I've gone kind of shop-crazy this winter

  

Just a few of the projects:

Lathe-related

·         Shim or re-fit all lathe control handles. They were sloppy.

·         Cross slide lock (homemade). Required for facing. Or you can keep one hand on the main crank.

·         New cross slide hand wheel (homemade). The original was too small and did not have a bearing.

·         Tailstock lapped to ways. Bad alignment.

·         Center finding gauge (homemade).

·         Compact depth gauge (homemade).

·         Bump center (homemade). It’s a thing made from ball bearings to help align work in chuck.

·         Milling 90 degree plate (homemade) that bolts direct to compound.  Also hold-down bars and studs.

·         Milling 90 degree plate that fits vertical slide (below) (homemade).  Additional hold-down bars and studs. Toe clamps from 2-inch schd 40 pipe (homemade).

·         Marking/bolting 90 degree plate (homemade).

·         Vertical slide.

·         Vice for vertical slide.

·         Fitted milling vice. Handle needed re-machined. Mounting holes.

·         Keyway mod in lathe tailstock. Stock keyway was omitted at factory due to casting error.

·         Mods to drill press milling vice.

o   Handles and gibs.

o   Wider jaws with 6 screws and pressure plate (homemade).

·         Three machinist’s jacks (homemade), mostly for use with the drill press and lathe.

·         Built shallow drawer under work bench for mics etc.

·         Built drawer under lathe (right side, for lathe accessories), with lift-out tray. More trays lower.

·         Built drawer under lathe (left side), for milling accessories) with lift-out tray. More trays lower.

·         Several other drawers to organize drills and boat fittings.

·         Organizer behind chip guard.

·         Ways cover (attached with aluminum strip embedded with rare earth magnets).

·         Shallow, removable chip tray under chuck-half.

·         Face plates (2). Fitted from older lathe.

·         Hand turning rest (wood or metal) for metal lathe (homemade).

·         Hand turning chisels for metal lathe (2) (homemade) .

·         Chuck spider (homemade) (accessory to chuck short stuff).

·         Parting tool holder using hacksaw blades (homemade). Very good for brass, not steel. Got 1.5 mm parting tool from Buyaholic.

·         Manual die holders (1.5- and 2-inch) (homemade). Not lathe mounted, but can start 1-, 1.5-, and 2-inch on lathe using chuck to keep it straight. Removable handles.

·         Die pusher with aligning fit (homemade).

·         Tap follower. From great uncle.

·         Die grinder tool rest mount (homemade). Includes short hose extension and air control valve.

·         Drip coolant at tool post. Mounts with magnet. Probably over kill. (Also a bad idea—can’t see what you are doing, mess in mechanism, corrosion. Better with a spray bottle or squeeze bottle.)

·         Indexing for lathe head (homemade) (24 increments). Great for making hex and square heads.

·         Precision filing guide (homemade). Can be used for end stop or depth control.

·         Larger dog for turning between centers (homemade). (I still have my old 1975 small home-made dog!)

·         Assorted custom handles for hex sockets and square drives (homemade) (chuck and tool rest).

·         Radius turning attachment. 0.625” to 1.5” (homemade). For wide pulleys, such as trailer rollers, genoa leads, and low friction rings. A precision job, requiring milling, turning, threading, and indexed grinding. But not much bigger than my thumb.

Other projects (all homemade using lathe, welder, band saw, drill press, etc.)

·         Bending lever, large stock. Up to ½-inch rebar.

·         Bending rod jig for vice, small stock. Bar stock and up to about 3/8-inch round … maybe.

·         Band saw table and stand. Fence from speed square. Sled from scrap.

·         Improved hold-down tee-nuts for drill press.

·         Tuned up cross slide vice for drill press. Now I can mill on the press, up to ½-inch steel plate with ½-inch end mill.

·         Centers (top and bottom) for drill press table. Good for accurate concentric drilling.

·         Wooden clamp to hold work from spinning.

·         Steel fence for drill press.

·         Drill press clamp (Keats Plate) for round stock center drilling.

·         Drum sander table.

·         Tool handles. Lots, mostly for files.

·         9-inch disk sander stand. 90 degree fence.

·         Cradle for angle grinder (just for spin-down). I’m going to upgrade this to 12-inch when I run out of 12-inch paper.

·         Scribe/awl from triangular file. Full length tang. Very hard.

·         Light bracket for drill press. Old eyes appreciate this.

·         Switched outlets to control air compressor and shop air filter.

·         HEPA-rated show air filter from 5 MERV 13 20x20 filters and a 20x20 box fan. Allows welding indoors. Every shop should have one. Also great for remodeling mess.

·         Soft jaws with magnets (both vices) . Aluminum and wood.

·         Parallels with magnets. Parallel edge clamps for non-magnetic parallels.

·         V-blocks. Many sizes. Wood, steel, and aluminum.

·         Table saw sled and mini-rip fence. More accurate and less dust.

·         Zero clearance insert for table saw. Less dust.

·         Two hole deburing tools; one from a counter sink and the other from a ½-drill with the clearance angle reduced (plus handles).

·         Edge deburing tool from a rusted triangular file plus a handle. My favorite.

·         Up-side-down holders for 5-minute and G-Flex epoxy.

·         Cradle for angle grinder (for spin-down).

·         90 degree and variable angle brace/clamp for welding

·         Mini-chipping hammer from rebar. My new favorite.

 

And I'm sure there were more. And I'm reaping the benefits, as I now have just the tool or jig I need to do things more quickly and with better precision. More practice helps too. 

The cost? Barely anything, since most were homemade. With welding, milling, and a lathe, you can make most things.