Brickology Part 3

This Brickology lesson is for making handmade, antique style, miniature sized bricks using paper mache/clay air drying products.

The clay I am using today is Plus by Activa, their Acitv Clay formula works too. I have tried the Das brand of clay but did not like the results, it has too many paper fibers to give a clean cut. All of these clays are made from earth minerals which are the clay part and for strength they add paper fibers along with a few other ingrediants. I started with a terra cotta colored formula. If you let this product dry it won't look like terracotta, it will be a pale pink which is sad because it means more work to get the right look.

Right out of the package the Activa Plus clay is too wet to roll out with a pasta roller. If you simply take it out of the packackage and immediately roll it out with a rolling pin the surface will be very smooth and that won't look like hand made brick. So I started messing around with the clay to see if I could dry them out, improve the color and achieve the textures of hand made bricks.

The idea for the ability to make the  clay behave differently and get a different surface texture on it is based on my experiences of making the perfect pie crust. The idea there is to create crumbs and then add just enough moisture to get it to stick together. The dough has to be handled gently so you keep the crumbs, which are fat coated with flour, intact enough to create flaky layers. Too much water and it turns to mush, too little and guess what the crust is not smooth it cracks and flakes. So that is how I approached making bricks that have texture with cracks. But I will tell you up front that getting the mix just right can be frustrating and there is a learning curve to it.

I do the mixing in a small food processor. I tried it in a full sized machine and it did not work for this method, too much volume to get the clay to crumb. I got a very nice small Kitchen Aide machine that was on sale for $30.00. You don't need a high powered machine. The only speed button this machine has is for pulse.

Because the clay is too wet to start with you need to do something to dry it out. You could pinch it into lots of little pieces and let them stand for a while to evaporate some of the moisture. I added in some powdered earth pigment which soaked up the excess liquid. I also added in some PVA glue for extra strength. Adding more PVA helps moisten the clay if you get too dry of a mix. The ingredient I added to increase the strength of the color is tinting medium which I purchase at a local paint store by the ounce. I put in a terracotta color. Even with the added color the bricks will dry too light but you can paint on toning colors after they dry.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I make up lots of smaller sized batches. If I get a batch that is too dry or too wet I set some of it aside in a lidded storage container. Those not quite right batches can be used to adjust other batches that don't have the right moisture content. Also you start to get many color variations which is perfect for a hand made brick wall.

In the photo below the clay mache has had powerded earth pigment, glue and tinting medium added to it. It is nicely crumbed but it is too dry to roll into bricks. I do try to get my mix to this stage as it is easy to add more moisture to get it to begin clumping. Be sure to set aside in a covered container some of these too dry crumbs in case you need to adjust a mix that becomes too wet.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

The photo below shows a batch that is just about right, a little more moisture is OK but not any more dry than this image shows. To the crumbs I have now added more PVA glue and also some water. Adding glue only will make the clay much too sticky to go through the rollers, it needs to be a little slick to pass through. You can tell you are at the right stage because the crumbs start to clump together, just like that pie crust making method. A perfect mix is the instant when the clay suddenly becomes a ball but it is easy to make it too wet so I stopped just before that point. A spray bottle of water is an easy way to add just a little bit of water without going too far. So it is pulse, check to see if it clumps, if not then spray some water, check again and keep going until the mix starts to bond together. My mix turned out to be a little too dry for perfection but it still worked out OK.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Now that you hope you have a workable mix you need to see if it will go through a pasta rolling machine. I am using an Atlas machine I found at a thrift shop. You can now purchase these pasta rollers for using with Fimo type clays. As seen in the two photos below first make a clay burger patty.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Now cover the patty with a piece of flexible cutting mat and take it down to about 1/4 inch or so in thickness. That will allow you to run it through the pasta machine. I am using the #3 setting on my machine. How thick you want to make your bricks is your choice, there is no rule to this game. All that matters is getting the look you want for your miniature building.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Now run the clay sheet through the pasta rollers. The sheet should just hold together. If it does not hold together and come out as a sheet because it is too dry put it back in the food processor and add more water. If it is too wet and sticks to the rollers then put it back in the food processor and mix in some of the reserved dry crumbs. The rolled clay sheet might come out pretty rough looking and it might even have long pieces flaking off the surface (or it might look perfect). Both those factors are great, you want this, you don't want a perfectly smooth surface. Mine came out pretty darned rough with a few holes, I was in doubt it would be good enough to use. Look at the photo below,I catch the dough as it comes out on that extra piece of flexible cutting board.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

