Show me your shop built tools!!!!

[Josh Goldsmith]

As some of you read a few days ago i am getting my homework done to build a drum sander and that got me thinking. What else can you build. Something about build a tool rather than buying it always excites me. I would like to see all of your shop built tools. I am hoping by the time this post dies i will have another 10 projects to build:D .

Josh

[James Boster]

Josh, don't have any pics right now but will try tonight. My computer ability is very low don't know if I can get them on or not. I have built an oscilating spindle sander and a oscilating edge sander. The spindle sander was built before all the import and bench tools came out and the cheapest thing I could find was around $1800. It's all wood and not pretty but get's the job done. On the edge sander I put a little more effort in to. All steel except the tables. I bought a used stroke sander at an auction and ended up with a bunch of 6'x 123" belts and could'nt find a sander they fit except an older delta and I could'nt find one of them and they didn't oscillate. I also built my own band sawmill. I am thinking of a drum or preferably a wide belt now. Just too many irons in the fire!

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Josh, does this count even though it's a non-plug tool?

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/saws/sml_tenon_0001a.jpg

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/saws/sml_tenon_0002a.jpg

[Dev Emch]

Here is a little tool I threw together to solve a problem before I got my hofmann shaper.:D

http://www.woodcentral.com/shots/shot466.shtml

[tod evans]

okay you asked for it.....
29988
home made 48" radial arm
29989
home made 6x48 12" disc sander
29990
home made profile grinder
29991
home made panel router and home made dust collector in backround....just so you know josh, i bought my widebelt.....02 tod

[John Miliunas]

okay you asked for it.....
29988
home made 48" radial arm
29989
home made 6x48 12" disc sander
29990
home made profile grinder
29991
home made panel router and home made dust collector in backround....just so you know josh, i bought my widebelt.....02 tod

Tod, you never fail to amaze me!!! :D Way cool, my friend!!!:) :cool:

[tod evans]

Tod, you never fail to amaze me!!! :D Way cool, my friend!!!:) :cool:

john, next toy on the adgenda is converting a matting cutter to carry a router for cutting perfect ellipses. if you go back to kieths thread about the shopfox w&h clone you`ll see the eliptical jig i built for the w&h too. mike that`s a beautiful back saw!tod

[Tyler Howell]

Wow!!
Love that Hill Billi power!!! Too nice Tod.:eek:
Fabulous tailess wonder too Mike.:cool:

[John Miliunas]

Wow!!
Love that Hill Billi power!!! Too nice Tod.:eek:
Fabulous tailess wonder too Mike.:cool:

No doubt! If I had the skills to do what either of those two have done, I wouldn't be spending so much time online! :rolleyes: :D
Hey Mike, is that completely from "scratch" or is the blade canibalized from somewhere else? Regardless, that's beautiful! I'd love to have something like that for hand cut DT's! :) :cool:

[Bob Swenson]

Mike----That's one fine cordless saw

[Ed Kowaski]

Tod, your shop is obviously a *very* special place, thanks for sharing! I'd love to see and hear more if you have time. If memory serves I read in the archives somewhere that curved work is your specialty?

I've built a few tools over the years but they are long gone so I guess it never happened. Highlights, a 8' stroke sander made from birch and combine parts. Two station pneumatic case clamp, mostly recycled aluminum and unistrit. Pneumatic glue applicator, that was very handy. An Elu plate joiner with pneumatic clamping and actuation, flip stop etc. It rotated 90 degrees so one could do edge and face cuts. A 32mm line bore, single spindle with pneumatic table positioning, clamping and actuation. Not great but it beat the crap out of a hand drill and guides. :P

Anyway you rawk Tod.. carry on!

