Do it yourself

Quote: Face

n it 180 and repeat. Viola!

It would be very unstable, look at it wrong
and it falls over. It essentially has no base.

Quote: Evenbob

I have a box of chrome car trim. It might be stainless
steel. It's 38" long, 1 1/4", I have 48 of them they
look like the longer ones in the pic. This stuff isn't
cheap, usually from $15-$50 a strip, depending on
the vehicle. I would sell them but I have zero idea
what vehicle they go on.

I'd like to re-purpose them, anybody got any ideas?

Gonna take a lot of cutting...



My creative bug seems to have abandoned me in my 30's. About the only thing that even comes to me is hanging strips to make one hell of a shiny wind chime, or using them to make replacement blades for my fishing lures =/

I bet Pinterest would give you some ideas ;)

Quote: Face

Two squares and four acute triangles. Staple and glue. It'll probably take you four hours to make the first one, and 10 minutes to make every one after that lol. If you can do the front part using the two triangular verticals, just spin it 180 and repeat. Viola!

(Told you Pinterest was awesome =))

They are not acute triangles, they are right triangles. Now, how would you cut them? I had this same problem with the ramp, no idea how to make that cut. I make this thing and it has to be perfect, not the "good enough" the ramp cuts were. Like NAPA Parts, it can't just fit, it has to match.

Ideas?

On, awesome yes. So awesome I will be picking $100 strawberries next summer, but that DIY post when it happens.......


EDIT: Found it! I love living in our times!

Cut the triangles out of cardboard until
you get the size that works and use them
as templates.

Start with an easier one.




http://brainden.com/impossible-objects.htm

NEWEST ADDITIONS TO THE SHOP--PART 1, JOINTER/PLANER

You have heard me say the need for it, and you have heard me (and some of you) discuss how you can save a fortune on tools buying used. And you know I love getting the "U" out of my SUV. Yesterday it all came together!



So I saw the ad on craigslist, person clearing her dad's estate. Jointer listed at $135. I make the usual inquires and set a time. I planned to do a Old Man move and offer $80, but the thing was so nice and so were the people that I went $100. Counter to $115. I am not the old man and know a deal when I see it. SOLD!

This thing is OLD! It is a step into a time machine when men knew how to build things and bought quality to do so. First thing, this unit is from back when Sears and not Harbor Freight ruled the world:



An important note, you did not just walk into Sears and walk out with this thing. First thing is this GD thing is effing heavy! That top part is all cast-iron and weighs more than a modern engine block or transmission from a smaller car. At least if feels like it does. When you bought the joiner, all you got was the top part of what you see in the pic. The motor had to be purchased separately:



Yes, I know the belt is just hanging there, too late and dark to hook it up, I bought a new belt. Back to the tool. Motor and tool as two purchases, can you imagine it being that way today. But I can imagine that the reason was the cost. As best I can tell, the joiner cost $155 in or around 1955 which is around when it was purchased, and the motor was $90. The guy who had it kept insane records (more on that tomorrow.) That is $1319 and $792 in today's dollars respectively.

Imagine today going to buy and you shell out $1300+ for a tool with no motor! Oh, yeah, the cart it sits on, you had to buy that ala carte, too! Once again, by records found it looks like he did not buy the cart until the early 1970s.

Today people whine about any assembly needed, but this was truly a different era. You built your shop, you did not just load up wit a bunch of made-in-china-junk and think you look cool.

This might all sound sappy, but just having it in the garage gives me a strange connection to another era, to a guy I never met but who reminds me of my own maternal grandfather. Said grandfather built and over-built all kinds of things. I still have and use a little toolbox he made us kids (btw: so does my brother.) He did not have near tools like this, makes me wonder what he could have made with them. (He was, however, super of maintenance of a fabricating mill so could get some unimaginable things. Said mill made the St Louis Arch so they were shall we say equipped.)

But I digress. Tomorrow the rest of the story and a cool table-saw. Hope this is not boring, but this deal and these things are so great I am about as excited as Gale was when he saw the lab Gus set up on his specs.

Pretty awesome piece there, AZ.

Even the motor is rebuildable. One of the real beautiful things in this old equipment is how sturdy the tables are and how long for the tasks at hand.

New bench top tools, the table will flex, mid project and just kill it. Good score.

I may have a friend that has either that, or a very similar model?

Very nice AZ! I appreciate the write up too. Did it come with a "roller" table for supporting long pieces of material when it come out the other side?

The other concern I have is for safety. Is there a fuse or circuit breaker on the motor? Grounded plugs weren't common when it was built, but cloth wrap, or even paper wrapped wiring was.

A lot of the Craftsman stuff had lifetime warranty's which from what I read Sears will still honor. (but probably not the motor). My dad would not only keep receipts but write down all details -- much of which you find on new receipts now anyway.

New Craftsman items have varied warrantys

Quote: Ayecarumba

Very nice AZ! I appreciate the write up too. Did it come with a "roller" table for supporting long pieces of material when it come out the other side?

The other concern I have is for safety. Is there a fuse or circuit breaker on the motor? Grounded plugs weren't common when it was built, but cloth wrap, or even paper wrapped wiring was.

No roller/outside table that I will have to build. Not sure on the grounding. On some things I am thinking in terms of the terminal house when I can get one, make a nice shop there.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Very nice AZ! I appreciate the write up too. Did it come with a "roller" table for supporting long pieces of material when it come out the other side?

The other concern I have is for safety. Is there a fuse or circuit breaker on the motor? Grounded plugs weren't common when it was built, but cloth wrap, or even paper wrapped wiring was.

Hand tools have the lifetime warranty, power tools no. Not even toolboxes, which I tried to replace for free a few years back. No dice.