROUND
By Ray Cleaver Photographs: Rob Tucker
A
Taranaki farm boy has come
up with an invention that could
save the geothermal and oil and
gas industry millions of dollars — in
his shed.
Well, Mark Horwell is no longer a
boy, though he was raised on a farm.
In fact he has a degree in engineering,
his shed has some high-tech equipment,
and the concept and development
of his invention have involved more
than a dash of Kiwi ingenuity. Mark
has come up with a device called a
¶6ZLWFKÁRDW· ZKLFK HQDEOHV GULOOHUV WR
18 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
work on problems thousands of metres tool. A clear path is created through the
underground. valve so that tools can be conveyed safely
7KH 6ZLWFKÁRDW LV EDVLFDOO\ D QRQ within the drill string. Following this, the
return valve that can be opened valves may then be closed to reinstate
downhole to allow wireline tools to be ÁRDWYDOYHIXQFWLRQDOLW\
conveyed down the well. 7KH PDMRU EHQHÀW RI 6ZLWFKÁRDW LV
when the drill pipe becomes stuck, it
Benefits enables tools to be conveyed down the
7KH6ZLWFKÁRDWV\VWHPSURYLGHVGULOOLQJ GULOO SLSH WR ÀQG RXW ZKHUH LW LV VWXFN
RSHUDWLRQV ZLWK ÁRDWYDOYH IXQFWLRQDOLW\ DQGFXWWKHGULOOSLSHRII6ZLWFKÁRDWDOVR
while also allowing the valves to be locked allows surveys in the drill pipe without
RSHQ ZKHQ UHTXLUHG $OO 6ZLWFKÁRDW WKHUHPRYDORIGULOOVWULQJÁRDWYDOYHV
valves are able to be locked open by either “This reduced tripping saves rig time,
pumping a ball or using a simple wireline and wear and tear, and the device allows
 The road
to Switchfloat
Mark (39) was raised on the family
deer farm near Inglewood. He
graduated as an engineer, with
The concept and honours, from the University of
development of Canterbury, and he has a few strings
to his bow. He worked for Rolls-Royce
his invention has in England 11 years ago in the field
involved more of aircraft-engine research and
development. He developed methods
than a dash of Kiwi to reduce residual stress in inertia-
ingenuity friction welding and filed three patent
applications for the company.
Following that he was a stuntman
for a while. He did a stunt course in
Australia and performed in a live show
in Berlin, racing round on motorbikes
immediate wireline access in stuck pipe
in Mad Max fashion. He also did some
scenarios,” said Mark. pyrotechnic work, telling The Shed
“It reduces make and break cycles on that the 10 years of explosive
drill-string-threaded connections and expertise has helped in the oil and
WKHUH·V VDIHW\ EHQHÀWV DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK gas industry.
reduced drill-string movements. His property has a few bike jumps and
“It also provides the ability to an off-road bike sits in the workshop.
There’s nothing like a blat round the
reverse circulate through a drill string
farm to clear the head.
FRQWDLQLQJÁRDWYDOYHV7KH6ZLWFKÁRDW
system is a patented technology and
it has been successfully utilized in water are pumped down the drill pipe
geothermal air-drilling operations with and return up the annulus (outside of
well temperatures exceeding 300°C.” the drill pipe) to lift the drilled rock out
of the bore hole.
The idea One-way non-return valves are often
Geothermal wells in New Zealand spaced about 150m apart down the
are often drilled to around 3000m VWULQJ7KLVFRQWDLQVWKHSUHVVXUHZLWKLQ
underground. High-pressure air and the drill pipe and reduces the time taken

Right: The patented valve-

opening device in the Switchfloat
Below: The non-return valve on
the Switchfloat

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 19

 Above: Mark Horwell and
his Taranaki workshop
Far left: The control panel
for the EDM
Left: The EDM cuts high-
tensile steel with electrical
pulses
Below: Mark’s rural shed,
where it all happens

when adding additional lengths of pipe

to the drill string. However, prior to
WKH LQYHQWLRQ RI WKH 6ZLWFKÁRDW LI WKH
drill pipe got stuck or anything went
wrong, specialist tools could not be
lowered through the valves to diagnose
or rectify the problem.
Mark’s invention changes all that.
“To run a geothermal drilling operation
can cost $100K a day,” Mark said.
“Previously, rectifying a stuck drill
string could be a hit-and-miss operation,
simply turning the drill pipe backwards
and hoping it unscrews somewhere good.
“This could mean long delays in the
drilling programme, or possibly losing
the entire well.”

20 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 A quick lesson in drilling engineering
terminology
A ‘drill string’ on a drilling rig is a
7KH¿UVW6ZLWFKÀRDW column, or string, of drill pipe that
ZDVDVVHPEOHGLQ transmits drilling fluid (via the mud
or foam pumps) and torque (via the
0DUN¶VIDWKHU¶V kelly drive or top drive) to the drill
WUDFWRUVKHGRQ bit. The term is loosely applied to the
assembled collection of the drill pipe,
WKHIDUP drill collars, tools, and drill bit.
In the oil and gas industry, the term
‘wireline’ usually refers to a cabling
technology used by operators of oil
and gas wells to lower equipment or
measurement devices into the well
for the purposes of well intervention,
reservoir evaluation, or pipe recovery.
There’s a lot of pressure involved. The
drill pipes are screwed together at a
torque of 40,650Nm.

Below: Tools being lowered through the valves

Mark worked on geothermal rigs near

Taupo putting diagnostic and functional
tools in the well and even setting off
explosive charges down the well to shoot
holes into and cut the pipe if necessary.
“I thought there must be a better way
to access the problems and six years ago
,FDPHXSZLWKWKH6ZLWFKÁRDWLGHD,GLG
the basic designs and started the patent
process to protect the idea. I went to
Contact Energy with the concept and they
were prepared to run the prototype.
“You can’t afford for these things to
break down in a $20M well, so the valve
bodies are manufactured from 4145H 1 2
high-tensile steel.”
7KH ÀUVW 6ZLWFKÁRDW ZDV DVVHPEOHG
in Mark’s father’s tractor shed on the
farm and the 250kg device was shifted
round with the farm tractor, a trusty
Ford 3000. A bigger shed was needed and
Mark purchased a 6m shipping container
and set it up on the farm, and a second
container followed as Mark got more
orders. The containers were carted to the
well sites then back to the farm.
´7KH6ZLWFKÁRDWVDUHSUHWW\KHDY\DQG
I moved up from using the farm tractor
and chain blocks to buying a forklift. That
was a great investment.”

Fully equipped workshop 3 4

Two years ago Mark, his wife Lucy, and
two boys aged three and one, bought a
rural property near Lepperton in Taranaki
and Mark converted the farm shed into a
fully equipped workshop.
“Having a good-size shed changed my
life. It’s a bit isolating sometimes working
for myself, but the boys like to watch the
action and check things out,” he told us.
Mark outsources most manufacturing
of parts to suppliers in New Zealand
DQG WKH 86 DQG KH DVVHPEOHV WKH ÀQDO
product himself.
He makes some of specialized parts of
the tools himself and for this he purchased
an electrical discharge machine (EDM),
which is a wire cutter designed to
accurately cut very hard material with
high-current pulses of electricity. They are
mainly used for tool and die making, etc.
“It’s quite a tool. It’s like a real fancy
bandsaw. It cuts with a .25mm brass wire
and the cooling water is de-ionised so it
won’t conduct electricity,” said Mark. The
machine was pre-digital and an interface
board was added to allow the machine to
be computer controlled.
Mark has just purchased a milling
machine and is getting a metal lathe and
told us that he is at present working on
another new tool design for the oil and
gas industry.
“I really need a bigger shed already,” he
said.
&KHFNRXWKLVZHEVLWHVZLWFKÁRDWFRP

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 21

 News
Diamond
jubilee for
boots that
shine in
the mud
ICONIC KIWI
RED BAND GUMBOOT KEEPS ON KEEPING ON
T
he Aussies have their dangly cork
hats and the Brits their waxed cotton
jackets, and this month marks 60 years
since the creation of one of New Zealand’s
iconic outerwear essentials — the Red Band
gumboot.
John Clarke, aka Fred Dagg, cemented
RXU LGHQWLÀFDWLRQ ZLWK SUDFWLFDO UXEEHU
footwear in his alternative national anthem,
The Gumboot Song. To be fair, Clarke
borrowed freely from Billy Connolly’s
If It Was’Nae for Your Wellies, which he in
turn adapted from an older song.
Even if the song isn’t original, Red Bands
can claim to be a Kiwi invention. Traditional
gumboots topped out just below the knee,
like riding boots. Skellerup says that its
5HG %DQGV ZHUH WKH ÀUVW VKRUW JXPERRW
marketed in New Zealand, and possibly the
world. They were also designed from the
VWDUWWRÀWWKHVOLJKWO\ZLGHU.LZLIRRW
“No one is quite sure who it was at
Marathon Rubber Footwear — the
forerunner to Skellerup — who had the
idea to create a shorter boot but sometime
during 1958 the new concept was tried
out,” said Skellerup’s national manager
footwear Perry Davis.
7KH ÀUVW SDLU RI 5HG %DQG JXPERRWV
rolled off the production line on 21 October
1958 and became “an instant hit” around
the country, Davis said.
22 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
The Shed online
W
hat’s happening online at
theshedmag.co.nz?
Every week we upload new
content on The Shed website joining the
100s of articles and videos already on
the site for readers to discover, learn
from and enjoy.
The past two month’s new uploads
include:
• how to build an all-electric motorbike
• a video of Judy Waterston, blacksmith,
in Duntroon, North Otago, from Issue
No. 80
If it ain’t broke
Surprisingly, the modern Red Band gumboot
is virtually identical to the original model,
apart from the addition of a sponge innersole.
Skellerup made the boots in its Woolston
factory in Christchurch until the late ’80s. It • how to make your own linisher for
continues to make all the components and under $500
the boots are still handmade the same way
in Skellerup’s factory in Jiangsu, China.
They are assembled from 38 individual
rubber components using six different
natural rubber formulations, with UV
inhibitors added for New Zealand conditions.
The panels are rolled and pressed and cut,
rather than just moulded, to make them
PRUH ÁH[LEOH DQG UREXVW $ FRWWRQ OLQHU
• a video of Des Thomson and his
covers a rubber-infused, heavy-duty canvas,
which adds structure to the boot, protecting
workshop dust extractor system from
Issue No. 80.
them from tearing or separating like cheaper
boots. The boots are assembled on metal
lasts, then baked in a vulcanizing oven to
cure and set the rubber.
Davis explained that Skellerup has worked
hard to preserve Red Band’s reputation for
quality and excellence. It has also expanded
the brand into several models of gumboots
for children, as well as socks, work boots,
These are just some of the new uploads to
and clothing.
our website these past two months. Visit
“Red Bands have become part of the Kiwi
theshedmag.co.nz to enjoy even more.
landscape because they are the no-nonsense The Shed is now on Instagram
gumboot that works, and last a lifetime,” Search ‘theshedmag’
said Davis.
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 Letters
Dear Greg,
Recently, my grandfather passed
away. He was an avid reader of
Popular Mechanics in the 1950s
and ’60s.
When I was introduced to your
magazine 15 years ago when I was
a teenager, I was passed down well-
read copies of The Shed by my pops.
I must say they were pretty tatty by
the time they got to me. He used
to say [that] it’s good learning for
you and the knowledge you will
pick up will take you through life.
24 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Pops used to say it [that] will challenge
you but also inspire your thinking.
Over the years of reading The Shed
I’ve been amazed by the diversity
of content that shows the creativity
that lies in New Zealand. I’ve shown
friends from overseas who can’t
believe [that] we have so many skills
for such a small population.
I really like reading your My Shed
articles with my daughter, especially
the unusual car collections, and would
encourage anyone who’s got a vehicle
in their shed to have a go restoring it.
Keep up the good work.
Yours sincerely,
Jack McCormick
(via email)
Thanks for your email, Jack. It
is just great for us to hear how long
The Shed has been a part of your
family’s life and we continue to
deliver. Much appreciated, thank you.
The Shed team
Letttheer
of
H
MONT
Dear Sir,
I am a little disappointed in your recent
article on Lichtenberg wood burners
[Issue No. 80].
Along with the majority of your
readers, I had no idea of the process and
had to read to the end of the article to
get a sketchy outline of the way it works.
Also, in the article and in the follow-
up Dead Man’s Switch [panel], there
are references to positive and negative
wires — no, no, it is phase and neutral!!
Ken Buckley
(via email)
Thanks for your email, Ken, sorry to
hear of your disappointment with that
article. Many of our team of writers are
sheddies just like our readers and often
the articles they write are them learning
and discovering shed tasks as they go. We
hope readers got enough inspiration and
good advice to give this process a go for
themselves. Ed.
You’re quite correct … this slipped past
the proofreaders who have been booked
into Specsavers. The terms ‘active’ and ‘live’
are also permissible, and when marked
on a connector are often simply P and N.
The article presented some concerns over
safety and the focus was more on ensuring
that it was safe to build and use. We’re
grateful that our readers are diligent and,
more important, safe. Mark Beckett, The
Shed electronics specialist
Letter of the month
prize
:LWKDÀEHUJODVVÀOOHG
Q\ORQKDQGOHDQGD
FDUHIXOO\FUDIWHGWKXPE
SHUFKWKH&RDVW%;
NQLIHLVGHVLJQHGIRU
H[FHOOHQWJULSFRQWURO
,WVVLPSOHWRXVHEDFN
ORFNWKUHHSRVLWLRQ
pocket clip for
FRQYHQLHQWFDUU\LQJ
DQGWKXPEKROHIRU
HDV\RSHQLQJPDNH
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HYHU\GD\XVH
Letters should be emailed to
editor@theshedmag.co.nz, or posted to
Editor, The Shed,
PO Box 46,020, Herne Bay,
Auckland 1147.
 Guitar making

Playing a fully scratch-built OM-

style acoustic guitar

26 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

C R E A T I V E

A SHEDDIE’S LOVE OF
MUSIC AND WOOD
FUSE IN THE CREATION
OF BESPOKE GUITARS
FROM RECYCLED
TIMBER

By Sue Allison
Photographs: Juliet Nicholas

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 27


F
or Dave Pauling, making guitars is
the natural fusion of two passions —
music and wood.
Dave, who has been playing the guitar
since he was 13, also knew the pleasure
of pottering in sheds from a young age.
His father is a sheddie from way back,
who, among other things, still spends
many hours restoring vintage vehicles.
“I grew up helping him with his
Model Ts, making bows and arrows, or
working on a model railway we had in
the loft,” Dave says.
While Dave himself has spent a fair
few hours restoring a 1965 Mustang
imported from San Francisco, he prefers
working with wood. There’s something
about the malleability and smell of
wood, as well as its provenance, he says.
Wood, especially the recycled timber he
uses to construct his guitars, has had a
28 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
previous life: “Every guitar [that] I make
comes with a prehistory.”
Inspiration from a
catalogue
'DYHEXLOWKLVÀUVWJXLWDULQDZRRGZRUN
class as a 15-year-old schoolboy, but
it wasn’t until another 15 years had
passed that the Blenheim-based school
principal started making musical
instruments in earnest. “My inspiration
came from a Stewart MacDonald parts
catalogue that was in a pile of guitar
magazines a friend gave me in 2009,” he
says. “It looked doable so I thought I’d
give it a go.”
He started with acoustic guitars and
ÁDWWRS 7HOHFDVWHUVW\OH LQVWUXPHQWV
before moving into carved-top electric
guitars, and now he makes semi-hollow
carved-top guitars and basses.
Left: Routing the channel for the binding
with a finishing router and a wheel
attachment
Dave has built more than 25 guitars
over the past 10 years, mostly for
friends and family, under his brand-
name ‘Solace’. Each one is given a name
and goes to its owner with a small book
telling the story of its construction. The
guitars are given evocative names like
the syrupy ‘Brown Sugar’, or ‘Taonga’
ZLWK LWV SRXQDPXHIIHFW ÀQLVK ´,
also have my own shape called the
‘Marlbarian’, acknowledging the fact
that the body is made entirely from
Marlborough timber,” he says.
Time to go home
After 25 years in Auckland, Dave was
drawn home to Marlborough eight years
ago. Part of the lure was a much-loved
beach house in Queen Charlotte Sound’s
Sunshine Bay, which had been in the
family since the 1930s. He wanted his
own three children and wife Danielle to
enjoy it as much as he had as a child. A
year or two after the family’s arrival in
Blenheim, Dave was appointed principal
of a Marlborough primary school, which
now has a strong music academy.
Dave, who never counts his hours, says
making guitars involves a lot of thought
as well as trial and error. “There’s a lot
of hand-sanding and feeling with your
hands to get it right,” he explains. It’s a
relaxing and tactile process, much like
SOD\LQJWKHÀQLVKHGSURGXFWV
Dave’s shed
Dave adapted an existing shack behind
the house into a two-room workshop
that he describes as a “one-man-and-
two-boy” shed, as he shares the space
with his sons Olly, 11, and Toby, 9. “I put
D SURSHU ÁRRU LQ DQG LQVXODWHG LW DV LW
was freezing in winter,” he says.
The back room houses heavier duty
machinery as well as jigs for different
shaped guitars. Dave has installed a
vacuum system to keep the air clean
although he says that he has “probably
inhaled a four-by-two beam over
my life”. f
 A 1965 Mustang sleeps on one side of the guitar-building shack

“Every guitar that I make comes with

a prehistory”

Right: Acoustic guitar jigs on the wall of the “messy” part of the shed
Below: Dust extractor, sawbench, etc., again on the “messy” side of the shed

A mixture of mainly
native timbers ready for
repurposing

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 29


The front workshop is a clean space
IRU ÀQHU ZRUN ZLWK VKHOYHV FRQWDLQLQJ
ODEHOOHG SURMHFW ER[HV IRU HDFK JXLWDU
7KHSLQSULFNKROHVLQWKHZDOODQGFHLOLQJ
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WRXUQDPHQWVEHWZHHQSURMHFWV
Locally grown, recycled
timber
%HKLQG 'DYH·V VKHG LV D VWDFN RI ROG
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7KH ULPX EDFN RI D ZDOQXWWRSSHG
30 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Dave’s ‘other’ work bench
It’s a relaxing and tactile
process, much like playing
Inspecting a piece of book-matched
Marlborough rimu for a carved-top
WKH¿QLVKHGSURGXFWV
electric guitar
JXLWDURQKLVZRUNEHQFKVSHQWWKHÀUVW IRUDKXQGUHG\HDUVVRWKHZRRGPXVWEH
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 Above: A four-string Marlbarian bass on the bench awaiting final
assembly

Below: The MDF routing jig for the Marlbarian semi-hollow guitar.

