Tips & Tricks

[Robbo3]

For a few selected tools & selected situations I've started using easy grip 13 amp plugs.

One situation is the gang of sockets behind the wood burner flue.

 

[Robbo3]

Pressure relief Valve - used on the dust container under a cyclone or, as in my case, a Thien baffle.

I had a couple of clear plastic discs & some offcuts of metal strapping in the bits box.

Underside mock up

Topside

 

[Robbo3]

Abrasive Cleaner
To clean clogged cloth backed abrasive use a spray oven cleaner. Can also be used on paper backed abrasive as long as you don't get it too wet.
Allow time for the cleaner to work then scrub with a stiff brush.
Also works for router cutters & saw blade teeth. Create a puddle of cleaner in the lid & use with an old toothbrush.

 

[Democritus]

Robbo
Could you put a photo up showing the shelving under your 1628 lathe. I’ve often thought it would be a good idea.
D

 

[Robbo3]

Robbo
Could you put a photo up showing the shelving under your 1628 lathe. I’ve often thought it would be a good idea.
D

There is nothing special about the shelves. The spacing is governed by flats on the leg castings.
The top shelf is made of hardboard resting on 2 battens. I made it in 2 pieces for ease of cutting out the complicated shape & making sure it reached the back wall. It's not required to take anything weighty but it does allow quick & easy removal of the shavings.
The bottom shelf is an offcut of plywood resting on 2 battens. This does take whatever heavy items I can find to act as ballast.

 

[Adam Pinson]

An easy to make holder to stop your tools rolling off the lathe. Drill a line of holes in a batten then cut down the length. A batten underneath is used as a stop - or a pair to straddle the bed.
View attachment 67311

The tool handle was made from beech taken from a kneeling stool, hence the dowel tenons. I'll bet there's not another one like it.

Good advice..... i found a second hand hairdryer that i keep attached to my lathe, not only is it good for fast clear up but the warm setting is good for 1: warming hands in winter and 2: warming my 5 minute epoxy in winter so it comes out of the bottles better.

 

[Robbo3]

Thanks Adam.
Forgot to add a photo of the rear of the sanding board in my previous tip.
The idea for the board came from Alan Stratton at As Wood Turns.

 

[Robbo3]

Some years back needed a quick centre steady so made this.

 

[Robbo3]

Fed up with not finding pencils & small drills this little stand makes them readily available.

 

[Robbo3]

Bandsaw light.
Even though it's fairly light in my workshop I always seem to be in my own light when using my little bandsaw. By chance I came across a 30 LED lamp on Ebay for £6, sold as a sewing machine aid.

Conveniently it has a magnetic base & it's own power switch but the lead is a little too short so I cut off the 2 pin plug (it comes with a 3 pin adaptor), drilled a 5mm hole in the top of the column & wired it directly to the bandsaw switch. Now the light goes on & off with the machine.

I was so impressed that I bought a second one as a movable temporary light for where ever it's needed.

 

[Cabinetman]

If you must insist on using a garage for putting your car in – what an idea!
This should stop the car making a mess of your vice bar, this one is a swimming noodle but a length of pipe insulation would work just as well, the string obviously is to keep it in a U shape, works remarkably well as long as you remember to look at it!

 

[Cabinetman]

Now you wouldn’t think panel pins had much to do with this monster, but joining the two halves of the L-shaped top needed precision, the brass pins are just screws with the heads cut off, but they had to be put in exactly the right place as did the holes in the other half of the desktop to receive them.

S
This can be used in all sorts of different situations where a holes have to be drilled that lineup, and anywhere else you can possibly think of, a panel pin is knocked in half an inch or so and then head is cut off leaving about 2 mm this is quite sharp and will mark anything pushed up against it and there you have it, the pin is then pulled out and a centre punch is used to really keep the drill centred. Ian

 

[Cabinetman]

That bloody desktop again! The long bit was 8 feet long and I wanted it cut square and at 90° Now my saw is big and tough but the whip on that heavy bit of wood was causing problems so this is what I came up with, worked brilliantly.

 

[Jonzjob]

Bandsaw light.
Even though it's fairly light in my workshop I always seem to be in my own light when using my little bandsaw. By chance I came across a 30 LED lamp on Ebay for £6, sold as a sewing machine aid.

View attachment 115241
Conveniently it has a magnetic base & it's own power switch but the lead is a little too short so I cut off the 2 pin plug (it comes with a 3 pin adaptor), drilled a 5mm hole in the top of the column & wired it directly to the bandsaw switch. Now the light goes on & off with the machine.
View attachment 115242

View attachment 115243

I was so impressed that I bought a second one as a movable temporary light for where ever it's needed.

I have had my Startrite 301S for about 25 yaars now and have had a light wired in like that for most of the time, but it isn't as good as that one looks. Mine is mounted on an old CB radio MagMount magnet and is on the door. It's a bug ger to move when I have to open the door, but it definitely won't fall off!

Robo, have you got a link for those lights? I would like a couple, one on my lathe too..

 

[Jonzjob]

Firm but soft sanding blocks?

Going back to Cabinet man's swimming noodle above. I have used bits of the swimming baguettes/noodles we had in France. About a 4" long bit cut down the centre and some sticky backed velcro on it and a piece of Rhynogrip adhesive on it and you have a block that will sand flat surfaces as well as all sorts of shapes on or off the lathe and on the lathe it saves your fingers having to go inside bowls and hollows.

 

[Gordon Tarling]

Although the price is a bit more than Robbo3's light, I recently bought one of these for use with my Sabre 350 bandsaw. It gives a good light and has the advantages of being able to turn the magnet off for easy removal, as well as being magnetised on two faces, making positioning it easier on some machines.

G.

 

[Robbo3]

Gordon, I also have one similar that I use on the lathe but I find it somewhat cumbersome because of it's long neck.

Jonzjob
Sewing machine light, UK sellers
Ebay item numbers :
£5.70 - 224513778118
£6.60 - 154530321125
£6.69 - 353598218137
£6.74 - 324333883229
£6.89 - 384087693199
etc.

 

[Jonzjob]

2 on order, ta

 

[Robbo3]

At last I've found a use for a permanently mounted faceplate ring.

Previous discs mounted on a faceplate made them awkward to store & took up more room than I would like.

 

[BentonTool]

An easy to make holder to stop your tools rolling off the lathe. Drill a line of holes in a batten then cut down the length. A batten underneath is used as a stop - or a pair to straddle the bed.
View attachment 67311

The tool handle was made from beech taken from a kneeling stool, hence the dowel tenons. I'll bet there's not another one like it.

Nice! Yes, it seems we have had some good ideas! The remainder of my lathe bed is piled up with assorted junk, so I had to think perpendicular! You know what they say about necessity being the mother of invention!