Make the Little Wheels Stop Turning
February 15th, 2009Must…Have…Bridgeport
Today I was thinking about the cool new gadget I made for my planer outfeed. And I realized I am starting to encounter situations in which machine tools could be really useful.
Look at what I did. It will work; no reason to doubt it. But it could be so much better. I could have used the dry-cut saw and a drill press or mill to put the casters on a piece of angle iron instead of wood, and that would have saved me an inch and a quarter in wasted vertical material. I could have used two pieces of angle iron for the upright parts with slots, had I been able to make slots in metal. I’m going to have to make wooden wedges for spacers, and they will eventually wear and may split. I could have machined them out of aluminum; they’d last forever.
I bought a 2″ square piece of poplar for my router fence. It does the job. But it would be much better to have one made from steel or cast iron. I could find me a piece of surplus metal, put T-tracks in it, mill one side smooth (not sure if a mill will do a job this big, but maybe), cut out a cavity for the router bit, make some nice horizontal bits and weld them to the back so they’d rest on the table, and I’d be all set. Or I could make a fence from aluminum, but then I could forget about using magnetic accessories.
I would imagine a mill would be much faster and better for preparing parts to be welded. When I made the mobile base for my bandsaw, most of the work was grinding and shaping. I had to rough out the parts with the dry cut saw and plasma cutter. After that, it was grind, grind, grind. With a mill, you could make the stuff the correct size to begin with.
I am beginning to see just how useful machine tools would be, and how much use I’d get from them.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:23 PM
“I could find me a piece of surplus metal, put T-tracks in it, mill one side smooth (not sure if a mill will do a job this big, but maybe)…”
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Not sure if you mean whether a mill could cut a large flat surface, or whether you doubt if the whole piece could fit on a mill. If it’s the flat surface, all you need is a fly cutter:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0g1bAb-POA
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If you meant the work piece is too big to fit, maybe you could section the work?
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From what you posted earlier, I think a Mill would do just fine for something like this.
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BTW, Congratulations on the Real Estate arrangement working out…
February 16th, 2009 at 8:52 AM
a millrite is still a fine machine. What youre hearing are mostly Bridgeport fanbois. These days the differences are almost infinitesimal. A 9×22 millrite is pretty much as good as a 9×22 bridgeport. Go big early.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:16 AM
In my email today from the BAT man;
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching
> flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the
> chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the
> freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner
> where nothing could get to it.
>
> WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere
> under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes
> fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the
> time it takes youto say, ‘Oh sh — ‘
>
> ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their
> holes until you die of old age.
>
> SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
>
> PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation
> of blood-blisters.
>
> BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor
> touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
>
> HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
> principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
> motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more
> dismal your future becomes.
>
> VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt
> heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to
> transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
>
> OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various
> flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the
> grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing
> race.
>
> TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch
> Wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
>
> HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground
> after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack
> handle firmly under the bumper.
>
> BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops
> to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit
> into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of
> the outside edge.
>
> TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength
> of everything you forgot to disconnect.
>
> PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under
> lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil
> on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out
> Phillips screw heads.
>
> STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used
> to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and
> butchering your palms.
>
> PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
> bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
>
> HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.
>
> HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays
> is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts
> adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
>
> UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of
> cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly
> well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic
> bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic
> parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes,but only while in
> use.
>
> DAMN-IT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage
> while yelling ‘DAMN-IT’ at the top of your lungs. It is also, most
> often, the next tool that you will need.