Inspecting the Solace headstock- Tools, including Grandad’s old

shape cut-out (quality) chisels

Four-string bass neck with pearloid inlay

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 31


the area. “It was heavy, sappy stuff but
made for a beautiful-sounding guitar,”
he says. Mahogany makes for attractive
decorative strips and Dave is still slicing
his way through a neighbour’s discarded
bedside table.
He uses North American spruce for
the guitar tops: “You really wouldn’t
want to go with anything else. Because
it grows slowly in freezing temperatures,
it’s a very tight-grained wood but
light. The closest thing we have to it
in New Zealand is cedar but the grain
pattern is too far apart, making it weak.”
Solid start
Dave recommends that novices start out
building Telecaster-style instruments
with their solid bodies and bolt-on necks.
“Making acoustic and electric guitars
are very different processes,” he says.
“Electric ones are relatively quick to
make, while building an acoustic guitar
is more akin to boatbuilding with all the
braces and steaming to bend the sides.
32 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
“It’s good to have the
shed gene passed on”
Left: Scraping the binding to take off stain
before final glossing
Below: Louis Panormo’s guitar logo above
the Solace Instruments logo
They can take up to six months to make. his children to New Zealand in the late
,FRXOGÀOODVPDOOQRYHOGHVFULELQJKRZ 19th century. “His father was quite a
to make one of those.” famous Italian violin-maker, who had
immigrated to England from Sicily,” says
Simple solutions Dave.
“Not making mistakes is all about
having the right tools,” he says. Some Pure sound
of the best are the simplest: “One of my Dave is a purist when it comes to music.
favourite tools is a little oval scraper “I love the sound of tubes and valves
>WKDW@,XVHWRÀQLVKRIIWKHHGJHVµ and anything analogue,” he says. He
6KDUSHQHGZLWKDEXUULWHIÀFLHQWO\
The handmade Tube-O-Licious all-valve
shaves off any of the stain or sealer coat guitar amp
that has leached into the sides. But his
router gets the most use: “As well as
speeding up the carving process, you
can do a lot with a good router.”
The Italian connection
Dave had been building guitars for
eight years when he discovered that
crafting musical instruments was in his
DNA. He learned from his aunt that his
forebear was Louis Panormo, a guitar-
maker in the Spanish style, who had a
shop in London’s Soho before following
Right: Olly plays his ‘SG’ made from
recycled rimu
Bottom left: Toby and Olly work on a
model tree house project for school
Bottom right: A line-up of some of Olly and
Toby’s finished projects below a range of
electric-guitar shapes, some Dave’s own
and some well-known brands

also makes stomp boxes, basses, and

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seven-valve electronics and “old-school
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wiring of a 1964 Fender Princeton reverb
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Perfect harmony
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and the badge-maker who made his
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carver, Peter Mitchell, who also made
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Chips off the block

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The Shed 81 November/December 2018 33

 Building a semi-hollow body
1 4
1. Dave makes up the body blank from
laminated recycled timber. “I find
rimu is safe from a tone and weight
point of view. I also use matai and
mahogany, and other thin strips for
colour,” he says. The thickness of the
back ranges from 32mm to 40mm.
2. Next Dave prepares the top. Usually
two pieces of book-matched
19x150mm, sometimes with a
centre strip for looks. “Maple is the
traditional choice for a semi-hollow
guitar but you can use whatever
looks and sounds good,” he explains.
“I have used rimu, mahogany, elm,
walnut, and totara so far.”
5 6
34 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
3. He places one on the other, draws
the outline, and identifies the neck
pocket and pickup holes. He then
screws the two pieces together
through the planned pickup holes.
4. Dave cuts out the shape with a
bandsaw and sands the edges (both
top and bottom at the same time).
5. The binding channel is cut using a
router with a guide wheel.
6. Next he draws the shape of the
carve he wants and uses the router
to cut the shelf at the bottom of
the carve.
7. The top is then sanded/cut down
to a three to four per cent angle.
The neck pocket is routed out and
the carving begins. Dave starts with
chisels and planes, finishing with a
scraper and sandpaper.
8. At this point he unscrews the top
and, if building a semi-hollow, will
carve the underside. A Customwood
template is used to trace the f-hole
shape which is cut out using a
scroll saw.
9. The top side of the bottom now
needs channels cut for the wiring as
well as a cavity for the wiring and
volume knobs. For a semi-hollow,
there will also be a sizeable cavity
under the f-hole.
10. The top can now be glued on using
The finished product, a Solace
clamps and the same pickup-hole Marlbarian semi-hollow guitar
screws for placing and clamping.
Dave uses Titebond wood glue.
11. The pickup holes are cut using a jig.
12. The binding is glued around the
body, trimmed, and scraped. While
decorative, it also hides the end-grain
on top.
13. The neck is attached allowing the
bridge to be fitted correctly. Dave
builds the necks for some and buys
others. The Korean-made neck comes
as a paddle, which he cuts into his
signature shape.
14. The final scraping, sanding, and
staining take place.
15. Sometimes a pick guard is fitted.
Made from three-ply styrene or
a pearloid material, Dave cuts
them out with a scroll saw. He
sometimes inlays paua, cats-eye, and
mother-of-pearl.

11 12 14

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 35

36 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
 Above: Setting up the tailpiece and bridge on a four-string semi-hollow bass
Below: Playing a black and gold LP (“I call it the ‘Les Pauling’”)–style guitar made for a family
member from a beam salvaged from his great-grandfather’s old drapery in Blenheim

“It was heavy, sappy

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ZHEVLWHVRODFHLQVWUXPHQWVFRQ]

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 37

 Trade Training at SIT
CAN YOU OPEN THE
RIGHT DOOR FOR
SOMEONE NEAR YOU?
YOU MAY THINK THAT MOST OLD DOGS KNOW ENOUGH TRICKS ALREADY, BUT THIS ARTICLE
ABOUT TRADE TRAINING IS AIMED AT THE PUPS IN YOUR FAMILY OR NEIGHBOURHOOD
This is your opportunity to connect
someone who may have a hidden talent
for a trade with a rewarding career and a
grateful industry!
In the good old days, kids who had an
aptitude for trades or technical subjects
would discover this at school in woodwork,
metalwork, tech drawing, and the like. They
would then move into apprenticeships.
While there’s a move to clear that path
again, many trades today are crying out for
new entrants. The problem is that many
more youngsters have had a non-stop diet
of academic study so they may have no
idea they could have great hand skills and
a promising career in a trade. It’s up to us to
spot that talent and steer them in the right
direction.
One of the best directions to steer them
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of trades programmes that give graduates
the skills and knowledge industry is
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Students in the Trades and Technology
38 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Faculty work in a $5.5 million state-of-the-
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workshops. Leading-edge equipment
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Construction students get hands-on
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If you know someone who is good
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structure, and has good results in design
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Architectural technology students
learn the principles of building design
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concepts into reality, preparing a design
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4XDQWLW\VXUYH\LQJLVDWHUULÀFOLIHVNLOO
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how to estimate materials, cost projects,
communicate with clients, and collaborate
with engineers, architects, and all the trades
involved in a building project. They will be
set to enter the workforce with experience
in SIT’s design suite of 30 stations running
AutoCAD, Inventor, ArchiCAD, as well as
manual drawing stations.
Choosing to study for a New Zealand
Diploma in Civil or Mechanical
Engineering is a path to many different
careers in a high-demand sector. Civil
engineering can involve working in the
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keep modern society operating.
Following on from these two diplomas,
SIT is on track to run a new degree course,
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 Build a set of bunks

Our finished bunks complete with top of

the line Sealy mattresses, ready for their
new home

42 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 We decided to give the
completed bunks to a needy
family as recommended
by the North Shore
Women’s Centre

MAKING BUNKS
W
hen planning content for the idea to them. Great concept, they
The Shed, we strive to feature said, especially happy to be involved
IS THE PERFECT projects that have real usefulness as The Shed had decided to give the

PROJECT FOR and are fun to do. At a planning meeting,

we discussed making a set of wooden
BEGINNER bunks — kids love bunks and a well-
WOODWORKERS. made set will last many years and can
be handed down through the family. The
MEN’S SHED ‘my dad made those’ scenario made us
NORTH SHORE feel good. But there was the question of
who would build them — a good skill set
HELPED WITH THE is required, a decent range of tools, and
BUILD a bit of space, plus, what to do with the
bunks once built?
Who, where, and how?
We had visited the Men’s Shed
By Ian Parkes North Shore in Auckland and been
impressed with the members there and
Photography: Adam Croy their extensive set-up. We approached
and Roger Curl Larry Klassen and his team and put
completed bunks to a needy family,
as recommended by the North Shore
Women’s Centre, the bulk of whose work
is focused on domestic violence. Our Shed
team sourced some wonderful sponsors
to assist with the worthy project.
Placemakers supplied all the materials,
Sleepyhead the mattresses, and Resene
WKH SRO\XUHWKDQH YDUQLVK ÀQLVK 7ZR
team members at the Menzshed took
charge of the build — Bernard Gardner
and Winston Garnett.
Building your own bunks is a lot more
simple than it looks, making them a great
SURMHFWHYHQIRUÀUVWWLPHZRRGZRUNHUV
Unlike some things you could make,
these will probably get used every day
and every time you see them you will get

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 43

 Taking the square corner off the top edge
of the side rails with a router

The assembled bed ends and ladder. Winston

is fixing a long square ledge and the bed
base rests on one of the side rails

the satisfaction of knowing you made a varnishing would not be an option.

practical difference to someone’s life. Don’t be tempted to build it from MDF,
The bunk plans for this project were says Bernard. That might suit commercial
designed by a builder for home building, designs but they use larger panels and
VR KH KDV NHSW WKH ÀGGO\ ELWV WR DQ thicker dimensions to overcome MDF’s
absolute minimum. They avoid some weaknesses. You’d need different plans
of the tricks professionals can use with to build bunks from MDF.
more sophisticated tooling.
Making your bunks
Choose your materials You can cut different pieces to length
The bunks made for this project are built as you go, but Winston and Bernard
with high-grade knot-free timber. To preferred to cut all the stock to length
save money, you could choose a lower and bundle it up to make sure that they
spec timber, and you could probably had the correct number of pieces for
make some top bunk fence rails, suitably assembly. This is easier to do with a drop
dressed, out of pallet timber. You saw on a table as you can set a stop at the
could also make the whole thing out of right length.
plywood, although rounding or radiusing As it happens, they noticed that once
some of the edges might be tricky as the all the timber was cut, they had enough
All the parts were cut first and then
exposed end-grain layers in the timber timber in total, but only if they added a bundled to check that the team had enough
might splinter. You’d need to do more couple of short lengths together. Back to of everything
VDQGLQJ DQG SHUKDSV VRPH ÀOOLQJ DQG Placemakers …

44 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 Every time you see them
you will get the satisfaction
of knowing you made a
SUDFWLFDOGL̆HUHQFHWR
someone’s life

Above: A close look at gluing and screwing

the bed-base support onto the side rail.
Select screw length carefully — you don’t
want them popping out the other side
Left: A small plane makes a neat job of
making the sharp corners more user-friendly
Right: Drilling the holes for the coach bolts
that will fasten the rails to the ends of
the bed
Below: The legs are drilled right through and Below: Temporary bolts hold the side rail to the Below: The top corner of the top bunk,
dome-headed nuts provide a neat finish on headboard in a trial fit. These were replaced showing the interrupted fence attached to
the inside face with chromed dome-headed coach bolts the ‘cheek’ piece, which locates the ladder

Head- and footboards Legs

The headboards and footboards for both
beds are the same and can be assembled
into four units. You will need to mark and
cut the corners from the top rails so that
they will meet the top of each leg neatly.
Note that the legs are rectangular not
square, so make sure you drill the holes
for the bed end fence rails into the wider
side of the legs. Also make sure that these
holes will align the rails with the inside

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 45

 Bernard drills holes in the ends of the
bed legs for the dowels that locate the
beds on top of each other
face of the legs. If not, the space for
the mattress would not be regular, and
they would interfere with the side rails.
Mark and drill the holes for the dowels
in the legs and corresponding holes
into the ends of the rails. Remember
to cut holes into the ends of the legs
where the top and bottom bunks will
join. Tap the dowels into the legs,
apply PVA glue to the end of the rails,
and tap the legs into position. It will
EHHDVLHULI\RXFDQOD\WKHPRQDÁDW
VXUIDFHDJDLQVWDÀUPHGJH+ROGWKHP
together with sash clamps while the
glue sets.
The assembled side rail, viewed from the inside
46 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
The fancy sides and
ends
Next, cut the pieces for the sides and
ends. This is one of the fancy bits —
cutting the curve and the low section They noticed that once
into the side rails. The team used a all the timber was
plunge saw, which allows you to start
cut, they had enough
a cut in the middle of a piece of wood.
Then use a bandsaw to cut the swoop timber in total, but
from the outside to the through-cut. only if they added a
The home builder will have to use a couple of short lengths
jigsaw before they can set a circular-saw
blade nice and square on the right line.
together
You could just leave this step out but it’s
one of the few features that make this look
Below: The top bunk nears completion
 Our bunk builders
Above: Chopping the nice knot-free
timber to length with the drop saw. These
are the stubs of the fence rails by the
ladder on the top bunk
Below: Marking up the spacer that gives
the ladder a small degree of tilt
Winston Garnett and Bernard Gardner
were the two sheddies from rhe
Men’s Shed North Shore who built the
bunks for our project. They explain
what keeps them coming to work in
retirement.
Winston says that seeing a story
on television about the Menzshed
movement was probably a life-saver
for him. He seems too cheerful for
dark thoughts but then that’s what the
shed can do for you.
He had just moved to New Zealand
with his wife after retiring in
South Africa (SA). They have children
with young families both here and in
SA but apart from them they knew
virtually no one here. “You are used
to getting up and going to work,”
says Winston. “I’d wake up and think
I should be going to work now. It’s a
body shock. I was just about climbing
the walls. If I hadn’t seen that thing
on TV, I tell you, in another six weeks
I’d have been chucking myself off that
bridge,” he says.
Winston has the larger-than-life
personality suited to his former job as
a site manager. He’s probably joking
about the bridge but says that the
benefits of filling that sudden void in
The Shed 81 November/December 2018
someone’s life are real enough. He’s
now one of the trustees of this shed
and a key player in much of the banter
here three days a week.
Chairman Larry Klassen chips in, saying
that some people have joined the
shed after being made redundant, or
because they have realized the skills
they developed over a lifetime career
were no longer relevant. “You can tell
[that] they have lost confidence but
you get them going and next thing
you know they are participating like
everybody else,” he says.
Bernard joined the shed after taking
early retirement from a job in telecoms
three years ago. “I didn’t want to do
that any more, so I was looking for
something new.” He admits to having
a few handy skills, having rebuilt an
Austin 7, fitted a three-litre V6 to a
Ford Popular, built a Model T hot rod
that featured headlights made from
brass pot-plant holders, and built a
granny flat in his garden.
He gets to exercise his skills and enjoy
some good company. Bernard says
that a sense of humour, either active
or salvageable, is the lifeblood of shed
life: “We are all the same here, so it
pays not to take yourself too seriously.”
47
 Some folks just drop in to complete one project
Teacher and jazz musician Tama Nathan is
building a couple of electric guitars at the
Men’s Shed North Shore. He’s on a flying
visit home while trying to get a work visa
finalized for the UK. He’d always wanted
to make a guitar and decided that now
was a good time as an antidote to the
visa-application process which, since the
Brexit vote, has become “super stressful”.
Tama hasn’t done any woodworking since
school so admits leaping into luthiery is
ambitious, but he says that the wealth
of knowledge among other members
made this Men’s Shed an ideal place to
attempt it. “They showed me how to use
tools [that] I didn’t even know the names
of,” he says. He got his plans mostly from the road I must be able to fix it myself,
YouTube videos and a couple of books. and I’ve got a lot more confidence about
He carved the complex contours of the picking up a screwdriver now,” she
face and back from solid American ash says. She hasn’t had much experience
timber using drills, routers, and sanders, with tools but she was the first student
while the body and sides were carved to persuade Manurewa High School
out of a block of kauri from an old that girls should be allowed to do tech
boat. It will have an ebony bridge and drawing. The current job is rebuilding
maple fretboard, which will also have the rusty drawbar and there’s lots to
compound curves. He decided to test do including upgrading the wiring to
things out on a prototype but hasn’t current standard. She’s itching to get at
made any bad mistakes with that, so he’s the interior. “It’s all waiting, ready to go
now got two guitars to finish. in,” says Kran. “I’d basically planned it
out and bought everything before I even
Tama’s lack of grey hair makes him stand thought about structural stuff.”
out from the crowd but he found it easy
to fit in. “They weren’t sure at first but
I’m pretty cheeky, so they soon started
giving it back,” he says.
Kran Radford joined the Men’s Shed
after deciding that she didn’t want to
put up tents anymore. She still wanted
to take her daughter, Skyla, who has
cerebral palsy, on holiday, so she bought
a 1977 pop-up trailer, which could best
be described as ‘tired’. After the welder
who was going to fix it hurt his shoulder,
she started googling and came across
the the Men’s Shed North Shore. She said
that she felt bad about just dropping it
off and leaving. “They said if I wanted to
do stuff I should join.” So she did. “I’ve
learned a lot. I realized [that] if we’re on

like proper furniture, rather than a stack

of pallets. It’s also practical, helping the
user avoid contact with a hard edge when
getting in and out, and making it easier
to make the bed. For the same reason you
should use a router or shave and sand a
soft edge along its entire length.

Bed-base supports
Next, glue and screw the small square
lengths of timber that will support the
bed base onto the bottom edge of the
side rails. Remember, these rails are
fastened to the outside of the bed legs,
so you have to leave a gap where these
support strips will butt up against the
legs at each end.

Above: This plunge saw makes

a neat job of the cutaway in the
side rails, as it can rotate down
into the workpiece while fully
supported
Left: The cutaway curves were
made using a bandsaw
Right: Once all four rails were
cut the edges were rounded on
a router

48 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 So how do you join a Men’s Shed?
The Shed sounded out Men’s Shed
North Shore trustee Bernard Gardner
on the selection process for prospective
members. Turns out that it’s less
stringent than NASA’s astronaut
programme.
The Shed: Who is the right kind of
person to be a sheddie?
Bernard: Anybody.
Really? Surely you’d have to have
some basic DIY skills at least?
Not even that. Different people get
different things out of it. We have some
members who just come in for a coffee
and a chat at lunchtime and they’re
every bit as welcome as the next guy.
It’s a second home for some people
and that’s fine.
The majority of members in the
workshop today seem to be former
tradesmen.
Maybe tradies are more likely to know
about the Menzshed [movement]
already — and they know that
they’ll find the tools [that] they used
professionally in our workshop. It’s a
seamless progression for them. That’s
probably half the membership but we
get people from all walks of life. I can
think of business people, architects,
IT people, and we have people on
the board who were business people,
project managers, and accountants. I
guess you gravitate to what you know.
Is it just for retired people?
Most members are retired or semi-
retired and that’s where the idea came
from — to help retired people stay
active and do something useful — but
we do have younger members as well.
It’s pretty handy for people who don’t
have the skills or tools for a project but
are taking it on anyway. It’s a great way
to get some experience and guidance,
maybe avoid some mistakes, and get
some free help. We’ve had one young
guy fitting out a van with a bed in the
back and several guys pitched in on
that one.
Do you get people joining who have
no hand skills at all?
We get people come in who just want
to help out and that’s fine because we
can always find something they can do,
even if it’s just painting, until they gain
more confidence.
Do people get a mentor to help them?
It’s not that formal, but if they are
helping out there will be someone
keeping an eye on them. For some
people, helping out is just the thing
you do between the real business of
the day — having a natter. There’s no
pressure so there’s always someone
who’s got time for a chat. If pushed, I’d
say [that] the minimum requirements
would be the ability to boil a kettle and
have an opinion on something. They
are some of our favourite people.
So what does it cost to join?
Well we have costs to meet. Our
expenditure is more than $20K a
year … It’s an annual fee of $90 a year.
Our shed’s open from 9am to 4pm on
Mondays and Wednesdays and 9am to
2pm on Fridays and Saturdays, but you
have to give yourself time to clean up
and pack away.
Has a woman ever asked to join?
Bernard: Actually, we have five women
members already. As I said, this shed is
for everyone.
Larry Klassen: And let’s not forget the
women who turned up here with their
husbands and got them to sign up.
Actually, we did a survey of members
a while back asking them if we should
go from opening three days a week
to four. We had quite a few members’
wives respond saying yes, definitely!

Assemble the bases

This is a simple job, simply gluing and
screwing battens onto the underside of
the 6mm MDF base at equally spaced
intervals. You could then drill holes
through the hardboard to provide some
ventilation to the mattress if you prefer.
The weight is carried by the battens.

Assembling the side rail

units Drill the holes for the steps, taking care not
Mark the positioning carefully to ensure to go right through. Add glue and pull the
whole thing together to set with sash clamps
that you’ll get a nice square result. using some offcuts to protect the surface
Mount screws from the inside to keep
the bunks looking tidy from the outside,
and choose the screw length carefully to
avoid them poking through. Pre-drilling
the holes will avoid any tendency for
the wood to split. Mark the right depth
or use a collar on the drill bit to avoid
punching through to the outside. Use
one screw to join the verticals to the rail
and check the alignment again before
drilling and using a second screw.
Where the side rails join the legs you
can use long screws, but there’s another

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 49

 Schematics by Dave Wardlaw, drawn by Roger Curl



 

















ASSEMBLED BUNK BEDS

DIMENSIONS BASED ON STANDARD

MATTRESS: 1880X900MM
  
CHECK MATTRESS SIZE BEFORE
CUTTING


5$,/6





,6
BASE — FOUR REQUIRED

,6


LADDER   























7<3








ƒ 
  


50 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

  

Using spacers to check the distance before

gluing and screwing the bed-base slats

solution that makes it easier to take

the bed apart. Look out for ‘insert nuts’
— these allow you to bolt something
together without having to drill through
and place unsightly nuts on the other
side. They have a thread on the inside
for a bolt and a thread on the outside
to screw into the leg. Then you can
fasten the fence rails to the legs with
appropriate-size bolts. This means you
can assemble and disassemble the beds
just by undoing the bolts.