[Josh Goldsmith]

Wow nicely built shop tools. Very nice hand saw!!!!!! Hey tod being the newbie that i am i don't know what some of those tools are used for. Like that profiler. What is that? I know what everything else is. Also what do you use the panel router for? Thanks for posting some pics. Keep them coming!:D

[tod evans]

josh, a profile grinder grinds knifes to make mouldings, a panel router is used to plow dados, make dentil moulding etc. tod

[James Boster]

Still working on this picture thing?

[Jack Hoying]

About 20 years or so ago, Fine Woodworking ran an article about a shop built stroke sander. I applied some of the ideas from the article and built it to suit my needs. I lagged 3 brackets to the wall and bolted two long angles to form the frame of the sander. Some pillow blocks, 3/4" shafts, a 1 hp motor make up the rest of it. I turned the 8" diameter drums (glued up, hollow pine) in place after mounting them to the shafts. The tracking adjustment roller is on a shaft that pivots and is held in place and adjusted with a screw knob. The table rolls in and out 24" and can be adjusted up and down 5". I've used this sander for 20 years and it works great. Tracking is very accurate. The belt is 6" x 169".
I wish had cleaned it up before I took these photos, but I guess we all know what sawdust is.

http://users.adelphia.net/%7Ejmhoying/stroke2s.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/%7Ejmhoying/stroke1s.jpg

[James Boster]

Well I guess the pictures worked that time! As I stated in an earlier post the spindle sander is rough but it does work well. The edge sander works great, and the osscillation makes a huge difference. The lathe I built several years ago. I kind of copied off of a wooden one that was in WOOD magazine but I wanted steel to increase weight and mass. Teh lathe weighs several hundred pounds. I also have a 4' extension that bolts on to it to allow turning 8' between centers. I haven't spent much time turning on it but it does work well, currently has a 3/4 hp motor that I would like to change to a 1 1/2 hp DC or AC with a variac to control speed. I am looking for a wide belt sander now and kept thinking that I could build one just don't think it would be that much of a savings by the time I scrounge/buy all the parts. If you are going to build a drum sander I would reccomend a hollow drum to allow heat dissipation? and you might want to consider osscillating the drum? Oliver has one out that does this and it looks promising.

[James Boster]

Jack, I guess you posted while I was typing mine. I started to build the same stroke sander a few years ago and before I got it finished I bought an old Mattison stroke sander from a local casket co. that went out of business through an on-line auction. When I went to pick up the stroke sander and other machines I bought the man handling the demo showed me two pallets of sanding belts that he was told to through in the dumpster. He asked if I wanted them and he didn't know what machines they fit or anything about them. Well how could I say no:D :D . That's how I ended up with a bunch of edge sander belts that I could not find a sander for them to fit so I built my own. I paid $110 for the stroke sander and left with several thousand:eek: dollars worth of belts. I have yet to set up the stroke sander due to space:confused: . Hopefully in the next couple of months I will have it going. How well do you like yours.

[Mike Wenzloff]

...
Hey Mike, is that completely from "scratch" or is the blade canibalized from somewhere else? Regardless, that's beautiful! I'd love to have something like that for hand cut DT's! :) :cool:
Hi John--it's new steel. I do make some from old steel, though lately just for people that have a saw that means something to them that's perhaps unusable and they have me cut it down for making a "new" saw.

The panel router is great Tod! As well as Jack's stroke sander. I cannot even begin to count how much time either of those machines would have saved me over the years.

Take care, Mike

[Jack Hoying]

Jack, I guess you posted while I was typing mine. I started to build the same stroke sander a few years ago.............. I have yet to set up the stroke sander due to space:confused: . Hopefully in the next couple of months I will have it going. How well do you like yours.
James,
I really like my stroke sander. You can't beat it for flattening panels and such. I build my own cabinet doors and use it a whole lot in that process. I know a wide-belt sander would make the job easier, but I don't have the space or money for one of those.
I want to make an edge sander similar to yours. I can't quite figure out the ossilating process in your setup. Does everything but the table move? It looks to be driven by only by a rod mounted to the gear motor, which is in the center of the mechanism. I would think that it would have to be pushed/pulled at both ends?? What size belts do you use for it?
Thanks,
Jack

