Home-made tools....

[ShaneJ]

I have been wanting to try either Siminoff's or Stew Mac's binding router guide, but the mixed reviews I've read made me hesitate to buy one. I decided to make one. For less than $5, I made this one out of 1/2" PVC pipe, fitting, a little scrap acrylic, etc...

I put PVC pipe in the fitting and then cut it off flush (to add thickness to the wall) and then used the tapped end to thread onto the Dremel tool. I superglued a 2-pc stack of acrylic to the outside after grinding a flat spot on the PVC. I then cut back the bottom of the PVC pipe all the way around except where the acrylic is. Made an acrylic arm with countersunk hole for the bolt head and slot for the 2 set screws. The slot allows the width adjustment for the cut, and the 2 screws insure that the arm stays straight. The bolt goes through a bushing that serves as the guide. I spun some 1/4" masking tape around the bolt in 2 places to fit snugly inside the bushing and keep the whole thing straight. (Similar to building a tape bushing around a flyrod blank to fit the reel seat on.)

Anyway, it came out pretty good after rounding off all the sharp edges.

[ShaneJ]

...another view

[amowry]

Looks great! How's it work? I always thought the Stew-Mac one needed a longer bottom guide, like yours.

[ShaneJ]

I also made a radiused sanding block. Found a piece of 18" well casing for a 9" radius. (It was laying in a junk pile at a friend's machine shop.) After hogging out a little of the middle part on the end of the belt sander, I taped an old belt sander belt down and sanded out the radius on the block. Gouged a groove down both sides and cut a few notches on the band saw for grip. Then stuck some sandpaper on it.

[ShaneJ]

...side view

[ShaneJ]

...radiused board in the works.

[ShaneJ]

Andrew, I tried to find a bushing that was a little longer, but that's the best I could do. I thought the Stew Mac one looked too short as well. Looks like it would tilt pretty easily. I havn't tried mine out on a mando yet, but it works on scrap lumber just fine. I plan to cut the channel on my mando tomorrow. Wish me luck!

[Antlurz]

Neat homemades! A man after my own heart!

How did you accomplish that offbeat thread? With a lathe? I've been unable to find a tap with those threads.

Ron

[ShaneJ]

Actually, I meant to say that I threaded the tapped end of the fitting onto the dremel. I used a fitting that is threaded on one half of it. The threads don't quite match, but the dremel is very slightly smaller in diameter. So the dremel easily threads into it (a little loose until it bottoms out). Being plastic, I got away with it without damaging the threads on the dremel. It snugs up solidly when it bottoms out. I am careful not to crank it too tight - might damage the threads then. It fits snug enough to not slip though. I thought about boring out the threads in the PVC and then coating the hole with an epoxy and then running the (greased) dremel threads into it before it set up. If I was confident I could do that and get the dremel out while leaving the threads in the epoxy, I try it.

[Andy Morton]

thanks==Sjennings!!

I will definitely try this!! Can you adjust for depth of cut for the binding?

Andy Madison
WI

[Mike Handley]

Looks like the depth of the cut would be adjusted by setting the distance the bit sticks out of the chuck.

Funny ... I just went to the hardware store last week and scrounged around for parts to do the same thing. I think I need to go back and look at the pvc isle.

The threads are either 5/8 or 3/4 (can't remember) but it's 12 threads per inch.

[8ch(pl)]

I would do some testing as to whether the epoxy will adhere to the PVC plastic, it may not hold.

[PaulD]

Glen's right... epoxy doesn't adhere to many plastics, which is why plastic tools are great for working epoxy. If you're able to leave much of the original thread intact you might have a better chance since you would have a mechanical connection.

Nice binding setup and radius block... it's nice to be able to build your own tools.

Paul Doubek

[Rroyd]

Brownells, a firm that deals in all kinds of gunsmithing tools and parts, has some epoxy glues available with a coating material that is painted on threads, and the epoxy is allowed to harden, and then the threaded part can be removed from what amounts to an accurately tapped hole. It is apparently a very thin coating, as it can be used with quite small threaded parts.