Build the ladder


Simply mark and drill holes into the side
 rails without going through, glue, and
assemble. If you don’t have long clamps,
you can make a Spanish windlass by
UPPER BUNK
wrapping ropes around the whole
 thing, inserting sticks into the loop, and
  twisting it to apply pressure. Leave the

stick resting against something to hold
LW LQ SODFH 3XW ELWV RI VDFULÀFLDO WLPEHU
in the way of the ropes’ contact points to
Bill of materials
avoid making dents.
ITEM NAME QTY LENGTH* WIDTH* THICKNESS* Note that while young feet probably
1 SIDE 4 2025 180 18
2 END 4 866 180 18
ZRQ·W QRWLFH ÁDW VWHSV DUH PRUH
3 LEG 1 4 900 65 32 comfortable. If you choose this option,
4 LEG 2 4 900 65 32
5 HEADBOARD 1 4 866 65 18
the ladder rails should be deeper. The
6 HEADBOARD 2 4 866 90 18 ladder can be screwed or bolted to the
7 RAIL 4 1910 24 24
‘cheeks’, which interrupt and support
8 DOWEL Ø10x50 66
9 COACH BOLT M10x60 14 the fence rails where the ladder lands.f
10 COACH BOLT M10x75 12
11 DOME NUT M10 26
12 WASHER M10 26


Tapping the bolts through for a test assembly

13 WOODSCREW 8gx38 22
14 BASE BOARD 4 955 928 6
15 SLAT 32 928 40 18


16 UPRIGHT 1 2 500 65 32


17 UPRIGHT 2 3 500 65 18
18 UPPER SIDE 2 2 100 65 18
19 UPPER SIDE 3 2 2025 65 18
20 UPPER SIDE 1 2 1455 65 18
21 DOWEL Ø12x60 4
22 MACHINE SCREW M6x40 8
23 NUT INSERT M6 8
24 WOODSCREW 8gx32 30
25 LADDER STILE 2 1200 65 32
26 LADDER RUNG 5 Ø25x446
27 LADDER BRACKET 2 90 90 18
*All measurements in millimetres
  **Pine used for this build but MDF or ply could be used to cut costs

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 51

 Above: Chromed coach bolts and domed nuts
give a more professional finish to the only
fixings you see on the beds
Left: Remember to check mattress size before
building
Below: It’s easy to see where you’ve been
with the first coat of varnish. The second, not
so much

Alternatively, if you want to be able to
remove the ladder easily, you could screw
U-shaped galvanized metal brackets
at the top of it to hook over the side of
the bed.
,I À[LQJ WKH ODGGHU PHDVXUH DQG
cut stand-off pieces, which will steady
it against the bottom bunk, and glue
these to the ladder. Line them up with
the bottom of the bunk, then you can
add narrow metal straps on the bottom
of the pieces going under the bunk rail.
Screwing through the holes at each end
— one into the stand-off piece and one
into the bottom side of the rail — will
hold them in place.
EXW D SDLQWHG ÀQLVK LV PRUH PRGHUQ
Consultation with the householder at
the bunks’ destination would probably
be the smart move at this point. We
wanted to show off the quality timber
and grain so we didn’t cover it up, and
some Resene semi-gloss polyurethane Below: Tracey Swanberg and Dawn
did the trick for us nicely. Hutchison from the North Shore Women’s
Centre take delivery of the bunks from
the sponsors
The Shed thanks our bunk
project sponsors

Assemble the beds

First, you will need to mark and cut bolt
holes through the side rails into the legs
at each corner. You can use conventional
KH[KHDGHG EROWV IRU WHPSRUDU\ À[LQJ
but a neater solution is dome-headed
FRDFK EROWV ÀQLVKHG ZLWK GRPHKHDGHG
nuts on the inside faces of the legs. This
means that the beds can be disassembled
for delivery or to move them to another
ORFDWLRQ ³ RU IRU WKH ÀQDO VWHS LQ WKH
build process …
The construction team: Men’s Shed All materials: Placemakers, Link Drive,
Painting North Shore, Bernard Gardner, Wairau Valley, Takapuna
If you have used nice new or recycled Winston Garnett, David Wardlaw, Mattresses: Sleepyhead, Felicity Turner,
timber, some good Resene semi-gloss Roger Curl, and Larry Klasson and Shane Johnson
polyurethane will show off the quality, Paint: Resene, Karen Warman

52 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 BBC Micro Bit

ROBOT-READY
USING MICRO DC MOTORS TO POWER
A SMARTPHONE-CONTROLLED ROBOT
By Enrico Miglino
Photographs: Enrico Miglino

Parts and components

T
he BBC Micro Bit project we will
share with you this issue is more
complex than the previous ones. This
time we will explore the use of micro
DC motors controlled by the Micro Bit
and build a four-wheel cardboard robot
controlled by a smartphone.
Together with the Micro Bit board, this
time we will use some cheap components
that will make our robot more interesting.
A couple of geared micro motors by
Kitronik (kitronik.co.uk/2587-n20-series-
micro-metal-gearmotor-501.html) will be
used in direct-traction mode to drive the
four-wheel robot.
The Micro Bit is powered by 3.3V,
while the motors need about 5V or
PRUH SRZHU WR ZRUN HIÀFLHQWO\ 7R
make the two power lines available, I

Rendering of the 3D models, created with Fusion 3D, used to 3D-rendered image of the free-wheel
3D print the wheels and supports group assembled

54 The Shed 81 November/December 2018


used a DC/DC step-down converter to
provide the 3.3V from the 9V battery
power supply (amazon.com/eBoot-
LM2596-Converter-3-0-40V-1-5-35V/
dp/B01GJ0SC2C/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8
&qid=1534091102&sr=8-6&keywords
=dcdc+converter).
Below: The drive wheels glued to the geared micro motors and a bench rotation test
The step-down converter is a small
circuit that, if powered by a higher
FXUUHQWFDQEHFRQÀJXUHGE\DWULPPHU
to erogate a stable lower voltage.
To control the motors’ motion, we
will use a motor controller based on
the L298N IC (amazon.com/Qunqi-
The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Above: 3D printing the wheels and the other
components for the robot
Left: The wheel parts 3D printed, ready for
assembly
Below: The free wheels are fixed in place by
gluing the axles to the support block, then
fixing these to the cardboard
Controller-Module-Stepper-Arduino/dp/
B014KMHSW6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=
UTF8&qid=1534091333&sr=8-1-spons
&keywords=l298+h+bridge&psc=1).
The L298N motor controller is
assembled on a small printed circuit
board (PCB) ready for wiring and
55
 Left: The assembled
free wheels and their
support glued to the
cardboard chassis.
With the four-wheel
robot design, two
free wheels are
on the front of the
vehicle
Right and below:
Constructing the
cardboard chassis
and fixing the front
free wheels in place

Left and right:

Preparation
of the driving
wheels, with the
micro motors
glued inside their
supports

The GitHub
repository that has
been updated with
the material used
in this project
can be found
at: alicemirror.
github.com/
ShedMagazine.

immediate use. The same motor control
board can be used to drive a stepper
motor or two DC motors. The circuit
is powered by 5V AA batteries in a 6V
AA battery holder. The chassis of the
four-wheel robot only requires some
cardboard. The prototype I built is just
an example, and you can design your
own as you wish.
The two geared micro motors are
VXIÀFLHQWO\ SRZHUIXO WR EH FRQQHFWHG
directly to the axis of two of the four
wheels. The motors’ holders and the
rotating parts were 3D printed.
Building
After cutting the cardboard parts of
the chassis, I assembled them using
my inseparable hot glue gun. Wiring
the motor components together is quite
easy; you only need to solder two wires
to every micro motor terminal, while
the rest of the cabling can be wired with
the help of a small-sized breadboard.
How the motor controller
works
The L298N IC is a component that
includes half bridges to control two
DC motors. Depending on the impulses
sent by the Micro Bit, the motors rotate
clockwise or counterclockwise.
While a stepper motor needs four wires
to control every step corresponding to a
VSHFLÀF URWDWLRQ GHJUHH WR GULYH D '&
motor, only two wires are required; a

56 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

Above: The cardboard chassis with the four Right: Hot-gluing the Micro Bit
wheels in place. The driving wheels (with support in front of the vehicle
motors) are glued to the rear side of the Below: The finished four-wheel
robot cardboard robot

single L298N motor controller can drive

up to two DC motors.
Every DC motor is driven by two logic
signals, connected to the Micro Bit
general purpose digital input and
output (GPIO). Depending on the logic
level of the two signals, the motor
will stop, rotate clockwise, or rotate
counterclockwise.
To work correctly, the half-bridge
motor controller needs a circuit
including some discrete components
(capacitor, diodes, resistors); however,
don’t worry about the circuit design,
as inexpensive motor controller boards
based on this integrated circuit include
the complete circuit ready to use.

BBC Micro Bit block

programming
I developed the programme in two
SKDVHV ÀUVW , ZURWH VLPSOH VRIWZDUH
to drive the motor forwards and
backwards along a short path. After
WKLVÀUVWWHVW,FUHDWHGVRPHWKLQJPRUH
interesting: I added some programming
to control the four-wheel robot with my
smartphone.
The Micro Bit is not only an
educational board; it has also attracted
an incredible number of makers,
developers, teachers, and others.
Thanks to the wide number of projects
that have grown around this powerful
microcontroller, I located online a well-
documented free app for smartphones
to control the Micro Bit: Kitronik Move
App for Mobile Devices (kitronik.
co.uk/blog/kitronik-move-app).
Good documentation on how the
app exchanges commands with the
Micro Bit is available on the Kitronik
website, as the same mobile app is used
to control the company’s two-wheel
Micro Bit robot.
Analysing how the software works,
LWZDVQRWGLIÀFXOWWRKDFNLWDGDSWLQJ
the function calls to the four-wheel
prototype that I built. After a few hours
of work, the new programme worked
and the robot started moving — as easy
as counting 1, 2, 3 …
A video of the running robot is
available on YouTube: youtu.be/EK0s2-
ptq7w.

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 57

 Advertising Promotion
A golden opportunity for
your shed from MeloYelo
IF THERE’S ONE THING THAT SHOULD GET YOU OUT AND ABOUT
THIS SUMMER, IT’S TRYING OUT AN E-BIKE
C
areful now, you might want one!
It’s a real risk. E-bike evangelist Ken
Agar of New Plymouth has seen it a
thousand times. Someone heading out a
bit nervously on an e-bike, then coming
back wreathed in smiles, saying: “I want
one!”
Ken has worked in electrical systems
most of his life and has specialized in
e-bikes for the last eight years. Now, in
semi-retirement, he runs his own e-bike
dealership from his garage.
It’s a model he says other sheddies owe
it to themselves to check out. “It’s a way to
get out of the shed and get some exercise
— but it’s also a way to make some income
from your time in the shed.”
Ken is one of nine nationwide associates
of the home-grown MeloYelo e-bike
58 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
business, and he says the time is right
for new associates to take the business
into many more communities across New
Zealand.
MeloYelo offers a range of latest
technology e-bikes at a substantial cost-
saving compared with similarly equipped
brands, and it is contributing to the Kiwi
economy in a genuinely inspiring way.
The business is a social enterprise set
up to support the EVolocity programme,
which helps New Zealand schoolkids
towards a future in electric vehicles.
EVolocity is an annual project-based
challenge to design and build electric
vehicles around motors and batteries
supplied by the charity.
“That’s what made me want to be part
of it,” says Ken.
Why are e-bikes on a roll?
The technology is now mature, reliable,
affordable, and crucially, e-bikes can help
more non-cyclists back onto two wheels.
That will accelerate investment in safer
cycling infrastructure, which is a win for
everyone. They do this by answering two
of the main objections from non-cyclists:
that New Zealand is too hilly and too
windy.
“E-bikes make the hills and the wind
disappear!” says Ken. “I know people who
have gone for a bike ride for fun, and it
was — until they had to ride up the hill
to get home or turn into a headwind, then
they say, ‘Where was the fun in that?’”
He knows people who gave up cycling
when they got fed up with the hard
work on the hills, and who have since
rediscovered the joy of cycling on e-bikes.
Another common comment is that
e-bikes are somehow ‘cheating’ and that
half the point of cycling is the exercise.
Ken says you can still pedal as hard as you
want to, but the motor is there when the
fun stops — and who doesn’t enjoy what
feels like a strong following wind? He says
e-bike riders use their bikes more than
most cyclists so they are also more likely
to be healthier as well as happier.
They also bring older people, especially
couples, back to cycling to enjoy the
RXWGRRUV DQG JHW ÀW WRJHWKHU ZLWKRXW
the hump associated with most exercise
regimes.
E-bikes are also brilliant commuting
machines. They are often faster than
UXVKKRXU WUDIÀF WKH\ DUH FRPIRUWDEOH
cost just cents to run, and nothing to
park. And as they don’t have to cheat the
wind like racing bikes do, they have an
upright riding position. This is both more
comfortable and safer as it gives the rider
a much better view of their surroundings.
The power assist also means that riders
don’t need to break into a sweat, so they
can wear normal street clothes.
Join the revolution from
your shed
EVolocity principal Rob McEwen says that
unlike a standard franchise operation,
you don’t need capital for retail space or
staff to join MeloYelo and there are no
ongoing running costs. You pay a joining
fee, and then you can operate easily from
your own garage or shed.
Selling a bike commits you to building
it up, setting it up to suit the customer’s
riding style, carrying out a free scheduled
service, and being available for any future
service needs. Ken says that the largest
part of his business over winter was
in servicing and repair of all brands of
e-bikes, not just MeloYelo bikes.
“I’m known locally as the go-to guy for
e-bikes, so they just say, ‘Let’s take it to
Ken’.”
He and other long-established members
provide training sessions to help set new
members up, so that they can do the same
thing in their communities.
Ken is not expecting a MeloYelo associate
to become the next new-tech zillionaire,
but he earns a good commission on his
sales and from selling service plans. “It’s Ken says that it’s essential for associates
just a nice little business to get involved to invest in some demo bikes. “If you
with.” don’t have demo bikes then you don’t
have sales,” says Ken. He continues to get
Tech talk a buzz from seeing cyclists old and new
All of the MeloYelo bikes have their falling under the e-bike spell.
motors in their rear hubs. It’s the standard Even if you don’t plan to join the e-bike
arrangement for most e-bikes and works wave, you should still go and have a test
for 80–90 per cent of riding. Some e-bikes ride, just because it’s so much fun.
costing thousands more — high-end “The sense of freedom is amazing,” says
mountain bikes — have centrally mounted Ken. “It will genuinely be one of the most
motors between the cranks. Using the fun things you’ve done lately, and if you
bike’s gearing translates to more torque, can see a business in that, well, good on
but if 80 or 90 per cent of your riding is you!”
still around town, that strength is rarely Want to learn more? On the MeloYelo
used. “It’s like owning a Ferrari. Yes, it can website, meloyelo.nz, see ‘Join our team’
do over 300km/h, but how often do you or call Rob McEwen on 021 728 875.
get to do that?”
Ken says MeloYelo customers appreciate
the brand’s value for money, saving
around $500 or more against similar
models, never mind the Ferraris. And as
the integrated Bafang motor, controller,
torque sensor, waterproof cabling, and
display were all designed to work together,
they perform better than anything in their
price range. Bafang is Asia’s biggest and
most trusted brand in e-bike electrical
systems.
One customer testimonial happily noted
that at the end of a long trail ride they
powered past some more expensively
mounted riders, earning a few dark looks.
MeloYelo offers eight different models to
suit different uses. They would all handle
off-road cycle trails, but bigger batteries
are also available for the longer trails.
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 59
 Magnetic sweeper

60 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 1 2
MAKING
A CLEAN
SWEEP
By Des Thomson
Photographs: Juliet Nicholas
A
t the Halswell Menzshed we recycle
crates from a local industry. The
FUDWHV XVHG WR JR WR ODQGÀOO EXW
DUHQRZDYDOXDEOHSO\ZRRGDQGWLPEHU
UHVRXUFHIRU0HQ]VKHGSURMHFWV(Images 1
and 2). 7KLVKDVEHQHÀWWHGQRWRQO\WKH
VKHGEXWDOVRWKHORFDOFRPSDQ\ZKLFKLV
QRZDEOHWRFODLPDQHQYLURQPHQWDOWLFN
IRUJRRGZDVWHUHGXFWLRQSUDFWLFH
Most of the recycling is carried out under
FRYHURQDFRQFUHWHSDGEXWGHSHQGLQJRQ
VSDFHWKHFUDWHVPD\DOVREHGLVPDQWOHG
on the gravel driveway. This results in the
SRVVLELOLW\RIW\UHVJHWWLQJSXQFWXUHVIURP
QDLOVDQGVWDSOHVWKDWPD\EHGURSSHGLQ
WKHVDOYDJHSURFHVV
,QDEXV\VKHGWKHUHDUHRWKHUVRXUFHV
RIVKDUSVWHHOZDVWHDVZHOO'HVSLWHJRRG
If you have ever tried
to sweep up swarf
you will know how
GL̇FXOWLWLVWRHQVXUH
that you get it all
KRXVHNHHSLQJ SUDFWLFH VZDUI IURP WKH
GULOOSUHVVODWKHDQGPLOOLQJPDFKLQHFDQ
HDVLO\ JHW FDUULHG RXWVLGH E\ IRRW WUDIÀF
DQGHQGXSRQWKHGULYHZD\,I\RXKDYH
HYHU WULHG WR VZHHS XS VZDUI \RX ZLOO
NQRZKRZGLIÀFXOWLWLVWRHQVXUHWKDW\RX
get it all.
The Shed 81 November/December 2018
3
NEODYMIUM
MAGNETS PROVE
TO BE THE PERFECT
SOLUTION TO
GETTING RID OF
SWARF
Workshop harmony
$IWHU PXPEOLQJV RI GLVFRQWHQW DERXW WKH
SRWHQWLDO SXQFWXUHV DQG WKRVH ´PHVV\
HQJLQHHUVµ , GHFLGHG WR PDNH D VLPSOH
PDJQHWLF VZHHSHU 7KH FRQFHSW LV QRW
QHZ0DJQHWVKDYHEHHQXVHGIRUSLFNLQJ
XSURDGGHEULVIRUDORQJWLPHDQGWKH\DUH
very effective.
7KH FKDOOHQJH WKRXJK LV ZKHUH WR ÀQG
PDJQHWV WKDW DUH VWURQJ HQRXJK DQG
how to effectively remove collected steel
waste from the magnets. In an ideal world
LW ZRXOG EH JUHDW WR EH DEOH WR WXUQ WKH
magnetism off and on.
7KLVFDQEHGRQHRIFRXUVHE\VKLIWLQJ
WKH PDJQHWLF SROHV LQ WKH VDPH ZD\
WKDW PDJQHWLF FKXFNV GR RQ D VXUIDFH
grinder (3) — YHU\ HIIHFWLYH EXW ,
61
 Otherwise known as
‘rare-earth’ magnets,
they were developed
independently back
in 1982 by General
Motors and Sumitomo
Special Metals

couldn’t see our toolmakers in the

shed being happy to see the magnetic
chuck from the surface grinder being
‘borrowed’ to pick up nails.

Neodymium magnets
So turning to Ali Express I looked up
neodymium magnets. Neodymium
magnets are the strongest type of
permanent magnet that is commercially
available, with China producing about
76 per cent of the world’s supply.
Otherwise known as ‘rare-earth’ magnets,
they were developed independently
back in 1982 by General Motors and 4
Sumitomo Special Metals.
The strength of neodymium magnets
is primarily due to the fact that the
Nd2Fe14B crystal structure within the
magnet preferentially magnetizes along
DVSHFLÀFFU\VWDOD[LVEXWLVYHU\GLIÀFXOW
to magnetize in other directions. This
FUHDWHVDVXSHUVWURQJPDJQHWLFÀHOG

Warning — take care

The strong magnetic force exerted by
rare-earth magnets will catch you out if
you are not very careful with how you
handle them. Neodymium magnets are
strong enough to cause injuries to body
parts pinched between two magnets, or
between a magnet and a ferrous metal
surface. Large ones can easily break bones. 5
Neodymium magnets are quite brittle
and if they get too near each other they 7KH VWURQJ PDJQHWLF ÀHOGV DUH DOVR Design of the sweeper
can strike each other with enough force hazardous to mechanical and electronic The design and function of the magnetic
to chip and shatter. I inadvertently let one devices. They can erase magnetic media sweeper is simple. Neodymium magnets
of the small, oblong magnets snap back such as credit cards, and magnetize are recessed into a timber carrier block.
onto the pile and it broke in two (4). watches. Don’t put them anywhere near 7KHEORFNLVÀWWHGZLWKZRRGHQZKHHOV
There have even been cases where your wallet! Neodymium magnets also that hold the magnets 20mm above
young children have swallowed several tend to be vulnerable to corrosion, so all the ground (5). You don’t want steel
magnets and sections of the digestive the ones you buy will usually be coated debris to stick directly to the magnets,
tract have been pinched between two with a bright nickel plating to prevent so a removable sheet of heavy-duty
magnets, causing injury or death. exposure to the atmosphere. SRO\WKHQHQHHGVWREHÀWWHGRYHUWKHP

62 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 6 7

When you need to remove the collected
steel debris you simply pull the plastic
sheet off the magnets, which drops
everything into the waste bin (6 and 7).
Making the parts
The magnets I used were 30mm diameter
by 10mm thick with a screw hole in
WKH FHQWUH 7KH ÀUVW VWHS LQ PDNLQJ WKH
sweeper is to select a suitable block of
wood to mount them on. We used a piece
of 60x30mm macrocarpa. It can be any
length you want depending on the number
of magnets you want to use. Our sweeper
was 400mm long. This gives a nice, wide
sweep but is still manageable for getting
close to machines in the metal workshop.
To mount the magnets, bore 30x10mm
deep holes at 75mm spacing. You will
ÀQG WKDW LI \RX WU\ WR SODFH WKHP FORVHU
together the magnets will start to repel
each other. A Forstner bit does a nice job
of making the recessed holes (8).
7KHQH[WVWHSLVWRÀ[DVPDOOSLHFHRI
20mm ply to the carrier block and drill a
hole at an angle so an old broom stick or
20mm dowel can be inserted to be used
as a handle to move the sweeper around.
Drilling holes at an angle can be tricky
but Don Reeves, one of our Menzshed
members, has made a nifty jig to make
this process simple (9). Don made the jig
for drilling the holes for Windsor chairs.
When the block is mounted on the jig,
the hole can be accurately drilled (10).
The wheels are 80mm diameter and were

8 9 10
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 63
 11

12 13

14 15 16
64 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
 Don Reeves

When you need to

remove the collected
steel debris you simply
pull the plastic sheet
R̆WKHPDJQHWVZKLFK
GURSVHYHU\WKLQJLQWR
WKHZDVWHELQ

made from scrap 18mm ply. They can be

turned on the lathe (11 and 12) or cut out
using a bandsaw. We used 8mm carriage-
bolt screws as axles. Drilling holes parallel
to an edge is easily done at our shed (13)
because we have a dowel borer, but a drill
press could be used as well.

