Small Workshop Workbench Build - Part 2 

Thanks for the great comment! Chears

Hi Michael, thanks for the comment! The tool you are talking about is called a "wiggler". Some also call it a "center finder". You can center it as it spins and it can be used as a "point" (in my case) to eyeball an alignement with decent precision. You can also change the tip for different geometries and functions.

Hi @thorshuatus , Thanks for your view and the good comment! What machine tool to get first? Opinions can vary greatly but i can try to share my opinion at the time. Drilling: I would say if you don't have at least a small press-drill, you should get one of these first. They can be very useful for many things. Grinding: You will probably want to get at least one decent grinding equipement. Dual wheels grinder are common and pretty useful. Belt sanders can also be a complement/alternative. Something to grind metal, to sharpen tools, clean edges, etc. Cutting: One can get a surprisignly long way with a basic hacksaw, a bunch of files and some perseverance. But i would say getting a decent bandsaw can save you a lot of time and effort. Options are pretty wide here again, depending on budget. I personally lack equipement on this aspect. I have a very cheap one, mostly for small wood parts. Its crap with metal. I would probably try to get something like a portable bandsaw for metal, like the ones contractors use. There are some options like 3, 6 inches. These saws can be used in many ways, most importantly, they are good for parting off bar material like rods and tubes. Turning: I believe the majority of amateur machinists would agree the first machine tool you want to introduce yourself to machining should be a metal lathe. I think i "kind of" agree. If you are looking for one OR the other, perhaps for budget, space, noise, or other constraints, it make sense to go with a lathe first. Altought, i feel its pretty sad to leave milling aside. I would really try to get both, even if you have to compromise on machine capacities/functionnalities/tools. For a lathe, mini lathes are the cheapest option to fool around and learn the basics on small stuff. Thats what i own, and it's tons of fun. But its very limited. With lathes, as with most machine tools, in general, the bigger and heavier the better. Its all a matter of budget and space. I would get a 16x40in lathe if i could ;-) Go with what you can afford. And dont forget to consider toolings. This can cost as much as the machine itself in some case. Milling: Again, to me, a milling machine feels pretty much just as useful as a lathe. Pretty much the same comments apply. Milling is very useful and is a very basic/indispensable machining operation. Then, the list can go on and on for quiet a while if you consider the various machines and operations that are considered as "machining". I would say if you get these basic operations covered with a decent machine tool within your budgetary limits, you should be able to go quiet a long way in your exploration of the machining world. Thanks!

Sure! The mini lathe I use is sold by a canadian tools store chain called Busy Bee Tools. The brand name is Craftex. You can see the link below for exactly the model I bought: www.busybeetools.com/products/lathe-mini-7in-x12in-1-2hp-cx-series-csa-cx704.html This is one of the rare brand of mini lathe available somewhat easily here in Canada. There are a few others, namely King Canada. In the end, this is the pretty much the exact same mini lathe you see from every brand in this 7x12 size. They are very likely made in just a few chinese factories and share the same design. If interested, I also have a complete 3D CAD model of this mini lathe available here : grabcad.com/library/mini-lathe-cx704-1 It is a decent machine, but it of course has many limitations. First of all, none of these mini lathes are nice out of the box. They require at least partial disassembly, cleaning, perhaps some paint scraping and sharp edges filing to make them work well. Certainly some adjustements, perhaps modifications and upgrades. You can find many videos on the topic on RU-vid. But if you wan't to experience the pleasure of machining some parts, I guess this is a decent starting point. At least, it's the path I chose. I have limited space and limited means. Better this than nothing at all. Thanks for watching!

@badscorpius : Hi and thanks for the view! For now, I am working on 2D plans based on my 3D model, since many people requested them. After that, I will try to see if i can find a way to share the 3D (probably in generic .STP format). However, i did not make this 3D model with the idea of sharing it and the way i made it, it is very detailed and unfortunately probably very hard to convert and share. I expect serveral 100s Mo, possibly several Go of file size...and just the conversion is likely to fail (in my experience) because the software i use is not the greatest for exporting. But I'll see what i can do. Please subscribe and stay tuned for part 6. I should have the details by then. Thanks again!

Hi Guymauve, thanks for your view. Please, write me an email in private and i'll tell you about the software i use. Thanks!

@@matsworkshop566 Sorry but seems i do not have reply to my email. Thanks for support

Hi @wolfhybrid5867, no CNC is needed, but to build exactly this design, a small milling machine and lathe are needed indeed. Thanks for watching!

Hi again Michael! It works well enough and it does the job...but barrely. Of course, for me, this is cheap material made in such a way that it is quiet easy to manufacture. But aluminum rubbing against aluminum is not great. I could've used different material in some places to reduce friction...but a little bit of grease on every rubbing area seems to do the trick just fine. It just a matter of having some play everywhere and taking special care that everything is well aligned and there is no binding. Thanks again!

​@@matsworkshop566 It's cheap material, if you don't count the cost of the milling machine. Most of us woodworkers don't have that, and custom machining by a machine shop is out of the question. Any suggestions for off the shelf fasteners?

Yes, I get your point. I am a bit torned between my love for metal working and woodworking, so I like to do both and and know it is not the case for everyone. I am also aware that having mini machining equipement is not very common to most. It is not every part of this design that would be easily reproduced. My intend was to cover my own needs and have fun building it with the tools I have in the process. This makes my design overcomplicated in many aspects. It was not really meant to be "easy to reproduce". For someone who can't machine all the components, of course this is a bit problematic. I am sure there would be ways to adapt the design with simpler off the self components. For the saw fence, it would probably be quiet easy to think of a whole different system. One could also buy of the shelf saw fence. There are pretty interesting and robust options that exist for decent prices, all ready to be installed. These are generally meant as upgrades for cheap cabinet saws. But they exist, and could be fitted on a frame such as mine quiet easily. As for the saw box locking mechanism, this is a bit more complicated. But after i realized the "winch" system was necessary to lift the box up, i could've done the locking mechanism a lot simpler. It was just to late for me, since i was already done. But one could easily find a slightly different design that would do the same thins, with standard components, and less complexity.

Hi Elie, Thanks for watching! Yes, now that I see quiet some people have interest, I intend to put together a set of plans and make them available. Before this, I still need to finish the first iteration though ;-) ...coming soon!

Hi again Shoop. If you are referring to the pushstick that you see fixed on the fence, this is just the cheap pushstick that comes with the dewalt table saw. This is really nothing special. If you look for pushsticks on amazon, this is very similar to the cheapest model you can find. This works just fine. You can also just cut yourself some in a piece of wood. No need to pay for that. Thanks!

Hi Ausie! Thanks for watching! Yes, indeed! I saw that too when reviewing the footage...what can I say...you got me ;-P Thanks again for whatching

@GNU_Linux_for_good : HAHA, thanks for the comment! I agree, it is overcomplicated. It was not intended to be simple. It was intended to be a nice project to build for me, with lots of custom parts and many machined parts, since I personally prefer metal work to woodworking, altough i enjoy both. I figured sharing it might inspire other and give them idea for their own builds if they were considering something similar. I myself came up with this design be choosing the various features i liked from many other youtube projects i watched as well as various researches on traditional woodworking workbenches. All in all, this was also a pretext to play with my tools, get some more experience, learn a thing or two, have fun, and share. I hope you enjoyed, even if it is indeed probably some "rocket science woodworking" (i do love rockets too ;-P )

@@matsworkshop566 Never mind, Mat - you did it all so well ;-)

@matsworkshop566 please block this rude person

A bit harsh. The man seems to suffer from the common maker’s curse of ‘perfectionism’.