Flatwork, Just Not Much of it Wood

Dan Mooney

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Location
Portland, Oregon
The Crank handle for raising and lowering the table on my drill press broke.

So i stopped by my local metal monger and found this 4"x4"x1" piece of aluminum.

A little drilling a little cutting, a little spinning, and a couple hours later the drill dress is back in order.

I wanted to make it a little longer for more leverage, but it would hit the table.

I took Larry's advice from his tag line, and built it Stout! :thumb:
 

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You see... this is why I like USA, if you had to buy such a chunk of aluminium here, you would not be able unless you bought a yard of the bar, and even then with dificulties. That's why many people go to find their materials to junkyards or flea markets.

Great job on the handle BTW
 
Nice job Dan.

May I make a suggestion though? If there are no clearance restrictions with the handle, why don't you try assembling it with the sharp square corners of the metal arm away from your knuckles. It looks like you could do that, I think the stud for the wood handle is threaded into the aluminum arm so you can flip that over and I bet your fingers will thank you. :thumb:

JMHO :wave:

I don't have a mill yet, but I do some light milling on my big drillpress. (I know, I know, it wasn't built to do milling, but it's pretty heavy duty [22"] and works quite well.) :)

Aloha, Tony
 
Well done Dan. That was some good machining. :thumb:

I didn't mean to critisize your work, just was making a suggestion. :dunno:

I've done the same before. It IS a lot easier with the right tools, but not impossible to do with "make-do" tools. ;)

Aloha, Tony
 
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