Final touches
The polythene we used was a scrap left
over from a tunnel-house cover. It is
thicker than ordinary polythene and is
YHU\VWURQJ7KHÀUVWVWHSLVWRVDQGZLFK
one end of the plastic between two
30x12mm sticks using wood screws (14).
This will be held onto the carrier block
by two over-centre catches. The catches
FDQEHÀWWHGQH[W(15 and 16).
With the catch in place the plastic can
now be pulled tight over the magnets
and the loose end secured onto the other
side of the carrier block (17). We used
three staples to hold it in place while

Don is one of the founding members segments of wood are individually

of the Halswell Menzshed. He
emigrated from England in 1972 and
has spent 55 years as a precision tool
maker. His skills as an engineer have
been put to good use in the shed,
where he has built a variety of tools for
shed members to use. The most recent
is a metal ring roller. This is capable
of bending rounds, flats, and square-
section tubing and is a joy to use.
His skill on the wood lathe is amazing.
His wooden fruit and segmented
17 bowls are real works of art. Tiny
glued together and then the whole
assembly is turned inside and out on
the lathe — a very skilled operation
in which the slightest miscalculation
with the chisel will result in disaster,
and the test of a true craftsman.
His love of precision work extends to
his making pens from all varieties of
wood. He sells these to raise funds for
charities. These make beautiful gifts
— if you want one for that special
person in your life, you can contact
Don at donaldreeves76@gmail.com.

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 65

 18 19 20

If it prevents one
puncture it will have
paid for itself

a thin strip of timber was screwed

on (18–20). 21 22
The wheels can now be screwed on
using the 8mm carriage-bolt screws
(21 and 22).$ÁDWZDVKHUZDVÀWWHGRQ
each side of the wheels.
Nicknamed ‘The Magnetron’ the little
sweeper was now ready for use after
ÀWWLQJWKHKDQGOH(23). It is amazing how
much metal debris the little sweeper picks
up. It is very effective for use on concrete
or gravel and will pick up any ferrous
metal from nails to the smallest staple
(24). Unlatching the catch and pulling
the plastic away from the magnets will
drop all the debris into the bin.
This sweeper is well worth the $30 of
magnets used in its construction — if it
prevents one puncture it will have paid
for itself.

23 24
66 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
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 Forum
All aboard
A MODEL TRAIN BUILD PROVES TO BE A
REWARDING JOURNEY
By Richard Brown
Photographs: Richard Brown
T
his project started after a visit to
The Plains Vintage Railway and
Historical Museum in Ashburton
(plainsrailway.co.nz). Our three boys
had really enjoyed the model trains and
on the way home asked if I could build
one for them. As the kilometres went by,
a few ideas began to form, and the seeds
for this project were planted.
Over the Christmas / New Year break,
I decided to retire to my workshop and
start turning the thoughts and ideas into
the real thing.
The overall design is based on the
TR189 (see photo at right).
68 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Above: The twins, Xavier (left) and Ryder
(right) with the two new batteries given to
them from Ryobi New Zealand
Below: A TR189, the full-size locomotive used
as a reference for the body shape
Standard-scale model
sizes
Working as I do at Autoparts Partsworld
in Timaru has big advantages and I
discovered that Toyota Corona power-
steering pulleys were the ideal size for
the wheels. A quick skim on a lathe gave
PHDUHDOLVWLFÁDQJHGZKHHOWKDWFRXOGEH
welded onto a shaft. Nice.
With the wheels sorted, the chassis size
was loosely dictated by the material I had
on hand, but in hindsight I wish I’d stuck
to one of the standard-scale model sizes,
so it could be demonstrated elsewhere.
A few wooden bucks helped decide the
Above: Chassis welded up, with the axles and wheels attached
Right: Chassis (unpowered) finished, with coupler made from race
seatbelt clips and coach-bolt buffers

I discovered that Toyota Corona

power-steering pulleys were the
ideal size for the wheels

sizing of the engine and cab, and these
were fabricated from sheet metal and
riveted/welded together.
Five-minute wonder?
The carriage had to accommodate three
boys and the odd guest, so it also had to
be rigid enough to not be a hazard.
I had looked online for the various
other parts, but the prices were not
suitable for this project, hence old race-
harness clips made an ideal coupler, and
coach bolts look the part of buffers.
:H KDG QR LGHD LI LW ZRXOG EH D ¶ÀYH
minute wonder’, or something that they
ZRXOG VKDUH DQG SOD\ ZLWK VR WKH ÀUVW
version was a push model on a straight
section of track.
To make the track, I decided that angle
iron bolted to wooden sleepers would be
easier than welding them in place during
summer on dry grass.
Power options
Once the boys proved that this was
something they were keen to play with,
I looked at the options for powering it.
Some others use a car battery and wiper
motor or starter motor, and these were
dismissed as either not powerful enough
or far too powerful. The added issues of
a heavy car battery, and possible acid
leaks if they accidentally tipped it over,
plus the problem of charging it, meant

Above: Start of the planning for the

bodywork
Below: Shaping the sheet-metal bodywork
using a wooden buck
Right: Bodywork finished ready for a tidy up
before paint, and the finished flat carriage

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 69


that I kept looking. Mobility scooters
were another option but these are hard
WRÀQGDQGVWLOOUHTXLUHGH[SHQVLYHDQG
KHDY\EDWWHULHV
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IRUZDUGRIIUHYHUVH VSHHG OLJKW DQG
KRUQDUHFRQWUROOHGIURPWKLV
Battery holder and motor controller
mounted inside the cab
70 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Testing the e-bike motor with the
controller and 18V battery system
Below: Brass nameplate, made by a
friend with a CNC router
The extras
7KHKRUQZDVDVSHFLDOUHTXHVWIURPP\
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7KH HELNH PRWRU XVHV D VWDQGDUG
ELNHFKDLQZKLFKPHDQVWKDW\RXDOVR
QHHGVRPHROGJHDUVIURPWKHORFDOELNH The horn was a
GLVPDQWOHUV%RWKIURQWDQGUHDUVKDIWV special request from
DUH GULYHQ DQG WKH GULYH ZKHHOV KDYH
my clients
KDGUXEEHUDGGHGDVWKHVOLJKWO\XQHYHQ
WUDFN DQG WKLQ VHFWLRQ RI WKH DQJOH
Chassis (powered) all wired and
finished with the remote-control box
Flynn (aged seven) pushing Nana and Ryder through
the level crossing before the train was powered
iron results in slippage with large (i.e.,
adult) loads.
The chain goes 90 degrees around a
bearing to the motor, and one bearing is
slotted to allow tension adjustments.
The tracks and the train
shed
With the motorization in place, the short
track needed extending.
To curve the track, I had a local
engineering shop roll it. This was not
cheap and rolled angle tends to take on
a different shape, so for the next curved
VHFWLRQ ZH XVHG ÁDW EDU RQ HGJH DQG
welded it to a spacer. While this is more
labour intensive, the bar is cheaper
than angle and gives greater surface for
the wheels.
The train needed a permanent shelter,
so we decided to relocate the track to
the other side, and add a lean-to onto bogies as the length means that it won’t
the existing playhouse. My wife made a negotiate the corners without derailing.
cover to keep the dirt and moisture at It’s been an enjoyable journey and the
bay while it is in the train shed. pleasure the three boys get from playing
with it is something you just can’t buy.
Final touches
The train was painted and lettering Xavier (aged four) working the night
added, while a proper train crossing with shift, heading through the cutting under
the tree hut
signs was added to make it easier to cross
the track.
Ryobi heard about our project and
provided additional batteries in exchange
for some photos of enthusiastic boys.
This means that each of the three boys
KDVDEDWWHU\EXWZLWKPRIÁDWWUDFN
the horn and light going, a battery will
last about one-and-a-half days of use.
We’ve had plenty of testers of all ages,
and I’ve decided that a turntable and
a tanker carriage are the next phase.
The tanker will be on shorter pivoting
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 71
 Battery knowledge,
safety, and charging

Lipo bags are mandatory in radio-control clubs

for safely recharging, but they are not 100-per-
cent safe

72 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 CHARGING UP
NOT ALL BATTERIES ARE EQUAL AND CHARGING SOME
CAN BE PLAIN DANGEROUS. HERE’S A GUIDE TO BATTERY
SAFETY AND THE DANGERS TO BE AWARE OF WHEN
RECHARGING DIFFERENT TYPES OF BATTERIES
By Mark Beckett

HDOONQRZDERXWÁDWEDWWHULHV³ Battery history

W XVXDOO\ LW·V WKH 79 UHPRWH JRLQJ
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DZDUHQHVVDQGPD\EHKHOSSUHYHQWVRPH
SRWHQWLDOO\GDQJHURXVVLWXDWLRQV
So the point of this article
is to raise awareness and
maybe help prevent some
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Voltage
1RUPDO DONDOLQH EDWWHULHV DUH 9 ZKLOH
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potentially dangerous FDPHUDV PDLQO\ WR PLVEHKDYH LW LV WKH
situations FXUUHQW DYDLODEOH IURP D UHFKDUJHDEOH
WKDWFDQFDXVHLVVXHVf

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 73

 Most alkaline batteries can only
deliver 1 to 2A, but a rechargeable
can provide 10 times that. It can melt
connections and destroy wiring in most
toys if the motor gets jammed or stalled
and, as you know, the kids always
think it’s fun to run their toy as fast
possible up against the wall to see what
JLYHVÀUVW
Lipo
These look like a normal AA battery,
but are 3.2V and I’m aware of one or
two ‘accidents’ that have killed the
device. So be careful picking up one of
these from those battery stands at the
local shop.
,ILQGRXEWFKHFNRXWWKHÀQHSULQW
NiCad
NiCad batteries were popular and
needed special charging to prevent a
‘memory’ build-up — the battery didn’t
actually remember anything, but the
discharge process caused the electrolyte
to crystalize, and short discharge, then
charge cycles would increase the build-
up, which reduced the charge available,
hence the ‘memory’. Eventually the
crystals would short the battery and
it wouldn’t charge. A high-amperage
pulse across the battery would blow
away the crystal build-up and a few full
charge/discharge cycles would bring it
back to life.
They have a high leakage, so they need
regular charging to stop discharging
even when not in use.
Li-ion
These were introduced about the time
that mobile phones became portable
and got rid of the memory problems
faced by NiCads. The voltage had
changed from 1.2 to 3.6 and the phone
handled all the charging duties. The
early ones only had a charger socket, so
mixing and matching of chargers wasn’t
the problem that it is now.
There are many different mixtures
making up a modern lithium battery.
Some are designed for low discharge
rates (1C) and have protection circuits
between the cell and the leads. Others
are designed for high current (20C) and
have no protection. Try to use the type
appropriate for your purpose.
74 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Above: These Lipo batteries look like normal
AA batteries but they are not; they are 3.2V
Below: These rechargeable NiCad batteries
have high leakage, so they need regular
charging to stop them discharging even
when not in use
of reports of mobile
SKRQHVFDWFKLQJ¿UH
Charging
I’ve heard it said that a charged battery is
like a hand grenade with the pin partially
pulled out, and while this might be true
for a lithium-based battery, all batteries
pose a risk.
Lead-acid batteries vent both
hydrochloric acid and hydrogen as part of
the charging process. As the battery ages,
the effects can usually be seen as oxidation
on the terminals, or rusting of the hold-
down clamp or the battery mount.
Baking soda will neutralize the acid
and greasing the terminals stops the
acid from having a surface to attack, but
charging a car battery should be done
in a well-ventilated space and, more
important, with a quality charger that
can control the charge being delivered.
The charge time for a lead-acid battery
is 12–16 hours, and while higher charging
rates with special chargers can reduce this
to 8–10 hours, it is not a quick process.
Most new car batteries utilize calcium
and require a higher charge voltage, so
\RXQHHGDVSHFLDOFKDUJHUWRUHFRYHUDÁDW
battery. In older vehicles the alternator
charges at 13.6V, while modern cars are
often 15V to suit the newer batteries. I
have heard of people jump-starting a
YHKLFOHWKHQGULYLQJLWRQO\WRÀQGZKHQ
they stop at the destination and then get
EDFNLQWKDWLW·VVWLOOÁDW
Deep-cycle batteries, as used in mobility
scooters, etc., have a much heavier plate
construction to handle multiple discharges
and recharges. The trade-off is that they
are not designed for high discharge such
as when starting vehicles.
For batteries on constant charge, there
is a trade-off between restoring full
capacity and electrolyte loss, and we
IRXQG 9 ZDV D JRRG ÀJXUH WR XVH
Lead-acid batteries left for long periods
will discharge, but, more important, the
acid will stratify, which tends to wear
the bottom of the plates. A charge, ‘boil’,
or shake mixes the acid, but I’m not sure
how you safely shake a lead-acid battery
that contains liquid that tends to spill out.
Battery fires
Lithium batteries require even greater
care when charging, as the heat build-
up when charged can cause thermal
overload. This can spread to the other
cells, and with the constant size reduction,
the cells are being packaged closer.
There have been plenty of reports of
PRELOH SKRQHV FDWFKLQJ ÀUH DQG WKLV
has been extremely costly to rectify,
even for the very large multinational
company involved. However, this
hasn’t just been a problem for mobiles,
as Boeing (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
B o e i ng _787_ D r e a m l i ne r_ bat te r y _
problems) and others (nexceris.com/
learning-from-4-damaging-lithium-ion-
battery-failures/) have found out.
Today we can buy lithium batteries
from cheap, foreign-sourced suppliers,
DQG ZH FDQ ÀQG FKDUJHUV IRU EDWWHULHV
at equally low prices. The big problem
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ZDWFK"Y KK'S=%/P<BR

Conclusion
There are millions of phones, power
tools, and other batteries being charged
every week, but we only hear about the
H[SORVLRQVDQGÀUHVRIWKHRQHVWKDWDUH
worthy of a video or result in large-scale
destruction.
Matching chargers to batteries should
be done very carefully. So for large
batteries (such as that for the electric
train featured in the previous pages)
do as Richard did and stick with a
The aftermath of a fire that happened to a Model Flying Hawkes Bay club member. The battery
caught fire and destroyed everything, and the whole shed had to be demolished and rebuilt reputable manufacturer and use its
charger and battery.
Supervising battery charging has
is whether they are compatible. The EHQHÀWV EXW \RX QHHG TXLFN UHÁH[HV
Battery University has good information D JDV PDVN DQG ÀUHSURRI JORYHV VR
Stick with a reputable
about the maximum voltage that should consider alternative charging locations
be applied, but if you can’t tell, or the manufacturer and in well-ventilated areas and on non-
person supplying these simply puts on a use its charger ÁDPPDEOH VXUIDFHV UDWKHU WKDQ \RXU
number, you won’t know. shed or workshop full of valuable tools.
and battery
Lipo bags are mandatory in radio-
Putting out a fire control clubs, but there is also debate
/LWKLXPEDWWHU\ ÀUHV DUH QR MRNH 7KLV about how useful they are (see for example
post from the Model Flying Hawkes Bay Batteries can be damaged when ZDWWÁ\HUFRPIRUXPVVKRZWKUHDGSKS"
club makes sober reading: mfhb.org.nz/ dropped. I’ve heard that the radio- W 
MRRPODLQGH[SKS"RSWLRQ FRPBFRQWHQW control car guys after a racing crash will , VXVSHFW WKDW D ÀUHSURRI ER[ ZLWK
YLHZ DUWLFOH LG OLSREDWWHU\ remove the battery and leave it outside explosion-proof catches, a metal fan,
ILUHV FDWLG JHQHUDODUWLFOHV the car for several hours while they and ducting to the outside is a good
,WHPLG  7KH VKRUW VWRU\ LV WKDW repair for a return to racing. ZD\WRKHOSFRQWDLQDQ\ÀUHDQGIXPHV
something went wrong, the battery The best method of putting out a It might be an overkill, but if you go to
FDXJKW ÀUH DQG GHVWUR\HG everything. OLWKLXPEDWWHU\ ÀUH LV E\ VPRWKHULQJ WKLVOHQJWKWKHQDGGLQJÀUHGHWHFWLRQDQG
What wasn’t damaged with heat was it with sand. While that puts out suppression would complete it … It could
contaminated by the acid fumes, and WKH ÀUH WKH IXPHV DUH VWLOO DQ LVVXH EH HDVLHU WKDQ VXVSHQGLQJ NJ RI VDQG
the whole shed had to be demolished and a YouTube video shows a cheap, directly above the shelf, because you
and rebuilt. easy solution using a bag of sand know that the day you forget to add the
Overcharging isn’t the only issue. while deliberately overcharging to bag on top of the battery is the day that
it will explode.
Consider timers to limit the charge
A failed lithium mobile-phone battery time, so that if they don’t shut off then at
after having burst into flames
least you minimize the chance of grossly
overcharging.
Any lithium battery that is swollen or
has suffered a drop from a height should
be considered lethal and disposed
of safely.
Perhaps last: if you suspect that the
charger is faulty (because the battery is
hot when you remove it), consider sending
LW WR ODQGÀOO UDWKHU WKDQ ULVNLQJ ORVLQJ
PRUHWKDQMXVW\RXUQH[WEDWWHU\

76 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 Building hi-fi speakers

The
Sound
of
Music
A QUEST FOR
BETTER QUALITY
SOUND LEADS TO A
TRANSMISSION-LINE
SPEAKER BUILD

By Jude Woodside
Photographs: Jude Woodside

78 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 Left: The kitset contents from Parts Express
Above: Breaking down the MDF sheet into
parts

Above: Fitting the jig to the router

Below: Marking out the cut-outs.
Note that the tweeter is offset to the
centre line by ¾ of an inch (19mm)

Drilling the centre holes for the router jig using a 1∕8 -inch
bit. Metric equivalents are either too big or too small

— which have a port somewhere in the Choosing my kitset

I
’m probably showing my age but I still
believe that much of what passes for
DXGLR KLÀ WRGD\ LV YDVWO\ LQIHULRU WR
some of that which went before. I may
be quite wrong but I can remember
truly awesome sound that made you
feel that the band was in the same room
and the sound was coming from their
own monitors. Sound with clarity and
GHÀQLWLRQ :KLOH , DSSUHFLDWH WKDW IRU
enormous sums of money you can still
get that quality I still believe that it was
more common in the ’70s from off-the-
shelf equipment. To prove the point I
wanted to build a set of speakers in a
style that was popular at the time.
There are three basic kinds of speaker
enclosure. Sealed units, ported units
cabinet, and transmission line (TL). TL
speakers are similar in some respects
to ported enclosures; they also have an
opening into the cabinet. Reputedly, TL
cabinets provide better bass replication
across the range without over-
emphasizing various frequencies.
This type of speaker was
more popular in the ’70s
but fell out of favour
with manufacturers
because it was too
expensive to build
One of the most accessible TL designs is
the Tritrix, designed by Curt Campbell
(speakerdesignworks.com), which is is
supplied in kit form via Parts Express
(parts-express.com) in the US. You can
buy either the full kit, including pre-
cut panels for the speakers, or simply
WKH GULYHUV FURVVRYHUV DQG VWXIÀQJ
I didn’t see the need to transport
so much MDF through the post so I
elected to buy the parts only. The good
thing is that the cost of the parts is
now reduced so they can be imported
easily under the $400 limit before GST
gets charged.
The kit comes with Two Dayton
DC28FS-8 shielded silk-dome tweeters,

