General Tech What did you work on Today?

I've been a big opponent of having fixturing holes drilled in my fabrication table. Mainly because I use the table for general purpose work as well as fabrication and don't want a table riddled with holes. That being said, I may have to eat a little crow because I have found the need to put a few holes in for fixturing larger objects that I can't seem to reach near the middle of the table. I try to fixture things around the perimeter where I can merely clamp along the sides/ends but over the past several months I've stumbled across a couple of projects where having the ability to clamp in near the middle would have been very beneficial. I purchased my Hougen mag drill last week so I figured I may as well try it out and put a few holes in the fabrication table.

I will be drilling minimal holes and later I can add any if more are needed. A grid was laid out on 12" lengthwise x 10" widthwise clearing the framework under the top.

The 2” wide blue tape represents the frame of the table. The black lines will be the grid layout missing the framework tubing of the table.




Center punched and ready to drill.


Only fifteen 5/8" holes for fixturing will be added so as to not detract the table from other uses. I think I will also drill and tap a few 3/8"-16 to mount my axle fixtures/jigs that I built several months ago so I can merely bolt them down to the table when in use.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

I'm sure you thought of this already, but if you don't like the idea of drilled holes, why not weld a clamp in place where you need it for the job, then just cut, remove and grind smooth again? I have a few large clamps I have cut the lower sections off of. Makes it easy to weld to and then remove later on.

UNSTUCK said:

I'm sure you thought of this already, but if you don't like the idea of drilled holes, why not weld a clamp in place where you need it for the job, then just cut, remove and grind smooth again? I have a few large clamps I have cut the lower sections off of. Makes it easy to weld to and then remove later on.

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As you can tell by the few grind marks on the table I have done just that on occasion. It has worked well but just thought I'd add a few holes and give them a try. If I like it or need more I may add some down the road but I think this large grid will work fine and just provide a few clamping spots near the middle of the table.

When I was building our sand drag ATV chassis, I have a 24" x 48" framed plate that I would sit on either the fabrication table or one of my motorcycle lift tables. It had specific holes drilled/tapped into it for the various jigs to bolt to the table for different chassis. I loved fixturing things up on that smaller table because everything could be held so rigid even during the tacking phase. I then had a couple of smaller 12" X 18" x 3/8" plates that I would do the same for building front A-arms and another 12" wide by 36" long 3/8" thick fixture with an adjustable rear housing carrier block that I would use for building swingarms. I could set up the front pivot points and then adjust the rear in one inch increments depending on what length swingarm the customer wanted. I kept from drilling into my fabrication table all those years by having the sub-tables for fixturing but just thought I'd try a large grid on the table and see how it goes.

Thanks.

Mike

I drilled the 5/8” holes in my fabrication table last night and got a decent feel for the Hougen mag drill.





All 15 holes completed in just over ten minutes. I was impressed and pleasantly surprised just how fast and smooth drilling these holes went. I wasn’t rushing but I wasn’t lolly-gaggin’ either.


I used a chamfer bit and just breathed over the holes to knock the sharpness off of the circumference of each hole. I didn’t want a large chamfer just enough to slightly debur the holes. I then wiped the table down to remove the residue from the cutting oil.


I then set up and spaced my axle fixtures so I could drill and tap for mounting to the table with 3/8”-16 but they sent me the wrong drill chuck adapter for my mag drill. I was sent the splined adapter which is for the older HMD904 models. Mine requires the slotted adapter so I’ll have to make a call tomorrow and work out an exchange.


Lastly my wife presented me with my Father’s Day gift. She felt so bad that it was late due to shipping but I was happy regardless.


I can’t wait until Saturday morning to sit on the deck and relax with a cup of coffee. I reserve my “good stuff” for weekends and drink the regular stuff during the week.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

Your shop is like an ikea show room but for high quality machinery. Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find my way out of there.
(sorry, I just drool every time you post )

Herzog said:

Your shop is like an ikea show room but for high quality machinery. Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find my way out of there.
(sorry, I just drool every time you post )

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I walked through an Ikea once. Vowed to never do it again. I might make an exception for Mike's Ikea.