In the photo below I have just trimmed off the dough into a rough rectangle and I have patched up the holes. Then I slid the clay dough onto my cutting board placing the flex mat on top for the next step.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Take the rolling pin and using it over the top of the flexible mat smooth out some of that rough texture that came out of the pasta roller. Your piece should look something like the photo below. Maybe it has more cracks and rough spots, maybe it is smoother. The point of making small batches is that you will need a lot of variations in textures to make a good looking brick wall. No two batches will roll out the same and that is good.
My friend Don noticed something in my finished brick samples. There was a trend for the details to run from right to left on the same direction of diagonal. Don has an incredible eye for detail, I sure did not pick up on it. This was caused because I always rolled the pin from right to left on a slight diagonal; be sure to vary the direction you do the final, smoothing with the rolling pin on each of your small batches so you get random details on the surface of your bricks.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Now things get much easier, all you have to do is make the cut lines. You need very thin blades for this, thick blades mess up the edges. So there are two tools of choice a scalpel and one of the very thin, long razor blades made for slicing Fimo type clays. The scalpel works good for the long lines and the blade is good for the short cross cuts. I find using the scalpel for the second cut leaves little pulled out of shape hooks of clay. Those can be trimmed off later if all you have is a scalpel. I tried using the long blade for the long cuts and it is hard to get it to line up if not long enough for a row. I am using a steel ruler and lining it up with the marks on the grid sheet under the cutting mat. My ruler was cork backed so I put the cork side up to keep it out of the sticky clay. Steel washes better than cork. Take any leftover scraps from around the edges and toss them back into your covered container of mix, you can add them into the next batch.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Now let your bricks dry. If I place my boards in front of a fan the air movement dries the bricks to leather hard in 10 to 15 minutes. I can then transfer them onto a baking sheet and finish the drying job in a few more minutes at low temperature, 150 degrees in my convection oven. But that is the hurry up way, you can be green and let them dry for a day or so. The sun makes a great, quick energy source for drying but that is in limited supply at the moment. If the bricks start to warp cover them with another cutting board, flex mat side down or the spare sheet of flex mat and a magazine. Let them breath once in a while to evaporate the moisture off.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

The next part of the lesson will be cleaning up the bricks, adding more texture and painting them. The long tutorial is almost over!

Brickology Part 2

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

This Brickology tutorial segment is about making the cutting boards you will be needing. While each brick will be unique there still has to be a way to control the size of the brick.

Knowing what era your dollhouse was built or remodeled is the first step in making bricks for the project. I can't tell you what size to make your bricks because depending on the date, the geographical location and sometimes the architect the standard sizes of bricks varied. During Queen Elizabeth's rein the size standard was different than the size during the rein of Charles I. These sizes were controlled by laws. Early American bricks were influenced by the British standards as the brick makers were immigrants. The modern standards in place now are created by builders associations. Tax rates were also an influence, structures might have had a per brick tax, that meant the bricks got larger so the tax would be smaller. While that brick tax was going on in England there were some really large brick sizes used on new buildings.

So do your research and find out what size the real life brick would be and then divide 12 if you are making a 1:12 project. Don't worry about rounding up to the nearest fraction, the decimal answer is better to use. The next step is to cut a brick to that dimension and find out how much it is going to shrink. Yes these clay materials always shrink so you must increase the size of your miniature brick pattern to compensate. You will only find out by experimenting what dimension you have to start with. As there is more material lengthwise in a brick it will shrink more in that dimension. Next use a program that will allow you to duplicate lines across the printed page. That creates your cutting guide.

