{"id":2576,"date":"2009-01-19T21:03:20","date_gmt":"2009-01-20T02:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2009-01-19T21:03:20","modified_gmt":"2009-01-20T02:03:20","slug":"garage-likely-to-get-smaller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/?p=2576","title":{"rendered":"Garage Likely to Get Smaller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Machine Tools<\/em><\/p>\n

While Marv and I enjoy his “out” time, I am reading about machine tools.<\/p>\n

They’re very confusing. I have figured out a couple of things, though, analogizing from woodworking. I think a milling machine is pretty much like a router for metal, only mounted in a really nice fixture that does great stuff with it. And a lathe…is a lathe. <\/p>\n

It’s very tough, figuring out what size machine would be useful for me. Jet makes something called a JMD15, and it only weighs 400 pounds, and it appears to take up about as much room as a drill press. A thing like that, I could conceivably accommodate. But what can it do? Is it worth the aggravation?<\/p>\n

Many years ago, I used Vise Grips to break stone crab claws, and they were wonderful, but I had to adjust them over and over, because crab claws are not uniform. I thought it might be fun to make pliers just for the purpose of breaking claws. I drew up a design and bought a piece of tool steel and tried to make them, using a drill press. You can imagine how well that worked out. Then I paid a local machinist to make the pliers. They might have worked, had he used a better grade of steel. Will a JMD15 make an item like that? <\/p>\n

What if I want a steel fence for my table saw, so I can use magnetic jigs to hold work down? How big a mill would that take? Say I want a piece of steel 48″ long, with T-tracks in it. Can I do that? Can I make something as big as a typical shop vise? Can I make myself a new drill press table from cast iron?<\/p>\n

I have no idea. I guess there is no such thing as bulk cast iron, ready to be milled. I suppose they only cast it in shapes that are already dedicated to some purpose.<\/p>\n

I have to make a mobile base for the bandsaw. I keep reading depressing things about HTC bases. The one I got for the table saw is great, but I read that adjustable bases flex too much for tall tools. I could buy a welded base, but it would surely cost $200, and that’s insane.<\/p>\n

I should be able to make a frame from 1 1\/2″ angle iron and then fabricate some kind of attachments for casters. The whole thing might run me $85, even assuming I use overpriced Home Depot metal. I’m wondering if I’ll be able to drill the necessary 3\/8″ holes in the base with my hand drills. When you don’t have the right tool, sometimes the answer is the wrong tool and incredible patience.<\/p>\n

I apparently caused myself some problems by buying a 19″ saw. I figured lots of people had them, but it looks like a good number of the parts and accessories out there are only available for smaller saws. Maybe that means only hobbyists are dumb enough to buy trinkets and doodads; I’m not sure. I can’t buy zero-clearance inserts, except for the ones the manufacturer sells, so I suppose I should learn to make them from plastic. I guess I could resaw it to the right thickness on the table saw, cut circles with a fly cutter or maybe even a hole saw, and add hex screws to keep the inserts level.<\/p>\n

I’m definitely making progress, though. I have finally reached the point where I can go in the garage and just MAKE things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Machine Tools While Marv and I enjoy his “out” time, I am reading about machine tools. They’re very confusing. I have figured out a couple of things, though, analogizing from woodworking. I think a milling machine is pretty much like a router for metal, only mounted in a really nice fixture that does great stuff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}