From an electronic engineers standpoint, you may want to add a diode between your reed switches and your solenoid latches. Solenoids are just an electromagnetic coil and they produce a fair amount of back EMF or a reverse voltage spike which can very easily weld the contacts together within your reed switches rendering them useless. Basic concept is simply that energy can't be created or destroyed, only converted to another form. So the energy that is within the solenoids coil windings has no where to go so it shoots back through the input lines and right to that reed switch which is one of the most sensitive type of sensors for this sort of thing.
I'd so glad you're posting some behind the scenes videos. It makes the projects even more interesting when you see the mechanisms involved. I have a question about the physical construction of the tables. It looks like they're a plywood skeleton with solid wood dress over the top? Is that right? With the tops is it a sheet of ply with solid wood glued down? If so do you allow for wood movement? Or has it not been an issue?
I think one of your videos got deleted, what happened? I watched one yesterday that had blue resin in all the nooks and crannies with a poker set and a karambit that your brother made, first video of yours I watched and it's just gone now.
@@davidolundell Okay, I thought I was going crazy or something, cause I just watched it and I wanted to rewatch it a couple more times. Do you mind me asking why you took it down? or at least when you might be putting it back up please?
I usually screw a straight edge onto my boards and then run them through the table saw. I am not a big fan of jointers. I did however just buy a Jet drum sander. I’ll let you what I think of it when it comes.
Very cool! You're killing your own market by teaching people how to build this stuff. You've been so gracious about critique in the past, may I offer one other suggestion? Take one or two of your best pieces, ideally Harry Potter themed, put together a slick animation or at least a PowerPoint featuring the finished furniture along with some of the compartments being displayed. Take out an ad in a magazine that parents and grandparents are likely to read, better housekeeping, Southern living, etc, you get the point. Even a print ad with two photos. Put a stupid high price on the piece, and add a line to your advertising saying that you offer custom pieces. Whatever you're inclined to charge, triple it. Make any custom orders cost to triple that. The fact is that what you're making appeals to younger people. Younger people have no money. Parents and grandparents have no idea what their kids are into. They know Harry Potter from Facebook and cuz it's inescapable at this point. Look how many people are making a fortune selling sticks labeled as wands. All those parents and grandparents want to be the giver of the best gift from the kids perspective. Spending $1,000 on a coffee table is not uncommon, and that has no personalization much less secret compartments. I love your channel, I love seeing how you make the mechanisms, so I'm shooting myself in the foot here, but I really think your creativity is not being rewarded enough solely because of marketing. Piece is looking great !
By the way, if you have ideas for mechanisms that are outside your ability to build from scratch, I'm a machinist and I would be happy to build the occasional prototype gratis and perhaps develop a longer term arrangement if that works out for you. I bet you have some ideas that are not available off the shelf
One idea that springs to mind, I don't know if you know, but if you turn a thread on a length of steel and then turn the nut in another length of steel, if you screw them together and then do the finishing pass on the lathe, absolutely no one can see the seam
I agree with @@jpsimon206 , your work is not as appreciated as it should be. And if you want to grow this as a business I believe targeting gun enthusiasts would be best.
you're still installing the gas springs upside down. all manufacturers of them will tell you to use them "fat side up" so that they self lubricate. currently the seal is below the level of the oil in there and you're unnecessarily reducing the lifespan of the part.
