[GoNavy429]

Well finished the next door neighbors xmas present. A modified Woodwhisper design. I decided not to use splines since the border pieces were stained. My unit is a little beefier 2 and half inch wide border pieces and a two inch thick center block. I didn't like the idea of an open back, this one has a solid back, shows off the wood better. The back pic looks like it had white blotchy spots, but there are none, I just used like five coats of wipe on poly and had a hard time finding a way to take picture where it didn't reflect real bad...lol..the finish looks a mile deep in person, the poplar came out really nice and the curly maple (thought it was pommele sapele, guess not) of course is always a nice looking wood.

 

[chsdiyer]

Pretty cool project...nicely done. Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a comfortmeter?

 

[GoNavy429]

Pretty cool project...nicely done. Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a comfortmeter?

Thank you. A comfortmeter has two gauges side by side in the same housing. One side is a thermometer and the other for humidity. There is a small area on the face of the dial where if the two needles cross is within that area, it is suppose be comfortable. I guess that is the idea...lol...just seemed to be more interesting then a clock, and didn't need batteries. An inexpensive little gauge, the wood cost way more then the gauge...

http://www.klockit.com/products/dept-74__sku-32030.html

 

[chsdiyer]

Cool, thanks for the link! I may have to try one of those out. Though it may give the wife more grounds for making me turn the heat up in winter or air down in summer

 

[cabinetman]

That's a great project, and it came out very nice. I like the idea. Do you have a trick sequence for getting the block/dowel in and out?

.

 

[GoNavy429]

That's a great project, and it came out very nice. I like the idea. Do you have a trick sequence for getting the block/dowel in and out?

.

Thank you. Answer to your question...nope...lol...doesn't come apart. I did it similar to the way Woodwhisper did it.. I dry fitted all the parts then,pre-finished the all the parts, then glued up the dowels to the center block. Then glued up the frame leaving the dowels free to turn in the frame. Then a few more poly coats to the outside frame portions to cover the miters. and to the exposed dowel portions. I turned the center block after a few minutes to prevent any poly from freezing up the dowels in the frame. I couldn't see any reason I would ever need to remove the block, the gauge however is completely replaceable, the hole is 2 1/2 inch diameter and 3/4 inch deep, and is simply friction fitted, so can be replaced by a clock if they like, just needs to be of the same size. The only problem I ran into is this gauge requires air to be accurate. Since I have a back and it's not through drilled, I used a flange rubber insert, came with the gauge, so the unit doesn't sit flush to the block, it's about a 1/16 inch off and allows air to get to the back of the unit.

Edit: Found the Woodwhisper video, shows how to make these, I just doubled up on the design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcYO9Ftkros