You will need to make layout pages for the lengthwise bricks and if you want to also make them for the header courses of bricks. Header courses are where the length of the brick goes back into the wall instead of across the face. This provides greater strength for walls. So this is yet another wall detail you need to decide on, are you going to have header courses and how often will they occur? Some brick wall patterns have a lot of headers in them. There might also be decorative soldier courses. You will also see these long edges of the brick exposed in arches over windows and doors. Just running bricks lengthwise over these opening is not architecturally correct. Those are load bearing areas on a real building, the wall above the door or window would collapse into the opening if they are not properly engineered. Don't forget window sills, they too have a special pattern. Search out images and web pages that show how to build brick walls. Look closely at photos of real brick buildings from the era of your dollhouse.

Because this is a small batch method of brick making due to the width of the pasta roller machine I have made a number of cutting boards. My boards are made using some leftover plywood, I could have used pieces of melamine coated bookshelves. I adhere my guide lines to the board with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. Next I put on the top surface also using the spray adhesive. That surface is a clear, flexible plastic cutting mat. You can find these at grocery stores or in the kitchen section of a department store, hardware store or kitchen store. I got the big ones and cut them in half. They came two per pack so that made 3 project boards. Only 3 because you will also need a piece of cutting mat that is not attached to a board. I will show you why you need it in another segment of the tutorial.

If you buy two packs you can create more cutting boards with a different grid size on the backside of the brick cutting board. I have a roof tile grid on one side of my board and a brick grid on the other side. I also have a long brick grid on one side and the header brick size on the other side of the board.

The cutting board is also the drying board.

1st sample real clay brick

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I just rolled out and cut my first trial sample from the real clay I purchased. After they dry I will fire them in the kiln. I want to make several batches in different thickness to see what works best. Some bricks will be thin to use as a brick veneer over the plywood or other dollhouse shell materials, others will be 1:12 scale full dimensioned bricks. I also want to try making veneer corner bricks.

I loved working with this regular clay a lot more than I did working with the Das, Plus and other brands of clay/paper-mache mixes. It cuts nicer and the color is much better. The variation in color you see in the photo above is that some of the bricks are close to being dry as they were near the halogen lamp and other bricks are still pretty wet. The clay is not a bad bargain at $10.00 for 20 pounds. Of course the real expense is in the firing and the cost of the labor. But cost aside I can't purchase this product and there are no tutorials on it so I am teaching myself the skill.

So far I feel I am on a good track towards achieving a realistic texture to match that of old handmade bricks. There are definitely a few tricks up my sleeve that makes that texture happen but nothing too complex.

Brickology Part 1

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Today I started walking the immediate neighborhood taking photos of bricks on old buildings. I started making miniature bricks last night. My new dollhouse has a raised hearth fireplace, wood storage underneath, built in spice cupboard to the side. I have not gotten as much of the construction done as I hoped as I had to design the fireplace. It is not looking promising to make a 30 day completion goal but I am having a lot of fun so I don't really mind. There is a Seattle dollhouse show in March.

My roof tile method is what I will be using to make the brickwork on the hearth. This blog is a bit of a teaser in that it only contains reference photos of bricks that I took at lunch today. The how-to blog is coming later when I have the hearth finished and ready to photograph.

I am going out on a limb here and state my opinion that egg cartons do not make realistic looking bricks on dollhouses. The closest it comes to reality is where the hard kiln fired face of a brick has broken off and the soft clay inside is eroding away. Mushy rounded over edges on paperclay bricks don't work either.

Having stated that strong opinion I will soften it by saying that not all dollhouses have to be photo realistic looking, they are fun and they are a form of folk art where photo realism is not the point. The dollhouses I create are a blend of folk art and realism. So you keep right on doing what you love best because it is good and great. But if you want to try for something closer to the real thing then go and look at the real thing, look very closely, touch it, feel the surfaces, absorb the experience into your memory banks. Use a camera and record the experience to take back to your studio. Pick up a fallen brick from an old wall to use as a door stop or to weigh down something being glued together.

The photos that follow are the record I made of a late 1800's structure in the neighborhood that was built with local, hand made bricks. The color variations come from the position the bricks were stacked in the kiln. The smoke and heat creates a kind of glaze. Some of the striped color variations are from where an adjacent brick was stacked thus protecting the brick from the heat in that spot. Heat also creates cracks and spalling. Because the clay is hand packed into the molds there are often fissures in the layers of clay. The clay itself has grit and other inclusions in it and there are variation in color from the earth. When the mold is removed from the wet clay it can distort the shape of the brick. Moving the newly formed clay to the drying shelf can distort it and the person moving it might leave visible prints of their fingers. while the bricks are of similar size and the clay material is dug from the same pit there are absolutely no identical bricks unlike modern manufactured brick where they all look the same.

