WOOD TOY NEWS Monday January 26, 2015 PAUL DAUNNO ADDS TOYMAKING TO HIS VAST ARRAY OF WOODWORKING SKILLS. toymakingplans.com Meet Toymaker Paul Daunno I was born and raised in New Jersey and my father was a builder and a carpenter. I met my wife Irene in college and this coming April we will be married 30 years. We have a married daughter Sarah who is 25 years old. We moved to Georgia nearly 21 years ago. I didn t have too much interest in building or woodworking when I was younger (I wish I had learned more from my Dad!). But not long after we moved to Georgia, Irene got interested in tole painting and was buying wood cutouts from craft stores and other mail-order places. She asked me if I could make the wood cutouts for her because they were costly and fairly poor quality. I bought an inexpensive Delta scroll saw, learned by doing (and making mistakes!) and started to get interested in woodworking. Paul is also an active contributer on Udie s Toymaker Forum. Visit the Forum today at: http://forums.toymakingplans.com Watch Udie s Video on How to Make Router Templates at http://ow.ly/hucnt Paul s Easy Weekenders trucks are built using his well planned templates. I began my woodworking career by making Christmas Ornaments and other items for craft shows. My toymaking career began when I found Udie s YouTube video about patterns and templates making using a router. 1 January 26, 2015 Monday
From Play Pals free toy plans From Play Pals free toy plans From Play Pals free toy plans From Play Pals free toy plans Irene and I have worked together making and selling wood products for quite awhile now. We have made a wide variety of items together and have participated in craft shows, web sales and some retail store sales. I ve made many things with a scroll saw and have cut literally 1000 s of Christmas ornaments over the years. Late last year I was learning more about how to do pattern/template routing and came across Udie s video and that led to the www.toymakingplans.com website. I downloaded the free plans off their website and made some of the Play Pals sets. Next, I purchased the Wood Toy Cars & Trucks book and have made the first 6 vehicles from that set of plans. For Christmas this year, Irene bought me the Super Toy Plans Library special offer. I m really pleased with the Easy Weekenders book of plans and am having fun with setting these toys up for production. I guess I m officially a toy maker now! :) From Wood Toy Cars and Trucks book From Wood Toy Cars and Trucks book From Wood Toy Cars and Trucks book 2 January 26, 2015 Monday
I like the Easy Weekenders toys and have made a handy set of jigs that really speed up production. These toys are quickly made using common 1 x 4 s and 2 x 4 s. The lights, wheels and axles are simple to cut to size from easy to find dowel stock. They look great in plain wood, painted or with Cynthia s Paste Wax finish. And they are tough enough for a lifetime of rugged play. 3 January 26, 2015 Monday
Paul s Step-by-Step Templates Instructions for the Easy Weekenders Semi Truck 1: Many of the parts of the Easy Weekenders vehicles are similar. Making jigs for drilling significantly speeds up the process. I created a spreadsheet to help organize the project to determine which parts can make use of a jig and the vehicle the part is for. There is also a list of jigs needed at the bottom of the spreadsheet. 2: I made copies of the patterns for the parts I ll make jigs for. I trimmed these accurately using a straightedge and razor blade. You can choose to make the jigs out of any material you want. I have chosen one quarter inch hardboard to make my jigs. It s cheap, easy to work with and I had some in my scrap bin. Paul s Easy Weekenders Semi Truck When beginning a new project I first decide what I want to make and then plan how I m going to build the templates. I chose to make Easy Weekenders for this project. The toy plans were a Christmas Gift from Irene. I am pretty excited about the design and simplicity of this set of plans. 3: On my table saw I cut the hardboard for each jig to the exact dimensions required for each part. I used a homemade table saw sled for safe and accurate cuts. 4: I put clear packing tape on top of the hardboard pieces before I added the paper pattern to each cut out piece. 4 January 26, 2015 Monday
