# On the Workbench



## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Building a Crib*

I am currently expecting my first child (a daughter), and decided that I could build a better crib than most that I saw in the baby stores. This has been a challenging project so far (but it will be built to last). In shaping the legs I put together a quick tip for how to manage dust collection. More details to come as the project progresses.


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Jig for Batch Cutting Mortises*

In the process of building a crib, I ended up needed an efficient way to cut 76 perfectly aligned mortises for vertical slats. I designed the slats to be 1/2" thick and then rounded over both edges of the slat witha 1/4" round over bit to create the shape of the slat. Then using a 1/2" upsprial router bit and homemade jig I was able cut 1/2" wide mortise to fit the 1/2 thick slats and then the rounded over slat edges would fit perfectly into the rounded ends of these mortises. Here is the quick video I made of my jig.


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Porter Cable Bandsaw Modification - Adding a Work Light*

I posted a while back about my 14" bandsaw from Porter Cable. It has been a great addition to the shop, but I just could not stop wondering why there was not a work light built into the saw. Other band saws have them, and other Porter Cable products have a work light, so they clearly have the parts available to make it happen. So I decided to resolve this once and for all, and ordered a replacement lamp fixture for a PC bench grinder and then wire it into my my band saw so it would not look like an after market modification. I thought I would share the video of how I did it, since several other LJs have the same saw. If you own a different band saw you can probably do something similar.


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## Bigrock (Apr 16, 2010)

ontheworkbench said:


> *Porter Cable Bandsaw Modification - Adding a Work Light*
> 
> I posted a while back about my 14" bandsaw from Porter Cable. It has been a great addition to the shop, but I just could not stop wondering why there was not a work light built into the saw. Other band saws have them, and other Porter Cable products have a work light, so they clearly have the parts available to make it happen. So I decided to resolve this once and for all, and ordered a replacement lamp fixture for a PC bench grinder and then wire it into my my band saw so it would not look like an after market modification. I thought I would share the video of how I did it, since several other LJs have the same saw. If you own a different band saw you can probably do something similar.


Hi:
The answer I got when talked to Delta was that the Band Saw motor used to much current when starting that with the light on it could cause the motor to fail and void the warranty. 
I have a 14" Band Saw, I guess like yours, and I notice that with a 1/2" resaw blade that the motor on mine has all that it wants to start. Mine is also 110 volts.
I did add a work light to mine, but I make sure that the light is off when I start the saw. It has tripped a 20 Amp circuit breaker.
Have Fun with your saw, but be safe


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

ontheworkbench said:


> *Porter Cable Bandsaw Modification - Adding a Work Light*
> 
> I posted a while back about my 14" bandsaw from Porter Cable. It has been a great addition to the shop, but I just could not stop wondering why there was not a work light built into the saw. Other band saws have them, and other Porter Cable products have a work light, so they clearly have the parts available to make it happen. So I decided to resolve this once and for all, and ordered a replacement lamp fixture for a PC bench grinder and then wire it into my my band saw so it would not look like an after market modification. I thought I would share the video of how I did it, since several other LJs have the same saw. If you own a different band saw you can probably do something similar.


@bigrock I wondered about the same thing, so I am using only an LED bulb so that it draws fewer watts of power. Since my entire garage is on a single 20 amp circuit (I wish I had more circuits, and a 220v branch too, but an detached garage makes this much more difficult to change). I wired the light on the input side of on/off switch which is no different than plugging in a lamp to a different outlet. If the motor needs to draw more current, it could cause lights to dim, and trip the breaker. Occasionally my table saw will do this when I am ripping 2x or thicker red oak stock.


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Adventures with a Craftsman Midi Lathe*

I found a Craftsman Midi Lathe (#21752) for an unbeatable deal, and combined with coupons and SYWR points, it was just over $100 (list price $450). But for that price it came with a few problems. I first found it listed on Sears Outlet, and then when I went to the mall store locations, I had to do some asking to get. Upon inspection I discovered that the belt cover was cracked, not much, but just a little. and everything else looked great. The manager suggested that I purchased the protection plan so that I could get the part replaced for free and if anything else went wrong it too could be replaced for free. So for about $125 out the door I was excited. I had been thinking about buying a lathe, but it was far back on my wish list, but for this price I could not afford to pass this up.

When I got it home and gave it an unboxing, I discovered that the tailstock advance was bend and thus the hand wheel would not rotate freely, and cracks on the belt covers were a bit larger than I first saw in the store. No big deal is what I figured.





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I called Sears Parts Direct for a warrenty claim, and described what problems I was having, they promtpy shipped out a replacement cover, and an attempt at replacing the tailstock advance screw. The cover was correct, though it was missing a safety sticker (no big deal, its ugly anyways) and the belt speed sticker. I simply removed the belt speed sticker and then put it in place with clear packing tape. However, they sent the wrong part for the tailstock advance screw. Here is the parts diagram:










he part assembly I was looking for was #59. This is composed of three peice, a MT2 sleeve (left), a hollow left hand threaded bolt (center), and a retaining ring (right). I called Sears Parts direct a second time, and explained what they shipped, and the representative, said that they would have them send part #59 again. What I received was the exact same, the MT2 sleeve.