These brick photos do create a kind of abstract art where you look at things in detail. Don thinks I should do a gallery show of the images at a local coffee shop and sell people the prints. Who knows maybe I will give it a try sometime. I will need to shoot at the golden hour of intense sunlight from the west when there are long shadows.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Timber framing for a dollhouse

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Lumber for the new timber framed dollhouse.


I am not going to be creating a real mortise and tenon frame for my dollhouse. That can be done but I have chosen a different method, one of overlaying timbers onto a plywood substrate.

The first task after the basic design is to choose the wood for the timbers. I am using Western Red Cedar. It is technically not a cedar tree, it is a member of the cypress family, thuja plicata is the proper nomenclature for this species. This is a plentiful, tree farm grown, local tree in the Pacific Northwest.

I was fortunate to find some fine grained timbers at the local home supply store. I was hand selecting for fine grain with a little curve running through the boards. They must have fine grain on both the top and side surfaces. My goal is to have it look as if the structure was framed with in-scale trees. You can't use branches for this kind of work, they might be the right width but they don't have enough growth rings to look authentic. The pieces I have just cut have between 25 to 35 growth rings per inch. That is fairly good for imitating old oak timbers, there could be more rings but that is very difficult to find without cutting down an old growth forest.

I started with 3/4" X 1-1/2" pieces and have split them on my table saw. That was the size of lumber I found that day with the right grain. Sometimes I am lucky enough to find 2X4 lumber. If I am going to have the timbers show on both the inside and outside walls of the house I will tape the split halves together before taking them to the bandsaw for further sizing. That way the inside and outside of the piece will be a match.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

In the photo above you can see the way the grain curves within the piece of wood. I use a pair of dividers set to the width I want for my timber and follow along the natural grain lines. Then I take the piece to the bandsaw and cut on those lines. The next step in the process will be texturing the wood. I don't have to worry about table saw or band saw marks showing up as those will be removed in the texturing step.

If I want a straight beam I choose a piece of wood with straight grain. But all the beams being perfectly straight means that my dollhouse would not have a realistic look for the style of structure I am trying to create. See the photo below for an example of using narrow trees on a old structure.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2008

Tile batch show

A sample section of the tiles I have been working on. They are just loosely laid out in rows on a board. I have made no calibrated attempt to get the rows even. You know how it is, you just can't wait to see how it is all going to look someday in the future. Of course they will look different when the dollhouse roof is finished. There will be more darker tiles in the mix, I have not made any of those "kiln burnt" batches yet with the black in them. There is no moss, mildew, dirt or bird droppings on this sample either. They do have some water color washes on them bringing up various shades of the terra cotta color range.

As a side note it takes about 720 tiles to cover one square foot of dollhouse roof. I will need somewhere around 2,000 tiles for my project. One reason it takes so many is there is a required triple overlap to this kind of roof covering. That means only the bottom one third of each tile is left exposed.

Now I have to quit having fun and get back to organizing the chaos that reorganizing creates. I swear that I make a bigger mess than ever when I make changes to the workshop space and it seems like I will never reach the goal.

Roof tile progress

The first batch of weathered roof tile keepers.

I am starting to achieve the look I want for the tiles my roof, another dozen batches and I might be satisfied. I threw out the first experimental batch as the color, shape and texture were not up to my expectations. The batch in the photo above is representative of the aged and cracked end of the spectrum. I made some adjustments to my mixing and rolling methods as also added more color to the mix. I am not adding premixed paint, I am adding in the tints they put into paint cans to make it the color of your dreams. That avoids adding in excess liquid. Put in some PVA glue to give the tiles a little more strength and some powered earth pigments to keep the clay dry enough to run through a pasta roller. Whirled it up in small batches in a mini food processor, kneaded it together, rolled it with a pin to flatten the piece enough to get it go into the pasta machine.

