A New Jig 'Necessitated' By My Shorty

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dusty
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A New Jig 'Necessitated' By My Shorty

Post by dusty »

I recently introduced a 'shorty' into my shop environment. The shorty will spend most of its time configured as a drill press. The rest of the time it will be configured as a jointer station.

In the drill press mode, the table will be quite a bit lower than I am used to but I am already getting to like it. I will, from now on, sit down when I am working at the drill press.

As a 'dedicated drill press' I decided that I needed a fixed stop for the carriage. A stop that I could readily take off (disengage) whenever I wanted to relocate the carriage.

This is an image of the router pattern that I created to be used to build the stop. There will be no more bottle jacks in the set up and no more slipping tables while I am drilling.

[ATTACH]17741[/ATTACH]

This is just a pattern. The finished jig will be 4 of these made from 3/4" plywood or MDF. Think Way Tubes.
Attachments
Router Pattern (Custom).JPG
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fjimp
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Post by fjimp »

dusty wrote:I recently introduced a 'shorty' into my shop environment. The shorty will spend most of its time configured as a drill press. The rest of the time it will be configured as a jointer station.

In the drill press mode, the table will be quite a bit lower than I am used to but I am already getting to like it. I will, from now on, sit down when I am working at the drill press.

As a 'dedicated drill press' I decided that I needed a fixed stop for the carriage. A stop that I could readily take off (disengage) whenever I wanted to relocate the carriage.

This is an image of the router pattern that I created to be used you built the stop. There will be no more bottle jacks in the set up and no more slipping tables while I am drilling.

[ATTACH]17741[/ATTACH]

This is just a pattern. The finished jig will be 4 of these made from 3/4" plywood or MDF. Think Way Tubes.
Dusty,

Great idea I cannot wait to hear how it works out. Jim
F. Jim Parks
Lakewood, Colorado:)

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charlese
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Post by charlese »

Hi Dusty! Good idea if you want a carriage that is 6" above the Base assembly. Also a good idea to do your drilling sitting down!:) I've done that for years!

What I fail to understand is why you would need to raise the carriage above the Base Assembly. When I use the drill press (and I'm about the same height as you) I slide the carriage all the way to the base prior to raising the tubes to vertical. Yes, I use a small screw jack to hold the headstock in place. Between the headstock and the jack is a block of wood with reverse curves to fit between the tubes and a 1/2" hole that provides a place for the motor case screw.

When drilling the axle holes and window holes in 150 small cars/trucks it is best to do this sitting down. There is about 600 holes to drill - all 1 1/8" deep. I spent about two hours at it today and got almost half way finishes with the axle holes.

Then maybe the height of the table is related to the height of your chair?
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dusty
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Post by dusty »

charlese wrote:Hi Dusty! Good idea if you want a carriage that is 6" above the Base assembly. Also a good idea to do your drilling sitting down!:) I've done that for years!

What I fail to understand is why you would need to raise the carriage above the Base Assembly. When I use the drill press (and I'm about the same height as you) I slide the carriage all the way to the base prior to raising the tubes to vertical. Yes, I use a small screw jack to hold the headstock in place. Between the headstock and the jack is a block of wood with reverse curves to fit between the tubes and a 1/2" hole that provides a place for the motor case screw.

When drilling the axle holes and window holes in 150 small cars/trucks it is best to do this sitting down. There is about 600 holes to drill - all 1 1/8" deep. I spent about two hours at it today and got almost half way finishes with the axle holes.

Then maybe the height of the table is related to the height of your chair?
It sounds as though you NEEDED to be sitting for that episode.

As for height, I guess it is just one of those personal things. When I first used the shorty as a drill press, I set it up as you do. Using the stools that I have, it was just a bit low. I guess a lower stool would accomplish the same thing.

My stools are also hiding places for some of the uglies in my shop. They can't be much smaller.:rolleyes:
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JPG
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Post by JPG »

dusty wrote:It sounds as though you NEEDED to be sitting for that episode.

As for height, I guess it is just one of those personal things. When I first used the shorty as a drill press, I set it up as you do. Using the stools that I have, it was just a bit low. I guess a lower stool would accomplish the same thing.

My stools are also hiding places for some of the uglies in my shop. They can't be much smaller.:rolleyes:
Think 5 gal bucket Chuck!;)
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dusty
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Post by dusty »

[quote="JPG40504"]Think 5 gal bucket Chuck!]
I gotta low bucket (HD 5 gal orange) but with my bum knees, if I sit in that position very long, I can hardly standup and walk.

It's done. Now I gotta get back to refinishing the RV table.

[ATTACH]17747[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]17748[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]17749[/ATTACH]
Attachments
height Gauge 002 (Custom).JPG
height Gauge 002 (Custom).JPG (61.24 KiB) Viewed 3356 times
height Gauge 010 (Custom).JPG
height Gauge 010 (Custom).JPG (58.03 KiB) Viewed 3356 times
height Gauge 014 (Custom).JPG
height Gauge 014 (Custom).JPG (62.99 KiB) Viewed 3362 times
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gregf
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Post by gregf »

I wasn't getting it until the final pics.
Great idea!
Richwood, OH
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TheBigE
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Post by TheBigE »

It's not real until we see a pic of you sitting at the drill press :p

That's a great idea! The thing I thought about most was the fact of how many drill presses you know of that can be adjusted to the operator? If Charlese had a stand up drill press to do his operation he would need to find a taller stool or take some breaks from standing.

Being that I've only had my Shopsmith a year I'm still trying to figure out the "sweet spot" for me to postion the table and headstock before going vertical. I get close enough most times.
1986 Mark V 500, SS Bandsaw, SS Belt Sander, Shaper Package, SS Molder, SS Oscillating Drum Sander, Excalibur EX-II scrollsaw, Central Machine 6 1/8" Jointer, Rigid 13" planer, Various routers and table.

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lightnin
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Post by lightnin »

Image
Bruce

I didn't know what a Shopsmith was...
Three days later I owned one...
One week later I was rebuilding one...
Four months later I owned two....
Ok Ok, I'm up to four now...
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reible
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Post by reible »

Nice work as always Dusty.

You might want to show them "hanging" as I doubt all understand the design.

Ed
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