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TI called back a third time, and had to explain all over again what happened, and they had to submit a research request. That was over two weeks ago now (to be fair Christmas and New Years were in between). As I wondered if I could find the part my self I decide to try looking for the bolt from two likely OEMs, JET and Rikon. In looking at pictures of many simmilar lathes, the Craftsman appeared to be visually more similar to a couple of Jet lathes (in particular the cut out tailstock). So I ordered a simmilar part from Jet, but the thread spacing was incorrect, and then I ordered a part for the Rikon 70-100 lathe and it fit perfectly.





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I am still waiting on Sears Parts Direct to send me the correct peice, I cannot get them to give me a clear answer on when they will have the issue resolved, but if I can figure it out with minimal effort, then they should too.

In looking for a bed extension, I found a comment on Amazon that the extension Rikon 70-100 was compatible with this lathe, so I ordered it and can confirm that yes it does fit. It appears that the Craftsman version (#66693) was either never produced or was made in a very small quantity that it is impossible to find (even on eBay). So with some black spray paint, it will match.





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I will update this post when I hear from Sears Parts Direct. I cannot give a fair review of the lathe yet as I am new to turning, and only as of yesterday do I have a functional lathe. The only think I can say for certain is that the lathe is a clone of the Rikon 70-100.

Final Update:
I had a home visit by Sears Home Repair, now A&E Factory Service and the technician was unable to order the correct part or resolve the lack of available parts, and I had much more knowledge about repairing this lathe than he did. I never would have paid for an on-site visit but since it was free with the warranty I was not opposed. Now I realize it was a waste of my time. I'm done trying to get Sears to fix my lathe, I will just eat the cost of the part that I had to buy and move on.





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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*What to do with Scrap Wood*

There was a pretty popular scrap bin challenge this past fall, and I thought I would get a head start on 2015. This is how I handle my left over scrap wood.





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## Buckethead (Apr 14, 2013)

ontheworkbench said:


> *What to do with Scrap Wood*
> 
> There was a pretty popular scrap bin challenge this past fall, and I thought I would get a head start on 2015. This is how I handle my left over scrap wood.
> 
> ...


Did I just get Rick Roll'd ?


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Forgetting to Empty the Dust Deputy*

Here is the result of forgetting to empty a dust deputy bucket during a project.





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## Racer2007 (Jan 13, 2011)

ontheworkbench said:


> *Forgetting to Empty the Dust Deputy*
> 
> Here is the result of forgetting to empty a dust deputy bucket during a project.
> 
> ...


Mount that thing on a full size Trash Can.


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Building an Ultimate Lathe Stand*

To go with having a lathe, I figured I would need a lathe stand, so I built what I thought might be an ultimate stand. Here is the video:





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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Upgrading my Miter Saw's Dust Collection*

Lately, I had not been very satisfied with the dust collection on my 12" Porter Cable miter saw, and had found a number of people commenting on how great dust collection is on their Festool Kapex. I cannot afford that saw, so I looked it up and found a parts diagram that included a shoe (in my words), or in their words and "apron", part #4731316 that is used to control dust on the Kapex. After studying the diagram for a while I decided to ordered it from Festool and give it a try. Here is a quick video on the process and results.





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## Tugboater78 (May 26, 2012)

ontheworkbench said:


> *Upgrading my Miter Saw's Dust Collection*
> 
> Lately, I had not been very satisfied with the dust collection on my 12" Porter Cable miter saw, and had found a number of people commenting on how great dust collection is on their Festool Kapex. I cannot afford that saw, so I looked it up and found a parts diagram that included a shoe (in my words), or in their words and "apron", part #4731316 that is used to control dust on the Kapex. After studying the diagram for a while I decided to ordered it from Festool and give it a try. Here is a quick video on the process and results.
> 
> ...


great idea! may have to try to do same with mine!


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## DrDrewInOhio (Mar 9, 2016)

ontheworkbench said:


> *Upgrading my Miter Saw's Dust Collection*
> 
> Lately, I had not been very satisfied with the dust collection on my 12" Porter Cable miter saw, and had found a number of people commenting on how great dust collection is on their Festool Kapex. I cannot afford that saw, so I looked it up and found a parts diagram that included a shoe (in my words), or in their words and "apron", part #4731316 that is used to control dust on the Kapex. After studying the diagram for a while I decided to ordered it from Festool and give it a try. Here is a quick video on the process and results.
> 
> ...


Why WALTZ… when you can Rock and Roll ????

Festool claims 90%... and maybe this is 5% of that… so you went from maybe 70% to 75%.

Are you happy with that sawdust getting all over your shop?


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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Tool Awards*

Maybe I am a bit of a pessimist, but I find some of the "tool awards" presented by some blogs to be questionable mashups of both parties gaining from awards being handed out. The blog/magazine gets free tools and gets to highlight major names who then buy ads, and then in turn the tool companies promote their tools as award winning which then to some extent benefits the tool company and gives credit back to the publication. Hence its hard for me to not think of them as possibly biased, especially when I see categories left out and seemingly random categories created just to have another award winner. All of that to say, I decided to try my attempt at offering up a pseudo 2016 Tool Award Show. Enjoy!





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## ontheworkbench (Feb 10, 2014)

*Toolbox Christmas Song*

It's been awhile since I've posted here, but thought I'd share some Christmas fun with everyone.


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