Past Projects 2015 and Earlier   Click on link

2016

2016 “Grandparents Day” Project

Men’s Shed will teach the young children in child care centres aged 5 to 12 years. how to build a “Billy Cart”.  The billy cart bodies will be  constructed at the Men’s Shed workshop as a kit and the parts assembled with the children at the centres.  There are nine centres and each will get two carts. So a lot of carts to build.

The Men’s Shed members will go to the child care centres after 3.30pm.

The children will paint and decorate the carts.

Grandparents day is Sunday 30th October—at Jamison Park.  Billy cart races would be arranged for all children to participate in and a sausage sizzle for Grandparents and Families to enjoy.

Two teams leaders have been appointed and suitable plans for the carts is being arranged. This is a great opportunity to promote the shed and help out Penrith City Council who are organising the day.

We will be acting as marshals for the races and conduct a BBQ on behalf of the Council.

 We made Front Page News in the Penrith Press

click on link above

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Santa’s Sled Overhaul

Santa is in trouble.  His “sled” has suffered water damage in the recent floods and unless it is repaired some very disappointed children will miss out on their ride at the Christmas party.

We have been approached by the local RDA group to see if we could put some elves to work and get the “sled” repaired for them.  A couple of the guy’s went and had a look and it was agreed to take the project on.  Basically there is a bit of rust to be dealt with, a good paint job and new fairy lights installed.  The “sled” will be brought to the shed on a trailer.

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What Does the Penrith River Festival and Pallet Furniture have in Common?

So what, interesting but what has that got to do with Pallet Furniture?
We have been asked by Penrith Council to assist them by making some Pallet Furniture for use at the festival. So what is pallet furniture? Google “Pallet Furniture” for more ideas.

And our delivery of pallets has just arrived today (15/8/16) so sharpen up those saws, drills and pencils.  Track down that measuring tape and screwdriver. We have a bit of work to do.

Now a couple of weeks have passed and chairs and table are starting to take shape.  Here we have a table top being nailed into place.  Everything is sanded smooth along the way as we do not want ant nasty splinters in hands or other sensitive areas.

Our “chippies” have been hard at work disassembling the big stack of pallets and sorting out into usable timber and rubbish. Meanwhile plans for different items, mainly chairs and tables, needed to be finalised. Production began. Wood had to be cut to size and well sanded to reduce the possibility of a splinter in a hand or other sensitive area (ie. when sitting). The pile of pallet furniture has rapidly grown thanks to a dedicated team effort.

On the 21st September two ladies from the council came to inspect our progress. I think it is only fair to say that they were very impressed with the items so far made and their quality. We will also have our marquee there and will be able to conduct a stall.

Above: Photo of the team with Shed President Michael and Penrith Council ladies Christine Glasson and Shelly Broadbridge

And then on the 28th we got to show off a sample of the furniture at a press presentation on the banks of the river.

For Les's Full Story on the Press Presentation

Right: Some of the guys with the Deputy Mayor Tricia Hitchens and her son.

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Wooden Toys Galore

Wooden toys and still more toys are being made for sale at the Glenbrook Fair.  Also anything else that our members can make for sell at the  Fair held towards the end of the end of the year. It has proven to be a good fund raiser in the past for the shed.

So far we have cars, trains, boats and planes and lots more. And of course Reindeer.  We also have bird houses and toilet roll holders, coat hangers and lots of other things.

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Packaging Daffodils

Not all projects are long term involving tools, skills and hardware.  Here we had a group of five organised by Bob to package hundreds of Daffodil bulbs in little plastic envelopes. 

These were sold at the 2016 Penrith Relay for Life event by the team known as the Daffodils of which Bob, understandably, was a member. All the proceeds form the Relay for Life events goes to the Cancer Council NSW for Cancer Research.

Photo Left to Right: Bob Maynard, Greg Colton, Tony Task, David Ongley and not shown (photographer) Ian Crocker.

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The Old Bunnings BBQ

Bunnings North Penrith have donated to the shed their old community BBQ.  It has had a hard life and needs a lot of repair.  It suffers from extensive "panel"  damage after having gone a few rounds with a forklift (forklift won without receiving a single scratch).  

It also has some rusted out bits and pieces and years worth of accumulated grease and muck.

Dismantling of the BBQ has begun and problem areas identified (of which there are many).  As can be seen in the photo, the actual BBQ has done a lot of work but it has a thick steel plate and once cleaned up it should be able to cook another few tons of sausages.  Most of the paneling has been removed so it can be straightened out and cleaned before being re-attached.

August: All done and nearly as good as new.  First try out on our AGM day where we all tested that it could cook a good sausage. It passed the test with flying colours (as some even had seconds).

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The Storage Container

The first of our containers has been delivered and put in place.  Now a project team has been selected and the construction of some shelving has begun.  Once completed the container will be a storage area for the timber that we presently have stored on the main shed.  By storing it in a container we reduce the shed of a good deal of flammable material.

Couple of weeks later all the back shelves are finished, an extra shelf on the left rack and a space for sheets of ply on the behind the right rack.  Both side racks have been secured to the side walls as a safety measure to ensure that the racks cannot topple over.  Later in the day the first of the wood started to be loaded out of the shed and into the container.  Also still to be done is to provide some ventilation into the container.

It should be mentioned that Denis Clunie has been the planner and organiser for this container conversion.

So now the loading up of all the timber in the shed begins.  And there is a lot of it.  Now you may ask why did we get a container for the wood when we have the largest shed around.  The answer is simple.  Fire.  We would hate to see our shed burn down.

Well done to Denis and all those who helped along the way.

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Spin Boards & Activity Boards

We have an order for 20 Spin Boards for Spring Forward Family Centre in Penrith. Work will begin in the next week or two.

A request for some activity boards for an aged care facility has been received. They are for men with dementia and will consist of familiar items such as locks taps, chains, switches etc which they can operate. (obviously the switches won’t the powered!!!!!)

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Possum Boxes

Bunnings Valley Heights have asked us to make 10 Possum Box "flat pack" kits for their "Children's Workshop" to be held in school holidays. 

They supplied the wood and we made up the kits. These will be delivered to Bunnings.In addition the Winmalee group for whom we made the bird feeders (see Projects 2015) have also requested four Possum Boxes.

Ten flat pack Possum Boxes ready to go.