Hello from Melbourne, Australia

[Spyros]

Righto,  stitching pony out of plywood. I'm about done I think.   

Just a couple more holes to drill, then I'll take all the pieces inside and trace them on a piece of paper so i can give you a "pattern" so to speak.

Tell you what it was easier making it the last time, I didn't have to worry that everything I do must also make sense to other people LOL

 

 

[Scoutmom103]

12 minutes ago, Spyros said:

Just a couple more holes to drill, then I'll take all the pieces inside and trace them on a piece of paper so i can give you a "pattern" so to speak.

Tell you what it was easier making it the last time, I didn't have to worry that everything I do must also make sense to other people LOL

Wow that was fast.  Thank you.

 

[Spyros]

13 minutes ago, Scoutmom103 said:

Wow that was fast.  Thank you.

 

My pleasure.

Remember I said if I was going to make another I would make it longer?  Well guess what, I completely forgot LOL

I actually made it from the patterns I made for you, with minor changes.  And now I'm stuck with two identical ponies.  Dumb 

 

But, come to think of it, this is probably the ideal size anyway.  Light, portable, tiny when you fold it it fits everywhere, and when i have something big to stitch i just tilt it a little.  this is how I did that tote for example.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Hey guys  I was thinking about this and I'm actually not going to start a new thread.  I mean some people sell those things for a living, some even sell them here, and I don't want to step on anyone's toes.  I will however do what I said, but I will do it on this thread for the couple of you who asked the question, and then you guys can build it or not build it, up to you.

 

Ok so here's your cut list below.  Everything is in mm because I'm a chauvinistic pig (no seriously it's because all my rulers and tapes are in mm, sorry)

I've put down the critical dimension in green so when you print this you know you are printing 1:1 scale.  After you print 1:1, if you need any other dimensions the dots on the paper are 5mm apart, just measure it.

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Some notes on the cut list:

Part A:  You need 2 of those.  Note this part has a 46mm slot.  The way to make this slot is by drilling a hole at the start of the slot and another one at the end, and then using a coping saw or scroll saw to connect them.  Same as you would with an oblong hole on a belt if you don't have an oblong hole punch.   And then you just clean it up with a bastard file.    

You can make the slot when you cut them or afterwards when the pieces are glued together, up to you.

 

Part B (also 2 copies) has a side view and a top view.  Cut based on the side view.  I've put the top view there just to mark the position of a couple of holes you'll need to make later.  There's also an indentation, and some corners have been rounded over so they're a bit more pleasant to the touch.  If you're comfortable cutting round corners and indentations do it, otherwise they can easily be done later with a file and some sandpaper.

 

Part C (4 copies) can be made as long as you want, and that will determine how big a piece you can stitch on your pony.  I've made mine based on the solid line, but I've also made a dotted line just to show how you could scale yours up.  And you can scale up even more in the same fashion, up to you.  

 

Parts D & E are really carbon copies of part C, just cut a little shorter.  So if you're going to scale up Part C you need to scale those up as well, and the best way to do that is make copies of the scaled up Part C and chop them after.

 

MATERIAL:  Get the most expensive plywood you can, quality does matter here.  Bamboo ply would be ideal, baltic birch will be fine.  You don't need much, think about the same surface as making a small bag 

I used 18mm marine ply I had lying around and it was ok, but ideally you want better and slightly thicker, between 19-21mm.

I hope this makes sense so far.  Build photos to follow.

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

HOW TO CUT THOSE THINGS

Safety first: wear a mask, don't breathe dust, wear safety glasses, read the manual, etc.  Watch a woodworking safety video, there's tonnes on youtube.  If you havent done this sort of thing before maybe let someone else do it, at the end of the day you need your fingers to make beautiful things out of leather

With the safety thing out of the way.  Print 1:1, cut along the solid black line and glue the patterns on your plywood.

The fastest and most accurate way to cut those pieces is to make one copy with a band saw, clean it up to perfection with sandpaper/files and use it as a template to cut the other part with a router and a flush trim bit (I've linked a video in the previous page).  And that's what I started doing as well on my router table, and I've done it dozens of times before, however for whatever reason my router bit absolutely hated this type of plywood, it was catching and wanted to take the piece from my hands and launch it out the window.   Please be careful, routers can be very dangerous, if you find yourself in a situation like that with a router or generally something feels wrong just leave it (that's what I did), there are many other ways to make this cut.   I ended up freehand cutting everything on the bandsaw, and that went smoothly, it just took a little longer and a bit more sanding in the end. Note: bandsaws can also be very dangerous, but I have a lot of experience with it (and a long mental safety checklist I go through every single time)

If you have none the tools above (or those machines scare you, which is perfectly understandable) you could also use a jigsaw or scroll saw or even coping saw, it just takes more time and patience.

