Tools are Everywhere

I learned something interesting this week.

A while back, I located a used machinery dealer who had a bunch of drill presses on hand. He got them from the public schools. Someone asked me which dealer I was talking about. The name is A.M. Metalmaq.

They wanted $850 for the cheapest press. This is a stupid buy. I saw a brand new one for something like $1250. A used one should not cost more than half of that.

I rooted around on the web, and I found out that there are a lot of used machines out there, at auction. There are a number of government and government-connected sites that sell these things. You can get a nice Powermatic 1150 for maybe $250. You have to find someone to skid it and ship it, but that costs less than $400, so in the end, it’s worth the time and aggravation. And then there is IRSauctions.com.

I also learned that Miami-Dade County (I cannot believe we put “Miami” in the name to help South Americans realize where we were) has a store where it unloads surplus items. This may well be where the drill presses I found came from. I plan to run up there and see what they have. I’m sure every Cuban in Miami has been there already; they love a bargain, and ten minutes after one Cuban finds something good, the rest know all about it. But not too many people want big drill presses. And who knows what else they have?

I located a really nice Buffalo #18. They want $450, which is high for a machine that routinely turns up for $250, but it seems like a wonderful platform for a 3-phase motor and VFD.

Last night I went to Practicalmachinist.com to get advice on an Ebay drill press. It’s in Amelia Island, and the ad says it’s a Buffalo Forge Model 29. I’m fairly sure there is no such thing. It looks like a Model 18. But I can’t get the seller to answer any questions. It amazes me how lazy people are, in this bad economy. Nobody at Practicalmachinist had any input, but I did notice Jdunmyer over there!

Unfortunately, I got to reading about machining. That was a mistake. I managed to get machining out of my system a year or two ago, and last night I found myself looking at small mills and lathes again.

Fortunately, I was saved by the photos of people’s machining projects. It appears that almost nobody does anything with machine tools except for making models of engines. I’m sure this is lots of fun, but what if you don’t want to make engines? I thought machine tools would be fun for a more general purpose. I figured I could use them to make stuff I designed, but since almost nobody else does that, I assume it must be difficult.

Once again, I checked out local machining courses, and they do not exist. I can drive to the next county five times a week in the morning–for 14 months–but other than that, there is nothing out there.

So I think I can put machine tools out of my mind for a while. Although I did create a Smartflix account, just in case.

The disease never goes away completely. It just goes into remission.

Tool Quest Resembles Archaeology

I am fed up with the drill press scene. There are lots of bargains out there, but nothing quite fits the bill. I want a 6″ stroke, a low speed near 250 RPM, and a tough adjustable head casting that will last forever. Nothing out there fits the description.

Since I got wise to the VFD revolution, it has occurred to me that the best thing may be to MAKE a drill press. I could find myself some kind of old drill press that has a 6″ stroke and a split head, and I could put a new motor in it with a VFD. Problem solved, and it should be cheaper than buying a ready-to-use press that isn’t really right for me. But how do you get your hands on a US-made drill press that fits that description?

Some dude has a Powermatic 1200 head for sale on Ebay. Three hundred and something dollars. I wonder if it might be a good buy. Not sure how I’d compensate for the lack of a stand and table.

The Powermatic table is nothing to write home about; losing it is not a sacrifice. I’d want a woodworking table, which I would probably make for myself. I don’t know what people who have woodworking tables do, when they want to drill metal. I suppose sometimes they don’t have to change anything. Maybe woodworking drill press tables are supposed to attach to existing metalworking tables.

Another possibility: someone in Pasco County is selling a Buffalo #18 drill press. This is a cool piece of old iron with a 6″ stroke and four speeds. Might be the optimal candidate for a VFD.

