Workshop and machinery mods and tips,

some lathes have t bolt slots for this purpose (mrs dnf’s has them)

for facing you can mount a tool in the chuck ,handy for tools that are to high just mount them side ways
and take a skim

there are also commercial arrangements available…

Chime Maple block clamped to drill press table with a hack saw blade attached with screws 1 1/4” oc. It helps to scallop the wood for extra clearance before adding the blade. The work is mounted on any conveneient size drill bit that fits in the chuck by wrapping the bit with tape until it’s snug(largest bit with least amount of tape is best). Farther up the bit the flutes end and you have a true cylinder with minimal wobble. It’s critically important that cuts are kept to the barest minimum as the side loading this method causes can cause a tapered chuck to come loose and do some serious harm. I’ve been using the same blade for various projects for over a year now. I used a 5/8” 2-flute bit for this Sipik mod after using a 1/2” bit wrapped with tape and 180w/d to bore it out for a 16mm cell.

A drill press? is kind of a “must have”, i found out.

even before all this hobby, maybe once a year i needed a drill press, lol.

I bought a BIG old one, that seemed pretty good shape. I bolted the biggest “x-y” table harbor freight has to it… and i use it as a “sort of” milling machine.

it allowed me to do a few facing and other operations i otherwise could not have done. Various budget HS steel cutting bits from harbor freight? never fail to amaze me, i can actually get a decent surface.

in addition to getting a few operations done? It introduced me to machining, and i realized i could use a small lathe, which i eventually bought.

And a Dremel... Can't leave out the Dremel.

[quote=sedstar]
A drill press? is kind of a “must have”, i found out.

even before all this hobby, maybe once a year i needed a drill press, lol.

I bought a BIG old one, that seemed pretty good shape. I bolted the biggest “x-y” table harbor freight has to it… and i use it as a “sort of” milling machine.

it allowed me to do a few facing and other operations i otherwise could not have done. Various budget HS steel cutting bits from harbor freight? never fail to amaze me, i can actually get a decent surface.

keen to see some pictures of your setup and work.

and we wont forget the dremel (mines a Chinese knockoff of a dremel)

[quote=lostheplot]

We have a coupe of those knock off's in the shop at work. They seem to work just as well as the brand Dremel. One of them is a good deal stronger. It came in a kit with a drill press attachment, a small vice, and a snake hand attachment.

I may get me one of those myself.

It’s about time I accept that I’ve become too much of a machine snob to use my drill press. In the last couple of years, I’ve only used a drill press once, not including training new guys. If there’s any way I can use a mill, I’ll use that as a fancy drill press every time. The best use I can think of for a drill press is as a sacrificial machine for the kind of people we bought $1-3 flashlights to loan to. That said, if you don’t have access to fancier machinery, a drill press can be a very useful tool.

I made up an extension handle for the cross slide on the lathe. It is not fixed, I have to slip it on each time to use it. It made it easier to quickly move the slide or in other cases give me that little bit more control. The reason it’s not fixed is it can foul with the ‘carriage hand wheel handle’ at certain points.


Doing some works (like facing) I got sick of all the winding… check this for a lazy-arse auto feed -

Nice pp. :slight_smile: This is a good thread here with lots of creative novel ideas. Looking forward to seeing and hearing about more. :+1:

You don’t need fiberglass cloth to play with epoxy, any old T-shirt or rag will do. You can thin it with a few drops of isopropyl alcohol to get thinner layers, reduce bubbles, and soak into the cloth better.

nice pp. is that a cut off Vernier for a dro ?.

I didn’t no isopropyl alc thinned epoxy

Lol, vernier it is not. It was a cheap set of digital calipers that I modified for the task. Being cheap I’m not worried about it getting swarf and oil all over it. Good for working within cooee and then switch to checking the work with calipers.

I’ll try and keep that epoxy tip in mind but by the time I’ll find a use for it the knowledge will probably have leaked out my ear :cowboy_hat_face:

I stripped down my mini drill press and added a tred mill motor and controller to make it variable speed :slight_smile:

Any pics!:slight_smile:

Let me see if I have any on my phone, if not I’ll post some later

I made up a handle for the lathe spindle. I don’t have a use for it yet so haven’t put it through it’s paces. It’s made from a 20mm concrete expansion anchor and some other bits and pieces. The first time I use it I’ll get a feel for how tight I need to crank it, and if it can withstand the torque etc… I’m hoping it will slip out easily afterwards but if it doesn’t I have a redesign in mind.

Works with Devcon 2-ton, JB weld, and wood restorer. Not my idea but I can vouch for it with those three products.

added dro’s to the lathe cross slide and saddle the small one came from banggood the long one off ebay, look like the same units.

also found these 2 screws loose they hold the nut for the cross slide .may explain some inaccuracy I have been having (perhaps cuased from milling?)routine maintenance I guess.

You won’t know yourself with the dro. Nice mod.

Nice! A DRO on both axis. I only have one.

Not a mod but an unusual request, I had a work mate ask me to buff up his darts. Using the lathe also made it easier to straighten the bent ones. Here are some before and after shots.

At the owners instruction I didn’t do the body on these ones as he wanted to retain the coating. Just the tip, tail and grooves but I did forget to clean out the rear grooves when I took this pic :person_facepalming:

So by the end I figured all I was doing was cleaning his sticky finger jam off :confounded: It was a fun little project that didn’t take much time.