Rebuilt Drafting Machine

I bought and rebuilt a Vemco V-track 612. It was made in the 70's. I completely cleaned and lubricated every component, protractor head included. It's very smooth and solid now. I replaced all of the carriage bearings, some screws, and a brake pad, but everything else was in good working condition. I understand replacement parts are no longer available for these machines, but I'm sure I could make a part from scratch if ever necessary... unlikely though. Many of the parts are standard--it's built like an old airplane.

These machines are really cheap now for how well they're built. Useless to most people I guess, but I hope to use the heck out of it for 1:1 pattern making, general design, making containers/envelopes, and drawing for fun.

I covet the Civil Engineer's protractor head for its appearance but it seems they're pretty rare. The Type 4 head on mine is a treat itself. The manual says not to disassemble the Type 4 because re-assembly is difficult, but it really wasn't too bad. Pretty complex unit for its job though!

Above, gluing the new brake pad on

I sketched out and cut this gift box for my brother with the machine in record time. The charcoal lines on the outside were just done on the floor, with the charcoal I made.

Pentagonal Chopsticks

From left to right, I start with the .30" square blanks. I cut two adjacent faces of the pentagon in the first two slots. I then cut a third face, touching the first two. In the last slot, I cut the fourth side opposite the previously cut one. The fifth face remains from one of the faces on the blank, but I plane it too for surface finish. I also taper the chopsticks in the rightmost slot.

The cross pieces which prevent the sticks from slipping are on both ends, as I have to plane in either direction according to the grain of the wood. It's a bit touchy sometimes; a very manual process.

The last step is to chamfer the ends and oil them.

Wooden Computer Case

The button on the front is the power button. The computer is an Odroid XU4. The monitor is a 7" touchscreen. The whole computer portion was <$200, and it's plenty fast for watching videos and ordering screws. It uses android for the OS.

Above shows the monitor holding slot without the monitor in it. Both the computer and the slot are held to the shelf post with wooden wedges.

The bugs haven't all been worked out.

Brass washers, stainless hardware. Cherry panels.

Flimsy Work Boots

I made myself some boots. I wear them while working in the shop and playing in the dirt.

Their biggest weakness is the sole. I like shoes without support, but the soling material I could find was so thin that a well placed piece of gravel would pierce it. It was also surprisingly expensive, but I couldn't find anything better.