The Aerodrome Studio - Machine_Punk

[machine_punk]

It seems popular lately to put a few current pics up at the front of a thread. I didn't reserve space for that, so I'll have to squeeze them in here. Here is The Aerodrome Studio in June, 2012. I just completed the first major cleanup and organization of the studio, right after adding the Baileigh 5216 sheet metal shear, brake, and roll...

Sept 2017--The (NEW) Aerodrome Studio...
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Well, here we go. I finally got the painting done on the house and now I can start the thread for my upcoming garage renovation. Everyone on GJ needs to have a name for their garage or workshop and I have come up with mine. I will call it The Aerodrome Studio. I'm calling it a studio, instead of a garage or workshop, because I tend to build artful projects, even if they are functional. I figure you might as well make it look good, if you are going to build it anyway. I'm using the term Aerodrome, because I work in sheet aluminum and solid rivets. I plan to build airplane-like furniture, once I get the studio built up. An aerodrome was one of the earlier airports. They were essentially a very large, round field, with an air sock in the middle. Instead of having individual runways, planes would just look at the wind sock and land into the wind. I'm sure a fair number of you are already skipping ahead to the pictures, and I suppose I don't mind. I plan to have plenty of pics in this thread...you guys expect nothing less.

A couple of the projects I have already built...a picture frame, for my wife on our second wedding anniversary.' (August 2011)
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Build thread for the picture frame: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115154

A bracket, to mount a Pelton & Crane Dental Light at the top of the Reconfigurable Tool Rack (October 2013)...

A camera mount for pictures and videos while I am working in the studio. (September 2011)
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Build thread for the camera mount: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117181

A couple of Custom Tool Boards for the Reconfigurable Tool Rack:
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The Aero Guitar Stand (December 2012):

The Aero Art Caddy (designed for fabric painting supplies)...

The Aero Art Portfolio...
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[machine_punk]

So, on to more details for the rest of you, who are still reading. This is going to be a garage remodeling thread...it is also going to be about why I like the projects I like and what I am currently working on. Like so many of the best garage build/remodel threads on GJ, this is going to be both about my garage remodel, The Aerodrome Studio, and the things I am going to build for, and in, the studio. I suppose I should start with why I like sheet aluminum and solid rivets.

I first started working metal in 7th grade. Everyone was required to take a basic shop class. One third of the year was drafting, one third was wood shop, the remaining third was metal shop. We built things like a screwdriver, a chisel, a small sheet metal box, a cast aluminum object, etc. I'm pretty sure I knew then that I liked working with metal over working with wood, but there seemed to be so much more specialized equipment needed to work with metal. It's not so bad, if you want to focus on one area. If you want to just do machine building, a couple of major machines will get you going, but every different type of metalworking has it's own specialized tools.

Woodworking, on the other hand, is fairly inexpensive to get into. A table saw, a miter saw, and a router go a long way in the woodworking world. So, as a young'un, it was a pretty simple choice. My dad had a radial arm saw, a jig saw, and a router. A few dollars on wood and hardware was all I needed for my next project. While I was living in Georgia, I worked with a master cabinet builder one day every other week. I just volunteered to help him out, to get some experience. What I found was that the big, amazing tools are nice, but I could reproduce everything I could do in his shop with a few hand power tools in my shop. At the time, I had literally a 4-foot by 8-foot shop. If I neede more room, I pulled my work bench out into the double carport and worked there. You'll see that workbench in my current shop. It got a little water damage, while in storage, but it is still serving me well. I solved the problem of moving that little workbench with a very elegant solution...I put wheels on one end in such a way that the wheels only touch the ground when you tilt the bench. It was sort of like a wheelbarrow with a work top...