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

All right some cutting photos

This is what I started with, it's half a sheet of plywood and I still have probably 70% of it left.  Like I said you don't need much.

here I'm roughly marking how many pieces I need based on my pattern.

and this is what I used to break it down to small manageable pieces

 

[Spyros]

Those are all the pieces you need

Then I glue the first one on with contact adhesive

and I rough cut it on the bandsaw

then took my time to perfect it with a file on the vice

 

[Spyros]

that's good enough

then I used this piece to trace all the other curved pieces

and then because my router method failed, I ended up cutting everything as closely as I could on the bandsaw.  Notice the 8 curved pieces, I made them all out the first piece and then cut the shorter ones to size.

 

 

[Spyros]

then I kind of assembled everything on the bench and looked at it from every direction, make sure everything made sense before I glued everything up

the clamps were a bad fit initially, so I sanded them down a little

 

 

you can't see it very well from here but the yellow piece was leaving a big gap with the curved piece on the right, so I threw it away and cut it again a slightly different shape.

and then I glued everything up

 

 

 

[Spyros]

Ok time to talk about hardware

You gonna need an M8 bolt, about 100mm long, ideally not threaded all the way.    A coach bolt is much easier to install, I didn't have one so I used the one below which made things a little harder.   Also you need a couple of matching nuts and a spring that will fit snuggly around that bolt.  Make the spring about 2/3 the length of the bolt, or longer.  Longer is fine, you can cut it.

 

  You will also need a couple of fully threaded bolts, one about 100mm long and one 60mm.  I used the ones below and ended up cutting one of them down to 60mm.  Mine are M6, in hindsight M7 would probably be better so get M7.

The other little doohickeys are called insert nut", get a couple of those that match your bolts.    If you can get the ones that are installed with a hex key like the ones below (notice the hex opening)

Last but not least get some nylon washers, and also some steel rod.  Anything 5-8 mm thick will do, you will need about a 80mm length, and probably something to cut it with (angle grinder or hacksaw) 

And a couple of wood screws 30-40mm long.

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Next step is make star nuts, we need 3 of them.  Like I said before you can buy plastic ones but you'll still need to make at least one to operate your big bolt.  So here's how you make them:

First you need some hardwood, ideally a little thicker than your plywood.  I repurposed an old cutting board that we never used, it's about 21mm thick

First you draw 3 circles and mark the center and 5 equally spaced marks with an awl.  If you need some help with the mark here's a pattern (print 3 and glue them on)

you should end up with something like this

 My circles were 54mm in diameter, in hindsight this was a little too big so go around 50mm.

You will also need a 20mm forstner bit

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

If you have a drill press it really helps right now, you're supposed to drill 5 holes in each circle, exactly where your awl marks are

my forstner bit was travelling a little bit on the first hole so I pre-drilled all the remaining holes to guide it.

Note: this is a lot of drilling with the forstner bit.  After every hole check its temperature and if it's too hot to touch (or if you see smoke while drilling) spray it with water and wait a few seconds.  High temperature has the ability to anneal your drill bit and then you basically have to throw it away, it's useless.

Ok so this is what it looks like at this point, kinda interesting in a strange way

Then I cut them on the bandsaw and there you have it, 3 artisan star knobs 

A little bit more pleasant to the eye and to the touch than the plastic ones.  When you get to that stage you're starting to feel that you're making something nice

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Alright the next part is a little challenging but it will make you feel like a real woodworker: you have to make this big bolt to operate with this wooden knob.   