Some of the tiles for my dollhouse roof will be worn and cracked, others will have far less texture with a much smoother surface. Different areas of a roof get different amounts of sun, wind and rain all of which damage the tiles. Remember each of the tiles on a real roof was hand made, not machine made, so each is unique. This batch has more of the weathered look, other batches will have more of the smooth tiles. That look is dependent on the variables of what I mix into the batch. More or less liquid is one factor, this batch was on the dry side. It is also dependent on how smooth I decide to roll it out, I left this one on the more highly textured side. A scale of 10 with 1 being smooth and 10 being rough this batch ranges in examples of a fairly smooth 4 through a 10 with its ragged broken edges. The cracks in the tile are not from the clay shrinking and splitting, they are created along the outside edges when it goes through the pasta machine.

But mixing and rolling is just the start, the tiles have to be cut to size without pushing the edges down leaving a rounded surface. Miniatures loose character if you loose all the crisp sharp edges that are supposed to be there, they no longer look believable.

Tiles for the roof

A lovely old building in a beautiful public garden in Cambremer, France. Great place for lunch too, they serve crepes at those tables. I went back twice and took many photos of the restored timber framed buildings on the estate. But what I am posting this photo for is the view of the charming red tile roof that covers the structure.

Tired of dealing with making timbers and sawdust today I turned to another task I need to accomplish for the new dollhouse, making roof tiles.

I had experimented with achieving the look I wanted a few years back when I first started this project so today I got out the box of materials to get back to working on achieving the perfect, flat, terracotta roof tile (tuile plate).

One thing to figure out was the dimensions of the tiles. I needed to know the height, width and thickness. For that I searched around and found some places on the internet selling antique, salvaged tiles, they listed the dimensions. Naturally there was some variation of size between lots of tiles on different web sites. These materials were not ordered from the big box stores, they were locally made products, hand crafted.

Colors vary a lot from tile to tile even on the same roof. There might have been a different batch of clay dug from another section of the pit.They might have been fired in a different section of the kiln. They could have been fired on different days at differing temperatures.

All that color variation means I can't open up a package of terracotta air dry clay, roll it out, cut to size and glue it on the roof. I have to make small batches of a wide range of terracotta colors. I am using the Plus brand of air dry clay from the Activa company. I will vary the color with universal tinting mediums from the paint store as well as natural powdered earth pigment. I make small batches of the clay and mix them in a small food processor.  I run it through a pasta roller a few times to blend it some more. If the mix does not feed through the pasta roller easily adjust the mix with more liquid or add more clay or earth pigment. It takes trial and error until you get used to the feel of what a good mix is for rolling. A little color streaking is a treasure to be enjoyed and very authentic.

After it comes out of the pasta machine I place the rolled piece between two pieces of flexible cutting board and roll it with just a little bit of pressure using a regular rolling pin. Then I cut it into tiles using a straight edge and a scalpel. The thin, very sharp scalpel leaves nice sharp edges on the tiles without rounding over the edge.

A hundred small batches of a thousand tiles and the job will still not be done. Further color variations will be added with watercolor washes. The paper-mache clays do tint nicely with watercolors. Then I will have hundreds of subtle shades of tiles on my dollhouse roof. You can understand why I have to get an early start on it, I will be making roof tiles for many weeks to come. This is a very labor intensive process but the results are totally worth it.

The next two photos show authentically aged roofs. These are photos I took on my trip to Normandy. Now if I can just achieve something even close to being as interesting. Try not to turn to other peoples dollhouses so much for your inspiration, instead do image research and try to achieve on your dollhouse a feeling of reality from life. There are thousands of these inspirational old buildings still standing in Europe although it does look like that building won't be around for long if the roof is not patched up. The sign in the dormer window say "a vendre", that means the place is for sale, what a fixer!

Cutting thin strips on tablesaw

The best way to safely cut thin strips on a tablesaw is to set up a gauge on the side of the blade opposite the fence. The gauge must be in front of the saw blade not in the cutting area of the blade where it would create a dangerous pinch and kickback situation. Note that I am using a push stick for safety as I have the blade guard removed. The saw shown in these photos is a Jet 10" cabinet saw.

