Making Segmenting Easier

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KenB259

KenB259

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You know, I've never really bothered with planning out blanks, just keeping the designs in my head. I decided to try out making a plan. This definitely makes things easier and harder to mis cut a part. Will be my new method.
 

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I found myself doing something similar but for a different reason. It is called old age and memory is not what it use to be. I always had a problem with being too creative and thinking of too many designs and ideas and not being able to remember them. Now I just sketch things roughly to help. but have now come up with another problem and I need to correct. That is I have too many blanks started and forget what kits they were for. That has become serious. Right now I have at least 15 blanks started and there are a few I have no idea what kit they were for. I tried matching tubes but to no avail. Good idea that you are drawing plans. It will save you down the road.
 
jttheclockman said:
I found myself doing something similar but for a different reason. It is called old age and memory is not what it use to be. I always had a problem with being too creative and thinking of too many designs and ideas and not being able to remember them. Now I just sketch things roughly to help. but have now come up with another problem and I need to correct. That is I have too many blanks started and forget what kits they were for. That has become serious. Right now I have at least 15 blanks started and there are a few I have no idea what kit they were for. I tried matching tubes but to no avail. Good idea that you are drawing plans. It will save you down the road.
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Yes and I have also started labeling the blanks with masking tape and writing the kit on the tape.
 
KenB259 said:
Yes and I have also started labeling the blanks with masking tape and writing the kit on the tape.
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yea I have to do something like that too. It has become a serious problem. i will be taking a break from pen making in about a month because I have some work I need to do in the house. So I am trying to wrap up some pens before I start a whole other set. Mostly they will be pool cue pens. also have 2 weird designs I want to try out. One I actually have to take a page out of your playbook and make a sled for my bandsaw or maybe the tablesaw but would have to use a thin blade on it. I am curious about this design if I can pull it off. If I can it will lead to alot of nice mix of materials for sure. Stay tuned.
 
Seems like a good idea to me. With some notes and maybe even a picture attached. Being able to refer back to them would be pretty handy. Maybe you'll even get some more ideas to combine the styles.

As for the confusion factor, I usually keep the blanks in a Ziplock bag with the kit. When I cut the blanks, in the bag they go... drill them, back in the bag... glue them, back in the bag (after the glue cures). For those waiting for glue/paint to cure, I keep the kits next to the corresponding blanks. A sharpie helps when there might be any confusion. It's kind of like a very, very slow assembly line (not much shop time lately). There's a small container of bags with some ready to drill, another with some ready to tube/paint, and one with them squared and ready to spin. Now and then, I have another with blanks already tubed and waiting to be squared. No fancy segmenting going on with me, though.
 
sorcerertd said:
As for the confusion factor, I usually keep the blanks in a Ziplock bag with the kit. When I cut the blanks, in the bag they go... drill them, back in the bag... glue them, back in the bag (after the glue cures). For those waiting for glue/paint to cure, I keep the kits next to the corresponding blanks. A sharpie helps when there might be any confusion. It's kind of like a very, very slow assembly line (not much shop time lately). There's a small container of bags with some ready to drill, another with some ready to tube/paint, and one with them squared and ready to spin. Now and then, I have another with blanks already tubed and waiting to be squared. No fancy segmenting going on with me, though.
Click to expand...

I used to use bags, until I found these plastic pencil containers at Walmart. They are a $1.26 each, you can fit all the kit parts (sometimes the refill has to be put at an angle) as well as the blanks. You can get longer ones (about twice as long) for about $2.45 each. These have a lit with latches on either side. I've stuck some dry erase or chalkboard tape on them for labeling, etc. They are a lot easier to work with than the bags. I have even started putting together some additional contraptions with magnets, along with these boxes, to help me through the process of preparing a set of pens and blanks. I've got these small 6"x6" square dry erase MDF board panels that have magnets in them, and I can put some magnet on the bottom of each of these boxes. I also created these little panels that support holding the blanks with their tubes, and any custom band or finial, which can also be magnetically attached to these panels. I can pull off a box, when say cutting the blanks, and magnetically attach it to my blank crosscutting sled on the bandsaw, or attach it to a 6x24" panel as a bank for in-progress turnings, etc. etc.

These cheap little plastic boxes have been immensely useful. I've got a couple dozen or so now, and a few more of other sizes, that have made my work a heck of a lot easier, and they keep everything together for a given kit at all times.
 
I do 3d models of my projects so I can see more how it'll look finished, then draw sketches off that. Always nice to plan out what you're going to do
 
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