[rick fulton]

tod -
Even your dust collection and work bench look shop built. Is there anything in your shop that is not custom or customized somehow? Hope you have a shop tour somewhere in your 1k of postings.
Thanks for sharing.
rick

[tod evans]

tod -
Even your dust collection and work bench look shop built. Is there anything in your shop that is not custom or customized somehow? Hope you have a shop tour somewhere in your 1k of postings.
Thanks for sharing.
rick

rick, here in the sticks we say,"poor folks got poor ways"......there`s very few tools i`m satisfied with outta the box so i fix `em.....yeah i did a shop tour a while back,wasn`t much but it gave folks the general idea....02 tod

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well, I'm stuck in the L shop, bored out of my tree, slow night......

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/router_table/rt_finished.jpg
Does my router table count...?

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/jackpot/jan_10th/jan_10th_work_log_hog_a.jpg
The Tokyo Log Hog Mk II
http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/jackpot/jan_10th/dont_forget_gas_and_oil.jpg

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/sheetmetal_brake/sheet_metal_brake_ready.jpg
My sheetmetal brake

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/sheetmetal_brake/sheet_metal_brake_stow.jpg
Breaks down for easy storage

I used the sheet metal brake to make my cyclone.....
http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/cyclone/cyclone_finished!.jpg
Pentz Design, works very well

I guess that does it for "Machines"......

Cheers!

[James Boster]

Jack, The edge sander uses 6"x123" belts. The table is stationary as is the drive pulley. The gear motor assembly "rocks" the idler roller which cause the belt to track up and down.

[Josh Goldsmith]

Alot of nice tools out there. I thought i would see more shop built tools though. Thanks for posting pics everyone.

Josh

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Josh to be honest, I thought you were looking for "Machines" not "Tools", what exactly are you looking for?

Do hand tools count?

Got to be a mess of the hand tool homebuilts out there :D

[Guy Baxter]

Josh -
The following attachments were not built by me, but it does represent a shop built tool. I found these photos on the net years ago. Wish I could find the original poster.
GB

[Josh Goldsmith]

Everything you guys are posting is what i am looking for. Hand tools to power tools to specialty tools and machines. Anything that has to do with woodworking. I like to build things instead of buying them. I wold have never thought i would have seen a shop made bandsaw. For some reason i know it is possible to build but never thought someone would. That was some cool pics.

[Wes Bischel]

Josh,
I haven't "made" a lot of tools from scratch, though I have rebuilt/restored and cobbled together a few. I recently made a grinding jig (with Jim Ketron's guidance) ala the wolverine jig. I also rebuilt my power hacksaw which can be seen here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=7879
It is still my favorite tool to watch while it runs.:D I also restored a little bench mounted drill press - it's really nice to use compared to most new DPs.

Not all what you wer looking for, but still a lot of fun!

Wes

[James Boster]

Guy, I am not the guy who posted the pictures of that bandsaw, but boy does it bring back some memories,when I was about thirteen or fourteen years old i saw the plans for this saw in I think popular mechanics. Needless to say that was my first tool building project. I used my homemade bandsaw for several years before upgrading to a 12" craftsman, to a 14" delta, to a 30" tannewitz, and I think I will hold there. the homemade saws done a pretty good job but had a lot of vibraton. They used 12" v-belt wheels for saw wheels with a v-belt glued into groove. The worst thing about them was you had to remove the top wheel thread the blade up into housing and reinstall top wheel. BUT IT WORKED.:D I also built a 1/2" spindle shaper form PM plans years ago with the help of a friend who was a machinist. Just something about building your own tools:D .

[Alan Turner]

I have no pix, but I recall that my grandfather made his own 3 wheeled bandsaw, primarily from scrap angle iron. Must have been the late 40's or early 50's.