TinkerTips - Tools of the Trades, Arts, Hardware and . . .

[retr01]

I wasn't going to get into sheet metal or iron working in this thread, that's industrial, not Homeowner/DIY kinda stuff for this forum?

Steve Jobs started the industrial design group at Apple in 1977 with the Apple II case housing. Since then, AIDG has been doing a lot of heavy industrial design and lifting. Being a tinkerer for vintage computers in homebrew and open source arrangement can be attributed to industrial design (minus welding), computer engineering, software engineering, support, and fun.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Industrial Design and Industrial Work, Tools and Methods are entirely different things.

< ludicrously simplified and wildly off topic >

Industrial Design is a bit like Architecture, it can produce beautiful drawings and models of amazing things, but engineers do the heavy lifting of bringing those beautifully designed things to life for the former. Civil Engineers turn the architect's drawings and models into building plans which can put the foundations under the ground to bring the amazing structures above into the world.

When masters of design with outstanding talents in either field work closely with outstanding engineers (materials science masters, etc.) there can be a synergy that results in amazing results. Advances in the technology and use of glass in iPhones and Skyscrapers might be a good example?

Dunno, hope I haven't offended anyone in any field mentioned, this is clearly oversimplification based on personal observation.

< /ludicrously simplified and wildly off topic >

Might make a good topic for discussion in THE SOAP BOX?

 

[retr01]

Industrial Design and Industrial Work, Tools and Methods are entirely different things.

Yes, but we tinkerers are actively designing when planning the modifications in our minds or on paper such as drawing. I am saying that tinkerers may touch upon industrial design if not into it.

Might make a good topic for discussion in THE SOAP BOX?

*nods*

 

[Trash80toG4]

Update: minor project documented upthread finished! Spade bit countersunk hex bolt head and washer are used where particle board material doesn't meet carriage bolt requirements. As the name implies, they were meant to be used in an application where really solid, tightly grained, first growth wood was available.

Both types of connectors inverted for setting heads sub-surface.

In keeping with the use of materials on hand a/o repurposed, I now have a useful storage spot for my bathtub painting workstation:

Rolling base snagged off a ratty chair next to the recycling bin.

I make use of shims for all kinds of things, here they're used to level up the slanted surface of the chair base. Detail of edges of a pair right out of the pack and one set I hacked for incremental adjustments/fine tuning more exacting use cases.

Rolls nicely under the drop frone desktop of the HackHutch. It has been doing yeoman service as a rolling tool/hardware cart for the ToolboxMonster's rolling base. When needed, clear it off and unbolt the paint setup. One thing no longer cluttering up my walk in closet!

________________________________________________________________________

This one deserves a bit of documentation on its own, meet my "gotta have a better router table setup immediately" and no place to store it after use solution. Secondary use of the bathtub paint board. Ear protection definitely required, but cleanup's easy after using it for fine work/small parts when it's too hot/cold/rainy for fiddling with settings out on the terrace.

Still working out dust collection setup for router and oscillating spindle sander. Clamping a board to the surface is a snap. There's a roundover bit in there now that needs no fence, we'll see how and where things go. One of my routers has a nice custom storage space as a bonus!

Documenting the MadHacker's kitchen pantry as I go, truly insane setup and content capacity. That's where the sander, now dual purpose tool setup lives right next to the 14" Bandsaw.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Rats, all my in progress pics are on the phone! Here's a teaser, shows my love of the figure, color and knotty textures of wood. I've been hoarding the best bits and pieces from what I've used since I moved down here in 2004, apparently just for this project.

The two front rails are shipping crate rescues, incredibly dense and strong, probably fir, but looks like southern yellow pine? They've been sitting on the rails of my 2005 vintage workbench. Bench was made from the banding frame of a shipment of 4" square PVC tubes used for mailbox post construction

All hex bolts are countersunk so they don't catch on walls, doorways or my body when rolling around the ToolBox Monster Hot Air Rework/Soldering Workstation behind it around the apartment.