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While I ended up being a pretty good woodworker, I still dreamed of getting back into metalworking some day. After Georgia, I joined the Air Force and moved to Texas, then Japan, then the Republic of Korea, and finally, England. While in Japan, I learned to fly a small plane. I solo'ed in a Cessna 172, then had to move to my next assignment. In England, I had the spare time and money to take a course. I decided it was time to get back into metalworking. I picked a course at a place which specialized in patch panels and new body parts for vintage Jaguar XK's. I got the basics of TIG welding sheet metal, using an English wheel, shaping panels with hammers and mallets, wire edging, etc.

Here is the course I took...the 5-day metalworking intensive.
http://www.contourautocraft.co.uk/course-foundation.htm

One of the coolest parts of the class was learning to make whole panels from smaller pieces, TIG welding them together to make a seamless panel. While I was happy that I was metalworking again finally, I realized that I didn't want to make perfect panels, I wanted to make a bunch of pieces and put them together with rivets. There is nothing cooler to me than the way that airplanes are generally built.

Fast forward a few years to this last fall. I was finally settled in one place. I had dipped my toes into metalworking again. I was now married and my step children were teens (and could, theoretically, entertain themselves occasionally). I had a house with a two-car garage. I was finally working a job which gave me some extra cash and I didn't even have to work full time. Everything was falling in place to start metalworking again. I started researching the methods and techniques used to build airplanes. I started watching CL and EBay for the right tools. I started reading everything I could get my hands on about solid rivets and building your own airplane. I didn't plan to build my own airplane (I tried flying, I love it, but it doesn't love me...I get way too air sick to fly small planes). My plan was to build airplane-like furniture.

Some of my practice pieces, as I taught myself how to use solid rivets...
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My cobbled-together bench for holding small objects at the correct height while working on them.
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Some of my tools for working with solid rivets...
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And a custom gauge I built to determine rivet length...
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Before I could build the furniture, though, I need to build a shop. I have one workbench with a work surface a little over 2 feet by 3 feet. I had a few new (too me) tools for solid rivets. I had a smattering of tools from my past (I am a very mechanically-inclined guy). I even have a two-car, attached garage. Unfortunately, it is PACKED. I have too much stuff. One side was, and will again, be for the car. The other side is going to be for the shop, since my van is way too big to fit in the garage anyway. Right now, though, I have a little area cleared out to work on one side and the entire rest of the garage is waist deep in boxes and stuff. I'll show you a few pictures, but you have to realize I've already made some progress. I have been slowly and steadily getting rid of the clutter in my house and garage and getting some space to work and breathe.

OK...so, stuff which has happened recently in The Aerodrome Studio (before the start of this thread)...
- replaced the garage door, immediately after moving in, with a sectional, insulated door for noise abatement. Also had a new garage door opener installed.
- slowly moving the open space back a few inches or feet at a time, to give me room to actually work on projects.
- bought a HF 5-drawer tool cart and the 7-drawer cabinet for a little bit of tool storage (used tool bags before).
- Purchased a fair number of tools specifically for solid rivets.
- Purchased a used air compressor, put in an extended tank drain, added a second outlet and an airline filter.
- built a couple of projects and posted them on GJ.
- started a couple of projects you have not seen on GJ yet...a tool storage wall, with a twist, and another project, which you will see in a minute.

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The original light source for most of the garage
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The much-improved, but still rather sad light source for the studio. The cord you see goes back to the original light. Still a lot of work to do in the area of lighting, but at least this was inexpensive so far and made it possible to work out there.
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continued...

 

[rickairmedic]

I like the name it fits for your hobby . I will have to admit I have never come up with a name for my garage yet . MAybe I need to put a post in my thread asking for ideas .

Rick

 

[machine_punk]

I like the old woodworking apprenticeship principle for wood joiners. The student woodworker would build his own shop equipment first, which would give him practice and teach him the basic joints, before he started working on customer's projects. My concept for my studio is that I will build the fixtures, benches, and storage--so I can gain experience and learn how solid rivets work. Once I get done with equipping the studio, I plan to start building airplane-like furniture.

