Projects

Devonport Community Workshop (DCW) recently came to the rescue of Devonport Kindergarten’s much loved horse Trigger. Trigger is a much-ridden horse at the Kindy where he is lovingly fed, watered and in the heat of summer given shelter under an umbrella. Named after the cowboy Roy Rogers’ horse, Trigger was donated by the IHC (www.ihc.org.nz) who constructed him as a project.

He's had a very busy 10 years at the kindergarten plus he’s a festive addition to Christmas celebrations, dressing up as a reindeer and being decorated in tinsel. He also has a very important job to pull the Kindy sleigh which is often stacked high with pretend presents.

But alas Trigger had succumbed to old age, having broken 3 of his legs along with his saddle all in need of some repair.

Just the job for DCW, where a band of willing helpers have given Trigger a new lease on life. Pat O’Hagen, led the charge and with a team of helpers, including Peter Monti. They completed a full makeover for the Kindy’s favourite horse. This included replacing the frame at the bottom with a ply sheet covered with grass mat donated by Devonport Electrical, and put castors on each corner so Trigger can be moved easily.

When Pat O’Hagen and Peter Monti from DCW delivered the much-revitalised Trigger to the Devonport Kindergarten, teacher Joyce Harrison said “Pat and Peter thank you so much for the awesome job you have done on Trigger's make-over. He looks amazing!! We can't thank you enough. Trigger will now be etched into many more children's memories because of your hard work — thanks so much!"

Often projects at Devonport's Community Workshop involve working with wood, repairing chairs, sawing, drilling and glueing. However there are skilled craftsmen on hand able to tackle many and varied projects involving metal components.

On a recent caravan trip in Australia, our pot drawer latch would not open. After many attempts using a wire coat hanger to release the latch catch, the drawer was finally opened.

We found the brass rod that depressed the latch had snapped due to metal fatigue, probably after 4 years of road vibration.

This left the threaded end of the roof screwed inside the latch, and the broken off and all important piece floating around.

I wondered if this could repaired so took it to DCW and Derek Wye agreed to have a look at it.
Derek carefully drilled a tiny hole into the brass threaded leftover so he could insert a fine metal file to unscrew this from the latch.

With that removed, he used a similar dimensioned stainless steel metal rod, which is much stronger than brass. He then turned the required thread to it using a die set, cut it to length and voila latch fixed and far less likely to ever fail again!

Thanks Derek and the Devonport Community Workshop

A project with a difference and of a larger than usual magnitude comes to the Devonport Community Workshop

Meet Devonport local Ken Smith, Ken is restoring a 1955 Morgan sports car that he purchased partially restored in 1990.
The car was purchased new by a resident of Norfolk Island and spent its early years on the Island. When new, the car was a gleaming black with red leather trim. Ken is going to paint the car the original black but trim the upholstery in dark brown leather.

When Ken purchased the car, it did not include its original engine and Ken has fitted it with a 2 litre Rover 16 valve DOHC fuel injected engine, and a Mazda gearbox. Fitting both required creating custom metal mountings and adaptor plates.

When Ken needed to create new brake assemblies from a block of aircraft grade aluminium he purchased, he turned to DCW for use of their metal lathe to turn the pieces to the required profile, then depth cut using the Drill mill to create the raw components. Using his home workshop band saw he cut these pieces to shape and had them finished by a specialist engineer, Precision Engineering in Albany.

The metal chassis for the Morgans are prone to flex and eventually break, and this car’s replacement chassis was constructed in Thames. The metal sub frame has been created by Ken, by welding the componentry. The dashboard is the original Mahogany, and the body work will be reconstructed using Ash.

This is a labour of love for Ken, and he looks forward to making good use of DCW’s facilities to help him complete the project.
Ken also owns a Daimler Dart that he and his wife have taken on road trips including a memorable run along the Forgotten highway.

A recent DCW project at the historic Claystore was the creation of a new Sampson Post for historic NZ sailing yacht Ethel. To read about the history of this boat follow this link https://boatingnz.co.nz/2021/02/saving-ethel/

Ethel, a Logan Brothers designed and built Yacht, is one of several owned by the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust and is berthed in the Auckland Maritime Museum on the waterfront. For more history read here https://www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/a-tribute-to-john-street-mnzm-from-the-new-zealand-maritime-museum

The Samson Post is the name of the post fitted through the foredeck of sailing ships and yachts and extends down to the keel. It is the strongest point of the yacht and is used to carry the load of the bowsprit and to secure her mooring lines, anchor chain or a tow rope

The previous Kauri post, probably dating back to 1896 when Ethel was built, broke at deck level after an altercation with the museum dock when Ethel was berthing recently.

Chris Hancock from the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust, with some help from Martin Ford, treasurer at DCW, made good use of our large band saw to cut a tapered new post from a large post built by laminating two lengths of red cedar.The curved top where the mooring lines are fitted was hand carved by Maori wood carver Natanahira Pona, a regular user of the Clay store.

The post was then sanded smooth with the long run belt sander at DCW. Many hours followed to apply coats of varnish to create a gloss finish before fitting the new post into Ethel..
Ethel is now back to fully functional and can be visited at the Maritime Museum.