[ShaneJ]

Yes, the depth is adjusted by moving the bit up or down in the chuck. Once I finally got it to the depth I was looking for, I drew a line around the bit shaft with a permanent marker. That may wear off, so maybe a scratched ring would be better.

BTW, I remembered on my way to work this morning that when I built a router base for my dremel last year, I built the cross piece that the dremel screws into out of a piece of maple. My neighbor across the street (retired gentlemen with loads of tools) had a tap that worked. Seems like it may have been metric, but I can't remember. I'm going to borrow it again and build a new one of these using a smooth fitting with a piece of 1/2" pipe glued inside. I can then run the tap into that and get the correct threads - no need for epoxy, etc. Don't know why I didn't think of that yesterday! I just saw the threaded fitting and got a one-track mind, I guess.

[Stanley Cox]

Good to see you are not wasting your time by hunting, fishing, fly tying etc. Good looking tools by the way.
Why dont you put your family of homemade tools in a pic?
Did you make more than one plane? I cant remember.
When is Sammy coming? The wood is here for #2.
Stanley

[jim simpson]

SJennings,
I too admire your handiwork! I wanted to adapt my Dremel router for routing out wood for a rosette on a F4 copy. I took off the existing base and replaced it with 1/4" clear lexan (scraps from another project) and drilled and attached classical tuner pegs for guides. It was trickier that I thought to keep the rotation of the tool to not take out more material than I wanted to. I ended up having to use some filler. Fun to try stuff!
Thanks for the photos.
Jim

[ShaneJ]

Sounds cool, Jim. Got a picture? That's one I've been wanting to try.

Here's one more without mando content. It's a shotgun caddy for sporting clays. I took off all the stuff that used to hold my golf bag and put a gun rack and shelf for holding a stack of shotgun shell boxes. 100-round sporting clays requires hauling a lot of lead around. This makes it easy.

I just need to add an instrument hanger to the side so I can take my mando with me, I guess.

[ShaneJ]

You busted me, Stanley....an old cheapskate farmboy here! Why buy something if you can piece together some of the junk you never threw away and make it yourself?


Here's a few that were laying around close to each other: palm plane, little push handle for the finger plane, first attempt to build a router attachment out of wood (it split), plate holder thingy for carving (has place on other side that's reversed for carving the other side), thickness caliper, and one piece of one of my fly rods (no mando content there).

Edit....Oops! forgot to put the router base in the pic. New pic.

[PepCJim]

OK, I've been salvage yard diving for a few days now getting parts for my thickness sander and I think God actually likes me at times. On Sat. I was able to get a 3/4 hp motor, 2 great pillow bearings, 2-1"x28" shafts, 2 pulleys, and some parts for my (future)duplicator. All for $38. Sunday I got some 3/4 " MDF and made 30 discs and they fit on the shaft perfictly.Today I went back and dug out a heavy duty stand that I can modify and hopefully have running in the not too distant future. $40 but thats not all, he let me take a 8' aluminum ladder home that was slightly bent. WOW Im jazzed at building my own stuff. Someday I may even get started building my first mando.

[dperry]

Hey SJennings I like the idea for the radius sanding block. So how did you bend the fret wire? Did you build something to do that as well?

[ShaneJ]

It's pretty fine fretwire and was coiled when it came to me. I just hammered the frets in and they seated around the arch just fine.

[dperry]

ok well I will have to keep my eye out for something like that size.

Nice thread by the way very interesting and creative.

[Stanley Cox]

Great pics Shane, I like the thumb lever on the caliper. How did you decide on a 9 radius as opposed to a 12 or other? I think I have played only a 12 so how does one decide? (I know play them all.)

Stanley

[PaulD]

and one piece of one of my fly rods (no mando content there).

I thought that was one of your homemade bars for a Go-Bar deck...

Nice work... I like the thickness caliper too. Nice looking... not scabbed together, but nothing fancier than it needs to be.

pd