The wood you are going to cut is set against the gauge and then the fence is moved over to the wood to be locked in position against it.


I have used a magnetic block on my steel table top as my gauge in these photos. It is just short enough not to bind the wood as I am cutting. I have it slightly angled so only a point is making contact with the wood. Another way of doing this is to have a gauge located onto a piece that is a snug fit in the miter slot. Set the wood against it, locate and lock the fence, then remove the gauge before you make your cut.

Rockler makes a jig for thin strip cutting. It is OK but I think there is a little too much play in the slide and it needs shimming. You can make something adjustable for yourself that fits into the miter slot. If you have only a small point of contact you don't have to remove the gauge.


I will be using the strips I am cutting today for making close studding on a timber framed dollhouse. The strips will be cut to width on a band saw and they will be textured before I glue them to the structure. You can see close studding on the real half timber structure in the photo below.

Torchis

Torchis is the French word for the more commonly known wattle and daub. The daub to be more specific.

I know from the newsgroups most dollhouse builders are using lightweight spackle for their plaster. That is fine for the interior of the house and newly plastered exteriors but not for a character house where the exterior plaster is wearing away or on structures where the torchis was never rendered over the top with smooth lime plaster. I found quite a few of those houses on my journey.

For my new series of houses that I plan to build this year I wanted to develop a new product to use to create that rougher texture in scale. I have been busy playing mad scientist this morning and am getting close to being happy with a mix of various things. I want to wait a week or so to see how strong it will be and how well it will adhere after fully curing. By the time I am ready to apply stucco material I hope to have something very realistic to 1:12 scale to use.

In the meantime you can look at the photos above that I took of real life examples and also do an internet image search using the word torchis. It will open up a whole new set of photos that searching on wattle and daub won't give you. Of course the danger is you will never again be satisfied with only lightweight spackle on the exterior. A wicked witch cottage would not look right all pretty and pristine. Yes I am going to do a witches cottage, I designed it many years ago but never got around to building it for reasons I will explain in a later post.

Willows and Water

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2008

Monet's Water Lilly Garden

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2008

Le Chateau De St. Germain De Livet

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2008

Ancient Dovecote on a Normandy Farm

I thought I would treat you all to a deep visual drink of cool and tranquil waters from Normandy, France. I took these photos in June of 2007.

Record breaking heat here in Seattle today. I am very happy that my workshop is somewhat cave like, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Despite temperatures in the city of over 100 degrees my workshop maxed out at 72 with no air conditioning. I will be camping here tonight, too hot where my sleeping quarters are.

Today I started setting up my new workshop assistant, a tabletop sized CNC router. I feel like I am living in the future with robotic versus human assistants.

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow when I get it up and running and cut/carve from a few of the sample programs it came with. The first useful thing I plan to set it to making is a custom fence I have designed for the Harbor Freight Mini Miter Saw. I am hoping my assistant will save me a lot of time with making jigs and also eliminate the need for many of the router jigs I often create for dollhouse and birdhouse building. What it can never do is create a hand crafted look so there are limits to its uses. A routed edge will never look like a hand carved edge but it can rough out the edge for me to finish detailing. It can't make worn and weathered looking carving or timbers but it can rough out some types of carvings and cut some types of shapes for me. It can do a good job of carving out brick mortar lines but it can't fill them or texture the bricks. Most unfortunately it can't lay individual shingles on a roof but it can rough out clay barrel roof tile shapes and help make masters for molds.

*Please note that all images are copyrighted. These are my personal photographs that I took and they may not be used without my written permission*

Hinge project

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Today I was able to spend some time making practice hinges for my doll house cellar door. My first practice pair are shown above, they are not finished yet.

The camera is a great critique tool, turn on that macro lens function and you simply can't hide the flaws in the work. I can see that the sizes are not a close enough match, the top hinge is just a little too wide as it enters the details on the end. Not enough emphasis on the taper on that strap. The brass looks like iron under room light but shows up brassy under the camera flash, that won't do as dollhouses do get photographed.

