Making a Purpleheart and Maple Mallet on the Shapeoko -  

Excellent video and project Winston! :) The comments and the cats during the Fusion walkthrough were very entertaining!

Excellent video. I love the critical evaluation of design and process at the end.

Winston, to clean the sanding belts, use an old sneaker with soft rubber sole (I've used vans and chuck taylors, but any rubber sole would probably work the same) to clear the belt. Does the same thing as the gum rubber sanding surface cleaners, and you probably have it available in your closet already.

Keep up the great work! I've been looking into getting a CNC for my shop and your info is excellent! Thanks again!

This is on my list of project to do. Thank you Winston.

Nice mallet. Rather than using coarse sandpaper to create a mechanical bond with PVA (given its poor gap filling qualities), wipe down the surface of oily woods with turps/mineral spirits first. That removed surface oils. The type of clamps may have also effected it - many quick grip style clamps (at least the ones I've used) are great for holding things where they are, but less useful for glueups.

Wow, very thorough. I really appreciate that you finished things off with a review of your final piece and process. Don't have a CNC but i'll be making a mallet fairly soon :) Subscribed!

When I make multi-layer things like this, I like to put 1/4 inch holes in the pieces and use dowels to align them. It prevents them from sliding during glue up. Great thing about tools is that you know they're going to get banged around. Don't worry about the finish!

That turned out great. Awesome as always.

Great build . An old timer once told me . Woodworks are always harder on themselves for their mistakes

That shot with you tossing the mallet in the air looks awesome!

Great job, I really enjoyed this video.

I tend to use a mallet when I don't want to mess up a surface - so I'd use a 1/4 roundover bit (or hand sand) some rounded edges on each face of the head, instead of the hard edged chamfers on yours. It looks very cool though and I appreciate you pointing out how you'll improve the next version.

Someone mentioned wipe down (preferably right before glueing) with mineral spirits to remove the oil. Also don’t use a water based glue as oil and water doesn’t mix, use something like a polyurethane glue…. Once placing the internal piece, pin with a pin nailer to hold the position to prevent slipping. A sprinkle of salt will also help prevent slipping.

Winston, no wedged needed, just a tapered handle and have it pass through the head. It's the absolute goto design and has the added bonus of being able to break down into two easy to store or transport parts.

Pretty cool Mallet!!

Great project!

Nicely done.

Excellent mallet.excelent video.lots of great information. I want to make a remark how it's a bit complicated for a mallet. But since it shows the versatility of a cnc router I really can't knock it at all.

You do nice work, don't be so hard on yourself. Remember, done is better than perfect because perfect will never be done...

Cleaning with acetone will reduce oiliness and help with the glue up process. Nice video!

Nice build!

Really liked this

WOO I'll be at IMTS. Also might have a go at making this in walnut and oak...

Old video but I have a tip for gluing waxy wood, you can wipe the surfaces that you want to bond with a solvent and that takes the oils down a bit, allowing for a better bond. I'd imagine that also would work for double sided tape workholding.

for the record this is a great tool idea.

Smaller BBs and only half-filling the cavities makes it a deadblow mallet, which is also super useful.

Looks awesome :) One thing, wear a mask when sanding tropical hardwoods. That oil in them makes them really bad to breath.

It's a hammer and it looks great. Mission accomplished.

Purpleheart and hard maple is my favorite combo for woodworking

I think i would drive and glue in 2 wooden pegs on the sides, probably where You have BB's - it makes it more damage resistant and also would, in this case, help keeping layers together :)

This is why I make three of everything. First one is learning, second one is practice, third one is perfect

Cool video :)

I'd love for you to attempt the thor Mallet, the reason for this is the angeled detail which makes not only 2.5D carving hard, by without a 5 axis the detail would be very hard to archive. We all know this is what you love.

With tropical woods, it is also a good idea to clean with acetone or even 97%+ alcohol prior to gluing. This helps to remove the waxy surface and opens the pores for glue.

Gotta wipe the exotics with acetone to get that oil off the surface and allow propped adhesion with the wood glue. That mallet is gorgeous tho!

Awesome

Great video as always. Purple Heart might be to hard of a wood. I was under the impression you wanted a soft wood on the mallet do it would take the damage not the item you were hitting. In addition I would say using less bb’s and not adding the glue would work better for me. A dead blow would transfer the power without reverberating. Great project makes me want to make one on my machine.

I need a Mallet too!

You didn't talk about how much to fill the cavities with bb's. I'm assuming that is why it is probably top heavy. If you filled them totally up then you won't get the desired dead blow effect. If they are totally full then it will bounce. If the you fill them up about 70% full then the mallet will stop dead when you strike something.

Nice work. The only 2 things I'd change are 1: if you left space for the bearings to move it would provide a dead blow effect, reducing bouncing (if that's something you would want) 2: I wouldn't use end grain for the face since it could split but I'm not sure how bad if this is an issue in a dense wood like purple hart. This is why carvers mallets are round so they can use the face grain.

A little mallet holder with a magnet would be neat because of the ball bearings.

Acetone will clean oils from the purple heart. Thanks for the video

Fantastic as always Winston. The only thing I would do is to inlay brass in your logo. The way your logo is designed, it makes it a perfect candidate for this.