Hmm…

Plus More “Coincidences”

I just had a treat which I could not have predicted last week: Turkish coffee. I used to drink it in Israel. They sold it in little funny cans with coffee beans on the label. It’s just coffee ground to a very fine powder. I don’t know if it’s finer than espresso, but it’s pretty fine. The Israelis simply dumped it in hot water, stirred, and drank. That’s what I did today. I don’t think that’s the correct way to do it, but I wasn’t looking for the correct way. I was looking for the past.

It’s not the world’s finest coffee. It’s a hundred times better than instant, but a good cup of espresso or American coffee would be better. But it’s fast and easy, and it reminds me of Israel. I wonder if I can find the Israeli brand on the web.

I have Googled. My best guess was that the brand name was “Elite.” That’s what I seemed to remember. And look what I found!

Click to visit The Jerusalem Gift Shop!

Man, this is an odd coincidence. Funny how those happen to me all the time these days. I feel a little woozy thinking about it.

Check this place out. I know about as much about it as you do, but it appears to be run by Christians in Israel. They have a newsletter about Israel, and all sorts of items from Israel, including this pendant (hope they don’t mind me stealing the picture):

That is fascinating. When my sister and I began communicating again, it was because of Christianity, and almost as soon as we started, she brought me a book by Perry Stone (The Meal That Heals) and a home communion kit with that symbol on it. According to Stone, that symbol is very old, and it was used by early Christians. I suppose there are many Jews who would be horrified by it, but anyway, there it is. You can click the link and buy that pendant.

We are part of prophecy; no doubt about it. The growing interdependence of Christians and observant Jews is a wonder to behold. We help Israel with its physical needs, and the Jews bless us with spiritual enlightenment. Just as Isaiah predicted.

I had no idea I would end up writing about this. I planned to write about coffee.

Check that site out. Wonderful stuff.

More

In case it’s not obvious, in the symbol above, which is referred to as the “Grafted In” symbol, the Magen David is formed by the base of the menorah and the tail of the ichthus. Nothing extra is added.

More Quasi-Woodworking

Here is amazing news. I have a planer sled.

Sort of.

I read about these things a while back. The idea is, you make a platform with a flat bottom, and you make it narrow enough to go through a planer. You put your crooked wood on the platform and adjust it so it won’t rock, and then you plane it. Presto, instant jointer. It gives you one flat, straight side. Then you can flop it over and do the other side. At that point, you have a board that is both flat and straight, and you only used one machine. The edges will still be weird, but you can fix that with a table saw jig, which I have not yet built. Or you can use a router.

I had two sheets of MDF I bought by mistake, so I used those for the top and bottom. You sandwich something very straight between two sheets of flat wood or whatever, and this gives you a platform that won’t bend and give you bad results. I guess most people use plywood, but like I said, I had MDF lying around.

That part was easy. I ripped them on the table saw, easy as pie Then I had problems. The purpose of this jig is to help you make straight, flat stuff, but you really need straight, flat stuff to make it. And I didn’t have any. I tried to make some from two-by-sixes on the table saw; it worked before. This time the results were no good; you need one straight edge to use as a reference, and I didn’t have one. I tried making a straight edge with the router, and the end result was that I learned it’s possible to use a router on aluminum. I gouged big depressions in the drywall square I used as a template.

Off to Home Depot I went, to buy eight feet of red oak. Sometimes you just have to admit you’re beat.

When I got it all put together, I had a 49″ by 12″ sled, 1 3/4″ tall. I used both screws and glue to hold it together, and I sunk the screws below the level of the MDF to keep them away from the planer. I checked it with my brand new, non-gouged drywall square (shut up), and it’s so flat I can’t find any deflection in it.

I still have to put the other features on it, like a cleat in front to keep the planer from pulling wood off the sled. But that stuff is small potatoes compared to building the sled body.

I can’t tell you how great it is to have that huge flat surface to work on. I mean the table saw extension. No more stooping to put stuff on the garage floor. No more piling stuff on the workbench. I have room to burn.

Eventually I’ll get the other parts put on, and then we’ll see if it does anything.

