Reza 6-8 (QLD silver ash + Jarrah)

We have started selling the second batch of Reza 6-8, polyhedral shaped interlocking puzzle made of QLD silver ash + Jarrah.

One of the pieces is branded by the handmade branding iron that Juno has made from an M8 hex-head brass screw using a cheap Chinese CNC router.

The Safety Measure for the Jointer

I'm going to write about one of the safety measures of our workplace today.
We make wooden puzzles and have some machines that have to be used carefully.
This is a jointer.

This machine makes one side of timber flat and also makes 90 degrees of a corner of timber. It is one of the important procedures of sawmilling. If you cannot make timber really flat or 90 degrees cutting accurately, the pieces of puzzle would be uneven shapes.

This picture shown below is the jointer knives. These knives rotate with a high speed, and level the timber surface. As you can imagine, this part is very dangerous therefore the jointer has a wing shaped part which is called a spring return cutter head guard. This guard can be rotated and is always being pushed on side of the wall of the jointer to cover the knives for safety.

However, this guard can be moved easily and there would be a chance to touch the knives. If it happened, that would cause serious injuries to the hand. Better safe than sorry!
Juno bought a magnetic tool named "Magswitch" and attached an aluminum angle on the side. Magswitch is a very useful tool, it can be attached easily.

When Juno uses the jointer, he measures the timber width and attaches magswitch onto the surface of the jointer with a little wider than width. As you see, the aluminum angle covers the knives. This cover prevent the knives touching accidentally.

The last picture is not a jointer, it's a table saw. Table saws are a very dangerous tool. I know several people who lost their fingers. Juno also arranged Magswitch for a table saw. He attached an aluminum angle in a different way.

The most important thing is to prevent touching the blades of machines. We human beings are geniuses to make mistakes, aren't we?

Yukari

A Handmade Branding Iron

We have started our puzzle business and the first products were released late last month. The products we made were really good but actually one thing was missing, it was a branding mark. We have been thinking that we would like to have a branding iron but at the time we started selling the first puzzle we didn't have one and my husband signed his name instead. As our customers who bought Reza 6-8 knew, his signature was in a notch of one of the pieces.

It's easy to order and buy branding irons. However, Juno had decided to make his branding iron by himself. For making a branding iron, he bought brass screws, a 100w soldering torch, and 0.8mm (0.0315in) and 6mm (0.236in) milling bits. Brass screws were for the head of the branding iron.

The tool he used was a CNC router and of course a computer that was connected to the CNC router.

As you can see, one of the milling bits was very thin, it was only 0.8mm (0.0315in). It was scary to use it because it seemed to be broken easily. Juno took the bulk of the branding with a 6mm (0.236in) milling bit and curved the detailed lines with a 0.8mm (0.0315in) milling bit. After finishing curving the brass screw, he fitted the brass screw to the soldering torch. Then, the job was done!

The next step was testing. It was an exciting moment, you know? Well, the result was very good! These pieces are the first pieces that have got branding iron marks on them.

From now on, we will put Juno's mark on puzzle. There are plenty of ideas in Juno's head and we will make them as a puzzle in order. I know it's worth waiting!

Yukari