The Word has got out amongst young travellers, The Devonport Community Workshop @The Claystore, is a great place to get help when fitting out a Campervan.

We’ve now assisted the fitout of three Campervans so far this Spring. The Photos here show Fabian’s fitout. Fabian is from Hanover in Germany. He’s now finished the fitout and is tripping around up North. We also worked with a Slovenian couple at the same time, and recently assisted a young lady from the Czech Republic with her Campervan fitout.

We have all the tools and expert guidance you need. Make contact with us to discuss the work , arrange a daily rate, and when you want to do the work. You will find it’s a very cost effective way to enjoy your Campervan Holiday in New Zealand!!.

If you want to find out more, visit our website at www.dcw.org, email us at enquiry@dcw.org.nz
or call us on +64 21 1504 595 or drop in and visit us at 27 Lake Road, Devonport, Auckland NZ

The Company Theatre production team created their sets for the upcoming production of Sheila’s Island with help from the Devonport Community Centre (DCW) at the Claystore.

The play is a hilarious and relatable comedy featuring an all-female cast and follows four middle-aged women as they tackle life’s challenges while trying to navigate their way out of the wilderness. With a mix of “The Office,” “Lord of the Flies,” and “Miranda,” Company Theatre’s November production is a must-see.
It opens Saturday 16 November 2024 at 7:30PM at The Rose Theatre. For more information follow the link.
https://www.companytheatre.co.nz/current-production.html

Thea de Malmanche, a Parent Helper at Bayswater Primary School (BPS) recently visited the Devonport Community Workshop (DCW) to get help with a special build project for Book Week at Bayswater Primary School. Book Week is an annual fundraising event, supported by Scholastic Books. It involves book sales, visits from guest authors and getting to dress up as your favourite book character.

The 2024 theme of book week was 'Space'. As part of this, the school's library was accessorised with space decorations and props, including a walk-in interactive space shuttle.
The Space Shuttle was designed and constructed by Thea from BPS and the team at DCW.

Thea had this to say about the project
"Thanks to the Devonport Community Workshop for assisting with this project. The deadline and quality of the final product would not have been possible without the hard work and expertise they contributed. The children were very happy with the result."
"Also special thanks to Lucie and Constance, for helping with decoraring the spaceship, as well as the wonderful team of mums who helped with decorating the library for bookweek."

Thea de Malmanche, Parent Helper at Bayswater Primary School.

Michelle recently visited the Devonport Community Workshop (DCW) for help to create a timber frame for a stained glass artwork that she had made. Michelle made the artwork using German hand-blown glass and the colours are stunning. With a lot of help from Peter Monti they made a very strong and beautiful frame from cedar.

No stranger to DCW at the Claystore, Michelle has been working with the volunteers on projects, off and on for about 25 years and says “I have found the Claystore of tremendous value as a creative space. To me human beings need to make things, it’s very therapeutic to be creative in a manual way, but we are losing all these skills, they are being (unintentionally) lost and devalued.”

The volunteer team at DCW are committed to making sure crafts and skills are passed on through helping customers to learn as they tackle the many projects we see come through the door.
If you want to learn more about the Devonport Community Workshop head to our website at www.dcw.org.nz or pop in for a chat at 27 Lake Road, Devonport.

Michelle is a stained glass artist and grew up in and around Devonport. At the age of 17 she moved to the UK to study art and through her studies and work, has managed and constructed many large scale, site-specific stained glass works. To learn more about Michelle’s background and experience, visit her website at www.michelleandrou.com

A brilliant day picking up upcycled trapping tunnel #100 (held by Bruce Foggo in the middle) from Devonport Community Workshop (Claystore) along with 11 of its cohort for supply to eager Pest Free Stanley Point trapping volunteers this evening. Derek Wye, on the left, has crafted a precise tunnel building process and ironed out many kinks during the march to a century

Brett is working on a family project to revitalise this chair for his daughter. Lots of paint stripping by hand before repainting and handing over to his wife to make the new seat cushion.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea and became the hottest star on Broadway? Why, it's SpongeBob SquarePants!
Well done Peter Monti from the Devonport Community Workshop (@The Claystore) for helping the team at the Rose centre prepare sets for their SpongeBob SquarePants production this weekend.
As the photos show the set looks fantastic, and especially the items created by the team:
• the Chum Bucket
• Mt Humungous
• the Krusty Krab sign

Mike Eaglesome, General Manager at the Glass Ceiling Arts Collective had this to say.
"Hi Peter
Once again, thanks for your help with the set for Spongebob. It might not seem like a big job, but having you involved gave us the jig-along that we needed to get the sets built on time.
Please see the attached photos. I reckon the sets are the stars of the show. Amazing.
Of note: we have smoke and bubbles that spew out from the Mt Humungous volcano during the eruption."

Recently we made eight taller sofa legs, plus stained and varnished them for an older couple that wanted their lounge furniture raised to make it easier for them to get in and out of.

A seemingly simple project that required seven of our stationary machine tools to complete: table saw, thicknesser, miter saw, band saw, drill press, disc sander and belt sander.