Setup for trimming pallet rails down to workable height:

Note the nick at end of board. Rails were trimmed to match the shallow sections above. Crazy dense and heavy 2x8 cut for wheel rails on ends of this trimmed down, just a little bit too short pallet used for storage shelf decking. Pallet wound up being only an armature for bolted up framing.

 

[retr01]

You should set up a resource page, "Tinkering Tips," here on TD. Your tips are fantastic!

Cheers,

 

[Trash80toG4]

That's pretty much what this thread is, but I think it's probably bett here in the DIY forum. That way I can add stuff as I go along, post projects I've documented in the past as time permits and it'll keep popping up in new posts now and then?

 

[Trash80toG4]

YAY! storage corral sections of shelf platform nearing completion.

Bending warped castoffs to my will. Gotta find my doweling jug, shims won't do it below, but bolts will above. Doweling seems a lost art, rudimentary if exacting woodworking skill and a good, low budget TinkerTip I think?

Last piece! Ties everything all together with backstop for box and setting it away from the wall by 1.5" for lid clearance with rounded ends as offside bumpers for moving. Primary purpose is protecting the power strip wire exiting the back of the toolbox from damage.

Don't think I've built anything quite this heavy duty since the rolling base for my 800lb. four foot, heavy duty box and pan bending brake some twenty years ago. Total overkill for this project . . . unless I decide the electronics workstation need morph back into its toolbox roots.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Finally finished . . . almost, gotta drill holes in the worktop so it'll hang from pins on the backside underneath that last piece pictured above. No hurry there, don't expect to roll everything out of the second bedroom for new carpet installation for a week or three.

Worktop sits on 1x2 slats mounted underneath. They pop it up overtop the drawer fronts, holding them fully extended at the same time.

Back corner (just barely) shows how Worktop is inset 1/2" so it abuts the drawerfronts above. Something has to be really tiny to fall down under it there. Three slots that do this are clearly seen in shot of the backside of Worktop above.

Buttoned up and ready to roll . . . after I affix worktop to framing on back.

Worktop can be placed at four levels, atop any one of the pairs of drawers, adjustable for any given workflow requirements.

Worktop is a paint grade laminated panel that was the first shelf I made to stretch between the bookcases on either side of the window. It's 16: deep, so a pretty nice work surface given the shelf above for LCD, files, whatever. Was split on the end in a couple of spots so it was inexpensive. Never did fix it, now splits have been cut off. Procrastination sometimes pays off.

Toolbox was a $50 damaged display find. Shelf underneath is a pallet. Wood's been waiting for use stored in my apartment, I think it takes up more space now, but nicely I think. Uprights were a non-returnable, cutoff 2x12 someone gave me with a gentle twist to it, worked great in 16" sections. Wheels are from my shop when I shut down in '04 and have seen heavy use for years before that. Not sure how much money I have in the hardware, but I'd be very surprised if it's much more than or even twenty dollars.

New stuff build would be a lot more than about the one Benjamin that I have in this one. I'm happy!

 

[-SE40-]

Thats a clever solution!

No tools, No glory

 

[Trash80toG4]

Current Project: now in testing/refinement phase: Ergonomics/Pain Abatement

Simple, three frame flipbook animation turned out nicely.

Great chair had no arms/great arms in stock from dead chair. Adaptation fun!

Base canted, so lever in front/other side didn't work, so clamped it vise and bent the sucker down. Height adjustment was inoperable as it rested on top of arm's adjustment knob.

That's a Boca Plate, the cheapest heavy duty 5"x7" hunk of steel available at your local big box. Plumbing department nail protector. Love em!

Ryoba pulled from its sheath.

Could have made do with the stuff in the junk tool box like the Harbor Freight Chisels that are fine . . .

But the big guns make short work of it.

Rasp, file and sandpaper work's not interesting enough to document.

Much smaller first prototype being used as support for current version. Angles and positioning under test.