I am certainly no blacksmith yet. Good thing this is a rustic dollhouse. I will need to do several more pairs before I get it all figured out. I do want them to look weathered and rusty which is a good thing. That way I don't have to drive myself crazy trying to get them looking like a Tiffany jewelry piece.

Getting brass to look like rusted steel without putting paint on it is tricky. But a little aluminum oxide grit blasting with a air(brush) eraser and a combination of several chemical patinas has got it heading in that direction. I will have to record what I do, in what order and what formulas I used that worked.

I need to work on the pintels next. A pintel (pintle) is a hinge pin that slips into the single knuckle on my hinge strap. I am not quite sure which way to approach the fabrication of them so I suppose it would be best to try several ways of making them and see what looks best.

I try to make most of the components that go into my projects. I want them to be as unique as possible while still referencing historical architecture sources. This approach is like slow cooking versus fast food. It takes extra time and I have to learn a whole lot of techniques.

The spiral curves on the end of the strap are called rams horns. Those were fun to make with a special type of pliers, the package they came in calls them coiler pliers, but they are also called looping pliers or wrapping pliers. I took a several hours of one on one instruction from IGMA artisan Alan Hamer several years ago and he introduced this handy tool to me. Alan used to be a blacksmith and took up making the same kinds of items in miniature after he suffered injuries that would not allow him to do full size smithing. Alan teaches at the IGMA school in Castine, Maine.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Proxxon & Micromark table saw adjustment

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Another long technical posting, not much fun to read or lovely to view but you won't find the information on how to do this adjustment on a Proxxon FKS/E anywhere else on the internet so I think it is of value and so will others. This adjustment method also works for the Microlux Mini Tilt Arbor Table Saw sold by Micromark. These two are nearly identical saws made at the same factory in Japan.

If you are going to own a table saw you need to educate yourself on how they are adjusted for optimal cutting performance. This posting is about one of the critical adjustments needed. Please watch the videos below, it shows various ways you can check alignment. While it is a 10 inch table saw and the screws that adjust the blade to be parallel to the miter slot are in different locations than the Proxxon saw the concepts of the needed adjustments are identical. The author of the videos was kind enough to send me links to embed on my blog. Many thanks Marc, I have already been getting raves about your bandsaw video that was posted here a couple of days ago.
This spring I purchased a used Proxxon saw on which the blade did not line up parallel to the slot in the table top. The misalignment was severe enough I could not use the saw to accurately cut miniatures. Not every Proxxon saw has this problem, I have another one that is perfectly aligned. This lightly used saw is out of warranty and I am not inclined to send it to a repair shop for a problem I can fix myself so here is what I did to fix my saw. Why was it out of alignment? Not a clue, these things happen sometimes because castings can change shape after machining due to internal stresses or maybe the person who did the job messed it up.

Warning!!! Do not do these adjustments if you have a new table saw or if it is still under warranty. You will void your warranty. Take your saw back to the store or send it in for repair or replacement according to the instructions you were given at time of purchase.

Only attempt this adjustment if you are mechanically inclined and used to working with and repairing things and have the proper tools to do the job. Be very careful because you could break a metal casting or the plastic housing, you can cross thread the screws or ruin the circuit board.

The circuit board must be handled with extreme care. I am using my big table saw's steel top as a work surface. The big table saw is well grounded, I have it plugged in. As I work on removing and replacing the circuit board I touch the steel table saw top to discharge static electricity from my body.

The Proxxon saw must be unplugged at all times during this procedure. It is very easy to drop and loose tiny screws so work in an area where it will be easy to find them if they do get dropped. Keep the screws you remove in small plastic bags and label the bags so you know what part they are used on.

Tools:
You will need two cross tip (phillip) screw drivers, a #1 and a #2. The #2 should have a long thin shaft as you need to get into deep and narrow pockets to get to the screw.
You will need a 7mm metric wrench.
You will need the metric hex (Allen) wrench that installs your table saw blade.
You will also need a drill bit and drill motor, small pointed grinding stone and a rotary tool.

