Shop Made Tools

[Davo J]

I was thinking the same thing when I posted the last message.
I am not sure this counts as a tool, but it's for lifting things on and off the mill and lathe.





Dave

[Tanto]

Dave how was the 500 kg load limit determined?

[Davo J]

Between the books I have here and online info it is designed to take 1000kg, but because I only fitted a 500kg hoist I went with 500kg load rating stickers. The heaviest thing I will be lifting would be around 100-150kg.
I have lifted my 12 x 36 lathe with a block a tackle on the crane instead of the electric winch, it weighs around 450-500kg and there where no strange noises or movement.
After I did my calculations I compared the beam sizes etc to what is available on commercially made cranes, and there are some bolt together ones getting sold with longer spans ratted at 1000kg with this size beam/hinge spacing etc.

Here is the full right up with detailed pictures of the hinges etc

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/home-made-jib-crane-photos-113771/

Dave

[TGTool]

Lathe Compound (Top) Slide Angle Setting

This isn't original. I believe I found this in a picture on PM somewhere but haven't tried to trace it down to give credit.

It's just a tray or platen to hold a sine bar and gauge blocks for occasions when the compound must be set fairly precisely. This iteration incorporates a short straight section which can be held in the chuck and an MT3 section that will go right in the spindle. The back rail can be adjusted, so in use it would be checked for absolute parallelism before the sine bar is loaded.

[BobL]

Here's a sample of my home shop activities. This photo shows some of what I did in 2008 which was the year I made more shop made tools than usual. I do all the woodwork (including milling the timber) and metal work including heat treatment of blades etc.


1 & 4 are brass chuck jaws for holding items on a wood work lathe.
2, 3, 5 and 6 are more ww lathe items
7 are a set of plane makers floats to make wooden woodworking planes. The teeth were cut on a metal mill with a dovetail cutter. Handles are from Apricot wood.
9 are apricot wooden handles and brass backs for Japanese saw blades
13 is a carbide tipped turning tool
12 is a draw knife made from an old file
14 is a set of luthiers tools. The wood for the chisel handles is from a Western Australian Red Gum tree I planted in our suburban back garden in 1978 and then had milled in 2004.
16 is carvers mallet
17 is a bandsaw stand
18 is a Chainsaw mill with a 5ft bar and 120 cc chain saw. The mill was made in 2007 to take a 42" bar but in 2008 I modified it to take the bigger bar.
19 is a chainsaw file holding jig modified to take files to sharpen square ground chains.
The guitar was not made in my shop but I did make it myself when I attended a luthiers school in Melbourne - The school was a lot of fun and the guitar sounds awesome (when played by someone who has a bit of talent - ie not me)

[Chris S.]

Here's a sample of my home shop activities.
1 & 4 are brass chuck jaws for holding items on a wood work lathe.

Brass must be cheap in OZ. The chuck looks like a Nova Titan and they're made there. I think those jaws (from Nova) are ~ $45.00. You did a great job though! Very pretty!

Chris

[BobL]

Brass must be cheap in OZ. The chuck looks like a Nova Titan and they're made there. I think those jaws (from Nova) are ~ $45.00. You did a great job though! Very pretty!

Chris

I agree the brass is a bit of overkill but it cost me nothing, and unlike the Nova jaws they don't rust. I make no pretense of saving money in most things I make. I'm generally slow and inaccurate and when I worked out how much I work for it's usually around $5/hour but it's the journey I'm after as much as the final product and one way to think about it is it still way cheaper than going to therapy.

[Chris S.]

I agree the brass is a bit of overkill but it cost me nothing....

I have recurring dreams of stumbling upon a free mountain of brass!

Chris

[BobL]

I have recurring dreams of stumbling upon a free mountain of brass!

Chris

One of my best sources of "stuff" is the dumpster at work where all manner of old analytical instruments are just dumped. The ww lathe steady in that photo was made from 1/4" ally plate from an old X-ray machine. My 2 gallon steel coolant tank for my mw lathe is straight from the same machine as are the wheels for the bandsaw stand. One machine had a heap of stainless strap in it some of which which I used to make a pizza oven. Then there's bits of teflon, polycarbonate, copper and brass sheet. Mostly small pieces but well worth scavenging for small home shop projects. We also have a set of very useful scraps bins at work which we are allowed to access. The other useful source of brass is old brass taps. When my father-in-law passed away I found a box with about 50 lbs of old brass taps in it - I have these for a heap of things

This ferrule for a japanese saw is made from a brass cover from a old tap.

[TRYPHON974]

I'm very impressed by this thread and I thought I had to contribute myself. Here's the disc sander I made.

I made a coupling shaft with an adapter to mount every grinder accessories
This adapter was made from an ingot I poured.
Almost everything is reclaimed, the 1700W motor comes from a lawn mower, and the metal plates from trash bins.

[Toolguy]

Disc Sander

That looks like a first rate piece of gear! Welcome to the Forum!

[Chris S.]

Almost everything is reclaimed, the 1700W motor comes from a lawn mower, and the metal plates from trash bins.

I was wondering where the hell that trash bin went. I'm glad you made good use of it though!

Nice work.
Chris

[deltaenterprizes]

Nice work, that is what I call recycling!

[TRYPHON974]

Thanks for the comments, here are some more shop made tools:
a height gage for the lathe

a machinist hammer

far from perfect but I'm a beginner as a machinist.

[bborr01]

Tryphon,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your projects. Nice job of recycling on the sander.

If you have any more shopmade projects, feel free ot post them here.

Brian