home made tools

So everyone discovers along the way how to design things to work for themselves , weather it is a bike or a tool.

I made this contraption today , I have limited garage /workshop space and the wife thinks she needs to always park her car in my workspace. So I killed two birds with one stone by consolidating my bench top drill press and 8"grinder, thus creating more room for me in the space I have. If you dont weld , you could easily do this with wood.

I purchased wheels from harbor freight that lock, so this way i can easily move this tool around where ever I need it.

enjoy









does anybody else make anything use full for space saving reasons ? I dont have a real easy workbench to use ,so Im putting my drill on the ground to use it and it is a pain. But this worked out well for me anyways.

Man - that's a good idea I can use! Thanks!

Thanks Pablo,if a person did not want to use steel like i did . I thought it would also work just fine with 3/4" plywood and a 4x4 beam in center with a a couple gussets similar to a shelf hanger.

Solid looking unit, hurricane. I think, if wood is used, they should add some weight at the bottom. Otherwise, it might be too easy to tip...

I've also seen an arrangement where a single base has double french cleats on it, and each tool is mounted to a mating double french cleats. When a tool is needed, it's taken off the shelf, and 'slid into place.' Normally, a pin is used to hold the tool in position with this approach.

Yea loquin, with wood a person would have to make the base wider is all. I was surprised at just how sturdy this stand is when the wheels are all locked.

Do you have any pictures of the unit using those cleats ?

They were in a woodworking magazine (tips by readers section)

If I can find it, I'll scan that page.

Meanwhile, take a look at the sketch below. This isn't anywhere close to scale; the side cleats would only be a couple of inches wide, and the center tool base is wide enough to hold the widest tool to be mounted. Since the tool slides into position, any through-bolts have to be countersunk into the bottom of the tool base. In addition, you would also want to have a stop on the back (not shown on the sketch)

Typically, the material would be a good quality (Baltic Birch would be best,) 3/4 inch plywood.

In the magazine, the guy had also mounted side cleats to the shelf the tools were stored on, so that he would slide the tool off the stand, temporarily setting it aside, slide the 'new' tool off the shelf and into position on the stand, and finally, slide the 'old' tool onto the shelf.

After cutting the angles on the table saw, you would want to sand them fairly smooth (being careful to not change the angles) apply a polyurethane finish to the angled edges, and after the PE finish dries, only then do you do the final assembly of the cleats to the base (wood screws and wood glue.) (This lets you account for the thickness of the finish, so that you don't end up with a sloppy joint.) After the glue dries, you trim the outer edges, wax the cleat faces and you're good to go.

About a year later, I saw a followup to the earlier tip; a guy had mounted a heavy-duty turntable to his bench, and had three tools at a time set up, 60 degrees apart. Two were permanently mounted (drill press and small band saw - the tools he used the most.) For the third position, he mounted a pairs of cleats to it (he had several other tools that he could slide into the cleated mount, depending on what he was doing.) He had three holes drilled into the turntable, and a single receiving hole drilled into the workbench, for locking the turntable into one of three positions.

I did not grasp that all till I seen your diagram. Then the lights came on. that actually is a very good design and idea. thanks for the tip

Hurricane..good design on that drill press/grinder rolling stand..looks pretty balanced out....As for that garage you got ,,looks huge compared to mine..put sheds in back yard for garden tools, lawnmowers ,extra furniture and all wifes stuff, vechicles have always stayed outside...told her house hers , garage mine..She hasnt made me move out here yet ,so after 40 years I guess it is still working...Now if I can only sneek this washer and dryer into the house somewhere, I can pick up a few more feet

yea Turtle,its not bad sized for a garage i thinks its 24 x 24 , the problem is, we need it for storage on top of everything else I do in there , so it gets tight .Most all my shelving is on wheels so i can make use of every square inch of space. And where i live at i cant have another out building to use for storage. So it is a compromise for space in there.

Have an idea for you...my garage has sort of loft in half of it..Ceiling height from cement floor is 8ft..bunch of 2x6s and plywood did the trick..plenty of storage up there, especially for a 24 x 24...Three 4inch I-Beams down the center of a 12foot span should be good for your bigger garage