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 79


Cutting the circles
four Dayton DC130BS-4 classic
shielded woofers, two Jantzen
2.50mH 18-gauge air-core inductors,
two Jantzen .60mH 18-gauge air-
core inductors, two Dayton DMPC-10
Δ) 9 SRO\SURS\OHQH FDSDFLWRUV
WZR 'D\WRQ '03& Δ) 9
SRO\SURS\OHQH FDSDFLWRUV DQG WZR
'D\WRQ '15 Έ : UHVLVWRUV
and two bags of Acousta-Stuf to stuff
WKHVSHDNHUV
The good news is that they are even
FKHDSHUWKDQZKHQ,ERXJKWWKHPD\HDU
DJR7KHODVWWLPH,ORRNHGWKHFRPSRQHQW
NLWZDVUHWDLOLQJIRURQO\86
80 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
A driver with a resonant
frequency of 40Hz
will not reproduce
frequencies of 30Hz well
but will perform well at
45 and 50Hz
Rounding the ends of the face
Transmission lines
$ ¶WUDQVPLVVLRQ OLQH· VSHDNHU LV
HIIHFWLYHO\DVSHDNHUDWWDFKHGWRDORQJ
tube. The tube length has to be long
enough to ensure that the sound out of
WKHWXEHHQGLVLQSKDVHZLWKWKHVRXQG
from the front. The sound at the rear
RI WKH VSHDNHU FRQH LV  GHJUHHV RXW
RI SKDVH WR WKH VRXQG IURP WKH IURQW
however at one-quarter of the resonant
frequency wave length the sound will be
GHJUHHV SKDVH VKLIWHG DQG LQ SKDVH
with the front so the two waves will
sum to boost the lower frequencies. The
tube is lined or stuffed with acoustic-
Left: The jig set up with the pin in place for
the woofer holes
Above: Routing the cut-outs and the
shoulder rebate. I used the same bit and
simply altered the diameter
Rounding the sides
absorbent material to attenuate the
higher frequencies that might cause
LQWHUIHUHQFH SUREOHPV $ WDSHU LQ WKH
SLSH DOVR KHOSV WR DWWHQXDWH WKH KLJKHU
IUHTXHQFLHV WKH WDSHU LV XVXDOO\ LQ WKH
RUGHURIRU7KLVW\SHRIVSHDNHU
ZDVPRUHSRSXODULQWKH·VEXWIHOORXW
of favour with manufacturers because
LW ZDV WRR H[SHQVLYH WR EXLOG ,W LV VWLOO
SRSXODUZLWKDXGLRSKLOHVWKRXJK
Speaker design
'HVLJQLQJ VSHDNHUV WR JHW WKH EHVW
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D VWUDLJKWIRUZDUG SURFHVV DV WKHUH
Above: Tracing the components on the Cutting-plan layout
interior
Above right: Drilling the pilot holes from the
inside
190 mm 343 mm
Below: Drilling the holes for the front
Bottom: Countersinking the holes in the face

Front Front
919 mm side side 914 mm
Bottom
Bottom

324 mm

Bale
side side
318 mm
Back Back

Top 343 mm
Top

737 mm

Bale

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 81


Drilling out the speaker holes for 6mm
are so many parameters to take into
account. Fortunately due the pioneering
work of two eminent audio engineers
in Australia, Neville Thiele and his
colleague Dr Richard Small, this is made
so much simpler. The Thiele/Small
parameters (usually abbreviated as T/S)
cover all aspects of a driver and make it
possible to predict with some certainty
how the driver will perform in various
response of the speaker starts to roll off.
The lower the resonant frequency (Fs),
the better it is for a woofer.
‘Compliance’ is the measure of the
stiffness of the surround and the
spider, this affects the Fs. The stiffer
the surround, the less compliant; as the
compliance increases — that is, gets less
stiff — the Fs goes down.
Sd is the effective area of the cone that
Thiele/Small
parameters
Impedance: The AC resistance that
varies with frequency, measured in
ohms.
Re: The DC resistance of the driver
measured in ohms.
L e: The inductance of the voice coil
measured in millihenries. This is a
measure of the back EMF in the coil.
Fs: Resonant frequency in free air of
the driver in hertz.
Qms: Mechanical damping.
Qes: Electrical damping.
Qts: Quality factor incorporating the
inverse of Qms and Qes.
Mms: The total moving mass of the
cone, the coil, half the surround and
spider.
Cms: The compliance of the speaker.
The stiffness of the surround and
spider.
Sd: The effective area of the cone; the
cone less the surround.
Bl: Flux density (B) x length of the coil
(L) = the strength of the driver motor
in tesla metres (T·m).
Vas: The compliance of the air in the
cabinet that matches the compliance
of the speaker.
Xmax: Maximum distance the cone can
travel without distorting.
Vc: Diameter of the voice coil.
SPL: Sound pressure level.
SPL of between 88 and 90dB at 1W/m is
FDELQHWVDQGFRQÀJXUDWLRQVVHHSDQHO
Resonant frequency
The ‘resonant frequency’ (Fs) of a driver is
the frequency at which the driver moves
with minimal effort. After this point the
Using a driver as a template to drill the
mounting holes
82 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
actually moves the air. The surface area
good. An SPL quoted at 2.83V/1m takes
of the cone together with Xmax directly
the impedance of the driver into account.
affects how much sound pressure level
There is no difference at 81 EXW DW Έ
(SPL) the speaker can output.
the 2.83V/1m is equal to 90dB measured
SPL is measured in decibels. It is a
at 2W/1m which is equivalent to 87dB at
PHDVXUHRIWKHHIÀFLHQF\RIDVSHDNHU$Q
1W/1m.
Setting the inserts Beginning the assembly
 Tritrix transmission-line speaker plans

14 1/4 in

Ø 5 3/4 in 4 7/8 in
78°
Ø 4 3/4 in
10 in

Tritrix design Ø 4 1/2 in

The Tritrix uses most of the typical TL Tweeter offset 3/4”

criteria. It has a long tube created by Ø 3 1/4 in 15 1/4 in
WKHLQWHUQDOEDIÁH7KHRSWLPXPOHQJWK
of the tube for a TL speaker is a quarter 36 in
29 in
wave length of the resonant frequency.
In this case the resonant frequency is
51.8Hz. To convert the frequency into a
4 in
wave length, the frequency (in hertz) is
divided into the speed of sound in metres
per second to yield the wave length. This
LVWKHQGLYLGHGE\IRXUWRÀQGWKHTXDUWHU
6” 14 in
wave length:

7KHWDSHUHGEDIÁHLQWKLVGHVLJQVHUYHV
to decrease the necessary line length
by changing the acoustic impedance.
So it’s not exactly apparent that the
quarter wave length is translated into the
cabinet dimension.
This design has two woofers instead
of one in what is called an ‘MTM’
FRQÀJXUDWLRQ 7KDW VLPSO\ PHDQV
midwoofer-tweeter-midwoofer — it refers
to the layout of the speakers, which are
set out in that manner. MTM is a means
of correcting the vertical polar response
making the sound spread out horizontally.
6"
Centre braces even with
the bottom of the woofer cutouts
TriTrix Triune TL
Copyright 2004/2006
Curt Campbell
Below: The completed box — it just
requires the two braces
The build
The actual build is quite straightforward.
I worked out the most effective way to
cut the MDF sheet to get the most value
out of it and in spite of the inevitable mis-
cut I had material left over. I elected to
make one small change to Curt’s design
and decided to make the front panel a
complete piece rather than that captured
by the walls. I wanted to round off the

Attaching the front panel

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 83

 Tuning the speakers
involves adjusting
WKHVWẊQJXQWLOWKH
sound is more or less
how you like it

Complete crossover Fitting the crossovers and soldering the input leads together.
Note the braces are installed
WKHEDIÁHLVDWGHJUHHVWRWKHWRSVR,
Crossover layout cut the mitre at 12 degrees.

Tritrix Crossover Layout Router jig

Binding post + 7R FXW WKH KROHV LQ WKH IURQW SDQHO ,
Upper woofer +
bought a Jasper Pro circle-cutting jig
L1011
from Parts Express. I contemplated
Upper woofer - making one but for the time it would
C1021

Binding post - 2.5mH
R2011 2.4Ω
C2021
10μfd
L2031 0.6mH
edges on the front on all sides. Ideally
speakers shouldn’t have hard edges,
and you might notice on high-end units
there are often no sharp edges. In fact
the ideal shape for a speaker is a sphere;
they’re just a bit problematic to make.
Hard edges allow eddy currents to build
20μfd
Lower woofer +
Lower woofer -
Tweeter +
Tweeter -
How much that affects the perceived
performance is another matter of course,
but I wanted to give this build every
chance of blowing my socks off. You
don’t have to be as extreme as I was with
radiusing the corners — 12mm would be
ample. With all the pieces cut I worked
take me it was far easier to order the
MLJ7KHMLJLVFDOLEUDWHGLQLPSHULDOEXW
they come equipped with a formula for
working out the metric equivalents. I
had changed all the imperial measures
into metric but it was easier to stick with
the imperial for the front panel cut-outs.
7KH MLJ LV FDOLEUDWHG LQ 1 ¼16 -inch
increments and it is intended to be
used with a ¼-inch bit. You can use
other shank sizes but you have to do a
ELWRIFDOFXODWLQJWRGRVR7RVHWXSWKH
jig, centre your router using a supplied
¼-inch rod in the router chuck and then
ÀQG WKH DSSURSULDWH PRXQWLQJ KROHV ,W
LVVHWXSIRUPRVWFRPPRQURXWHUV7KHQ
LW LV VLPSO\ D FDVH RI ÀQGLQJ WKH FHQWUH
point and drilling a 1 ¼LQFK KROH WR ÀW
the 1 ¼LQFKSLQVXSSOLHG7KHUHDUHWZR
supplied pins — one of 25mm (1 inch)
up and can affect the SPL of the speaker. RXWWKHPLWUHRIWKHEDIÁHV7KHDQJOHRI DQGDQRWKHURIPPõLQFKHV³ÀQG

84 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 T/S parameters for the Dayton
Audio DC130BS-4 5¼-inch woofer

Impedance 41
Re 3.551
Le .5mH at 1kHz
Fs 51.8Hz
Qms 1.86
Qes .44
Qts .35

Above: Stuffing the box. It pays M ms 8.8g

to tease out the Acousta-Stuf C ms 1.08mm/N
Below: Attaching the side
Sd 93.3cm2
Vd 14.0cm3
Bl 4.8T·m
Vas 13.2 litres
X max 2.5mm
VC 25mm
SPL 91.6dB at 2.83V/1m
RMS power handling 30W
Usable frequency range 55–4000Hz

Below: Filling the holes

the appropriate-diameter hole and insert

the pin. Fit the pin in the jig to the hole in
the timber and cut the circle. It is wise to
take things slowly so don’t try to cut the
whole depth at once. It is only a ¼-inch
bit. For the shoulders I had to cut several
passes, reducing the radius by a ¼-inch
each time. It also helps to preset the
depth you want to cut for the shoulders.
,FXWWKHVKRXOGHUVÀUVWWKHQFXWWKHGLVF
out. The tweeter cut-out is very close to
the woofers so it pays to get things very
precise. The tweeter is offset from the
centre line by ¾-inch (19mm). You will
also have to cut a small area out of the
WZHHWHUKROHWRÀWLWVWHUPLQDOVWKURXJK
:LWK WKH FXWRXWV ÀQLVKHG DQG WLGLHG
up I set up a router bit in the spindle
moulder to cut the curve on the edges
of the faceplate. The curve is 20mm
to match the size of the MDF. While
the spindle moulder was set up I also
rounded over the ends of the back panel
DQGWKHEDIÁHLQWKHFDELQHW

Redrilling
To make it easier in future to remove
the woofers — for example, to adjust
WKH VWXIÀQJ ³ , XVHG 0 VRFNHWKHDG

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 85


Both cabinets filled and masked off
PDFKLQH VFUHZV WKDW ÀW PP WKUHDGHG
inserts. However, the holes in the
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WKUHDGHGLQVHUWVEURNHWKURXJKWKHHGJH
7KHLQVHUWVDUHVLPSO\KDPPHUHGLQ
Assembly
7RDVVHPEOHWKHVSHDNHUV,ODLGRXWWKH
SLHFHV RQ RQH VLGH WR GHWHUPLQH WKDW ,
KDGWKHDSSURSULDWHSRVLWLRQV7KHHQG
RIWKHEDIÁHLVVHWVL[LQFKHVRUPP
IURPWKHVLGHVLQFOXGLQJWKHGHÁHFWRUV
Applying the filler undercoat
86 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
WKDW RFFXS\ WKH ERWWRP FRUQHUV 7KH
GHÁHFWRUV DUH VHW DW  GHJUHHV WR WKH
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RIOHIWRYHUVFUDS
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VFUHZKROHV7KHKROHVZHUHGULOOHGIURP
WKHLQVLGHRXWDQGWKHSLHFHWXUQHGRYHU
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Ready for the top coat
FRXQWHUVLQNELWPDNHVDWLGLHUMRE
(DFKSLHFHZDVWKHQJOXHGDQGFODPSHG
LQSODFHDQGVFUHZHGWKURXJKIURPWKH
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WR GULYH WKH VFUHZV ZHOO EHORZ WKH
VXUIDFHRQWKHFXUYHGSDUWV
Crossovers
$WWKLVSRLQW,PDGHWKHFURVVRYHUV$OO
WKH SDUWV DUH LQFOXGHG LQ WKH NLW WZR
P+ FRLOV WZR PK FRLO WZR Δ)
FDSDFLWRUV WZR Δ) FDSDFLWRUV DQG
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crosstalk with each other. Set them
LQ GLIIHUHQW SODQHV DQG RIIVHW WKHP ,
PRXQWHG PLQH RQ D VPDOO SLHFH RI SO\
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WKHPDELWWLGLHUEXWWKH\ZLOOEHKLGGHQ
LQWKHGHSWKVRIWKHER[7RHQVXUHWKDW,
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WKHQRWXQOLNHO\HYHQWWKDW,KDGLQIDFW
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Cabinets finished
 Your entire workshop –
now you can take it with you!

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Stuffing
With the crossovers placed in position
it only remained to stuff the chambers.
The kit comes with two bags of
Acousta-Stuf, a product designed
IRU VWXIÀQJ VSHDNHUV 7KH 7ULWUL[ LV
mainly stuffed in the tapered portion
immediately behind the drivers down to
MXVWEHORZWKHORZHUGULYHU6WXIÀQJWKH
speakers is a bit of an art in TLs. Some
other builders have added foam and
other dampening products to the top
DQGGRZQWKHEDIÁH
In this instance I have opted to see
ZKDWWKHRULJLQDOGHVLJQVRXQGVOLNHÀUVW
before I resort to more drastic measures.
Curt Campbell recommends leaving the
last third to quarter of the line clear and
DOWHULQJ WKH GHQVLW\ RI WKH VWXIÀQJ RQH
handful at a time. Tuning the speakers
LQYROYHV DGMXVWLQJ WKH VWXIÀQJ XQWLO WKH
sound is more or less how you like it.
,GHDOO\\RXVKRXOGDGGVWXIÀQJXQWLOWKH
bass is just beginning to be attenuated
and adjust from there. It’s something
that I will have to do over time as the
speakers get worn in.
88 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Left: Wiring the drivers
Below left: Fitting the drivers
Finishing the cases
:LWK WKH FURVVRYHUV ÀWWHG , FORVHG XS
WKHER[HVE\DGGLQJWKHODVWVLGH,QRZ
QHHGHGWRÀQLVKWKHP$OWKRXJK,ZRXOG
KDYH SUHIHUUHG WR ÀQLVK WKH FDVHV LQ
wood veneer or even woodgrain vinyl
at a pinch that wasn’t going to happen
DV , KDYHQ·W EHHQ DEOH WR ÀQG DQ\WKLQJ
that looks remotely usable. So I opted to
paint them.
, ÀUVW ÀOOHG DOO WKH QDLO KROHV ZLWK
EXLOGHU·VERJDQGVDQGHGWKHPÁDWWKHQ
UHÀOOHGWKHKROHVDJDLQZKHUHQHFHVVDU\
I masked up the holes and applied a coat
RISULPHUÀOOHU,OHIWWKHÀOOHUWRGU\DQG
WKHQ UHÀOOHG DOO WKH LPSHUIHFWLRQV WKDW
stand out when you apply an undercoat,
DQGVDQGHGWKHER[HVDQGVSUD\HGDQRWKHU
FRDW RI ÀOOHU XQGHUFRDW , WKHQ DSSOLHG
WKUHHFRDWVRIWRSFRDWWRWKHER[HVDWWKH
side, rear, and top. I masked off the front
and sprayed that black, mainly because I
can’t apply a grille cloth.
:LWK WKH ER[HV ÀQLVKHG , FRQQHFWHG
XS WKH GULYHUV DQG À[HG WKHP LQ SODFH
I added the terminal posts to the rear of
WKHEDIÁHDQGFRQQHFWHGWKHZLUHVLQVLGH
Performance
Time for the big reveal. Would they work
as planned; will I be overwhelmed? I
set the speakers up together with my
H[LVWLQJ :KDUIHGDOH &5 V DQG
played a track through them, then
Testing the speakers
switched to the new speakers. The
difference was immediately obvious.
The TLs are clearer, louder, and the
bass is certainly enhanced. Decent
bass tracks like Charles Mingus’ classic
Mingus Ah Hum album have a totally new
feeling through these speakers, and they
haven’t even been played in yet. To be fair
I’ve never really liked the Wharfedales
— they seem to lack something in the
mid range, they have no real presence,
and they certainly aren’t the top of the
line — but my speakers are both better
and considerably cheaper. I’m looking
forward to how much they improve as
they get played in. I can’t hear anything
that would make me redo or alter the
VWXIÀQJ EXW WKDW PD\ FKDQJH DV WKH\
wear in. I’m also pleased with the colour.
It was selected in haste but it has turned
out well and it suits the room … matches
the drapes.
Thanks to Curt Campbell for his
assistance in preparing this article and
permission to reproduce his designs.
Time for the big
reveal. Would they
work as planned; will
I be overwhelmed?
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 Tools

Magazine advertisement
from the Workmate's heyday

90 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

THE WORKMATE
A SHED IN A CUPBOARD
A EUREKA MOMENT AND TENACITY LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT
OF A STAPLE PIECE OF SHEDDIE EQUIPMENT
A
t the end of World War II, Britain —
although victorious — was on her
knees economically. Much of her
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living standards continued to improve,
with very low unemployment and high
levels of home ownership, until the
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ordinary people had money to spend
improving their accommodation. This
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PDJD]LQHV ÀOOHG ZLWK DGYHUWLVHPHQWV
By Ritchie Wilson
Photographs: Ritchie Wilson
IRUSDLQWKDUGERDUGDQGHOHFWULFGULOOV
,QWKHDQQXDORIWKHDo It Yourself
magazine there were numerous ads for
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with one featured prominently on the
front cover.
This led to a boom in
DIY, with specialist
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advertisements
The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Eureka moment
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Scandinavian chairs as sawhorses (as
you do) when he inadvertently cut one of
the chairs as well as the plywood. This
was his eureka moment. The need for a
ZRUNEHQFKWKDWFRXOGEHVWRUHGDZD\LQ
DQDSDUWPHQWFXSERDUGZKHQQRWEHLQJ
XVHGZDVREYLRXV
+LV SURWRW\SH IROGLQJ ZRUNEHQFK KDG
DFODVVLFFDVWLURQDQGVWHHO5HFRUGEUDQG
wood vice attached to it.
5RQ ZDV NQRZQ LQ WKH /RWXV &DUV
91
 Four Workmates: a Mitremate, a Table-Top Workmate, a
Hobbycrafter Workmate, and a Gripmate with its packaging
factory, where he was director of
engineering, as someone who could
always see an alternative approach to
design problems, and so it was with his
ZRUNEHQFK+LVÀQDOGHVLJQXVHGWKHWRS
of the bench as a vice; one half of the
WRS EHLQJ À[HG WKH RWKHU EHLQJ PRYHG
by two threaded rods to clamp the object
being worked on, vaguely similar to a
bookbinder’s vice. His background in
car manufacturing led him to design
the folding workbench with a metal
92 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
frame. As it was intended to be used for
woodwork the top was wooden — solid
wood in the original design.
Sales in the dozens
Very luckily, one of Ron’s neighbours in
the village in which he lived was a patent
lawyer who assured Ron that his design
was patentable and so Ron left Lotus in
1967 to set up his own design studio.
He offered the workbench design to
several large British tool companies
The Table-Top Workmate, designed to be
attached to a bench or toolbox as a vice
The Workmate
Hobbycrafter
This is a plastic-topped miniature
Workmate that can be clamped to a
bench to act as a vice. It features small,
offset versions of the original movable
dogs to hold irregular-shaped objects.
The defining movable top forms a
vice. The jaw edges formed by the
two halves of the top have removable
rubber to allow them to safely grip
easily damaged work pieces.
The vice has a universal mount, which
means that it can be set in an infinite
range of orientations to aid fiddly work.
The Hobbycrafter is useful for holding
small objects being glued or soldered
and, just like the original Workmate,
it enables folks without a shed with
a workbench and vice to do stuff
themselves.
 Workmate accessories
His background in Black and Decker produced many accessories for, and variations of, the
Workmate, which may have originated at Hickman Designs Limited.
car manufacturing
led him to design the Workmate-
Product number Description
folding workbench related device
Workmate 79-001, etc. Portable workbench and vice
with a metal frame
Table-Top Workmate
79-008 Bench-top Workmate
or Jobber
Vertical clamp similar to a bench
Gripmate 79-011
after obtaining a number of patents hook
for it in 1968. There was little interest. Adjustable fence for a portable
Mitremate 79-012
Stanley Tools sent him a letter saying that saw
the anticipated sales in Europe were “in Routermate 79-013 Guide for routing
the dozens, rather than the hundreds”. Vertical guide to convert a
Guidemate 79-015
What to do? Ron rented a shed, had portable drill into a drill press
parts manufactured, and began to Provides horizontal clamping for
Horizontal Clamp 79-018
make the workbench, now called the work on a Workmate
‘Workmate’, himself. He sold them by Dropdown Work Wall-mounted Workmate with a
79-021
Centre plastic top
mail order and through trade fairs.
Almost everyone who saw a Workmate Hobbycrafter 79-025 Bench-top work centre and vice
was impressed and he sold thousands, 7inch Quick Vise 79-081 Small version of 79-008
mainly, it seems, to builders. Plastic toolbox with Workmate
Workbox
Not surprisingly this caused a rethink at mounted on the top
Black and Decker and in 1972 the company
signed a royalty and copyright deal with
Ron, giving him a reported three per cent
royalty, which amounted to a minimum
of 50p per Workmate. Black and Decker
reworked the design and began selling
the Workmate worldwide. And it sold
millions. At least, it is variously reported,
30 to even maybe 70 million or more and
they are still selling today.

