Stilts

I made stilts for my girlfriend for her birthday. The feet are rounded so they don't splinter. The ledges are made of hickory, rabbeted, screwed, and glued.

Here's a photo of her using them. Maybe I will make her a folding fan next year.

Electronic Leadscrew Control Panel

A year ago I started making an electronic leadscrew for the Taig lathe, which is a leadscrew coupled to a motor. The motor is controlled by a computer of some description. Generally an electronic leadscrew is used on an otherwise manual lathe, to allow threading or automatic feed.

Design goals:

• Keep a simple user interface
• No electronic displays
• Unambiguous if something isn't working as it should
• Intuitive

• Build it well
• Reliable connectors and enclosure

I designed this panel in CAD and paid Ponoko to cut/engrave it out of acrylic.

I'm right handed, so the most used buttons went on the right (9, 10, 11). With the three selector switches (6, 7, 8) and two-digit thumbwheel switches (5), the user can choose just about any metric pitch, any inch pitch, and a wide range of feed rates. Part of the project was a precise limit switch to stop the lathe carriage, indicated by the 'limit' light (3).

You can view the panel components here.

Below is a panel with screw 'holes'. Being laser cut, I also sized the holes differently in case the above panel was too tight/loose.

I mostly abandoned this project after being honest with myself: I hardly ever need to cut single-point threads. For my own purposes, I can usually just use a threading die or modify a screw.

I think it was a good lesson in not buying stuff. Despite the project never being finished, I like what I made.

Power Hacksaw and Wooden Bushings

I rebuilt this Craftsman power hacksaw. It is slow, but quiet and accurate.

Above is the belt tensioning assembly.

Here is the depth stop block and switch flicker. It turns the saw off once it cuts through the material.

I gave the saw to a friend who makes longboards--he will use it for machining.

I also made some lignum vitae bushings on the manual lathe. 3/4" OD. I think they look really cool! Accurate as well, and fun to machine.

Shipping Crates

I boxed up the milling machine to send to my friend who bought it from me. I think he will use it better than I did. I made the crates of 1/2" C/D fir plywood, which is close to the price of cardboard per square foot! Each box weighs around 50 lb. Not only will the plywood protect the contents better than cardboard, but the crates should be useful for other things for many years to come.

The lids are attached with M8 flat head hex drive screws, 35mm long, screwed into tapped hardwood struts. I drew symbols to aid in removal and replacement of the lid.

Both are packed tight!

Drill Press VFD Mount

Made of beech. Everything fits nice! The switch on the left is a disconnect for the VFD, the motor start/stop switch is on the front of the drill press head.

Hard to tell from the darkness of the photo, but it's tight quarters inside the VFD. The wire ferrules make it less frustrating to connect the mains and motor.

Bowl Turning Spring Pole Lathe

I made this spring pole lathe with bowl turning in mind. It is stout, around 200 lb. The legs are mortised into the feet, and the ways are rabbeted into the legs and fastened with 3/4" bolts. the tool rest and foot pedal are held together with rope now, but it is a functioning machine.

Although this is my only pole lathe experience so far, here are tips for those who found this page in search of info on designing a pole lathe:

• Keep in mind where your body and knees go (the front way on this lathe intrudes on the leg motion a bit, and I had to shorten the tailstock tool rest support)
• Heavy is nice, as with all lathes
• It's going to take some abuse (build it with dents and cracks in mind)

In action-





The spring pole is a fir tree my brother cut down. Having not used other poles, it feels a little spongy but it does the job.

Below are the tools I forged in the wood fired forge. The one on the right works best--important to thin out the tip. They need some wooden handles still.

Wedge arrangement. I decided to keep it simple and not use an adjustable/threaded tailstock center. It works great this way, but I do have to pick up a mallet to adjust the center tightness.

The centers are made of 5/8" tool steel, unhardened. I made them with an angle grinder and the wood lathe. They are plenty accurate and smooth for this job.

Adjustable tool rest-

Tongue and Groove Router Table

I built a router table dedicated to cutting tongues and grooves in 5/16 to 1/2" thick boards. It's all made of wood scraps except for the plywood tabletop itself. I made a handful of mistakes as I went along, designing and cobbling it together as I went. That said, the finished router table is completely functional and accurate, just a little weird looking.

Above is the wooden fitting that accepts the 4" dust collector hose. The clever router clamp made by Bosch has a hex broach cut into the bottom of the height adjustment screw, so that it can be adjusted from above the table using the T-handle hex key as shown above.

Below is one of the wooden fingers. I was going to install a cam to apply pressure downwards, but the big flat head hex drive screw holds it in place pretty well. The backside of the finger is relieved so that it does not squeak against the fence when it moves.

Plywood knobs. The screw is mortised into the underside of the table so it doesn't spin as it's tightened. 

The base of the router is mortised into the table so that the spindle nose can be raised above the surface of the table.

Here are the router bits for cutting the grooves, assembled.

And here's a shimmering new push stick to round it out!