Which brings us to today. Here is what I have been working on in the studio...mounting a couple of dental lights for use in the shop. Ever since about age 8, while at the dentist, I've thought, "Hmmm. While I really hate sitting in the dentist's chair, those are some really cool lights." So, 33 years later, i finally own a couple of them. I particularly like the Pelton & Crane versions. The handles on the LF Plus (the tan one in the pictures below) are what really drew me to these lamps. Now, the only problem is mounting them, since I don't have a dental operatory in my studio.

I was just going to bust out a quick, wooden bracket for these, just to get them up on the wall and ready to use. I decided to wait and build the brackets I really want for these. The manufacturer, Pelton & Crane, designates these lights as the "LF" series, which stands for 'Light Fantastic.' As best as I can tell, these lights have been in production since the late 1950's or early 1960's. I suspect the Light Fantastic name was a play on the common phrase at the time, "to trip the light fantastic," which, I gather, is a euphamism for dancing. Since the lights are called 'Light Fantastic,' I thought I would also make a play on words and call my brackets for these lights, "Fantastic Light Brackets."

I was stumped for a design idea. I didn't want to just make a square box with a hole for the arm of the light--while it might look OK in aluminum and solid rivets, I wanted something a little nicer. One thing I learned at Contour Autocraft is that the combinations of curves and straight sections is what makes a car interesting. Too straight and it is boring. Too curvy and it looks like a marshmallow. You have to have just the right combination of curves and straight pieces.

For more inspiration on the brackets for the lights, I turned to the lights themselves. One of the prominent features is the glass reflector, which is basically a parabola. If we go back to our math courses, we remember that a parabola is a shape which takes parallel light beams coming into the open end and focuses them all on a specific point. You adjust the width, depth, and focus point to get slightly different shapes. You can use this principle to build a solar oven to cook hotdogs in your back yard. These lights use the reverse principle...shining a point light source at the focus of the parabola puts out parallel light rays, which cover an area about 5 inches high and 8 inches wide, at about 28 inches from the light. Perfect for illuminating your pearly whites, while you recline in a comfy dentist's chair. I want them for working on detailed projects at the workbench.

Anyway, the parabola gave me a design idea (which is much easier to see in the next few photographs, than to describe). Basically it is four intersecting parabolas, mounted to a rectangular back plate. I thought that paid enough homage to the parabolic shape of the reflector and the legs of the parabolas approach straight at the end...a nearly perfect combination of 'curvy parts' and 'straight parts.'

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Now, you begin to see how the light bracket will be constructed of intersecting parabolas...
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Once I get the lights mounted on their brackets, I will replace the power cables with wire which is similar to these cloth-covered guitar cables...
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the saga continues, when I get more time out in the studio...

 

[JSBriggs]

Very cool. Ill be watching as this comes together. With regard to working with AL and rivets etc, have you ever considered getting a Land Rover?

-Jeff

 

[machine_punk]

Very cool. Ill be watching as this comes together. With regard to working with AL and rivets etc, have you ever considered getting a Land Rover?

-Jeff

YES! I'd love to have a Landrover...preferable a Type 2 or an early defender. I've always loved them. Unfortunately, all the U.S. models are huge 8 cylinder engines (I prefer the European concept of smaller turbo engines). It helps that I was born in England and have lived about 5.5 years of my life there (my dad was in the service, then I went back when I was in the service).

Kev

 

[JSBriggs]

Ive got a couple, and there are plenty floating around. I have several friends in the bay area with them as well. If you are ever on your way to up to Tahoe, drop me a line and stop in. Ill give you a quick run down on them.

-Jeff

 

[machine_punk]

I'd love to stop by. My wife has a lot of family in the Sac area and we are there often enough...I'll drop you a PM next time I head that direction!

I just took a look at your build thread...fabulous garage (and house). My wife really likes that style of building. Great job on going back and putting the curve over the garage door...makes all the difference in the world.

Kev

 

[Nighttrain]

Very cool. I've seen several of your items in recent post and admire the work. I will be following this thread. My father and some of his friends had built/re-built airplanes when I was growing up. I remember messing around the hangar with all those klecos (sp) and rivets.

 

[shopnut]

Glad to see someone else putting those wonderful old P&C dental lights to good use! Those aluminum handles of the older LF's are what drew me to them. That's going to be a great looking matching bracket when you get it finished

I buried my mount in the wall so I didn't have to get creative like you:


Just a few comments on the lights in case you didn't know:
- Replacement bulbs can be had for around $7.50 (found mine on fee-bay)
- There is an adjustment procedure to focus the light beam which involves moving the bulb closer/farther from the reflector. I'm assuming you could potentially take it out of focus to get a less focused, but larger lighted zone, if this is something you want. I haven't tried this yet.
- Make sure the bracket is securely mounted on the wall. That 5' arm can generate a large load if stretched out all the way! Also make sure the shaft is lubed good if you want it to swivel easily in that aluminum.
- Lowe's sells a number of differerent dock builders brackets with pipe sockets on them with IDs matching the base shaft OD of these lights fairly close (just in case you (or someone else reading) decide to take the easy way out on some future lights).
- There may be a couple other comments in my build thread under "Lighting, Task"

Have fun and keep up the good work!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Every time I go to the dentist I think about how handy one of those lights would be at the workbench.

 

[machine_punk]

Night Train: Thanks for the kind words...I just finished reading about your shop a couple of weeks ago (stayed up WAY too late into the morning...thanks ). I like that you have gone with a theme for your shop. I remember the hot days in Texas. I used to live in Wichita Falls, where we were over 60 days a year over 100 degrees. I spent about 6 months down in the San Antonio area too. Your shop looks great! I hope to have that much room some day.

Shop Nut: Thanks for the kind words and the advice on the lights. I appreciate you taking the time to write that out. I've seen the bulbs on Ebay and I assumed the same bulbs fit all of the different models in the 'LF' series. I'll probably convert over to LEDs soon enough (the transformer supplies 25 volts to the current halogen lamps...you can get 24 volt LED cartridges which would likely work). I agree...I really like the aluminum handles on the LF Plus, but I must admit, the center grill on the original LF is amazing, even if I don't like the handles quite as much. I like the clean look of your shop/hide-away. I really like that chain deadfall on a trolley in your shop...I've taken numerous pics of a similar concept on Navy ships...Hmmm...now you have me thinking.

Stuart: I agree! I think those lights would be perfect for the shop...I'll let you know, once I get them installed. I intentionally didn't post this story until I got the two lights I wanted...I didn't want all of GJ bidding against me on the few used ones available at decent prices.

 

[JSBriggs]

Do you have a source for the fabric covered wire? Ive got an old lamp or two that would look nice with it.

-Jeff

 

[machine_punk]

Do you have a source for the fabric covered wire? Ive got an old lamp or two that would look nice with it.

-Jeff

I haven't actually used them yet, but these folks sell some stuff I like, both by the foot and by the bulk roll. You can also get samples of all their stuff, if you need to see it before buying it.

The link below takes you directly to the page of the wire I'd like to use on these lamps. The cords you saw in the picture above are guitar cables I already have.

Sundial Wire
http://www.sundialwire.com/greenwires.aspx

 

[Nighttrain]

MP. I thought you may have spent time at Sheppard AFB. My dad was a Wing Commander for the 87th ? Training Wing. He retired in 79. I left Wichita Falls in 85. My mom, sister and a brother still reside there. My dad's hangar was out at Wichita Valley airport. Lot's of retired Af guys had aircraft out there under construction. Again I enjoy seeing your work.

 

[madmikeee]

Do you have a source for the fabric covered wire? Ive got an old lamp or two that would look nice with it.

-Jeff

I have seen some steampunk builders strip shoelaces over modern wire to get that same exact appearance without all the added cost

 

[machine_punk]

MP. I thought you may have spent time at Sheppard AFB. My dad was a Wing Commander for the 87th ? Training Wing. He retired in 79. I left Wichita Falls in 85. My mom, sister and a brother still reside there. My dad's hangar was out at Wichita Valley airport. Lot's of retired Af guys had aircraft out there under construction. Again I enjoy seeing your work.

It always amazes me how small this world is! I would have been at Sheppard from 1998-2002. (Of course, being on GJ increases your odds of anything...I've seen some unusual questions asked and there is always someone here who 'has done that.')

I have seen some steampunk builders strip shoelaces over modern wire to get that same exact appearance without all the added cost

Thanks for the idea! I am intrigued. Now, I need to go look at some shoe laces and see if I can find something that would work for my design.

 

[machine_punk]

Cutting Aluminum, Fantastic Light Brackets

A little while ago, I made a trade with a neighbor of mine. We have very similar vehicles (Large, older, white, Ford trucks). His is the big Ford Bronco and mine is the Ford E350 15-passenger van. I lucked out when buying the van...I found a van that was 20 years old, with only 10 thousand real miles on it. It was from a government motor pool and it was the van set up for 'long trips.' It had nice Yakima bars on the top, with a huge 'safari rack' attached to it. Since it was set up for long trips, it looks like nobody was interested in driving it on shorter trips...so it only racked up 10,000 miles in 20 years.

It didn't take me long to figure out I really didn't need the rack. I pulled out the back two seats to give me some cargo room. (The van is HUGE...I can put 8 bicycles and 8 people inside, in comfort, at the same time. I've even brought home 16-foot pieces of metal inside the van, with the doors closed. if I pull out the back three seats, I can stack full sheets of plywood from floor to ceiling and still have room for 5 people up front) So, I took the rack and bars off, with the intent of eventually cleaning them up, sanding them, repainting them, and selling them.

I got to talking with a neighbor across the street, who is a contractor, and he asked how much I wanted for the rack. We had talked already about a price for me buying a spare contractor's table saw he had. I told him that an even swap for the table saw would be fine with me. Deal done! We both got something that was valuable to us, and the other person had no real need for the object he gave up.

I've always wanted a table saw. I have always had to borrow someone's whenever I needed one. It is really the first full-size piece of shop power equipment I have. I have a few bench tools (grinder, drill press, and belt/disc sander). I don't really have the room to set the table saw up IN the shop now, but I have a small patio behind the house, where I can work on larger projects.

Here is the saw...an older Craftsman contractor's table saw. It has a 15amp, direct-drive motor. It looks a little rusty, but it purrs when you turn it on...
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Since I primarily work in aluminum, I want to be able to cut metal with my table saw. I've heard it can be done, even with standard woodworking blades, but Home Depot happened to have a 10" Non-Ferrous blade available for around $60. I decided to give it a try...
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Those little squiggly lines have a silicon-feeling, squishy substance in them...
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This is the aluminum sheet I was cutting, 1/4" thick. It will be used as the back plate for the light brackets I am building for the Pelton & Crane dental lights...
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At the end of the first cut. It cuts aluminum beautifully! The edges will need very little cleaning up. The only bad thing is that it throws tiny aluminum shavings EVERYWHERE. I found aluminum shavings in places I didn't know I had places. It took a while to sweep up the patio after these cuts...
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Now you can start to see the final design of the light brackets coming together. The basic design is four intersecting parabolas. After reading SHOPNUT's reply above, I've decided I need a little more side-to-side rigidity in the design, so I am working on another brace to put in the center section...
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Here is the back plate up against a music equipment rack, which is a clue about where I am going with this project...and a little clue into a project I have been working on, but have not shared with you guys yet.
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[couchmechanic]

Glad to see someone else putting those wonderful old P&C dental lights to good use! Those aluminum handles of the older LF's are what drew me to them. That's going to be a great looking matching bracket when you get it finished

I buried my mount in the wall so I didn't have to get creative like you:


Just a few comments on the lights in case you didn't know:
- Replacement bulbs can be had for around $7.50 (found mine on fee-bay)
- There is an adjustment procedure to focus the light beam which involves moving the bulb closer/farther from the reflector. I'm assuming you could potentially take it out of focus to get a less focused, but larger lighted zone, if this is something you want. I haven't tried this yet.
- Make sure the bracket is securely mounted on the wall. That 5' arm can generate a large load if stretched out all the way! Also make sure the shaft is lubed good if you want it to swivel easily in that aluminum.
- Lowe's sells a number of differerent dock builders brackets with pipe sockets on them with IDs matching the base shaft OD of these lights fairly close (just in case you (or someone else reading) decide to take the easy way out on some future lights).
- There may be a couple other comments in my build thread under "Lighting, Task"

Have fun and keep up the good work!

Wow that looks great! Could you post a few more pics when you get a chance to show some more detail? Couchmechanic

 

[shopnut]

Wow that looks great! Could you post a few more pics when you get a chance to show some more detail? Couchmechanic

Couchmechanic - Thanks, but I wouldn't want to hijack M_P's great thread he has started here. If you want to see more, just click on the Asylum link in my signature and look for the index in the first few posts.

Now carry on machine_punk. I love working with aluminum and I'm curious and anxious to see where you take this. Should be fun to watch.

 

[machine_punk]

Thanks, SHOPNUT! I would encourage everyone to check out your build thread...you have a lot of neat ideas going on in your shop.

I'm at that point where I have the choice of reading GJ all morning, or going out to work in the shop most of the day...so, see you later! I'll post more as I have pictures. I think you will like where I am heading with this shop...I've got a few ideas I haven't seen here on GJ yet. I'm intentionally not sharing a lot of those ideas, until I have some pics to show of progress (you know, a picture is worth a thousand words...and I'd rather spend the time in the studio building something to show, than writing a thousand words right now).

 

[machine_punk]

I really usually work in sheet aluminum. I would not have even usually had 1/4" plate at home, but it looked too cool at the scrap yard to pass up, so I bought it. When I decided to build these two light brackets for dental lights, I knew I had found the perfect use for that 1/4" plate. These lights put a lot of force on the brackets, since they are on 5-foot (just under 2 meters) articulating arms and the 1/4" thick plate should do a great job of resisting that force.

The really cool thing is that I completely designed this project on paper and cut out a few parts...then thought about whether or not I would have enough metal to make the back plates. Fortunately, this one sheet of 1/4" plate ended up being pretty much exactly the right size for making the two brackets I needed.

Here are a few more pictures. I needed a couple of more rectangular pieces for the current project, the dental light brackets. I have been wracking my brain, trying to figure out how to give the brackets a little more lateral stability. I came up with some pretty complex answers...but decided on simple instead. It would have been a shame to set up the saw just to cut a couple of pieces.

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Setting the table saw up for a miter cut and making the cut...
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I went ahead and cut a lot of pieces for my next project...which you will see in this thread very soon. I will need a lot of rectangular pieces, 19" long, in several widths.

Beginning of a rip cut...
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---WE PAUSE THE PICTURES NOW, FOR CAMERA OPERATOR...ERRR 'TECHNICAL' DIFFICULTIES---


(feel free to talk among yourselves)


---WE NOW RESUME OUR REGULARLY-SCHEDULED THREAD---

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the tooth pattern on this saw blade, the Diablo 'non-ferrous' metal blade...
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The unbelievable amount of aluminum chips, after cutting a few pieces.
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My new (to me) saw, all folded up in the storage position. This has some nice features. There is a place to store extra blades and the electric cord has an automatic reel (you can see both of features in this photo). It also has a direct-drive, 15-amp motor. Coolest of all, it is one of my favorite colors, olive green.
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The stack of 1/8" (0.125") aluminum plate I ended with...all cut up and put away for my next project, which will be a...(you didn't really think I'd tell you, did you?) Stay tuned, though--I'm pretty sure you will like how these light brackets turn out and how they work with the next project...
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[Red Leader]

Wow, cool thread machine punk. I love what you are doing with metal, and your ideas for the shop. I'm absolutely looking forward to seeing what you are going to do with your aluminum/airplane/rivet designs.