Right: An early 1970s Gripmate and its

miraculously preserved packaging and
instructions

Below: Magazine covers from the early days

of the British DIY boom

The reward is in the

patent
Most people who come up with a
marketable product miss out on the
ÀQDQFLDO UHZDUGV EHFDXVH WKH SURFHVV
of obtaining a patent is so expensive
and, even if the intellectual property is
SURWHFWHGWKH\GRQ·WUHFHLYHDVXIÀFLHQWO\
high royalty from manufacturers to
make much money.
Being in business as a designer and
inventor, Ron had a different attitude. If
his designs couldn’t be protected then he
was wasting his time, and if he wasn’t
able to generate good money from
licencing his ideas, then he would be
better off remaining in industry. f

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 93

 Replacing a Workmate top

New tops alongside the old

Original top after

decades of mistreatment
and neglect

Measuring the positions of

the attachment holes

Drilling dog holes using the

original top as a template

Tightening the tiny carriage bolts

Drilling the attachment holes attaching the tops to the frame

Completing the drilling

from the underside

Dog holes drilled Cutting the V

94 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

The new top was made from 25mm
construction ply salvaged from
renovations at the local Polytech.
The partial sheet of ply was run through
the table saw to form strips 123mm wide,
which were then cut to the 592mm length
using a 24V Bosch mitre saw.
It was planned to drill the top’s dog
holes with a 19mm Forstner bit in a drill
press to ensure that the holes would be
perpendicular to the top surface, but
there had to be a rapid rethink when the
Forstner bit, probably because the speed
of the drill press, proved to be far too fast
and failed to make an impression on the
tough ply.
The venerable (and often used) 10-inch
Stanley brace and a ¾-inch bit, from an
Irwin set, did the job relatively easily, but
at the expense of some accuracy. The new
tops were sanded using 60-grade abrasive
paper and a notch (presumably for
holding pipe vertically) was then cut in the
clamping edges — mimicking the original.
The location of the fastening holes in the
original tops were carefully transferred Workmates can hold unusually shaped
to the new tops and the shallow holes objects — in this case a Raleigh
Low Gravity Carrier bike frame
drilled. The new tops were attached using
the original very small carriage bolts
and finished using Cabot’s Cabothane
5RQ PDQDJHG WKH GLIÀFXOW GRXEOH RI +H ZDV HYHQWXDOO\ WDNHQ RQ E\ )RUG DW
polyurethane.
patenting the Workmate and negotiating 'DJHQKDPDVDFOD\PRGHOOHULQWKHVW\OLQJ
New, red, dogs had been delivered by
DVDWLVIDFWRU\UR\DOW\IRULWVPDQXIDFWXUH GHSDUWPHQW GHVSLWH KLV FRPSOHWH ODFN RI
Black and Decker’s parts department and
+HEHFDPHDZHDOWK\PDQDQGPRYHGKLV H[SHULHQFH +H ZRUNHG WKHUH IRU WKUHH
finished the job off nicely.
GHVLJQVWXGLRWRWKHWD[KDYHQRI-HUVH\ \HDUVRQFDUVVXFKDVWKH)RUG$QJOLD(
LQWKH&KDQQHO,VODQGV7KHUHKHERXJKW DQGOHIWDIWHUDFKDQFHPHHWLQJZLWK/RWXV
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DQG UHSODFHG LW ZLWK KLV RZQ IXWXULVWLF &KDSPDQ ZDV D OHDGLQJ GHVLJQHU RI
Ready for finishing JDGJHWODGHQYHUVLRQ+HZRXOGRSHQWKH UDFLQJ FDUV DQG ZDV RQ WKH ORRNRXW IRU
KRXVH WR UDLVH PRQH\ IRU ORFDO FKDULWLHV WDOHQWHGSHRSOHWRKHOSKLPSURGXFHURDG
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FDUV DV ZDV GRQH DW )HUUDUL 7KLV ZDV
Design career EHIRUH WHOHYLVLRQ IHHV PDGH )RUPXOD 
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RUJDQL]DWLRQ EHFRPLQJ D GLUHFWRU DQG
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VLPLODUDSSHDUDQFHWRWKH(ODQf

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 95

 Using the Mitremate
But wait, there’s more
No one could say that Chapman was
an easy person to work for and by the
late ’60s Ron was looking for other
opportunities. As well as working on the
Workmate, he moonlighted as a furniture
designer before he left Lotus.
Ron developed many other products,
but none of them has been as successful
as the Workmate. One mentioned in the
very many obituaries published when he
GLHGLQÀYHPRQWKVDIWHUDEDGIDOO
was the Child’s Toilet Pot, patented in
1970. This was a potty with an attached
foot piece. It solved the problem of the full
potty sticking to toddlers’ bottoms when
96 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
The Mitremate is a sliding mitre guide
that allows the cutting of pretty
accurate mitres using a portable
190mm circular saw. The saw is bolted
to the sliding part of the device, and
the fixed part is clamped between the
Workmate’s jaws. The piece to be cut
is held against the adjustable guide
piece and the saw is pushed forwards
to make the cut. The Mitremate was
designed to do what the modern
sliding mitre saw does, including
compound mitres.
Carpenters used to cut angled joints
by eye using a cross-cut handsaw, but
this required great skill born of long
practice. Today chippies take great pride
in their mitre saw and stand and most
are devoted to a particular brand. The
modern mitre saw is very quick and
impressively accurate. With a stand that
supports long stock it performs much
better than the Mitremate, particularly
on long boards, which is perhaps why
the Mitremate is seldom seen today.
Fellow Sheddie Richard Long cutting a
board at an angle using a circular saw and
a Mitremate
they stood up — and the consequent
mess. Unfortunately potential buyers
viewed it merely as an expensive potty.
Friends of Ron were quoted in the
obituaries as saying that they had never
seen one of these potties in a shop.
He became a wealthy
man and moved his
design studio to the
tax haven of Jersey
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 Electronic cricket

BY
JIMINY,
IT’S A
CRICKET
MAKE A CRICKET FOR A FUN GAME
OF HIDE AND SEEK
By Mark Beckett
Photographs: Mark Beckett

T
he editor and I were discussing
articles for this issue and we both
decided that something fun would be
the idea. Fun always sounds good to me.
A couple of days later I recalled a
project that I’d seen way back in my
scouting days, where we went hunting
for an electronic cricket. Someone
would head out and hide the device and
after some time (to allow the valves to
warm up) we’d head out into the park
WRVHHLIZHFRXOGÀQGZKDWZDVPDNLQJ
the chirping noise.
Searching the www (Wonderful World
of Wacky) leads you to all sorts of things
and the choices came down to either
What is an ‘electronic
buying one, making one, or buying a
kitset. Luckily the local electronics store cricket’?
had two kitsets — Jiminy and Clifford For anyone who isn’t familiar, these are a
— and they had different features. small, battery-powered object that sit and
make annoying noises. Some have a light
sensor, so that when you’re searching in
WKHGDUNQHVVZLWKDWRUFKWU\LQJWRÀQG
it, it will detect the light and go quiet.
electronics store I’m not sure how the Health and Safety
had two kitsets — (H&S) people would regard this, as it
-LPLQ\DQG&OL̆RUG encourages you to walk around blindly,
WU\LQJWRÀQGVRPHWKLQJWKDWLVKLGGHQ
— and they had for no reason other than a game!
GL̆HUHQWIHDWXUHV The other version reacts to sound, which
may be more suitable for the H&S people.
Since the readers of The Shed are quite

98 The Shed 81 November/December 2018


,WHQFRXUDJHV\RXWRZDONDURXQGEOLQGO\WU\LQJWR¿QG
something that is hidden, for no reason other than a game!
capable of making their own judgements
and ignoring the modern world of PC
gone wrong, I’ve detailed both versions.
Kitsets
These usually have everything you
need to make the item, and this extends
to the instructions, solder, and wire to
connect the parts, so it’s a great way
to make something if you don’t have a
shed full of electronics.
For anyone not used to soldering, I
suggest checking out our Soldering On
article in Issue No. 77, March/April
2018, and have a practice.
Jiminy is based on a published article,
but you can download the instructions
from the download tab here: jaycar.
co.nz/short-circuits-book-volume-ii/p/
BJ8504. It is on page 92, but it is worth
looking at some of the other handy hints
and tips they have on pages 8–18.
It’s obvious to start with the board
and usually the resistors are the lowest
KHLJKW FRPSRQHQW VR WKH\ JR LQ ÀUVW
Resistors use various colour bands to
create a numbering scheme, and I’m not
going to repeat the mnemonics phrase
we used to remember the order. Luckily
the instructions for Clifford have the
colours listed, but they don’t mention
which end to start with.
The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Above: Neatly packaged components
I suggest picking on the value that
uses three, and you see if you can match
the colours.
Those were the days
Modern maths has a lot to answer for
because in our day when you wanted to
multiply by 10 you simply added one zero
to the end; multiply by 100, add two; 1000
was three, etc. The resistor multiplier is
the same — add xxx zeros to the three
numbers, and you have your resistor value.
I suggest starting with the multiple
YDOXHVDQGÀWWKHVHWKHQZRUNLQJRQWKH
single resistors. Cut them off the tape,
DQGEHQGWKHPWRÀWWKHERDUG,WGRHVQ·W
99
 matter which way you insert them, but it is the logic behind that, but they do need to and soldered. It is now time to add the
neater if they are all facing the same way. be inserted the right way. integrated circuit (IC). You’ll notice that
As you insert each one, bend the leads LEDs also have a polarity and they have its legs are splayed. Rest it on one side and
45 degrees to hold it, then insert the D ÁDW RQ RQH VLGH 7KH SRVLWLYH DQRGH push it towards vertical to bend the leads
next one. lead is longer, but relying on this is only WKHQUHSHDWZLWKWKHRWKHUVLGH7KLVZLOO
:H WHQG WR ÀQG WKDW WKH VWXGHQWV JHW useful while it hasn’t been trimmed, so PDNHLWÀWWKHVRFNHWRUKROHV'RHQVXUH
the 4K7, 47K, and 470K mixed up, so if
you have a hole that is not right, go back
and check.
Eventually you will have placed all the
resistors, but before soldering them, take
another look and make sure they are
ULJKWDVLWLVPXFKHDVLHUWRÀ[PLVWDNHV
before you solder them in.
For whatever reason, they mark the
negative lead on a capacitor and then
mark the positive hole on the printed
circuit board (PCB). I’ve never understood
100 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
WU\WRLGHQWLI\WKHÁDWVLGHFDWKRGH
You may notice that the board seems
to have extra holes for the capacitors and
WUDQVLVWRUV 7KLV LV VLPSO\ WR DOORZ WKH
suppliers to provide a different case or
style, and it saves you having to bend the
leads, so choose the holes that allow it to
ÀWÁXVKZLWKWKHERDUG
Beware the magic smoke
Eventually you’ll end up with a board
WKDWKDVDOOWKHSDVVLYHFRPSRQHQWVÀWWHG
that the notch is facing to the notch mark
on the outline, otherwise it will release
the magic smoke and stop working.
Clifford came with a socket for the IC,
DQG LW·V LPSRUWDQW WR PRXQW WKLV ÁXVK
with the board. Insert it and bend one
lead at diagonally opposite corners,
solder these, and while holding it with
one hand, apply gentle pressure to the
socket and reheat the leg. Repeat with
WKH RWKHU DQG RQFH LW·V ÁXVK RQ WKH
board, solder the rest of the pins.
Left: Resistor values — 100K shown the correct
way around to match the instructions
Above: Capacitors mark the negative lead, while
LEDs have a flat on the cathode
Below: Finished board showing extra holes
The piezoelectric speaker has a sticker
covering the internals for automated
assembly, and you can remove the
sticker at any stage. I left the light-
dependent resistor (LDR) leads long
and bent them to make it face forward.
Jiminy has a normal miniature
speaker. Don’t solder to the existing
VROGHU DV WKLV LV WKH ÀQH ZLUH IURP
the coil and can easily be broken, so
add some solder to the outer edge, and
solder your wire onto this point.
The electret microphone has a
positive and negative, and the guide
shows the negative connects with
the case. I carefully bent my leads
to allow it to mount on the PCB and
face outwards.
Right: Assembled
board with
resistors held in
place by bending
the leads at
45 degrees
If everything looks OK, then
add the battery and wonder
at this thing sitting there
making some form of noise
DQGÀDVKLQJLWV/('V
I did have thoughts about not adding
the LEDs, but Clifford’s design uses
these, so if you don’t want them, they
need to be covered. Feel free to ditch
Jiminy’s, or just the 2K2 resistor next
to Q1.
Time to test
The moment of truth is when power is
applied, but before you add the battery
and wonder, “Will it work?” take the
time to look carefully at the underneath
for any soldering that you missed, or
worse, over soldered and accidentally
joined to the part beside it.
6ROGHUWKHRQH\RXPLVVHGDQGÀ[WKH
excess using the techniques we talked
Correct place to solder the speaker wires
about on page 84 of the Soldering On
The Shed 81 November/December 2018 101

Nothing to see here …
article (Issue No. 77, March/April 2018)
using your local gravity to assist.
If everything looks OK, then add the
battery and wonder at this thing sitting
there making some form of noise and
ÁDVKLQJLWV/('V
)RU &OLIIRUG LI \RX FRYHU WKH /'5
it should start making noises, or,
alternatively, shining a light will make
it go quiet. You can add a tube over
WKH /'5 WR PDNH LW GLUHFWLRQDO DQG
the sensitivity is controlled by the 47K
resistor at the end of IC1.
Jiminy on the other hand seems counter-
LQWXLWLYH5DWKHUWKDQPDNLQJQRLVHZKHQ
it’s quiet, this one seems to come alive and
make noise when there is sound. I guess
he thinks he’s joining his mates.
102 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Foam to stop it
shorting and elastic
bands for the
battery.
You can use these
indoors, but it is a much
more fun exercise trying
WR¿QGWKHVHKLGGHQLQWKH
backyard, or when you’re
camping somewhere
Housing
The idea of these projects was for just
fun, and I can imagine a game where
someone hides them and then the kids
go searching for them.
You can use these indoors, but it is
a much more fun exercise trying to
… or maybe there is
ÀQG WKHVH KLGGHQ LQ WKH EDFN\DUG RU
when you’re camping somewhere. To
hide and protect them, I chose to use
an old tin as a shelter. A piece of foam
on the underside and a cable tie to hold
it in place stops it shorting out, and an
elastic band holds the battery onto the
foam and helps save the connections
from breaking.
I can imagine one of our readers
creating a giant weta-like creature with
this buried in the internals, but the point
is it doesn’t need a complicated housing,
just something to protect it from being
trampled while people are trying to
locate the source of this noisy creature.
(QMR\\RXUFULFNHWDQGKDYHVRPHIXQ
with it.
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 Magic mirror

104 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

MIRROR, MIRROR,
ON THE WALL …
MAKE YOUR OWN MAGIC MIRROR TO ACHIEVE DRAMATIC
INTERACTIVE EFFECTS
By Enrico Miglino
Photographs: Enrico Miglino

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 105

 The rear of the magic mirror wooden
box frame. The first layer is the one-
way mirror ready for assembly

T
hrough the centuries, mirrors
have fascinated humans, playing
an important role in many ancient
myths. From Narcissus to Snow White,
mirrors in the history of humanity
have frequently had a primary role. In
this issue, we will see how to create a
personalized ‘magic mirror’, with the
help of the 21st-century technology.

How magic mirrors work

A ‘one-way mirror’, also called a ‘two-
way mirror’ (or ‘two-way glass’, ‘half-
silvered mirror’, or ‘semi-transparent
mirror’) is a reciprocal mirror that
LV SDUWLDOO\ UHÁHFWLYH DQG SDUWLDOO\
transparent. The perception of one-
The Raspberry PI and way transmission is achieved when
the 3D-printed fixing one side of the mirror is brightly lit
components
and the other side is dark. This allows

106 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 7KHµPDJLF¶H̆HFWLV
DFKLHYHGE\VKRZLQJ
WH[WJUDSKLFVOLJKW
H̆HFWVRQDVFUHHQ
YLGHRVHWF

viewing from the darkened side, but not

vice versa (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-
way_mirror).
Magic mirrors use semi-transparent
The Raspberry PI is fixed to the back of the magic mirror frame (top) using a 3D-printed VESA
mirror plates that make it possible support, usually used to fix the PI to the back of a monitor
to see something lying on the back
RI WKH UHÁHFWLQJ VLGH WRJHWKHU ZLWK
WKH UHÁHFWLRQ RI WKH IURQW VFHQH 7KH
Two-way mirror:7KHVL]HRIWKHPLUURU 7\SHV3ULYDF\KWPO LQ $XVWUDOLD IURP
‘magic’ effect is achieved by showing
depends on your screen size (I used *ODVV.RWHJODVVNRWHFRPDQGIURPWKH
text, graphics, light effects on a screen,
an old 15-inch HDMI) and the size of 86 VKLSSLQJ ZRUOGZLGH IURP 7ZR :D\
YLGHRV HWF 7KH EHVW HIIHFW LV DFKLHYHG
the mirror plate. Due to the growing Mirrors (twowaymirrors.com/), where
when the entire back side and screen
interest in building magic mirrors, these I bought the one shown in this article
are black, thus avoiding visualization of
products are very easy to buy online. prototype.
the borders.
7ZRZD\ PLUURUV FDQ EH IRXQG Magic mirrors are acrylic plates
7KHLGHDLVWRSXWDVFUHHQRQWKHEDFN
in New Zealand from Sign Supplies ²PP WKLFN ZLWK D VSHFLDO UHÁHFWLQJ
side of the one-way mirror showing a
(signsupplies.co.nz/), DHGate.com (nz. VXUIDFHWUHDWPHQWWKDWLVQRWGLIÀFXOWWR
black background. A microcontroller,
dhgate.com/one-way-mirror-window- cut to the desired size.
embedded computer, desktop, or laptop
ÀOPQHZ]HDODQGKWPO DQG (OLWH Hardware: 7KH FRUH RI WKH PDJLF
connected to the screen can show
:LQGRZ )LOPV HOLWHÀOPVFRQ])LOP PLUURU LV D 5DVSEHUU\ 3, % WKH
any kind of information, including
interactive features with the user
through gestures or sensors.
A magic mirror based on a simple
microcontroller like Arduino provides
fewer features than a computer-based
one, but the light-only effects are
very suggestive.

Materials and hardware

The frame: 7R PDNH WKH SURWRW\SH
shown in this article, I built a wooden
custom frame. You can make your
own frame, or use an old mirror or
painting frame, taking into account
some necessary requirements of the
construction.
7KH EDFN VLGH RI WKH PLUURU ZLOO KRVW
a screen and some electronics, so it is
preferable to use a box frame to include The HDMI display before attachment to the
all the components in the backside, magic mirror. The case of the display has been
completely removed and the control board has
then close the back with a cover to keep been fixed on the back of the screen
everything neat, tidy, and hidden away.

