72novaproject
Member
Hi Guys!
I don’t have a car in the shop just now so I have been catching up on a few shop projects I have had in mind. With a tiny workspace like mine, (2 car garage) anything I can do to better organize it and keep it cleaner just makes my efforts that much more efficient.
Most of my growing list of equipment sits shoulder to shoulder around the shop which makes it hard to sweep around. The drill press and blast cabinet area get pretty messy but the blast cabinet doesn’t leave razor sharp shards of steel on the floor for my grand kids to step on. I would feel pretty bad if that happened so I am a stickler for immediately sweeping up any metal chips, filings and cuttings. The little curlies that come off of a twist drill just go everywhere because they are sort of springy. So I thought why not catch them before they hit the floor. Hence, the project documented below.
I like to make computer generated scale drawings of all my projects. NOT! Most of the time I just scratch them out with soap stone on the welding table. The band saw came in handy to make all of the cuts on this piece of 18 ga. Sheet metal.
It would be nice to have a box & pan brake but the welding table and a few pieces of angle iron will get the job done. I like the bobed corners. Don't you?
I have a customer that manufactures things out of steel and he told me this little “X†in the bottom is called a “HUG†rather than a “BRAKEâ€. I put it in so the cutting oil would collect in the middle of the tray.
Here it is all welded up and ready to fabricate the attachment points.
Through the magic of modern photography the attachment points suddenly appear. To dump the tray I just pull the pin and she drops right out the bottom on the way to the trash can.
This part was a little tricky as the arm that supports the table is cast iron and is in no respect square. It tapers from top to bottom just like the bracket does. Drilling the holes in the arm from each side and keeping them on the same plane was nerve wrecking but I nailed it on the first try.
Here is an “ACTION SHOTâ€! Notice the chips in the tray. Wow! That was exciting. Most of the chips and spirals end up on the table and the work piece. You have to scrape them off into the slots in the table between drilling operations but that beats scraping them off onto the floor. A few are going to find the floor anyway but the volume that has to be cleaned up is much less. Besides, at my age the floor is getting further and further away and the less time I can spend there is all the better.
I hope some of you find this post informative.
Steve
I don’t have a car in the shop just now so I have been catching up on a few shop projects I have had in mind. With a tiny workspace like mine, (2 car garage) anything I can do to better organize it and keep it cleaner just makes my efforts that much more efficient.
Most of my growing list of equipment sits shoulder to shoulder around the shop which makes it hard to sweep around. The drill press and blast cabinet area get pretty messy but the blast cabinet doesn’t leave razor sharp shards of steel on the floor for my grand kids to step on. I would feel pretty bad if that happened so I am a stickler for immediately sweeping up any metal chips, filings and cuttings. The little curlies that come off of a twist drill just go everywhere because they are sort of springy. So I thought why not catch them before they hit the floor. Hence, the project documented below.
I like to make computer generated scale drawings of all my projects. NOT! Most of the time I just scratch them out with soap stone on the welding table. The band saw came in handy to make all of the cuts on this piece of 18 ga. Sheet metal.
It would be nice to have a box & pan brake but the welding table and a few pieces of angle iron will get the job done. I like the bobed corners. Don't you?
I have a customer that manufactures things out of steel and he told me this little “X†in the bottom is called a “HUG†rather than a “BRAKEâ€. I put it in so the cutting oil would collect in the middle of the tray.
Here it is all welded up and ready to fabricate the attachment points.
Through the magic of modern photography the attachment points suddenly appear. To dump the tray I just pull the pin and she drops right out the bottom on the way to the trash can.
This part was a little tricky as the arm that supports the table is cast iron and is in no respect square. It tapers from top to bottom just like the bracket does. Drilling the holes in the arm from each side and keeping them on the same plane was nerve wrecking but I nailed it on the first try.
Here is an “ACTION SHOTâ€! Notice the chips in the tray. Wow! That was exciting. Most of the chips and spirals end up on the table and the work piece. You have to scrape them off into the slots in the table between drilling operations but that beats scraping them off onto the floor. A few are going to find the floor anyway but the volume that has to be cleaned up is much less. Besides, at my age the floor is getting further and further away and the less time I can spend there is all the better.
I hope some of you find this post informative.
Steve
