I don't have a very big air compressor. Actually, I have two small air compressors, with not very much power or air capacity. I came across two other air tanks, each slightly larger than the tanks on my existing little compressors. So I figured, what better way to make things work, than a Frankenstein agglomeration of miscellaneous parts? Don't ask why I figure things that way; I don't know myself.
Submitted by amillar on Tue, 2012-03-20 15:55
I made an armored air hose. Why? Because I can.
I had a metal-clad rubber hose which came from a hand-held water nozzle (either from a shower or a sink faucet; I forget which). The hose is about 5 feet (~ 1.5 m) long, and the metal housing is chrome-plated. The connectors on each end are brass, but they did not match up with any common U.S. pipe fittings I had in my junk pile. It still seemed like a pretty nice hose, too nice to throw out.
Submitted by amillar on Sat, 2012-02-25 22:02
I recently acquired a small air compressor from the Habitat For Humanity ReStore. It is not very fast, but it is very quiet. Anyone who has used an air compressor understands that quiet is nice.
It is pretty old. It was made by DeVilbiss, with an Ingersol-Rand pump head. It doesn't have a date on it, but the label on it says "Toledo 1, Ohio", which means it was probably made in the 1950s, or 1960s at the latest (before ZIP codes).
Submitted by amillar on Mon, 2012-02-20 21:02
Over the years I have accumulated a growing pile of pliers, screwdrivers, wrenches, and other miscellaneous small tools. It long ago outgrew the little toolbox I have, turning into more of a tool pile or perhaps a tool dumping ground. I needed a new, bigger toolbox. Having recently built some new toys, namely a
bending brake and
spot welder, I knew I needed to build my own toolbox.
Submitted by amillar on Mon, 2011-04-25 23:26
I wanted to make some metal boxes and trays. I have plenty of scrap sheet metal from things like old PC cases and microwave ovens. I already built a
sheet metal bending brake. Now I just need a way to fasten parts together. Something easier than drilling a bunch of holes and screwing or pop-riveting. Something less messy than soldering or glueing. Something where I can just magically zap the parts and have them stick together instantly. Eureka! Spot welding. Time to dig through Google. And the trash can.
Submitted by amillar on Mon, 2011-04-18 21:27
I built my own sheetmetal bending brake. I used some scrap angle steel pieces which I welded with my arc welder.
Submitted by amillar on Wed, 2010-03-10 12:49
According to the backyard foundry experts, the most useful casting metal that's even easier to melt than aluminum is zinc. It melts around 420°C/800°F, so you can even melt it on a hot stove. It casts harder than aluminum for better wear, and zinc/aluminum alloys can approach cast iron in strength and durability. Sounds great! All you have to do is buy some nice clean zinc ingots, and... Whoa nelly, what?! Buy ingots? I'm way too
cheap-@$$ frugal for that. We're going to melt our own. Easy as pie, right? Turns out that melting zinc is easy. Cleaning it? Not quite so much.
Submitted by amillar on Tue, 2010-02-09 12:12
Jessica bought a flat panel TV, and wanted to attach it to the wall with some sort of swing-arm mount. The prices at the store were outrageous. Armed with my moderately-trustworthy arc welder and couple of discarded bed frames, we set out to construct one ourselves.
Submitted by amillar on Sun, 2008-09-21 22:43
I received a Baldor metal grinder with 10-inch wheels, on its own pedestal floor stand, discarded from a school metal shop program. Several owners before me did not know what to do with it, mainly because the motor is wired for three-phase industrial power which is not found in U.S. residential homes. My job was to fix it up and get it working.
There were two major tasks to the restoration: cleaning/repainting, and making the three-phase motor work.
Submitted by amillar on Sat, 2008-09-20 08:56
I received a Baldor metal grinder with 10-inch wheels, with a motor wired for three-phase industrial power. Three-phase power is not provided in U.S. residential homes, so I needed to power it from normal single-phase power. My solution was to build a balanced static phase converter, requiring only a few relatively inexpensive capacitors. (Much less expensive than the nuclear reactor I was considering.)
Submitted by amillar on Tue, 2008-09-16 12:08
The handle broke off my manual lawn aerator. It had been welded in place, and since I have an arc welder, I figured I should weld it back on. This was the first time I attempted to arc weld something with a real purpose to it. There were a few details to work out, such as the fact that I don't know if the welder works right, and I don't know if my welding rods are any good, and what was the other one? Oh yeah, I don't know how to arc weld. Well OK then, time to get started.
Submitted by amillar on Mon, 2008-05-26 20:05
When I fixed up an old drill press, I found that the switch plate for the on/off switch was fairly worn. The original paint and lettering was worn away, so that the start/stop wording was almost unreadable. Even though I am clever enough to figure out that the big red button means "stop", it needed a clearly readable switch plate label.
Submitted by amillar on Wed, 2008-01-16 00:29
My new grinder needed some task lighting for the grinding wheels. I decided to build a dedicated lamp for each side, controlled by the grinder power switch. This worked in perfectly with my latest obsession, I mean interest, which is LED lighting.
Submitted by amillar on Sun, 2008-01-13 17:50
Any trained machinist will tell you that a drill press with a cheap jig is no substitute for a proper lathe. I'm not a trained machinist, so now that I've said that, let's get on to accomplishing something interesting.
Submitted by amillar on Tue, 2007-12-25 03:30
Experienced people tell me that you should always get the best tools you can buy, because there is no substitute for the proper tool for a job. Don't be fooled into buying cheap tools, because you will be disappointed when the tool doesn't provide precision results or it breaks down on you.
I agree that in home improvement, woodworking, metal working, and other pursuits, it is always important to have the proper tool for the job. But what is the proper tool for the job, and how much should you spend on it?
Submitted by amillar on Sun, 2007-12-23 10:35