I had no desire to buy a big table saw. I had no use for 64″ rails. But look how this thing has worked out. It’s a blast.

I’m a little bummed out by the drill press news. The dealer with the used Powermatics wants $850 for a belt-change press. I can get one in 110V, which is good, but I would still have to get a VFD to go down to 200 RPM.

It’s amazing how hard it is to buy a drill press that is adequate. Virtually any cabinet table saw would suit me perfectly. There are tons of great routers. There are lots of good compressors. But every drill press has a major deficiency, it seems like.

I was considering making a motor cover for my saw. A lot of woodworkers use plywood, but I think the best option is sheet metal. Of course, that would make it absolutely necessary for me to buy a PRESS BRAKE.

It never ends.

Help Leah

Leah Friedman is fhaving an aortic valve replaced! Seems like her troubles never stop.

Prayers solicited.

You Would Never Guess I Made This Myself

Russ was asking for a photo of the table saw with its new extension. Don’t laugh. Here it comes.

Actually, it looks better in the photo, because it’s hard to make out the defects in the surface of the old desk.

The supports look bent, but I think that’s a trick of perspective. I hope. I better go look.

Anyway, that’s it.

The Return of 5:30

What a wonderful morning this has been so far. The holidays derailed my schedule; I found myself getting to bed and getting up late. But as of today I am back to my regular routine. I got up at 5:30 and had the world to myself.

I think things reached a crescendo on Saturday. Sunday was coming up, and I was not going to let myself spend that day in the garage, working on my own projects. And I was trying to get the extension for my woodworking megaplex put together. So I kept working, and I got to bed at something like 1 a.m., which is four and a half hours before my preferred rising time. Unacceptable. But that’s all behind me now.

Help me out with VFD questions.

A VFD is a doodad that allows you to run an electrical motor at a speed you like. Readers have been mentioning them. One of the fun applications is running a big, cheap 3-phase motor on single-phase current. You can buy a big ol’ industrial tool cheap and then use it in your garage with single-phase power. Some of these things accept 120 in. You can also get them in 220.

If you stick one of these on a drill press, it can make your life easier. I think. Drill presses with 3-phase motors are not too hard to find. I have read about people using VFDs on their home drill presses.

My questions:

1. Do you lose a lot of power if you slow a 1750-RPM motor down by half, to get a bit speed of around 250 RPM? I don’t know a whole lot about electric motors. I assume there must be some sort of torque band, even if it’s not as peaky as a gasoline engine’s.

2. Do you lose any power running at normal speed? I don’t see why you would. Current is current.

3. Is there something out there that will convert 1-phase 220 to 3-phase 220 without affecting the speed? I might land a nice variable-speed drill press that needs 3-phase but no speed control.

I checked into the place that has the used Powermatics for sale, and their prices are out of control. They want $850 for fairly beat-up machines. I think that’s about twice what a used Powermatic 1150 should cost.

I found a 14″ Walker Turner band saw for sale right here in Miami. Dang it. Too small.

What Would Aslan Eat?

I just got back from church. My sister really likes late services, and we had lunch on the way home.

Interesting experience today. A preacher named Darrell Hines was speaking at Rich Wilkerson’s church, and my sister wanted to hear him. But soon after we got there, she started feeling the presence of God, and she was pretty much inert for the remainder of the sermon. Kept asking me if I felt it. When we got up at the end, she was barely coherent, and she kept talking about it all the way home. She kept asking why people were interested in the things of this world, when they could have God’s presence instead. That’s exactly how I always feel when it hits me.

I felt it today, too, but not to the same extent. At one point while she was in this state, she bumped my arm, and for a time after that, I felt pretty wobbly. Very strange.

She said she didn’t hear much of anything Darrell Hines said.

This is what I like about this church. The music is too loud, and the sermons are good, but not mind-blowing, but God sits on this place like smog on Los Angeles.