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 107

 Raspberry PI 3B+

The core of the

magic mirror is a
Raspberry PI 3B+

most recent model, distributed

worldwide by Farnell/Newark (export.
fa r nel l.com / buy-raspber r y-pi?rd=
raspberry+PI+3B%2B&krypto=gWYQ
3 r 8 n o pV X P c E V r 3 n L / T 9 l B N X a r h
Lxv5ZdlPsKXDpJrHFT/9LVIL4ZAqzOv Below: The black frame and the cardboard
support frames. The two frames will be
0/viusONDta15cpqOw5cTX1xdjRcpr used to keep the mirror background totally
Qcyvob7QVqUXd5tA=). Less recent black and the screen in position
models of Raspberry PI can be used
as well, but the B+ offers better
performance and features, including
onboard WiFi, an Ethernet connection,
and Bluetooth 4.2.
Extra hardware accessories: To
build my prototype, I also included a
passive infrared sensor (PIR) motion
sensor, a couple of audio speakers with
D 86%SRZHUHG DXGLR DPSOLÀHU DQG D
PL camera.
The PIR sensor is used to activate the
magic mirror effects when a moving
subject is near the device.
To build small-sized magic
mirrors, the Raspberry Pl seven-inch
WRXFKVFUHHQ FDQ ÀW SHUIHFWO\ IRU
larger mirrors, an HDMI screen can be
connected to the Raspberry PI HDMI
output. When using an external HDMI
screen, a second power supply should
be provided for the screen, together
with the PI power supply. If you use an
external screen, it offers the advantage
that the size of the magic mirror is
independent from the small form factor
of the control unit. Below: The screen fixed in the support mask.
In this prototype, I decided to fix the screen in Below: The black frame masking the back of
the middle of the mirror the mirror
Building the magic
mirror
7RREWDLQWKHEHVWUHÁHFWLRQHIIHFWIURP
the semi-transparent mirror plate, its
back should be black. The only visible
elements from the back side should
be the graphic elements shown on
the screen.
Around the HDMI display, I created
a mask to cover the entire surface

108 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 The back of the mirror with
the screen in place ready to be
positioned

of the mirror using a sheet of light,

black cardboard (250g/mq). A second The back side of the mirror will host a screen and
cardboard layer (3mm thick) keeps the
some electronics
HDMI screen centred on the back of the
mirror frame.
I used an old HDMI 15-inch screen.
Keeping the screen centred, I left
space on the top side to install the
Raspberry PI and the two power
supplies on the bottom. The mask and
the mirror plate have been pressed
against the border of the frame with
four 3D-printed L-shaped supports,
and four supports at every corner.
The back of the assembled mirror
has been covered with a 3mm thick
plywood sheet.
Above: The VESA mount and the Raspberry PI in place
When hanging the boxed mirror, you Below: Detail of the 3D-printed L-shaped supports to keep the mirror background — masks and
should allow at least a 1cm gap from screen — pressed firmly to the back of the two-way mirror
the wall to avoid excessive heating.

System set-up
My research on the internet revealed
plenty of magic-mirror projects using
different platforms, as well as several
software solutions. Thanks to its wide
UDQJH RI KDUGZDUH FRQÀJXUDWLRQV DQG
peripherals, together with the software
possibilities, I believe that Raspberry

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 109

 Left: The back view of the magic mirror
assembled. All the components are fixed
inside the wooden box frame
Below: The screen controls — brightness and
contrast — fixed outside the back cover of
the magic mirror

PI is one of the better solutions for

building this kind of device.

Installing the Linux

operating system
First of all, install the operating system
on the Raspberry PI. Currently the latest Left: Detail of the back cover of the magic
mirror with the holes for aeration of the
updated version is Raspbian Stretch. Raspberry PI
Download and set-up instructions can Below: The completed magic mirror
reflecting the handsome writer shooting
EH IRXQG RQ WKH RIÀFLDO UDVSEHUU\SL
org site (raspberrypi.org/downloads/
raspbian/). Be sure to download the
desktop image of the operating system.
I strongly recommend installing the
operating system image on a microSD
card of at least 8GB, or ideally 16GB.

Preparing the system

Two options are available to easily
LQVWDOODQGFRQÀJXUHWKH5DVSEHUU\3O
7KH ÀUVW RQH LV FRQQHFWLQJ D PRXVH
keyboard, and HDMI monitor to the
Pl. The second one is accessing the
Raspberry PI remotely from a PC using
Virtual Network Computing (VNC).
More details on VNC can be found on
WKHRIÀFLDO91&VLWHUHDOYQFFRPHQ
The Raspberry PI Stretch operating
system includes a VNC server that

110 The Shed 81 November/December 2018


can be activated, while a VNC client is
available for any platform (Windows,
Mac, Linux, Raspberry PI) free to
GRZQORDG7KHVHWXSDQGFRQÀJXUDWLRQ
process requires the Raspberry PI to be
connected to the internet.
7KH FRPPDQG ¶UDVSLFRQÀJ· HQDEOHV
Some screenshots of the Raspberry PI
running the MagicMirror application with
different configurations. The enormous
variety of available options makes
the MagicMirror module an advanced
platform able to support a lot of custom
configurations. In addition, a developer
template is also available from the HQFRXUDJLQJ WKLUGSDUW\ FRQWULEXWLRQV
MagicMirror GitHub repository (github.
com/MichMich/MagicMirror). Using the base
7KH DFWXDO YHUVLRQ 0DJLF0LUURU2 is
template (including a running example) it very well documented, stable, and easy
is possible to develop any kind of custom
MagicMirror modules to install. It has become very popular
RYHUWKHSDVWFRXSOHRI\HDUVDWWUDFWLQJ
many open-source developers who
KDYHFUHDWHGDODUJHQXPEHURIFXVWRP
WKH SHULSKHUDOV HJ WKH 3/ FDPHUD modules, which are easy to install on
More details on the Raspberry PI Thanks to the the standard platform.
FRQÀJXUDWLRQ DQG VHWXS FDQ EH IRXQG H̆RUWVRI0LFK0LFK 7KH XSGDWHG IXOO OLVW RI 0DJLF0LUURU
RQWKHRIÀFLDOUDVSEHUU\SLRUJVLWH
PLFKDHOWHHXZQO modules is available on the main
0DJLF0LUURU UHSRVLWRU\ RQ *LW+XE
MagicMirror software WKH0DJLF0LUURU LQFOXGLQJ D WHPSODWH WR FUHDWH QHZ
Thanks to the efforts of MichMich VRIWZDUHIUDPHZRUN modules.
PLFKDHOWHHXZQO WKH 0DJLF0LUURU LVDYDLODEOHDVRSHQ 7KH 0DJLF0LUURU SODWIRUP LV DQ
software framework is available as ecosystem with hundreds of options.
open source (MIT License) for the
VRXUFH0,7/LFHQVH %HIRUH LQVWDOOLQJ WKH SODWIRUP \RX
5DVSEHUU\3,7KH0DJLF0LUURUSODWIRUP IRUWKH5DVSEHUU\3, will need to update — or install if not
JLWKXEFRP0LFK0LFK0DJLF0LUURU already present — Python and the npm
is the base of a modular system UHSRVLWRU\PDQDJHU

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 111

 Street art

Moo mail
112 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
 Cocky mail A man’s best friend

YOU’VE GOT MAIL

LET YOUR IMAGINATION RUN WILD AND EXPRESS YOUR
PERSONALITY WITH A UNIQUE LETTERBOX
By Coen Smit
Photographs: Coen Smit

I
n a world beset by increasing
regulations, building codes, local
government bylaws, vehicle safety
legislation, and the like, very few things
remain untouched by the long, deadening
arm of bureaucracy. However, one that
has escaped is the humble mailbox.
While their suburban cousins have
generally succumbed to the pressure
to have standardized, mass-produced
models available from hardware
chain stores, their rural brethren
have maintained their diversity, and
VWLOO UHÁHFW WKHLU RZQHUV· FUHDWLYLW\
and imagination.
In this era of increasing conformity,
the rural mailbox stands out as a
statement of individuality made
by those of us unwilling to follow
the common herd. Although postal
services worldwide are coming under
continued pressure from the new
delivery platforms, the mailbox is still
an integral part of any property, rural
or suburban. A good mailbox should
EH WKRXJKW RI DV D ÀQH H[DPSOH RI
street art, a whimsical statement by
LWV RZQHUV SHUKDSV UHÁHFWLQJ WKHLU
SDVVLRQV DQG LQWHUHVWV ZKLOH IXOÀOOLQJ
a utilitarian function.
Street art
$Q DGGHG EHQHÀW RI KDYLQJ D GLIIHUHQW
mailbox from the common herd is
LWV XVHIXOQHVV ZKHQ JLYLQJ ÀUVWWLPH
visitors directions to your property and
also to your near neighbours.
Almost anything can be turned into
a mailbox, as the accompanying photos
show. The foundation of any good
mailbox is its ability to contain normal
items of mail and keep them protected
from the elements. Beyond that the
design and construction depend on the
imagination and ability of its creator. It
goes without saying that convenience of

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 113


use must temper your creativity by, for
example, placing the box roughly at car-
door height. It has to be relatively easy
for the mail deliverer to open and insert
the mail.
A note of caution must be raised here.
Some years ago I built a mailbox in the
VKDSHRIDVLWWLQJGRJZLWKDOLIWXSÁDS
in his chest for inserting the mail, at
the request of my daughter who was
living in tropical Mackay, Queensland,
at the time. Despite it being obviously a
receptacle for the mail and placed where
their mailbox was normally located,
the erstwhile employees of the postal
service were unable to use it as intended
and often tried tucking the mail under
one of its ears or simply threw it on the
ground nearby. This continued even
after the dog was equipped with a sign
OLVWLQJ LQVWUXFWLRQV WR ´/LIW WKH ÁDS
114 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Above: Swagman mailbox
Below: Plough-disc mailbox
The rural mailbox
stands out as
a statement of
individuality made
by those of us
unwilling to follow the
common herd
to insert mail”. This suggests that for
some, the purpose of the mailbox must
be ultra-obvious, and its use require
absolutely zero thought or effort.
Having said that, my own mailbox
that I made from an old cream can to
resemble a pink pig has been in constant
 Precautions
before using an old
pressure vessel or
fuel container
Extreme caution must be exercised
when first cutting open, drilling, or
welding any container that has held
flammable gas or liquid.
Always fill the vessel to the
absolute brim with water before
you commence working on it. Any
container that has previously held
fuel or flammable liquid of any sort,
even if it is now clean and empty, will
become a bomb once heat or sparks
are present. Never cut, weld, or drill
into such a container if there is still a
pocket of air in it.
Remember that any container becomes
a potential bomb if even a small
residue of flammable vapours catch
alight and are confined within it.
If you are uncertain of the previous
uses the container has been put to,
assume it has had flammable liquid
or gas in it and treat it accordingly.
This warning should be heeded for
any and all containers that may have
held flammable liquids or gases
in them previously. There are no
second chances!

Right: Sassafras mailbox

use for some 30 years and relocated

with us three times, without ever
having stumped the posties who use it.

Construction options
For longevity, most bespoke mailboxes
are made from metal, although well-
maintained wooden ones can be equally
good. Plastic, on the other hand,
eventually becomes brittle and, I feel,
does not lend itself as readily to the
creative urges of the constructor.
The starting point for any bespoke
mailbox is the receptacle itself. Almost
anything that will hold relatively small
items and has the ability to shed rain,
can be used. Many a farmer simply
bolts a discarded plastic chemical drum
to a fence post, although I think these
are opportunities wasted. Not only do
they lack imagination, but they also

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 115

 The erstwhile
employees of the
postal service were
unable to use it
as intended

pass up the chance to make a statement

about the property and its owners. As you
can see from the photographs, others go to
considerable lengths to build and display
unique mailboxes that delight the passer-by.
A great way to get inspiration for your
mailbox is to look at old items of equipment
found at garage and farm sales or the local
tip shop. Often a suitable piece will set you
back only a few dollars. My daughter’s dog
mailbox was made using the air reserve
from a small, discarded air compressor,
which I rescued from a bush tip one day
while walking my dogs.
Old gas bottles also make good
mailboxes. Before deciding to use one of
these as your foundation, please read the
precautions that I have included at the end
of this article as these receptacles have the
potential to become bombs very easily!
Of course you do not need to get tangled
up with hazardous containers at all. One
of the more striking mailboxes I have
encountered was made from overlapping
plough discs to form an enormous ball.
Another used a cement mixer bowl to

Above: Mail … Mail … Mail!

Left: Pony express
Below: Toady mail

116 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

 
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• Easy step-thru frame
Carrier • NZ approved • 300Watt
sŝƐŝƚŚƩƉƐ͗ͬͬǁǁǁ͘ĂůŝďƌĞ͘ĐŽŵͬŐĞƚͲĂͲƚƌŝĂůͬ
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Front Shock
Absorbers • LED front & rearights
ŽŶƚĂĐƚLJŽƵƌKĐĞĂŶŝĂZĞŐŝŽŶĚĞĂůĞƌƚŽƉƵƌĐŚĂƐĞLJŽƵƌŽǁŶĐŽƉLJ
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Shimano
7 Speed • Weight 25kg • 36v
ĞŶƋƵŝƌŝĞƐΛďĂLJĐĂĚ͘ďŝnj
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 Chain mail

Others go to considerable lengths to

build and display unique mailboxes
that delight the passer-by

Roasted rooster mail

Biker mail My daughter’s dog mailbox that confused the Mackay posties

118 The Shed 81 November/December 2018

Get a bloke in

If you are intending to use an old

pressure vessel or fuel container for
a project such as this, or are at all
uncertain of your own ability to do
this part of the project, take it to a
company that can do it for you.
They will have access to inert gas
to flood the container and remove
any oxygen before cutting or drilling
into it, so that it no longer presents
a hazard.
Once the container has been opened
to the extent that it can no longer
confine the explosive gases that
can build up during the cutting
process, it is safe to work on to
complete your project. The opening
must be sizeable — for example,
just removing the valve on an LPG
bottle is not enough. The rate of gas
expansion if the vapour combusts
will exceed the opening’s ability
to dissipate it, with potentially
disastrous consequences. A very keen gardener

create an emu-like bird, and others To ensure that the mailbox isn’t
have been built entirely from scratch. adversely affected by high winds, I
The only limits are your imagination, mounted the bottom onto an old disc-
the materials at hand, and the available brake rotor. This gives it added weight
VSDFHWRVLWH\RXUÀQLVKHGDUWLFOH as well as strength and facilitates a
variety of mounting options using the
My mailbox project stud-bolt holes that held the wheels on
For the mailbox constructed to illustrate the car in its previous incarnation.
this article, I sourced an old, round, For example, it can be simply
stainless-steel barbeque as the body of screwed to a wooden or concrete gate
the box. I retained the grill to keep the SRVW2ULI\RXZRXOGOLNHWRKDYHWKH
mail off the bottom in the event that any mailbox double as a weather vane, you
ZDWHUÀQGVLWVZD\LQWRWKHXQLW2QWKH could also use the appropriate stub
original barbeque the lid simply sat on axle and bearings so that the mailbox,
the lower half. To avoid it being dislodged LIÀWWHGZLWKDYHUWLFDOÀQZLOODOZD\V
or blown off in windy weather, I hinged follow the wind as it changes direction.
the two halves and attached a small Be aware, however, that this feature
stainless-steel handle to allow the postie might annoy the mail-delivery person
House mail to more easily lift the top half and place if they have to spin it around to insert
the mail or larger items inside the unit. the mail. f

The Shed 81 November/December 2018 119


Let your imagination run
My next task was to give my imagination
free rein to turn it into something more
whimsical. I felt that the barbeque on its
own, while still perfectly functional as
a letter box, needed something more to
catch the eye and give it that wow factor.
As you can see from the other examples I
have included, inspiration comes from a
wide variety of sources, ranging from an
angel made of beer cans and a concrete
mushroom, to a farm bike made using
bulldozer sprockets. Some are simple,
others intricate and complex, but
each has a unique character. It’s this
uniqueness that makes building one of
these such a pleasure in itself.
I decided to construct a stylized
version of the black egret to sit astride
the mailbox and give it its individual
character. (The black egret has a unique
ZD\ RI FDWFKLQJ VPDOO ÀVK E\ XVLQJ LWV
wings as an umbrella to shade the area
LW LV ÀVKLQJ 3UHVXPDEO\ VPDOO ÀVK DUH
tricked into thinking that the shadowed
water provides a safe haven.) Its weight,
while not great, will also help hold
120 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
Above: Wombat deliveries
Below: Hi, guys! Any mail for me?
My next task was to
give my imagination
free rein to turn
it into something
more whimsical
the lid of the mailbox down in windy
weather.
I also think that an integral aspect of
making a bespoke, whimsical mailbox is
to use and repurpose the bits and pieces
we all have lying around in the shed
to make something truly unique. For
me, it’s this exercise of the imagination
that makes the project interesting.
Otherwise, why not just tootle down
to the local hardware store and buy
something off the shelf?
Accordingly, an assortment of steamer
EDVNHW¶ÁDSV·DGLVFDUGHGULGHRQPRZHU
roller, some wood, and a couple of bits
of 6mm rod were pressed into service to
become the black egret.
Left: The black egret — fishing for mail
Things to
remember when
repurposing any
container with small
standard openings
• Always assume that a container
may have held a flammable liquid
or gas in the past.
• Always assume that a residue may
still be present and can produce an
explosive vapour.
• Always fill the container to the
absolute brim with water to
eliminate any air pockets that might
harbour an explosive vapour before
you cut, weld, drill, or otherwise
apply heat to the container.
• Do all your work on the container
with it full of water.
• If you are opening the container,
ensure that the opening is of
a sufficient size to prevent any
gases from compressing within
the container, before removing
the water.
These precautions should apply
to every container, irrespective of
size and construction, including all
pressure vessels.
 m C PL
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 SPINNING FREE
The free-spinning sleeves on the Toolmaster
hex and torx key sets allow the T-bar handle
to continuously rotate, making loosening or
tightening screws quick and easy. Greater leverage
is easily achieved by sliding the handle through the
main body. There are three sets available: metric
(2-, 2.5-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 8-, and 10mm), imperial
(5/64-, 3/32-, 1/8-, 5/32-, 3/16-, 1/4-, 5/16-, and
3/8-inch), and torx (T10, T15, T20, T25, T27, T30,
T40, T45 and T50). All sets are made from
chrome-vanadium steel with durable phosphate-
ÀQLVKVWHHOWLSVDQGFRPHLQDZDOOPRXQWDEOH
metal storage holder.
For more information call into Machineryhouse, or
visit machineryhouse.co.nz.
BUG OFF
Removing the bugs stuck to
your headlights and tar that’s
ÁLFNHGXSIURPWKHURDGDUH
VRPHRIWKHPRUHGLIÀFXOW
tasks when cleaning your car.
Meguiar’s Heavy Duty Bug & Tar
Remover makes this easy with
its specialized surfactants that
loosen stuck bugs and soften tar.
While it’s a tough cleaner, it’s
easy on paint and all exterior
surfaces. Designed for use before
regular washes, or in between
washes as needed.
For further information,
contact the Smits Group team
on 0800 227 422 or head to
www.smitsgroup.co.nz.
122 The Shed November/December 2018
RATCHET UP
When you’re elbow deep in the engine bay and
barely have room to get your hand in there,
let alone a ratchet, Teng Tools has you covered
— with the 72T Mini Ratchet (#1400-72MN).
This ¼-inch drive ratchet has an ergonomic
two-component handle that measures in at just
PPORQJPDNLQJLWPLQWIRUDOOWKRVHFRQÀQHG
working spaces. Manufactured to the international
DIN3122D standard, it can be counted on to do
some hard slog — and priced at just $83.30, it
won’t break the bank, either.
Check out tengtools.co.nz, email
tengtools@tengtools.co.nz, or search
7HQJ7RROV1=RQ)DFHERRNWRÀQGDVWRFNLVW
WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN YOUR
WORK BOOTS …
Red Band footwear are well known for their
sturdy gumboots and workboots, and now you
can have the same comfort and quality — but
perhaps not protection! Red Bandals from
Skellerup are made from high-quality rubber
and feature red detailing. Available in adult’s
sizes 3–14, children’s sizes 10–12 and 1–3, and
junior sizes 5/6, 7/8, and 9/10 — you can kit out
the whole family for summer.
Priced between $19.95 and $24.95. Visit
redband.co.nz to discover the range.
TOP TIPPER
Recreate the Arocs tipper truck by the world’s leading truck
manufacturer, Daimler AG, with this RC model assembly
NLW7KHWUXFNDFKLHYHVDWUXO\UHDOLVWLFÀQLVKZLWKGHWDLOHG
headlight guards, front bumper, skid plate, and one-piece
resin bed reinforced with a metal frame. Power from the
front-mounted motor is delivered to rear axles via propeller
shaft, and the 3-speed transmission allows gear changes
via separately available 4-channel transmitter. The model
HQMR\VHDV\GULYLQJWKDQNVWRWKHÁRDWPRXQWHGGLHFDVW
front and reinforced resin rear axles, built-in differential
gears, and highly realistic suspension with metal leaf
springs and friction dampers.

Priced at $899. Get it at bayhobbies.co.nz.

JOIN THE E-BIKE REVOLUTION

*HWÀWDQGVDYHWKHSODQHWRQRQHRIWKHEHVW
value e-bikes on the road today, the MeloYelo
Tranzit e-bike, an urban/light trail step-through
priced at just $2595. MeloYelo sells its
NZ-designed high-spec e-bikes through a network
of home (shed)-based engineers, saving you
hundreds over similar bikes. Their range features
an integrated electric system with superior
ZDWHUSURRÀQJIURP%DIDQJ$VLD·VWRSQDPH
in e-bike electrics. MeloYelo is also a principal
partner and benefactor of EVolocity, a secondary
schools-based programme that invites high school
‘engineers of the future’ to design and build
electric vehicles. Feel good and do good! See the
range at meloyelo.nz.

