Family Shop

Hi Dave I managed to follow most of it redrawing it as i envisioned what you say but the only part i cannot work out is how the inner rod stays put with the clamps yet the big nut welded at the back is used to secure the rod? This is a bit confusing.

Pictures would be really great. Thanks.

Rob Keeble said:

Hi Dave I managed to follow most of it redrawing it as i envisioned what you say but the only part i cannot work out is how the inner rod stays put with the clamps yet the big nut welded at the back is used to secure the rod? This is a bit confusing.

Pictures would be really great. Thanks.

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You are in luck, I went over to the shop and took some pics, They will be up in a few minutes

In the first pic you can see the jaws facing the bottom of the pic and how the rest of the moving parts are arranged with respect to the rest of it. In the next pic you can see the chain arrangement. The green metal unistrut is there just to support the mechanics. I put it in to keep the pipes from moving and allowing the jaws to go out of parallel when the vise is tightened, they also keep the pipes from pulling together from the chain tension. In the second pic you can also see the nut that is welded to the larger pipe right between the pieces of unistrut. The 3rd pic is just another angle, you can see some blocks of wood that push against the Stainless pipe clamps that keep the pipes from turning. Hope this clears things up a little. PS I was surprised after I finished building it that there is virtually no vertical movement. The jaws stay perfectly parallel to each other so I don't have any problem with the lower portion of that jaws grabbing and the top part being loose.

Heres some more pics, The first is my homemade 12" disc sander I made, and use mainly for metal grinding. The second is the under workings of the oscillating spindle sander. The white thing to the right is the gear reduction motor used to oscillate the spindle. The spindle has about an 1" of travel and it oscillates about 60 times per min. 2nd from the last is the inside of the V sander and the last is the outside of the shop.

Thank you Dave. Wow I think Stu has some real competition here in the way of the home built tool maker. Thanks for popping out and shooting those pictures. There is no statement more true than "a pictures worth a thousand words.

Here is some update pics of the new drill press and the table I made for it. In the second and third pics you can see the top of the table and the fence for it. It only takes 10-15 seconds to stick the fence on and lock it in place. The last one is the bottom of the table while it was removed from the drill.

Great-looking solution, Dave. That opens up lots of possibilities for magnetic hold downs, too.

BTW, I took the liberty of rotating your first picture. I figured you wouldn't mind me standing the drill press upright.

Vaughn McMillan said:

Great-looking solution, Dave. That opens up lots of possibilities for magnetic hold downs, too.


BTW, I took the liberty of rotating your first picture. I figured you wouldn't mind me standing the drill press upright.

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I have a set of mag-jigs and I REALLY liked using them on the delta with the woodworking table, so when I returned the Delta because of the quill slop I hated the idea of having to make a wood table for the steel city I bought. So that's why I went the cast iron route and I think it turned out well.


Something doesn't look right with it, I thought I bought a horizontal boring drill press.

Here is a new addition to the shop, just picked it up today. It has a 1/2 hp 3 phase motor, I will be switching that out tomorrow for a 1hp single phase. In the second pic you can see there are 2 parts missing. I was aware that there might be some missing parts on the fence so it wasn't a surprise. I just need a weird nut that I can either shell out $13 for or make myself, I think that I will go with the latter option. It is also missing the handle, I just happen to have a piece of 3/8th 24 threaded rod and a knob that just happens to be threaded the same, so i can make my own handle without a problem. I'll take some more pics after I clean it up

as per usual, some of you guys knock me out with the mad skills you have.
Id love to see some of your woodworking.

I never even thought about making my own tools. Might give the drum sander a try. Beautiful shop.

now THAT'S a shop!!!!!
SWEET.......