And the way to do it is by sinking this nut inside the knob:

I know it sounds difficult but you guys can skive and tool leather, you are practically neurosurgeons compared to the average woodworker!  ok first step is you drill a hole in the center of your knob, big enough for your bolt to go in freely, but not much bigger than that.  You just have to find the right size drill bit, about 1-2mm thicker than your bolt.    And you have to drill about 4/5 of the way into your wood (if you get this wrong and you drill right through that's alright, you can cover this hole on the other side of the knob with a bit of leather with your initials - which you should put on anyway  )

[Spyros]

And once you've drilled this hole, then you have to drill a slightly wider one, that is just a bit smaller than how wide your nut is.  You should end up with a hole inside a hole, something like this:]

Then you take your bolt with your nut in the end, and you tap it with a hammer inside your hole, until it leaves an impression:                                                       

 

[Spyros]

And then you make that impression deeper with a chisel, deep enough to fit the nut

Then you mix some 2 part epoxy, and sink the bolt in with a hammer                                                                                                                                               

[Spyros]

(make sure there is no epoxy in the threads of the nut.  If there is, before the epoxy dries completely screw the bolt in and out a few times and then clean the epoxy off the threads of the bolt, it's much easier like that).  Ok you should have something like this at this point: 

[Spyros]

Now that you have something to handle your star knob with, take it to a sander and give it a bit of a bevel all around, makes it much easier on the hand:  

You can see now where your initials will go     

[Spyros]

Note: if you've done this right, the bolt should turn 12-15 times inside the knob before it hits the bottom of the hole.  Thats about 15-20mm of travel, which is all you need.   For the other knobs it's pretty much the same process, except you don't want to sink the nut, you want to sink the head of the bolt. Like this

So when you turn the knob, you want to turn the whole bolt.  I hope things make sense so far??

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Probably not LOL  

[Spyros]

Ok lets make a clamp, which I believe is what sets this pony apart from the ones sold on etsy etc.  

So pretty much all the stitching ponies I've seen, even some of the most high-end ones, have this sort of clamp that catches in the bottom of your table and keeps turning as you turn the screw until it lodges itself in your table or at the very least marks it for ever.    This is a terrible design, not only it will scratch the crap out of your table but the actual clamp will self destruct eventually.  I'll show you how to make a proper clamp that lands gently on the bottom of your table and then it only squeezes without turning.  We'll make a pony that you can use on your dining table if you want without ever leaving a mark.

Take your part A, mark it in the bottom , about 20mm from the edge:

 

Then drill a hole right through, wide enough to just fit your insert nut.  It's important to drill that hole as straight as possible  

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Then sink the insert nut in with a hex key.  

 

I'm not gonna lie, those thinks are a bitch to put them in straight.  You'd think the hole would guide it but it always seems to want to go sideways a little bit.  Anyway if you fail and your bolt is going in very crooked, take out the nut and try to put it in from the other side of the hole, guiding it straight while turning it with the hex key.  Basically you have 2 tries to put this in straight, but if it's crooked by only a little bit that's ok, it will still work just fine (don't ask me how I know LOL)

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Next step for the clamp:  find a domed end nut for your bolt

Then cut a circle (slightly smaller in diameter than your star nuts) from your thick plywood, then make a wide hole in it for your domed nut to sit very comfortably in.  It should look like this:

and then make an equal size circle out of thinner material (anything 2-5mm), and cut a hole in that one just wide enough for your bolt to go through, but not wide enough for the end nut to get out of:

 Then put it all together in this order:

Ideally at this point you want to weld the end nut on the bolt, and by all means do that if you can be bothered, but I never did on mine and I've been using it for months and it never came off.  

Also, another good thing you can do is add a little piece of metal in the hole on top of the end nut, like a tiny metal button or washer or something, it will help things run smoother long term.  I did do this in my other pony, completely forgot on this one.  Anyway I might open it up and do it at some point.

Then glue and clamp your circular parts together and leave them a couple of hours to dry.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Spyros

[Spyros]

This is what it looks like when it's finished.  Notice how the circle part looks limp?  That's exactly what you want, you want it to be loose.

 

Works great

The whole point of this mechanism is that when you start tightening your clamp by turning the knob, as soon as the circular part comes in contact with the bottom of your table it stops turning, but the screw inside it keeps turning and pushing upwards until the clamp is firmly (but gently) attached on your table. 

Last thing about the clamp:  the parts that come in contact with your table, you want to line them with something.  I know your first instinct would be to line them with leather, and you surely can do that with just your leather glue, but it will come off eventually and it's a bit slippery anyway.  Go to a hardware store and ask for a small roll of non slip vinyl, the type they put on slippery steps in workplaces etc.  It usually comes with double side sticky tape, use that to fix it on the clamp.   Not as pretty as leather but it's definitely the best stuff for the job.  

[Spyros]

For the next joint, same drill.  Take your part B, screw the insert nut in, add a nylon washer, thread it through, add another washer from the other side

Screw it in, boom, done.