Thanks guys.

I feel pretty blessed to have been able to create this workshop at our new home. It is such a joy to work in now that I'm not tripping over things and can get to all of my equipment. The last shop was a bit tight and it added frustration to the job at times as I collected more and more tools and equipment over the last 3 decades of wrenching.

I appreciate all of the kind words and for those who follow my work and projects.

Mike

I didn't even know a mag drill was a thing, and you drink good coffee!

Kiel said:

I didn't even know a mag drill was a thing, and you drink good coffee!

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How do you think you break into a safe in the movies?

Last night I thought I’d finish getting the holes drilled & tapped for the mounting of the axle fixtures to my fabrication table. I stopped on the way home and swapped the wrong drill chuck adapter for the correct one for the Hougen mag drill.



Power tapped the six 3/8”-16 holes using my tap guide.


Perfect alignment as the bolts threaded right in by hand. The axle fixtures are rock solid on the table now and easily added or removed from the table.


Thanks for looking.

Mike

This is going to be my desk in the dungeon. Turning out pretty well . Most expensive thing is the epoxy....

I like the epoxy. A LOT

We went up and helped our rancher friends dock their last group of sheep. After that they had me go up on the mountain and try to retrieve their C70 Kodiak water truck that someone took for a joy ride. Whoever took it locked it up and took the keys. I managed to get the ignition switch out and then it was pretty easy to hot wire it. The ride off the mountain was a bit rough as I had to drive roads that were not meant for a truck that big. now I need to find a new ignition switch for it or take the old one to a locksmith.

This is bad.




Especially bad when it happens in the Land of Standing Rocks. That was Friday.

This was yesterday.







Can not thank the Houle's and the Whitmore's enough for saving my bacon! You guys are the best. All of you! When that bracket broke off, where it did, when it did, driving my Jeep back into my garage the next day in better shape than before it broke was not even on my radar .

Driving out of the Dollhouse to Hanksville with a tree strap for a rear track bar could have been a real bummer, but it was actually fun with this group. And some real adventure spice!

- DAA

UT410 said:

Soooooo rad!

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I just threw out one those Hurst handles the other day, while cleaning out the garage. This almost makes me wish I had it... and a need for a cane. 🤣

Pile of parts said:

I just threw out one those Hurst handles the other day, while cleaning out the garage. This almost makes me wish I had it... and a need for a cane. 🤣

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I have a B&M shifter handle that looks very similar, maybe I need to make one for me.

Built some yard art for a friend.

My twin boys think they are gamers and Youtubers. They really wanted to stream but the laptops I got them for Christmas wouldn’t even play most modern games let alone stream. So we set off on building computers. All three of ours are the same build but I did a case swap on mine where we just did a “gamer sticker bomb” vinyl wrap on the twins computers to save money.
Dell Optiplex 9020
I7-4790 cpu
16gb ram
500gb ssd
1tb hhd
RX 580 GTS 8gb ddr5 GPU
650 watt power supplies

My ex wife built them a super nice desk out of Ash to hold everything. And I threw in some RGB led lights under it for maximum gamer effect.

I’m into there’s under $500 each with 1 new 1080p display one used display each,keyboard and mouse. And mine about $100 more minus monitors and stuff.

Anthony and I finally had the time and the parts to put his TJ back together. Mostly.

He bought a new AX15 from Novak.


Then he took the broken engine and the OTHER broken engine block from two years ago and cut the remaining good mounts of one block to weld them on the other one.





Then we started assembling the drivetrain



Here's what's left of the old trans and tcase.

The drivetrain is bolted back in, just needs fluids and accessories bolted back on. He also needs to have the new rear driveshaft built. We're really happy to finally make some progress on a Jeep that's been down since mid October.

UT410 said:

Soooooo rad!

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Thanks Brent.