Shop Cupboard

[Stan]

Old washing machines with a front door are readily available from appliance stores and make good shop tables. Dryers are no good - they are make from light gauge material. Three pieces of plywood or MDF and some casters makes a strong mobile table. This one is wired with 120 volts plugins for the tools mounted on it. Stored inside is every type of abrasive that I own. If it isn't there I don't have to look anywhere else.

The 1" belt sander and 6" grinder are bolted down but the 4" X 36" sander is not fastened down. The table can be moved out from the wall and rotated as required. The small drill press is semi permanently on its highest speed and used for pilot holes or small hole drilling. The large DC motor can be slowed down if needed for slightly bigger holes. Hidden behind the big sander is a small arbor press.

 

[Hal]

Stan

Clever idea and cheap sturdy and best of all its prepainted.

Hal

 

[Seanie]

I'm in the process of building a parts washer built on a Hoover Twin Tub chassis. It has castors, so can be moved around.

It has a 12volt electric fuel pump which pumps from an old army jerry can up into a caravan sink, down through a filter to the jerry can.

I'm hoping to use an old computer power supply to provide the 12volts, so far I've tested it with a battery charger- it works very well indeed.

Is there anything better than kerosine/paraffin for washing off grease & oil, that doesn't cost much?

 

[shred]

FWIW, Unless you get a big PC power supply, the 12v rail doesn't source much current. Check the specs carefully.

 

[Stan]

I didn't mention that I have two of these. The second one has tool drawers for lathe tools, storage in the bottom half, without a front door, and is just a mobile work table. The door is held closed with one 1/4" super magnet with no handle sticking out to bang your knee on.

 

[AllThumbs]

FWIW, Unless you get a big PC power supply, the 12v rail doesn't source much current. Check the specs carefully.

Most are good for about 10A which is lot's of current for almost any little fuel pump. On some power supplies, it's a good idea to put a bit of a load on the 5 volt line so it regulates better. This brings the voltage up a little on the 12 volt rail. A 5 ohm, 10 watt resistor works well.

Eric

 

[shred]

Most are good for about 10A which is lot's of current for almost any little fuel pump. On some power supplies, it's a good idea to put a bit of a load on the 5 volt line so it regulates better. This brings the voltage up a little on the 12 volt rail. A 5 ohm, 10 watt resistor works well.

Eric

Above 250W size, most of them go ~10A (or way more) for new ones, but the smaller, older ones don't and it's often the case they don't like to run like that constantly. I've burned up a few over the years. Best bet is a recent PSU if you want a lot of +12v. (Every ATX PSU spec revision bumped the 12v power each time). Good tip on the resistor across 5v as well.

 

[Seanie]

Sorry Stan, didn't mean to hijack your thread....

Thanks for the suggestions- my PC power supply wouldn't look at it- it's a very old one, probably on it's last legs & in fact only measures 11.6 V now

Don't the modern PCs have to have the supply connected to the m/b to work? The P.O.S.T & all that?

I'm leaning towards an old battery charger, I have only the very basics of electrickery knowledge.