MY shop has been basically abandoned for the same reason. Kids got access and started dumping shit there as they moved from place to place. Now MY shop is a holding ground for their crap. I think this fall they are all gonna get fair warning that their crap will either be with them or Goodwill. I want MY messy space back.

My garage just doubled in size. That might be the best part of having the whole place. Having Amanda there when I come home might be ok too.

your boldness shames me glatt.

maybe I'll post my shopshit pics too.













maybe not.

Popdigr's shop makes Glatt's look like an operating room.

Clod, you would prolly take one look at Popdigr's shop and drop dead in your tracks.

It's truly remarkable.

That's not trash, it's potential.

QFT.

I can name the potential project for most of the items in my shop.

Let's see. Where are we? Last weekend was a 3 day weekend, and I got a few hours in.

I had been working on the table mount system. The block that supports it all needs to have bolt holes drilled into it to bolt it to the frame. Pretty straight forward stuff.

I mark the hole locations. I'm anal about this, but don't know why. It doesn't matter much exactly where the bolts go, and they will be out of sight.
Attachment 57814

First I use large forstner bit to make room for the bolt heads and washers.
Attachment 57815

Then I drill the center bolt holes in the little divot left in the center by the forstner bits.
Attachment 57816

It will look like this with bolts in place.
Attachment 57817

Instead of grouping related things together, I'll post the pictures in the order I worked on them.

I turned my attention next to the blade guard that gets attached to the blade guide arm that goes up and down. It needs to be made of metal so it has a low enough profile. Wood would be too fat. The enclosure I make later will cover pretty much everything else, but this needs to move up and down with the guides and requires a little more thought. I look around for suitable stock to use and get it in my mind that this old olive oil can I saved would look pretty cool.
Attachment 57818

I cut the can open and bent the corners so it would lie flat on the bench. I didn't want to mark the can up with a sharpie. I liked the design, so I used masking tape to mark my cuts instead. The wide strip of blue tape in the middle is how wide the guard has to be. The blue tape on each side is where I need to cut.
Attachment 57819

I have these old snips that used to belong to my grandfather. They are meant for exactly this kind of work.
Attachment 57822

This is the part cut out. I want to bend each side back on itself to stiffen the part and also to give me a nice soft edge instead of a razor sharp edge that would cut me. So I left about twice the length on each side to account for that.
Attachment 57821

There is a tool called a brake. It's for bending sheet metal nice and straight. I don't own one (wouldn't have room for one anyway.) Instead, I can use a couple of hardwood strips clamped together tightly and bend the metal along the edge of those hardwood strips.
Attachment 57823

Once I get those edges folded back on themselves, I hammer them as flat as I can on the floor.
Attachment 57824

Now the whole affair is compact enough that I can clamp it in my vise to complete the folding.
Attachment 57825

I drill some holes in the guard to mount to the guide arm.
Attachment 57826

Now that it's mounted, you can see the clearance around the saw blade.

Attachment 57827

And this shows the clearance around the wheel.
Attachment 57828

Here it is on the saw.
Attachment 57829

Sweet!

An aside,

Q: Where does virgin olive oil come from?

A: Ugly olives.


Q: Where does extra virgin olive oil come from?

A: Fat and ugly olives.

[/olive shaming]

I turn my attention back to the table support stuff. I need to glue the trunnion supports to the end of the long block. They will be held in place with these dowels and glue.
Attachment 57830

It's a difficult fit. It needs a little persuasion with a mallet.
Attachment 57831

Still can't get the pieces tight against one another, and it turns out I made my dowels too long. I can't pull them together with a clamp because the dowels are in the way. So while the glue is drying, I frantically drill out some oversized holes in a clamping block that will fit over those dowels that are sticking out. Then I can clamp them together. Glue-ups can be stressful some times.
Attachment 57832

But it all comes out nicely, and I bolt the whole thing down on the table.
Attachment 57833

And this is kind of a final picture of the work for the weekend. Both the table support and blade guard on. With the table support block in place and the guide on, you can really see some progress. I can't decide if the oil can guard is really cool or trashy. I'm thinking it's cool. It's right in your face that this is a home made band saw.
Attachment 57834
In more of a miscellaneous category is this motor. I got this at a flea market on Saturday morning. It's a much better motor for this saw. It has 0.625 HP instead of the 0.5HP the other motor had. Not a huge deal, but it's twice the speed. That's a big improvement because the other motor was giving me a blade speed that was about a third of what I wanted. Also, the mounting bracket is lower profile than the one I made. All this for $5. Only $5.
Attachment 57835
And finally, I needed to make a couple wooden shims for the lower wheel to keep it from rubbing against the frame.
Attachment 57836

I like the oil can. Can you use the lid as a knob somewhere?

Oh, it doesn't have the kind of lid I was thinking of. Nevermind

O lives matter.