New Hokie in Raleigh

[mbromley]

Hey all, I'm relatively new to Raleigh just moving to the area a year ago. I grew up in the construction industry as my dad owns a general contracting business and as result have always been very hands on. I studied mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!) and work for a start up business in the Raleigh area focusing on a non conventional manufacturing method. In my career I've always worked with metals (program and operate CNC mills and lathes) so I've enjoyed the change of pace of working with wood. I started wood working a few years ago with some smaller utility pieces, but as of February this year my wife and I purchased a house in north Raleigh with a 2 "car" work shop. I don't think a car will ever be parked in there and it has begun the transformation to a wood shop. I'm currently addicted to wood working and love challenging myself to a better wood worker.

My first piece of furniture a couple of years ago was a small side table for my lazy boy recliner. Its just big enough for a magazine and the TV remote. I did my best to match an end table and coffee table set that we already had.

This breadboard table top was my first "real" wood working project. It is made of hard maple with walnut dowels and rubbed with a cherry danish oil. This was first project using hand planes and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My next piece is a headboard. I've designed it in OnShape (a free CAD program) and am currently building it. The curves have been an adventure to say the least.

Cheers,
Bromley

 

[Jim M.]

Welcome to the forum, Bromley, thanks for sharing some pics of your cool projects.

 

[Raymond]

Welcome aboard, Bromley. YOu have come to the right web site. Looks like you have a good start on ww'ing already!

 

[Mike Davis]

Welcome, you did a great job matching the new piece to the existing. Looks like they were made together in the same shop.

look forward to seeing more projects out of your shop.

 

[NOTW]

Welcome, Go Hokies!

 

[red]

Welcome to the forum.

Red

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Welcome to the site, Bromley. Glad you found us and decided to join in. Not familiar w/ OnShape. Many of us on here use SketchUp.

 

[VTHokie]

Welcome and Go Hokies indeed!!!!

 

[sawman101]

Welcome to the sawdust pile Bromley! As Bill said, hou did a great job of matching up the tables. WELL DONE! LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING MORE FROM YOU, and viewing your fine work!

 

[Hmerkle]

Bromley,
Welcome, we are glad you found us and you successfully attached pictures - so you passed test #2! ha ha
I see you have the "bug" and will likely be doing this the rest of your life.
REALLY cool your better half doesn't think that thing attached to the house is for a car!! (congrats on an AWESOME life choice!)

I am VERY curious about your "Day job" "non-conventional manufacturing " about makes my palms itch for more information!
Hopefully, we can meet someday and you can tell me about what ever you can without being forced to kill me! :gar-Bi

 

[mbromley]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I've really enjoyed it thus far and am certainly addicted already.

My day job is with a small start up company, currently at three employees. We work on a process called pulsed electrochemical machining. You can think of it as accelerated and controlled corrosion. I do a bunch of machine design as well as conventional manufacturing, milling, welding, etc. I find working with wood a nice break from metal working. The tolerances are much looser and more forgiving.

 

[Bear Republic]

Welcome to the neighborhood. Lots of great folks here with a great wealth of experience. Just attended my first workshop and meet some fellow member. Our member host had a great workshop, makes working in garage like I do also seem like a cave....

 

[Mossyarea]

Welcome. I have been experimenting with Shapr3D for CAD. It will take a bit of practice to get good at it. I looked at a bunch of different things, haven't dialed in on one I want to keep for good yet. I use them on an iPad Pro. Shapr3D (free) has support for the Apple Pencil, but doesn't add in dimensions like Woodcraft (19.99). But I don't think woodcraft shows tenons, plus it is $20. Is OnShape the cloud based CAD? I'm pretty sure I looked at that too. Seems like a cool idea.

 

[mbromley]

Yep OnShape is completely cloud based and completely free. It is a transitional parametric based CAD modeling software so it is not catered to any particular task. Meaning any joints must be drawn out by the user. I've been using traditional CAD for over 10 years and having a cloud based solution that's free has been awesome. It is also very mobile friendly and an app exists which allows me to pull up the design on my tablet in the garage to check dimensions.

 

[LeftyTom]

Welcome to NCWW, Bromley. I do like that drawer front.

 

[Graywolf]

Welcome to the form, Bromley.