Drill Press Table

I made a new DIY Drill Press table to replace the very small one that came with it.

First thing I did was cut a piece of ¾ inch plywood 24 x 18 inches, cut a notch in the back for the support tube and drop in 4 carriage bolts spaced to fit through the existing table. I used the wing nuts and washers to temporary hold them in place.

Plywood drill press table blank with carriage bolts temporarily held in place with wing nuts

Counter sunk and glued in place

Carriage bolts counter-sunk and glued into the drill press table blank

Cut and glued the top plate to it.

clam-a-geton

Also notched and cut out a square area for a sacrificial block.

Square notch cut into the drill press table for a sacrificial block insert

Sanded and added the T-Track

Drill press table sanded with T-Track channel installed

Sealed it up:

Drill press table sealed with finish

Created a base plate and added some knobs I had laying around

Base plate added to the drill press table with mounting knobs attached

Added the fence, and she is done!

Finished drill press table with fence installed

Questions? Reach out on the Contact page

Storage bins

I found some neat storage bin plans here: https://wilkerdos.com/product/storage-bins With some extra plywood I had laying around, I made some.

Made a couple large:

Pair of large plywood storage bins built from scrap wood

And a couple small:

Pair of small plywood storage bins built from scrap wood

I think they came out pretty good, just going to use them in the shop. The scrap I had was ¾ “ so the will hold just about anything .

After you get the build down, you can make any size to fit your needs.

Questions? Reach out on the Contact page

Parts Washer

Got me a Harbor Freight parts washer and moving thing to put it on. There are a ton of videos on modifications and how to put it together on the internet. Not going to put you through all that. Just going to show what I did.

I will not be using this for heavily soiled auto parts or farm equipment. Mostly weapons and parts, and to ‘finish’ clean other items.

Harbor Freight parts washer mounted on a moving dolly

I purchased the Oriflo With Hose (OR101H) Flow-Thru Parts Washer Brush and Immersion Water Heater from Amazon. The rest of the items I had laying around.

I did not realize the heater came with a timer, the price was the same as the ones with the timer. I removed it and put a standard plug in it place.

Timer removed from the immersion water heater and replaced with a standard plug

Before I put the plug back on, I drilled a hole above the full line for the cord and put a grommet in.

Grommet installed in a hole drilled above the fill line for the heater cord

Ran the cable and put the plug on:

Heater cord routed through the grommet with the plug attached

I dont want the big metal sprayer thing. I took it off and put a fitting in its place:

Metal sprayer removed from the parts washer and replaced with a hose fitting

I cut the end off the brush hose. It was designed to fit over the end of the metal sprayer. I then slid it over the fitting and clamped:

Parts washer brush hose cut and clamped onto the new fitting

I had to order the drain plug as it is metric:

Metric drain plug installed in the parts washer basin

I built a PID for casting and I have an extra temperature sensor. I drilled a hole in the wash shelf and ran the cable through the grommet.

Temperature sensor cable routed through a grommet in the parts washer shelf to the PID controller

The only other modification I made for now is putting a block of wood on top of the power switch to stop some of the wobble.

Block of wood added on top of the power switch to steady the parts washer

Next up is testing.

Sweet success! I used plain water for the the just in case. It took a long time for the flow to start. So long that I removed the brush and blew air through the tube to make sure it was clear. That must have primed it, started flowing after that.

Parts washer brush flowing water successfully after priming the line

No leaks at the drain after 24 hrs….

Parts washer drain checked for leaks after 24 hours, none found

The PID worked as well. Set it at 100 degrees for now. Can adjust as needed.

PID controller display showing the parts washer heater set to 100 degrees

Questions? Reach out on the Contact page

Keeping it Clean!

Earlier this week we had our AC system cleaned and sanitized. From vents to the unit. They recommended installing a Whole House UV AIR Purifier. So we did. First we outlined and cutout the holes:

Outlined and cut-out holes marked in the AC ductwork for the UV light installation

Did a test fit:

Test fitting the whole-house UV air purifier light into the cut duct opening

Then We got a cheap, as in Dollar Tree, pair of UV protective sunglasses. Popped out a lens, traced it, and cut out a square smaller than the lens.

UV-protective sunglasses lens traced and cut down to use as a viewing window

Then tapped it in. This way you can see if the light are working. If you dont do this, you have no real way of knowing if the UV light are really on.

UV-protective lens taped into the duct panel as a viewing window to check the light

Did a dry run to test things out:

Dry run test of the installed UV air purifier light before final assembly

And:

UV air purifier light glowing through the viewing window during the test run

Success! Taped everything up.

Duct panel taped up after finishing the UV air purifier installation Finished whole-house UV air purifier installation on the ductwork, sealed and taped

We now have UV light, purified, and super duper cleaned for the whole house.

Paint Booth Setup

I wanted to build a paint booth for the shop. I wanted it to help keep over spray down and provide at least a little ventilation. Here is what I cam up with.

I had a 4×8 sheet of hard board from another project. I measured everything out and cut it up:

In the back panel I drilled out some 2 and 3 inch holes in a 20×20 square. The same size as an air filter:

I then made a frame to hold a 20×20 AC filter. Again using scrap I had laying around:

I used Gorilla tape to hold it all together. The hard board is too thin to nail and if I needed to, I could cut the tape and lay it down.

Back Side:

Lastly, I added some lights and a lazy Suzann:

Sandpaper Storage Box

Wanted to make a box to hold my sandpaper. Nothing fancy, just quick

Using ½ ply I ran rabbits along the top and bottom and and ¼ inch slots every inch. Glued and tacked it all together. I am using the ratchet clamp for the first time:

Worked pretty good!

Sealed it up:

Cut and slid in some ¼ inch hard board I had:

Marked and ready to go: