machine_punk
Well-known member
So, after years of being a nomad and moving every 1-to-3 years, I've settled down to the same place for a while. I'm starting to work on my shop (there will be a thread here and plenty of pictures, don't worry). I got a new tool cart a couple of weeks ago, but I just am not ever happy with 'stock.' I like to change things up and make everything customized. So, I took the glitzy, chrome-plated plastic trim and the brand-name logo off the cart, just 'cause I didn't like'em. That got me to thinking, "That cart is a little plain."
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I definitely plan to repaint the cart eventually (in line with the 'fudgecicle' brown and pale yellow, which will be the theme colors of my garage)...but in the meantime, I want to change something on the cart. I decided on changing out the plain aluminum handle for something else.
I work with solid rivets in my home shop, just like the way they build airplanes. I was scanning their site, looking for some rivet sets for my pneumatic rivets squeezers and, lo and behold, I come across their 'specials section. Seems they bought a bunch of Stahlwell 1/2 combination wrenches and were passing on the savings at $1.50 each. I figured I couldn't probably do any better than that in price and I thought the wrench would be a great substitute for the rather boring handle on the cart right now.
So, I added a couple of those wrenches to my order and went down to the local hardware store to find the rest of the necessary parts. Here is what I ended up with...
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Socket-head cap screws are, hands down, my favorite fastener. I love them for their pure 'mechanical' look. Aside from the cap screws, I got a couple of pieces of threaded aluminum spacer. All told, there is far less than $5 in parts in this project.
I had a pleasant surprise, when I removed the old handle and started to measure for drilling holes in the wrench. The manufacturer punched one hole and one slot for the handle hardware...making it easy to place the new handle, even if I was off a bit in my measurements.
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I started by measuring and drilling the holes in the wrench. The first tiny little pilot hole went well, then I ran into problems. The drill started squealing like crazy and just wouldn't cut. I couldn't figure out the problem, until it hit me, "I'll bet wrenches are hardened." After stepping up, one drill size at a time, I finally got one of the holes to the correct size for the 10-32 hardware. The other hole just wouldn't drill. I don't what the problem was, but I finished widening that hole with a round needle file, which didn't really take too long. After the holes were drilled, it was simply a matter of screwing it all together...
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View media item 11608
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It was a fairly quick and small project overall, but a lot of 'grins' for customizing the tool box a little.
View media item 11208
I definitely plan to repaint the cart eventually (in line with the 'fudgecicle' brown and pale yellow, which will be the theme colors of my garage)...but in the meantime, I want to change something on the cart. I decided on changing out the plain aluminum handle for something else.
I work with solid rivets in my home shop, just like the way they build airplanes. I was scanning their site, looking for some rivet sets for my pneumatic rivets squeezers and, lo and behold, I come across their 'specials section. Seems they bought a bunch of Stahlwell 1/2 combination wrenches and were passing on the savings at $1.50 each. I figured I couldn't probably do any better than that in price and I thought the wrench would be a great substitute for the rather boring handle on the cart right now.
So, I added a couple of those wrenches to my order and went down to the local hardware store to find the rest of the necessary parts. Here is what I ended up with...
View media item 11606
Socket-head cap screws are, hands down, my favorite fastener. I love them for their pure 'mechanical' look. Aside from the cap screws, I got a couple of pieces of threaded aluminum spacer. All told, there is far less than $5 in parts in this project.
I had a pleasant surprise, when I removed the old handle and started to measure for drilling holes in the wrench. The manufacturer punched one hole and one slot for the handle hardware...making it easy to place the new handle, even if I was off a bit in my measurements.
View media item 11607
I started by measuring and drilling the holes in the wrench. The first tiny little pilot hole went well, then I ran into problems. The drill started squealing like crazy and just wouldn't cut. I couldn't figure out the problem, until it hit me, "I'll bet wrenches are hardened." After stepping up, one drill size at a time, I finally got one of the holes to the correct size for the 10-32 hardware. The other hole just wouldn't drill. I don't what the problem was, but I finished widening that hole with a round needle file, which didn't really take too long. After the holes were drilled, it was simply a matter of screwing it all together...
View media item 11612
View media item 11610
View media item 11608
View media item 11611
It was a fairly quick and small project overall, but a lot of 'grins' for customizing the tool box a little.