Thoughtophone

I'd made this very small wooden table with t-slots for my drill press. It's designed along the lines of various other's I've seen. The first version of the fence is a simple bit of aluminium angle. Here it is (after I've removed it):  But it turns out that with some hold down clamps, you can use whatever you have to hand as a fence, and use scraps of timber as sacrifices. I just saw someone doing this in a youtube video, and realised that's what I needed. I've found one place to buy these cheaply: the UJK technology ones at Axminster. I never quite get around to ordering from them because of the delivery charge, these are out of stock anyway, and also, there's no drawing or dimensions. I have a jig making kit (also from Axminster), so I just made these today, using the t-bolts and knobs from the set: The design may not be that well thought out, but they work: it's not a difficult thing to implement. The only problem is that the t-bolts ar

I've upgraded the fence: it extends both sides of the cut, adds support for small work pieces, and now includes a simple depth stop:  Then I cut this new little pile of bits of angle for linear bearings: The old ones varied quite a lot in length, and some didn't prove to be usable. These are very consistent, although occasionally the saw cuts these a little roughly: you have to go slowly to get a good result. The other problem with the jig is that you get aluminium chips on the rails. Maybe I could place a piece of clear plastic between the rails with a slit in it for the blade. It could sit on top of the fence, and does need to go any further back than the beginning of the cut, which won't be far for aluminium. I don't think wood chips will be a big problem. The reason the aluminium chips are such a problem is the saw foot has a little slope at the front, so it climbs onto the chips, trapping them, and then scratching the track. I guess something placed in fr

There are plenty of designs for a cross cut jig out there. I have a couple of extra requirements: My saw has a limited depth of cut: 55mm and the motor protrudes from the foot, with about 10mm clearance. This means most of the wooden rail designs aren't suitable. They also require that you set up everything perfectly square: there's no adjustment. I'm a pretty rubbish carpenter. That's why I want the jig. I don't think that approach will work out for me. I think I can use t-slot to make everything adjustable, and perhaps even be able to add a mitre fence. Anyway, here are my requirements: Cut shelving up to 400mm deep Cut timber up to 47mm thick Cut t-slot profiles (20mm) The shelves are going to be 15mm thick, so an intermediate goal could be to cut something t-slot thick (20mm), and then upgrade it later. I've experimented, and found that 1/2x1/8" aluminium angle will support the weight of the saw over the required span (500mm) without much

I want to be able to butt joint T-Slot profiles, basically because it's cheap, and just requires I have some screws around to do it. Trouble is, the jigsaw table just doesn't cut the ends close enough to square. I have a circular saw, so I could build a cross cut jig for it. When I checked the square for the circular saw, I found it wasn't very, and that the adjustment didn't work. So I started thinking about other options... I guess a metal cut-off saw would do the perfect job, but it's rather specific, and just too big a thing to have around for such a limited purpose. Also, I have a DIY project that would benefit from mitre saw, and another one that could use a cross pull mitre saw (cutting shelves). These are also big, but at least they are more versatile. I would cut the aluminium using an aluminium specific blade. For example the  Skil 1131  costs very little and gets good reviews. Cross pull is too big really, except for the  Ryobi EMS216L  with it'

I really should have written this post long ago, since my first attempt at having a working drill stand fell well short of satisfactory. In fact I'm bemused to find the post doesn't already exist. Clearly all the ranting was only in my head... The drill press proved woeful. Actually, I wrote a review on Amazon, so I guess that's what I'm remembering. A lot of people thought oh well, it's cheap what do you expect. I went and bought a Record Power DS-19 for £59. Yes that's twice as expensive, but it's twice bugger all, and using it is a completely different experience. In my previous post it wasn't up to the challenge of using an end mill. Nothing else has proved beyond it. I also didn't end up with the drill. I bought it, and returned it, after I found the chuck was more than 43mm, and so the drill wouldn't go in the stand, even though it had a suitable collar. Instead, I got a  Makita DP4011 . This cost £120. I actually have no idea why I di

I've now had a go at making something like contraptors linear bearings . Here's the result: The t-slot I'm going to use in structures is integral to the bearings. I'm using the 3/8"  x 1/16" angle because it's small enough to fit on this profile. Each bit of angle is 25mm long. The bearings are centred roughly 5mm from each end. They are 3x10x4mm (ID, OD, W). They are fixed with M3x10mm button head screws and the nuts are captured against the angle. There's a washer between the bearing and the angle. Drilling the holes for the bearings: I wanted to capture the nuts, so I need the holes to be the right distance from the corner of the angle. The bearings also need to be a uniform distance from the angle outside edge. To do this I used a fence on the drill press. I set the fence as follows: I took a bit of angle, put the nut against the inside of the angle, and trapped the nut using the the bit in the chuck. Then I move the fenc

This universal bender  is the first reasonably priced thing I've seen that will turn my aluminium strips into something useful, reasonably efficiently. Perhaps I'll buy one. That's not the only useful thing on the site: I would like these Stevenson's metric blocks too.