I prefer round malets as they are more forgiving. The stroke with a square malet has to be accurately perpendicular and centered to be efficient. This means that You have to have it alligned in all 3 planes. The round malet needs to be alligned in 2 planes only presuming that You are able to approximatively allign the stroke on the center of the tool. Try it out and You’ll see! But, excellent video!

I would really like to see your take on a cnc cut and designed bench top sander that would be neat

this is awesome. Is the file available to purchase?

What do you think about cutting in some cross hatch on the handle for gripping power to your hand? I think I’m going to make this - but I think I’ll do a bit more woodworking than you did but I understand your goal. Great job!

Love your work mate! Just a quick one, what is the program you are using at the start? Keep up the great vids 😁

the balls should be loosely unsticked and should be allowed to move. Yes, I am writing about those in a hammer: D

Hi Winston, will you be making this "new and improved" version available for download? I'd love to make one.

Hey, do you think you can make like a bronze play button? I feel like the new design for the play buttons could allow DIYers to make matching theme play buttons for other goals.

Shouldn't the ball bearings be able to move, otherwise it's not a deadblow.

Great video, do you have a mallet g-code available for purchase?

Mineral spirits Would save you a lot of headache. You can use fine salt in a glue up to prevent slippage. Finally take your time and stop rushing double and triple check your design for possible flaws/improvements. Overall awesome build and I enjoyed seeming what you made.

i notice you like using double sides tape. if you where to surface flatness into your sub plate prior to machining, it would be easier to achieve flatness and parallelism into the material. the tape offsets that parallelism. try perhaps instead three points of contact on your parts holding.

Great build, are you planning a production run with so much prototype / finish product in the design steps? Re the oily wood content for gluing. Prior to gluing, wipe over the wood with a spirit /alcohol based cleaning agent. Should allow better glue penetration to the wood. Pouring woodglue on the BB's is not ideal. The glue will dry brittle and crack/break with impact. Try bedding them in silicon sealant, will stay permanently flexible and allow a degree of aftershock, the mallet hits the wood, then the mass of BB's impacts microseconds afterwards. Try a polyurethane wood glue, soaks into wood better, expands & gap fills wet 1 side with damp cloth. 06:40 your sanding is in danger of ruining your manicure (and maybe ability to count to 10) make a small piece holder to give you increased holding and fingers away from abrasive!

I am a bit surprised you didn't use the cnc router to create alignment steps between the layers of the hammer head.

Is there any way this file can be shared or purchased. I’m new to the CBC world and would be a great jumping off project.

I’ll post my cnc mallet I used Mexican ebony because I have a lot of scraps

cool thumper

Do you have plans for this hammer?

if the material was one piece could you make it one piece? would probably have to make it 2 separate projects one for each side?

Where can we listen to the podcast?

Personally, I would have put a thin layer of wood, rubber or even plastic on each of the faces. This can then be removed and replaced when it becomes overly worn.

Why not use a dead blow?

9.16 Sand those burnmarks man! ;)

If you want to improve your mallet, then sell that you to me. Great job! I'm inspired now!

Winston, were you worried about your end mill rubbing on the stock when contouring 3/4" parts. Can you provide a list of the end mills you used for this project? PS Your channel rocks!

Janky and hella are you from the bay area?

Great video Winston. I have two comments on you hammer build. First the design, I would have kept the striking surface perpendicular to the hammer. All hammers have a flat surface that is perpendicular to the handle. Think about it, you want the hammer to touch the surface flat and not have to guess where it will hit the surface mid-air and place the blow most likely on the bottom part, making marks on the part you are hammering. Your hand and your wrist are directing the hammer and moves beyond the arc of the arm. Second, I think you used wood glue for the ball bearings and if this is the case, once dried, it will not adhere to steel and will not fill the void. A better choice IMO would have been to use construction adhesive that would fill the void and remain somewhat malleable after it cures. Polyurethane glue like Gorilla and epoxy would also work but may not perform well over the long term after hammer use.

i would have chamfered with the router table.

Hi Winston, I have a need for someone to create a prototype from Balsa wood. It requires advance woodworking and a 5 axis. Would you be interested?

Rubber grip tape would probably work well on your handle.

Great work, Winston! I love watching your workflow from concept, to CAD, and CAM. My only comment with this one is that a dead blow mallet actually works better if you do not fill the cavity completely with bearings, and do not glue them together. There's a decent representation of this towards the end of this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4RlcZVqDhFg.html Keep up the great work!

Leaving the BBs would have made it a dead blow mallet.

Using half the ball bearing would have turned it into a dead hammer... that would have rattled a bit but it’s a tool, meant to be used, not listened to. 😉

Nice work and nice to also include the development problems as we all get those. On wood selection ... try to keep projects using local woods not exotic rain forest lumber. Look up CITES and the general issues with disappearing rain forests. Popularizing exotic woods, even if from 'managed' sources, encourages their demand. Not much different than promoting elephant ivory or rhino horns. Because while you may only use a half pound of imported purple heart there are several hundred viewers that go purchase purple heart planks to do the same thing magnifying consumption. Thanks for the videos. I have an enclosure to build next.

I would give 1 side a bit of a rounded face

No mjolnir reference? Downvoted. (Seriously though, I really appreciate your level of thoroughness in the explanations and self-analysis so that we can learn from your mistakes. Great video as always!)

Well, I though the handling shot was cool...

All of his videos seem to end poorly. It makes me sad to watch them.