We stopped at an Arab restaurant and grocery on the way home. I made some buys. I got some mamoul cookies. These are butter cookies filled with dates. Made in Saudi Arabia. I did not realize I could buy a single cookie, so I got a box. They’re not bad at all. I also picked up some Turkish coffee. This is what they drink in Israel. It’s very finely ground, and the Israelis dump it in hot water like instant coffee. It leaves a layer of mud on the bottom of the cup. I bought it for nostalgic reasons. I also bought a box of Turkish delight. I had to try it. When I was in the first grade, my teacher Mrs. Schabacher read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my class, and ever since then, I have wondered what Turkish delight tasted like. It’s very good. I was surprised.

Some pastries somehow ended up in my shopping bag. Funny how that happens.

I think the presence of God is the missing ingredient that has caused American churches to become so weak, perverted, and worldly. A typical church is not much better than a Moose lodge or a YMCA. It’s no wonder no one wants to go. The supernatural is what fills pews. Without it, what is Christianity? Unrewarding self-denial, plus prayer and study that accomplish absolutely nothing. Wouldn’t you go to church if you knew you would sense God there? That’s a pretty big draw.

He’s still with us, if you’re willing to look for him.

Give it Your Sunday Best

I want to make sure everyone sees something that was posted in a comment.

Reader Pbird says:

Sigh. Now its me asking for prayer. I just found out my elderly aunt who raised ten children and babysat their children and their grandchildren and even some greatgrandchildren and worked hard and faithfully for eighty years has badly metasticised breast cancer. Of course its not fair is it? Life on earth is not for sissies.
She wanted to make Christmas for all the kids so she did what she wanted and didn’t mention the cancer which she must have known she had. Her name is Clara. I don’t know what the Lord wants for her now, but she has a huge family of terrified people and they certainly need prayer. I think she is a Christian in a sort of sedate way.

Join me on this one, if you will.

I note the part about her aunt being a Christian “in a sort of sedate way.” These days, I never pray for anyone without including a prayer that they will turn to God and learn to walk in faith and obedience. You have to give, to get.

She Has Been Superseded

Check THIS out.

Not at all what I expected. I pictured a pallid vegan in dumpy fatigues.

There is apparently something in the food in Israel that makes the women gorgeous. Go there and see for yourself, if you don’t believe me. It will make you want to convert.

Look Upon his Chins and Despair

This is truly magnificent. Even better than “Obamalot.”

And no Ruptured Disks

Just when you thought I could not possibly be more impressed with myself, I prove you wrong. Today I finished my amazing table saw/router table project. And it WORKS!

I nearly killed myself doing this. I kept running into things I didn’t anticipate. For example, tee nuts don’t stick to softwood end grain very well, which makes your shiny new casters fall out of the legs of your table saw extension, causing it to fall on the floor while you’re trying to screw it to the rails. But the resulting table is very good. It looks hideous because I used that old computer desk for the top, but the fence slides over the joint just fine.

I think the moment of greatest joy was when I grabbed my router and lift, which had been sitting on top of a case of Gatorade, and put them back in the table. Now I have 91 1/2 inches of woodworking room.

I got some Stanley plastic sawhorses. Criticize me for not making my own if you want; there is no way they would have compared to these. You can adjust the height in one-inch increments, and each one has a platform between the legs where you can put tools. And you can stand on the platform. I did it in the store. When you’re done, they fold up in a small space.

I picked up some little Irwin clamps. They’re wonderful. They have pistol grips, and you can tighten them by squeezing. They exert surprising pressure, and they don’t mar your work. As soon as I got them out of the package, I found I couldn’t do without them. Right now you can get a package of four for twenty bucks. That’s a bargain.

My little 10″ miter saw (sitting on Og’s favorite tool, the Workmate) came into play over and over. That thing is a jewel. It’s precise. It’s fast. It’s easy to use. I’m going to miss it when I get the big sliding saw set up. I cut the struts that support the extension legs with that saw, and then I clamped them in place with the little clamps, drilled holes with my cordless Bosch, and used my impact driver to drive the 3″ screws home. If that tool was a woman, I’d marry it.

