Hey folks, I really enjoy the long running threads like the “what did you cut today” style.
Having a place to just throw up a post and share without a whole lot of thought about title or tagging removes a small but significant hurdle.
It’s also a blast to just scroll to a random point in time over the years and see what people were up to
This is an attempt to kick off another similar thread with a different focus: workshop improvements
A big project to revamp the flow of a shop is great to see but that’s hard and takes a lot of time and effort. In that long span between those big improvements, we can be making small incremental improvements to make life just a little nicer.
Share those small improvements here. Hopefully they provide some inspiration for others and you can pick up a few tips/tricks yourself
To kick it off, here’s something a friend with a lathe helped me with (thanks Oleg, I owe you a cold one )
Turning down the shaft of my 3D Touch probe to 1/8”. Saving a collet change isn’t life changing but it’ll certainly be more pleasant to work with day over day
I just finished upgrading my SO5 Pro to a 5.1 w/ legs, and in preparation for that, made an organizer go near the machine:
My current effort is to address the matter of the space between the legs being narrower than the workbench the machine was previously on, so I need to find room for the SO Pro which was underneath that workbench, since things will not fit as before…
Got the first machine moved into place, and for power, screwed a power strip to the side, then took advantage of the access through the middle baseframe member to run the power cable.
Also experimenting w/ magnetic accessories attached to the steel legs:
For another easy win, I got a dedicated mini ratchet with some nice m4/m5 bits to hang on the machine.
No more scrounging for my general use set and no more fiddling with long keys between fixtures in the nomad!
They are on order, I’ll update the thread after a bit of use before I go linking anything.
I got my S5Pro in 2024, and I had a prebuilt shed brought in the back yard. The table for the S5 is made of 2x4s with 1x6s attached to the top. I have been working my way around the shed insulating and putting up plywood over it. This past couple weeks, I moved all the lumber that was leaned up in the corner and finished off that end of the shed.
Since there’s all my tools in the shed now, it was a challenge to clear that end out. I stacked the precut 24x48” plywood panels under the CNC table, and then couldn’t get the table moved over far enough when I got to that end of the wall. Just my luck!
My latest improvement was to get a furniture dolly from Harbor Freight and stack the pile of plywood on it so I could move the table without having to move the stack over and over.
and trying to work up some reasonable arrangement (will probably use a combination of the Carbide 3D 25mm grid (as used for our accessories/3D print library) and Gridfinity.
If someone knows of a metric center-finding tape measure — the one I have from Lee Valley is Imperial:
I have that Lee Valley drill press tool holder on my drill press and it does well (though its not anything you can’t cut yourself)
I did look around for a metric centering tape measures, but realized the reason there are imperial centering tapes are since inches and fractions are funky units. With metric the division by two is easy-peasy. Besides if you are using the tape to find the center, isn’t the center is the center regardless of what units it’s measured in
I want a metric one mostly as a check on stock dimensions — I do CAM in files using metric, so it is inconsistent and less pertinent informationally to use an Imperial tape — fair point on the ease of dividing by two in a system which is fundamentally integers. Probably I’ll just shift the center-finding tape over to my woodworking hand tool box (which is where I do work in inches and so forth) and restore the metric tape.
I had the same thought on modular storage, using Stanley 014725R parts organizers.
It’s worked out well - much-reduced futzing around looking for the screw/nail I need.
The time it took to make these storage solutions is more than made up for by the reduced frustration finding stuff.
A little while back in a noise-induced, migraine-fueled rage, I bought a Festool CT Midi I.
It was a big investment and I could have gone with a stealth sonic instead based on others experiences on the forums.
I’ve been intrigued by the Festool brand for awhile and this seemed as good a place as any to test the waters. It also helps that a fella I trust the opinion of had decent things to say about its predecessor.
I wouldn’t say anyone should go out and buy one. It’s not world shattering or anything like that but man it is very nice. If you find yourself wanting to throw your current vac out of the window or giving it the office space printer treatment, it may be a worthwhile upgrade.
Plus, it looks cool as hell in my opinion very important for shop tools
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very important for shop tools 