5: I use spray adhesive to secure the patterns to the clear packing tape on the hardboard pieces. Because I put the clear packing tape down before applying the paper patterns, removing the paper patterns will be easy after the pattern holes are drilled. 6: Using a forstner bit for extra clean holes, I carefully position each pattern so that I drill the holes precisely where they need to be. Make sure you take your time to get this right. An accurate permanent pattern produces accurate and repeatable parts. 7: I used my label maker to create labels that identify each jig, including the drill bit size and the depth of the hole or thru if the hole is meant to be drilled all the way through. 8: The wheels for the Easy Weekenders are cut to size from a 1-1/2 dowel. In order to make accurate holes for the axles, I made a wheel drilling jig based on the information found on the toymakingplans.com website*. *Read the article on How to Drill Axle Holes for Small Wheels: http://ow.ly/huhs2 9: Each wheel is placed in the jig wheel well, held in place with a pair of plyers and then the axle hole is drilled using a Forstner bit. The Forstner bits drill clean and accurate holes with no tear-out. 10: The axle holes are not drilled all the way through the wheels. This creates a clean, finished look to the wheels when assembled to the completed toy. The diameter of the axle is large enough to provide ample glue surface between the axle and the wheel axle hole creating a tough, hard to break attachment. 5 January 26, 2015 Monday
Hardboard pieces cut in Step 11. 11: These hardboard pieces are used for accurately positioning the jigs onto the wood to be drilled. The smallest pieces in the front of the picture measure 3/4 x 3/4. I use a table saw and a crosscut sled I built. Small cuts are precisely and safely made with the sled. I highly recommend that you make one. 12: I glued the positioning pieces on the jigs being careful to keep everything as square and straight as possible. The jig on the left shows how jigs are positioned to get accurate and repeatable results when drilling the holes. The hardboard pieces are glued to the edges of the drilling jigs so they ll slip easily over the wood part to be drilled. 13: This is the complete set of drill jigs to make the Easy Weekender toys. The jigs are clearly labeled to make them easy to store and to reuse the jigs many times. I have found this method of jig-making quick, easy and extremely useful for making multiples of the same toy. 14: In the next steps I will demonstrate how I use the jigs to make the Semi Truck. The first piece I will make is the chassis for the truck. Notice how I used small clamps to help hold the jig in place on the chassis wood to be drilled. 15: Next I drill the the tail light holes in the chassis. The chassis wood is first clamped to the work table to hold it steady while drilling. 6 January 26, 2015 Monday 16: The next step is to drill the hitch hookup hole in the chassis wood. Watch Udie s Video on How to Make Router Templates at http://ow.ly/hucnt
17: This jig is for drilling the roof lights and also the emergency lights that are also on the roof. 18: The headlights jig is a separate piece that works in the same manner as the other jigs. The photo doesn t show it very well, but this wood part is clamped on the end for the drilling. 19: Next, I drilled the axle holes for the trailer chassis. The same axle jig that was used for the truck can be used but only requires the 2 leftmost holes. This jig needs to be positioned slightly different and I used a piece of wood (~3/8 thick) as a spacer. 20: This jig is for drilling the hitch pin hole into the trailer bed. The trailer bed has been clamped to the work top to keep it steady for accurate drilling. A wobbly trailer bed will make an out-of-round and rough hole. 21: The trailer tail light jig is clamped to the end of the trailer bed opposite of the hitch pin hole. A Forstner bit makes the holes smooth and professional. 22: The final step before gluing it all together is to dryfit all of the parts to make sure each part fits properly in the final assembly. Paul can be contacted at: pdaunno@icloud.com 7 January 26, 2015 Monday Continue to see photos of Paul s completed Semi Truck with Flat Bed Trailer...
This is the final product. It has been sanded and all edges have been rounded by hand with sandpaper. The pieces have all been glued together. The finishing touch was to add a coat of Cynthia s Paste Wax Finish*. *Watch the video on how to make Cynthia s Bees Wax Finishing Paste: http://ow.ly/hujsj Paul can be contacted at: pdaunno@icloud.com 8 January 26, 2015 Monday
I am thrilled with the results and very pleased with how easy it was to understand and follow the plans. I am also pleased with how planning the project carefully before beginning really paid off. I am ready to go into production! Paul can be contacted at: pdaunno@icloud.com 9 January 26, 2015 Monday