If you have checked with a scale, adjustable square, or dial indicator and found that your saw is out of alignment then you will have an hour or more of work to do to fix the problem.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

My saw was out of parallel by .013" front to back as tested with a shim gauge set between the square and the saw blade. You can purchase shim gauge sets at automotive parts stores or hardware stores.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

The first step is to remove the three #2 screws (yellow circles) and four #1 screws (blue circles) from the bottom of the saw as indicated in the photo. You won't yet be able to remove the shroud as there is still one more #2 screw located inside of the cover over the switch circuitry.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Very carefully lift the cover off the area over the switch, don't try to detach the wires, just set it to the side. (See photo below) Next pull up gently on the circuit board, it is not held in with any screws, it slip fits into a slot. Again don't try to detach any wire, just gently move it to the side. This is the most dangerous part of the job, you don't want to have to order a replacement switch or circuit board.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Remove the last screw that holds the plastic shroud on (photo below), the one that is hiding inside the electrical area just next to and below the circuit board. You won't be able to fully remove the cover until you reach between the shroud and the table top and release the catch on the quick release plug to the motor. Mine was white colored. There is a small clip on one side of the plug that will flex out to release the catch.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Set the shroud aside in a safe place where it won't get damaged.

There are four countersunk screws that hold the motor mounting casting to the table top. Those are where the adjustment to alignment takes place.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I found that these screw mounting holes were very accurately located and sized, there was no room to make any kind of adjustment from side to side. Great if the saw is aligned, horrid if it is not. I feel the designing engineers over constrained the saw by not allowing room for adjustments. Therefore I took a drill just slightly larger than the hole size already in the part and enlarged the holes so I could get some movement.

To enlarge the holes I had to remove the casting from the table saw.

Remove the four countersunk screws that hold the casting to the table top.

Next remove the two screws with nuts that fix the tilt function to the table. The nut requires a 7mm wrench. There is a small metal clip over that tilt rod. Be careful to note that the clip is bent in a slight V shape and has one clipped corner. You need to be sure you put it back exactly the same way when you reassemble this feature.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Remove the blade tilt and height raise knob and the angle indicator from the front of the saw casting. First unscrew the height adjuster, then the tilt lock knob, there is a washer under the tilt lock knob, unscrew the angle indicator. Pull the motor assembly out of the casting..

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Enlarge the four countersunk holes in the casting with a drill press or drill motor. I had my bracket set on a riser block on my drill press and enlarged the holes from the bottom side rather than the countersunk side.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Now reassemble the casting and tilt mechanism to the table top and put the tilt and blade lift knobs and indicator back on the front plate.

You will need to figure out which direction you need to pivot to line up the blade parallel to the miter slots. Watch that saw setup video and you will see exactly what I am talking about if you don't understand what I just wrote.

When you figure out which direction you are going to swivel you will find just enlarging the holes is not enough. The countersinks will realign the screws back to the original position if you don't make clearance room for the new position of the screw over to one side of the countersink. You can see me doing that with a pointed grinding stone in a Dremel motor in the photo below.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I wish that rather than countersinks they had counterbored for a flat bottomed recess and used socket cap screws. One of these days I will counterbore or I will put aluminum putty under the countersunk screw heads so they again have full bearing force. For now I have my fix besides I don't have a counterbore to fit so I can't do that just yet.

You might have to go back and forth between the saw top and the underside of the top adjusting screws and checking the alignment with the square. It took me several tries and a little more grinding of the sides of the countersink before I got near perfection. I started with a difference front and back edge of the blade of .013 thousandths and ended up with less than .001 thousandths. Of course my measuring tool, a square against the edge of a slot, is not actually that precise of an indicator but it is good enough to do this job. Perfection is relative, as long as you are getting good parts made it is good enough.

How much will your saw motor need to pivot on those adjustment screws is something you will have to find out for yourself.

Put the shroud back onto the saw carefully aligning the area around the front plate. Put back the screw that is inside the switch box and then carefully fit the circuit board back into the slot. The circuit board is tapered, narrow end goes into the slot first. Now put the cover back on the electrical and the remaining three screws that hold the shroud on. You are done, congrats!

Realizing that at some point in time I might need to make small adjustments to those four screws again I cut an access hole directly over the two screws I could not reach with the shroud in place. I will put a piece of duct tape over it so sawdust won't fall out of it. Now I don't have to take the saw apart again to make this adjustment should the saw get out of alignment.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009