A TWIST ON TRADITION
Wagener Stoves have been warming Kiwi homes
for over 35 years. As a third-generation family
business, they have accrued a wealth of knowledge
and experience, but are still small enough to care.
Wagener offer a range of stoves that will make your
home nice and cosy. From the very popular little
Wagener Sparky to its big brother Leon, released two
\HDUVDJRHYHU\VWRYHLVFUDIWHGWRODVWDQGUHÁHFWVWKH
company’s commitment to quality and design — and
now they’re available in a range of colours, including
shimmering rose, metallic moss green, sky blue, and
metallic blue, all in top-quality high-temperature
Stove Bright paints.

Whether you’re after a pop of colour or a loud splash,

check out the range at wagenerstoves.co.nz, or call
09 408-2469. Priced from $1592 for the Sparky and
$2925 for the Leon.

The Shed November/December 2018 123

Missed an issue? ONLY
$15
each
Go to www.magstore.nz and click ‘back issues’

Go to www.magstore.nz and click ‘back issues’

Storage ONLY
Binders $29
each
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Phone:
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Visa Mastercard Dheque (Please circle)

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Sept-Oct 2017 July–Aug 2017 May–June 2017 Feb–Mar 2017
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Signature:
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Aug–Sept 2015 Aug–Sept 2015 Aug–Sept 2015 June–July 2015 April–May 2015 BACK ISSUES
What back issues are you wanting?
tick Issue numbers below.

78 65 52 39 26 SOLD 13
OUT

77 64 51 38 25 12
76 63 50 37 24 11
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Oct–Nov 2013 Aug–Sept 2013 June–July 2013April–May 2013 Feb–Mar 2013 Dec–Jan 2013 73 60 47 34 21 SOLD 08
OUT

72 SOLD 59
OUT 46 33 20 SOLD 07
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71 58 45 32 19 06
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66 53 40 27 14 01

Issue 36, Issue 35, Issue 34, Issue 33, Issue 32, Issue 31, STORAGE BINDER
Apr–May 2011 Feb–Mar 2011 Dec–Jan 2011 Oct–Nov 2010 Aug–Sep 2010 Jun–Jul 2010
Quantity
$29 each Plus $8 P&P
T
OU For overseas orders, email
LD editor@theshedmag.co.nz or
SO
call 0800 727 574 for a quote

Issue 21, Issue 20, Issue 19, Issue 18, Issue 17, Issue 16, Send me Cack Jssues $15
FBDI

Oct–Nov 2008 Aug–Sept 2008 Jun–Jul 2008 Apr–Mar 2008 Feb–Mar 2008 Dec–Jan 2008
Plus $0 P&P (1Ŋ2
issues) NZ only

T T
OU OU Total:
LD LD
SO SO
Post to:
5IF
4IFE Nagazine
Issue 6, Issue 5, Issue 4, Issue 3, Issue 2, Issue 1, PO Box 46020,
Apr–May 2006 March 2006 Dec–Jan 2006 February 2006 November 2005 October 2005 Herne Bay, Auckland 1147

OR order online
www.magstore.nz/collections/the-shed
FIND YOUR LOCAL MENZSHED
Visit www.menzshed.nz
or email: secretary@menzshed.nz
MENZSHED KAITAIA INC
John Richardson 09 408 0042
cadfael@xtra.co.nz
KERIKERI MEN’S SHED
Wade Rowsell 09 407 8263
kkmensshed@outlook.co.nz
WHANGAREI COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Jeff Griggs 09 435 1759
chairman@mensshed.co.nz
DARGAVILLE MENZ SHED
Paul Witten 09 974 7685 or 0274 593098
pdub351@gmail.com
MENZSHED WAIPU INC
Kit Singleton 09 432 0436
kitsingleton5@gmail.com
HIBISCUS MENS SHED TRUST
Stuart Johnston 09 424 7854 or 027 4923357
hibiscusshed@outlook.com
MEN’S SHED NORTH SHORE
Larry Klassen 09 442 2145 or 021 311036
admin@mensshednorthshore.org.nz
DEVONPORT CLAY STORE
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
Tom Murray 09 445 8786
tomandlily@xtra.co.nz
MASSEY COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Andrew Wilson 027 516 6415
masseyshednz@gmail.com
MENS SHED AUCKLAND EAST
Pete Montgomery 027 496 6901
mensshedaucklandeast@gmail.com
AUCKLAND CENTRAL COMMUNITY SHED
Ken Buckley 027 3036 636
aucklandcentralshed@gmail.com
HOWICK COMMUNITY MENZSHED INC
Andrew Harvey 021 808 815
secretary@howickmenzshed.nz
PAUANUI COMMUNITY MENZ SHED
John Loader 07 8647722 or 0278753639
johnpaulineloader@gmail.com
MANUREWA BOOMER BUSINESS
Anita Curlett 09 269 4080 or 021 507 361
anita.curlett@mbct.org.nz
WHANGAMATA COMMUNITY
MENZSHED
Dave Ryan 027 496 5406
wgmtamenzshed@gmail.com
WAIUKU AND DISTRICT
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
Arthur Buckland 021 1515 808
art@body.org.nz
PAEROA COMMUNITY MENZ SHED
Rob Spencer 07 862 7634 or 021 197 7750
pmenzshed@gmail.com
HUNTLY (FRIENDSHIP HOUSE)
Andrew Price 07 828 7715 or 021 0239 8583
andylinley7@gmail.com
MENZSHED KATIKATI
Ron Boggiss 07 549 0500 or 027 495 2136
rboggiss@kinect.co.nz
MORRINSVILLE COMMUNITY MENZSHED INC
Paul Cronin 021 157 1095
paulwilliamcronin@gmail.com
MOUNT MAUNGANUI COMMUNITY MENZSHED
Keith Dickson 07 574 1309 or 021 170 2394
k.m.dickson@kinect.co.nz
THE TE PUKE COMMUNITY MENZ SHED
Joan Dugmore 07 573 8655
joandugmore@xtra.co.nz
MATAMATA COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
David Brocklehurst 027 2333 004
matamatamensshed6@gmail.com
HAMILTON COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Richard Kyle 027 529 8977
hamiltonshednz@gmail.com
CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY MENZSHED
David Callaghan 07 823 9170
callagain@xtra.co.nz
WHAKATANE MENZ SHED
Gil Clark 027 901 4212
menzshedwhk@gmail.com
TE AWAMUTU COMMUNITY MENS SHED
Clive Partington 021 942 844
teawamutumenzshed@gmail.com
KAWERAU COMMUNITY MENZ SHED
Peter Tebbutt 07 323 7144
hama@xtra.co.nz
OTOROHANGA MENZSHED
Darcy Lupton 07 8737 350 or 021 3322 05
edluptonoto@gmail.com
ROTORUA COMMUNITY MENZ SHED TRUST
(Mrs) Pat Hawke 07 347 8393
rotoruamenzshed@xtra.co.nz
TAIRAWHITI MENZSHED
James Aramoana 022 4650 396
tairawhitimenzshed@gmail.com
TAUPO COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Frederik Frank 07 376 7201
frederik.frank.blacksmithing@bigpond.com
TAUMARUNUI & DISTRICTS COMMUNITY
MENZSHED TRUST
Laurie Bull 07 895 5348 or 027 964 1870
bullui@in2net.co.nz
NORTH TARANAKI COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Paul Coulton 027 741 3249
northtaranakicommunitymensshed@gmail.com
MENZSHED NAPIER TRUST
Roy Schimanski 06 845 2473 or
020 405 21460
royschima@hotmail.com
MENZSHED HASTINGS TRUST
Mike Whelan 06 878 4894 or 021 172 5547
secretary@menzshedhastings.co.nz
MENS SHED WANGANUI INC
John Wicks 06 342 9854
johnwicks@xtra.co.nz
MENZSHED DANNEVIRKE INC
Ian Barnett 06 374 2737
dvkemenzshed@gmail.com
FEILDING MENZSHED
Jeff Wakelin 06 323 9642
secretary.feildingshed@gmail.com
MENZSHED MANAWATU
David Chapple 06 357 4045 or 027 4514 572
chapple.arch@xtra.co.nz
PAHIATUA MENZ SHED
Ken Russell 027 241 3717
kjrussell43@gmail.com
LEVIN MENZ SHED
Tony Murdoch Shed 06 367 35176 or
Pte 06 368 7737
menzlevin@gmail.com
EKETAHUNA MENZ SHED
John Bush 027 499 9430
henleymenzshed@xtra.co.nz
OTAKI MENZSHED
Tony King 022 4069 439
all@kingfamily.co.nz
MENZSHED KAPITI INC
Alan Muxlow 04 904 2318 or 027 611 4841
menzshed.kapiti@gmail.com
PLIMMERTON COMMUNITY SHED
Mike Gould
mjgould@tauatapu.net.nz
HENLEY MENS SHED INC
John Bush 027 499 9430
henleymenzshed@xtra.co.nz
MENZSHED CARTERTON
David Parr 06 379 7766 or 021 811 984
davidparr44@gmail.com
GREYTOWN MENZ SHED
John Boon 06 304 7960 or 027 500 5072
johnmboon@gmail.com
FEATHERSTON MENZ SHED
Garry Thomas 027 450 0660
featherstonmenzshed@hotmail.com
UPPER HUTT MENZSHED
Phil Kidd 04 528 9897 or 027 239 4828
prcmk@xtra.co.nz
MENZSHED TAWA
Gary Beecroft 04 2323993 or 022 5898581
gary.beecroft@xtra.co.nz
MEN’S SHED NAENAE
Archie Kerr 04 569 7069
menzshednaenae@gmail.com
MARTINBOROUGH MENS SHED
John Mansell
martinboroughshed@gmail.com
EASTBOURNE & BAYS MENZ SHED
Mike Parker 04 562 8688
mikeandcarolynparker@gmail.com
CITY MENZSHED WELLINGTON
John Shrapnell 04 473 7128 or 021 1725 430
info@citymenzshed.org.nz
MOTUEKA MENZ SHED
Tony Small 03 528 5221
tonysmall@xtra.co.nz
MENZSHED - NELSON INC
Denis Moriarty 027 474 6631
nelson.menzshed@gmail.com
HAVELOCK MENZ SHED
Ian Cameron 03 574 2558
ianc.cameron@xtra.co.nz
PICTON MEN’S COMMUNITY SHED
Kerry Eagar 03 573 8007 or 03 573 6608
eagark.s@clear.net.nz
MENS SHED WAIMEA
Alan Kissell 027 282 0185
mens.shed.waimea@gmail.com
TAPAWERA MEN’S SHED INC
John Wilmshurst 03 522 4616
menzshedtapawera@gmail.com
BLENHEIM MENZ SHED
Trevor Dennis 021 984 883
trevor.dennis@xtra.co.nz
WESTPORT MENZ SHED
Pete Doncliff 03 789 4219 or 027 237 8816
westshedchair@gmail.com
KAIKOURA COMMUNITY SHED
David Barrett 021 0288 1031
barrett_dave2@hotmail.com
WESTLAND INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE PARK INC
Rob Daniel 03 755 7193 or 022 173 5598
rob.daniel@slingshot.co.nz
AMBERLEY MENZ SHED INC
John Black 03 314 9095
john.r.black@opus.co.nz
MCIVER’S OXFORD COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
3BZ
$IBSMFT 


oxfordcommunitymensshed@gmail.com
MENZ SHED OF KAIAPOI
Frank Overend 03 327 2737 or 027 683 8286
bdirect@xtra.co.nz
MENZSHED DARFIELD/MALVERN INC
Tony Zwart 03 318 7370 or 021 223 1648
zwarta@xtra.co.nz
BISHOPDALE MENZ SHED
Richard Rendle 03 359 7275
rendle@xtra.co.nz
ST ALBANS MENS SHED
Barbara Roper 03 352 4860 or 027 693 1278
rpb@papanui.school.nz
NEW BRIGHTON MENZ SHED
Ray Hall 03 388 7277 or 027 895 2488
secretary.nbmenzshed@gmail.com
LINWOOD MEN’S SHED
Shane Hollis 03 981 5594 or 022 062 0744
shane.linwoodresource@accd.org.nz
HALSWELL MEN’S SHED
Roger Spicer 027 229 1928
roger.s@xtra.co.nz
REDCLIFFS COMMUNITY SHED
Cameron Holdaway 03 384 4055
redcliffscommunityshed@gmail.com
ROWLEY COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Sven Christensen
vikings.burnettchristensen@gmail.com
FERRYMEAD BUSMENZ SHED
Ken Watson 03 355 7366
ChChBusMuseum@gmail.com
TE PUNA AUAHA LYTTELTON
Paul Dietsche 027 536 7546
tepunaauaha@gmail.com
ROLLESTON MEN’S SHED
Stephen Rushton 021 106 0148
rollestonshed@gmail.com
MEN’S SHED OF LINCOLN SOCIETY
Myles Rea 03 3252 632
secretary.lincolnmensshed@gmail.com
AKAROA COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED
Howard Wilson 027 407 9559 or 03 304 7480
h.wilson@xtra.co.nz
ASHBURTON MEN’S SHED
Stewart Dunlop 03 3083910 or
022 133 7817
ash.menzshed@outlook.com
TIMARU MENZ SHED
Kevin Wildey 021 206 7291 or 03 6846087
kwkevlights061@gmail.com
ARROWTOWN MENZSHED INC
Russel Heckler 03 442 0204
hecklerdenise@hotmail.com
OAMARU MENZ SHED
John Walker 027 445 5265
jjms@actrix.co.nz
ALEXANDRA MEN’S SHED
Neil McArthur 03 448 9377
alexmenshed@gmail.com
NORTH DUNEDIN SHED SOCIETY INC
Paul Nelson 03 474 0060 or 021 1445 8531
madnel@vodafone.co.nz
TAIERI BLOKE’S SHED
Nick Wilson 03 742 1206
jean.nickwilson@gmail.com
MATAURA MENZSHED
Mike Whale 027 299 7218
orcas@xtra.co.nz
MENZSHED INVERCARGILL
Peter Bailey
peteolly@xtra.co.nz
 Back o’ The Shed
A PLACE
FOR
EVERYTHING
By Jude Woodside
I
once heard from a woman who was
renewing her husband’s subscription
to The Shed who complained that he
had six sheds packed with all manner
of “handy stuff” that he couldn’t part
with even though, at 94 years of
age, he wasn’t likely to need much of
it anymore.
His devotion to his collection was
such that they couldn’t sell up and
downsize to move into something
smaller.
While I am not that devoted yet, I
can see his point. I bet the day that the
FROOHFWLRQ LV ÀQDOO\ FOHDUHG VRPHRQH·V
1940s vintage car will break down
outside the house and will require just
the part that he had held onto for the
past 70 years in anticipation of such
an occasion.
Like every sheddie, I have a collection
of stuff that will ‘come in handy’ some
time and, as much as I realize that I
128 The Shed 81 November/December 2018
haven’t called on it in over 20 years, I
still can’t bear to part with it. It’s partly
parsimony and partly utilitarian angst
— I don’t want to buy another one and
I still might use it.
+DYLQJ ÁHG $XFNODQG ODVW \HDU IRU
the beautiful Wairarapa I am still
in the process some 12 months later
of unpacking some of that stuff. My
ZRUNVKRS LV JHQHUDOO\ ÀQLVKHG , KDYH
all the tools I need for now, but I am
VWLOOÀQGLQJDQGFUHDWLQJKRPHVIRUDOO
the other necessary ‘stuff’. It is a maxim
that proves itself time and again — that
VWXIIH[SDQGVWRÀOOWKHVSDFHDYDLODEOH
I do like the feeling of a clean and tidy
workshop with a place for everything
and everything in its place. I’ve seldom
been able to achieve it and I admire
those who can.
I have just picked up a collection of
wall-mounted storage bins that I will
mount at strategic sites around the
workshop, and I have been building
shelves and cupboards. But still there
are boxes unpacked and things that
can’t be found.
There are few things as frustrating
as, in your hour of need, not being able
WRÀQGWKDW¶WKLQJ·WKDW\RXKDGNHSWDOO
these years for just that job.
7KDW·V WKH EHQHÀW RI SURSHU
organization and methodical storage;
something I suspect that I am
pathologically incapable of achieving. I
am far more of a free thinker, as anyone
who has seen my desk will appreciate.
0\ÀOLQJV\VWHPLVEDVHGRQWKH¶SLOLQJ·
principle with no discernable system,
but somehow I remember where
everything is.
,·P LQ WKH SURFHVV RI ÀQLVKLQJ RII D
very sturdy shelving unit to take the
larger accessories for my saw bench
and assorted tools … just as soon as I
ÀQGP\WDSHPHDVXUH
 ’
7+(,1'8675< 6&+2,&(
Metal Sheet Metal Wood Workshop & Lifting Cutting Machine Tools Measuring Spare
Working Fabrication Working Automotive Handling Tools & Accessories Equipment Parts

WTJ3000 ABR-7P PPH-51 KIT194MH

Hydraulic Trolley Jack
• 3000kg capacity
• Full steel construction
• Wide frame for stability
• 140-520mm lift height
Auto Panel Restoration Kit Pneumatic Tool Chest & Assorted Tools
• 1.2mm mild steel Planishing Hammer • 9 drawer tool chest
• 500mm throat • 1.2mm mild steel • 94pc socket, driver & accessory tray
• 875-1350 blows/minute • 500mm throat • 25pc ring & open end spanners &
• Includes 25, 50, 76 anvils screwdriver tray
• 875-1350 blows/minute
• Includes 25, 50, 76 anvils • 31pc plier, hex key &
Order Code: H886 adjustable wrench tray
• 38pc gearless ratchet
$
195 Order Code: S227A

$
driver and bits tray
• 5pc VDE/insulated
Order Code: J041B

$
SAVE $32.70 299 screwdriver set

220 SAVE $69 Order Code: Y314

$
SAVE $67.50 850
SAVE $90
MPB-2SH
LT-500 PJ2000RS Hydraulic Pipe Bender
Hydraulic Lifter Trolley Premium High Pressure • 6 cast steel water DB-32
pipe formers, (1/2", 3/4",
• 500kg load capacity Water Blaster 1", 1-1/4", 1-1/2", 2") Tube Bender Electric
• 810 x 500mm table • 2200PSI maximum pressure • 2 stage 12T pump • 15.87, 19.05, 22.22, 25.4 &
• 295-780mm height • 6.4l/min. water volume 31.75mm OD round tube formers
• 5.5hp Lifan 4 stroke engine Order Code: P064 • Digital angle display 0 - 180º
$
•
•
8 metre high pressure hose
Large pneumatic tyres 380 • 2.0mm m/s wall thickness
• 1.7kW / 2.3hp, 240V
SAVE $68.50 Order Code: T070
Order Code: WB700
$
$
399 2,095
SAVE $192.10 SAVE $262.50

Order Code: J050 L-612A

$ Belt & Disc Linisher Sander
325 • 150 x 1220mm Belt
• 305mm dia.
SAVE $54.50 X8-PLUS sanding disc WDV-8
Industrial Bench Grinder • Tilting table to
Industrial Wet & Dry
belt & disc
with Linisher • 1.5hp, 240V Vacuum Cleaner
• 200mm medium grade wheel
M-16 • 915 x 50mm linisher attachment
• 2 x 1200W = 2400W 240V
Chisel Morticer • 1hp, 240V motor Order Code: L109 • Portable on wheels
• 80L stainless steel tank
$
•
•
16mm chisel capacity
160 x 46mm adjust. table 910 • Include: brush, crevice tool,
wet & dry floor nozzle
• 120mm head stroke SAVE $125
• 0.37kW, 240V motor Order Code: V508

$
Order Code: G1590
395
SAVE $88
$
495
Order Code: W347

$
411 SAVE $45.50
SAVE $46.70
CD-2A
Industrial Dust & Cyclone
ST-254 Separator Collector
Table Saw BP-480
• 2 stage 1200cfm
• Ø254mm TCT blade Wood Band Saw • LPHV System
• 1170 x 800mm cast table • 465 x 310mm capacity
• 1 micron filter
• Tilt arbor 45º • 480 x 438mm cast
iron table • 113L steel drum
6  • 3hp, 240V
$//7+, • Ball bearing • Dual Ø100mm inlets
1
025(,
blade guides • 2hp 240V motor
 • 488 & 1010M/min
6725( blade speeds
(
21/,1 • 1.5kW / 2hp, 240V

Order Code: W486 Order Code: W434 Order Code: W318

$
- MARK
$
1,550 2,339 $
1,650
Staff Member SAVE $163.50 SAVE $260 SAVE $178.50

Ceelebrratinng 10 yeaars of Bussinesss!

Machine
eryhouse settting
g the standa
ard for quality and value

UNIQUE PROMO CODE

www.machineryhouse.co.nz/SHED1018
05_SHED_081018

SHED1018 2 Waiouru Road, East Tamaki 2013

ONLINE OR INSTORE! Ph: (09) 2717 234
Specifications & prices are subject to change without notification. All prices include GST and valid until 30-11-18