You mentioned studio - as in, music studio? What do you do? Do you play anything?

 

[machine_punk]

Thanks for the kind words, RED LEADER. I've been following your thread for a while and that means a lot, coming from you.

While I do, indeed play a little bit of guitar, in this case, I mean 'metal artist's studio for building artistic metal objects.' So, I will call my garage a 'studio,' because even when I build practical objects, I like to make them artistic too. Since I like to build 'aircraft-like objects,' I decided to call it The Aerodrome Studio.

I do piddle around on a couple of instruments, like guitar, drums and keyboards, but I am a lifelong sound engineer for live sound. I've done that most of my life, about 29 years now, for church groups and garage bands. I've got most of a sound system for a small venue and I've even done some sound reinforcement system design and installation. I don't have any degrees in that...just lotsa reading, hanging around knowledgeable people, and practical application.

To pay the bills, I am a nursing supervisor in one of the largest emergency departments in Northern California. After my success on MasterChef (top 100), I also teach cooking courses out of my house (essentially for free now, but I hope to turn that into a cooking school of my own). My wife and I are also getting ready to launch a web site which focuses on the importance of families eating dinner together, as often as they can.

I'm looking forward to seeing pictures from the rest of your work this weekend...

 

[machine_punk]

Depth Micrometers - Pawn Shop Find

My intent is for this thread to encompass everything going on, related to The Aerodrome Studio...my progress in remodeling the garage, tools & techniques, projects on which I am working, and anything else related to the garage.

As such, I wanted to post my most recent pawn shop find...a pair of depth micrometers. I had to laugh when they asked me to pay, I gave a whole $3.48, including tax, for the two of them. There is a Starrett No. 440 and a Brown & Sharpe 605...
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[machine_punk]

Cool Tools - Exhumer

Under the category of 'cool tools I am glad I have, I have to put this Dead on Tools brand demolion bar, called the 'Exhumer.' "Why's it so cool," you ask? It is a well-built tool, which incorporates a circular saw wrench and bottle opener into an amazing nail puller...
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[gorilla]

Those Pelton Crane lights bring back memories for me. I worked for a company that put the reflective coating on the mirrors. They were coated in a 10' diameter vacuum chamber in a tooling device that was called a Ferris wheel. I must have welded up at least 100 aluminum tooling racks to cover all the various sizes. We also built the vacuum coating machine in house.

 

[machine_punk]

Those Pelton Crane lights bring back memories for me. I worked for a company that put the reflective coating on the mirrors. They were coated in a 10' diameter vacuum chamber in a tooling device that was called a Ferris wheel. I must have welded up at least 100 aluminum tooling racks to cover all the various sizes. We also built the vacuum coating machine in house.

WOW!!! I would have never expected to find someone on the forum who had actually helped to build these lights! That is amazing. Thanks for the insight on how these were originally made. Cool.

 

[machine_punk]

Light Brackets & Tool Rack

Finally, some more progress on the Fantastic Light Brackets. I had the table saw and the circular saw out to cut some aluminum. I have been working mostly on my wall brackets for the two dentist lights I recently purchased...
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I recently cut the major components out and got them to final dimensions. As you will remember, they are basically four intersecting parabolas, which mimic the main design factor of the dental lights, the parabolic reflectors. I finally figured out the lateral stiffness problem and added a rectangular plate between the smaller parabolas, to stiffen up the bracket...