The extension has two-by-three legs supported in both directions by struts angled at 45 degrees. There are two big casters with brakes on the end, but the table saw is so heavy, that end barely touches the ground. The casters are threaded, and I put jam nuts on the threads so I can adjust them for floor problems. The only other thing I might do would be to screw a power strip to the extension so I can plug the router into it and keep the cord from dragging.

Man, I feel like I accomplished something. The garage seems huge now, and I have some really nice tools arranged for convenience. And these days, I can actually do things with them. I’m no Norm Abrams, but this extension is surprisingly nice. And it somehow worked out so that when I get sick of the computer desk top, I can remove and replace it pretty easily. Provide I can come up with something else exactly 1 1/4″ thick.

I have to shower the sawdust out of my hair and ears now. And it’s past my bedtime. But it was worth it.

There is no Such Thing as Scrap

It amazes me, how the garage gets bigger every time I rearrange it. Yesterday it was crowded. Today I feel like buying more big tools to fill the empty space.

I was upset because I couldn’t put the table saw against the left wall; it kept my car door from opening. I had to put the saw either on the right side of the garage (inconvenient) or in the middle (in the way). By rearranging stuff, I created so much room on the right side, I can keep the saw in the middle of the garage and have room around it to work. I just back the car out, plug the saw in, and cut.

It’s funny how little loose ends in my life are tying themselves up. When I got my welder, I bought a 50-amp RV cord because I thought I would have to run it to the 220-volt dryer socket. I cut off the female end of the cord and spliced in a big NEMA plug. Then I installed a circuit for the welder, and I didn’t need the cord. So I had fifty feet of cord with a dryer plug on it, just sitting around. It’s heavy, and it takes up a lot of room.

Now I have a situation where I could use a few more feet of cord for the saw. So I’m thinking I may just cannibalize the RV cord! I can have as much length as I need. The cord is a little thinner than the saw cord, but I know it’s ample. There is no way this thing will ever draw anything close to 50 amps. I believe it sucks about 24. That’s plenty of leeway.

I can’t figure out why the saw starts so much more smoothly than the compressor. I assume both starters have a soft-start feature. The saw simply starts running; the compressor goes “BANG” when it starts. Maybe I should double-check the wiring.

Al Gore Would Not be Pleased

Here is something interesting. I found a local company that sells used tools, and they have FIVE Powermatic 1150As for sale.

I had to use the YELLOW PAGES to find a company that has a website. How primitive.

Good Test Result

Here is what Christians refer to as a “praise report.” It came last night from Heather, whose mother had a test in connection with her treatment for cervical cancer:

I want to update everyone about today’s appointment.
Mom had her PET scan, her lungs are clear as are the other organs. Dr. Cottrill told us that there was just a small amount of involvement with some of the lymph nodes in the stomach area, however she feels fully confident that it will be taken care of by the raditation treatments.
We will get the schedule for those on Monday.
I know the Lord answers prayers. He answered mine today.
I thank you all for lifting us up in prayer. I wish I could give each and every one of you a great big hug!
I am eternally grateful for your prayers and for God’s Blessing.
God Bless,

Hard to top that. Thanks, everyone who joined in prayer.

I continue trying to locate a decent drill press that will give me good service for a very long time. It looks like used ones are just too hard to find and check out. There are two new ones that look good. One is the Steel City 20520, and the other is the Delta 20-950, which costs a lot more. The Delta has a lot going for it, but it does not have a split head design, so it probably can’t be fixed once it gets sloppy. The Steel City is smaller and less fancy, and the table isn’t as good, but it has a split head. I may just give up and get one.

Another alternative is to find a $50 Craigslist special and make do until a nice used one comes along.

Today I plan to finish my router insert/table saw extension. That will be fun. I may also make a planer sled. I’m wondering if I can use MDF. Seems like it should be more accurate than plywood.