A couple of pictures of the major components of the brackets, laid out on the table (they will go on the wall). As you can see, they don't have a lot of lateral (side-to-side sturdiness)...
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Here is how I decided to deal with the lack of lateral stability. I only have enough parts put together to give you the general idea...
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And, more-or-less what it will look like on the wall...
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I will eventually drill a hole, or two, exactly in the center of that rectangular plate, to give me access for bucking rivets on the inside corner brackets.


On to today's progress. I purchased a couple of eight-foot pieces of aluminum angle (3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8" thick) to use as corner brackets. I rough cut the aluminum angle down to the correct lengths. It was really tough to visualize just how many pieces angle I would need and which lengths I need (then double the number for two brackets). We'll see if I counted correctly, or if I need to buy another piece of aluminum angle. Once these pieces are cut to final size, they will be riveted in place, which will hold the entire bracket together.

Here are some 'exploded' views of how I intend to fasten these parabolic plates together. Everything will be riveted together with solid rivets. Since there will be an incredible amount of force on this bracket, from the light extending up to five feet, I plan to stick with the aircraft standard rivet spacing of 4-5 rivet diameters apart for rivets in a line...
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Since I went through the trouble to get the table saw out, I figured I would go ahead and make some cuts for my next project, which I have hinted at, but have not shared a lot of details. I had a lot of complex joints to cut in the aluminum, and it was windy, so I figured the cuts out beforehand and posted the diagrams on the inside of the back patio sliding door. This let me see the diagrams and yet they were out of the wind...
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Here are the saws I used...an older Craftsman jobsite table saw and a newer Milwaukee worm-drive circular saw. I have a Freud non-ferrous blade in the table saw and an Onsrud non-ferrous blade in the circular saw...
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So, here is a preview of my next project...I call it the RECONFIGURABLE TOOL RACK (or RTR, for short) (I like TLA's--Three-Letter Acronyms) for tool storage. I have been working on this project, off and on, for a couple of months now--and been thinking about it for even longer.

I had several design parameters for this project:
- I prefer to have the tools I use frequently 'in sight,' instead of stored away in drawers.
- It has to NOT BE PEGBOARD. If you like pegboard, I am glad it works for you. I doesn't work for me.
- It has be be custom...just because that is how I roll.
- It has to change when I change...you know, 'reconfigure.' I don't always work on the same sorts of projects. If, for some reason, I ever move away from primarily working in aluminum sheet and solid rivets, I don't want to be stuck with the riveting tools hogging 'center stage' on my custom tool storage wall.

It took me quite a while to come up with my final design. I knew I wanted the tools to be stored on custom-fit 'tool boards,' but I also wanted to be able to move those boards around into different configurations, as my needs changed. I had to draw on some of my other hobbies for inspiration. I've worked as a sound man for the longest of any of my hobbies. I started on stage crew in 7th grade and have worked the sound board for garage bands, churches, theatrical productions, and youth groups. I've also designed and installed sound systems. I've never been paid for that...always done it as a hobby. I guess it's been around 29 years now.

Anyway...professional sound systems store equipment on a standardized rack system, now used widely used by the computer industry. It is my understanding that these modular racks originated with the switching equipment for railroad tracks. Here is a picture of some rack equipment I have at home...
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Hmmm...reconfigurable! (Wasn't that one of my goals?) Each piece of equipment can take up as much of the rack as it needs and you can change its location in the rack, just by unscrewing four screws and sliding out the piece of equipment. That was my inspiration for the design of my RTR (Reconfigurable Tool Rack).

The pieces of equipment are built in standard sizes, all some division of a standard 'rack unit,' which is 19" wide and 1.75" tall. So, a 1-rack-space unit is 1.75" tall. A 2-rack-space unit is 3.5" tall. A 3-rack-space unit is 5.25" tall, and so on. You can buy the rack rail in sections from 2 rack spaces tall all the way up to 45 rack spaces tall, or 78.75 inches long. Rack rail is pre-punched on the sides, to attach it to the case. It is also pre-drilled and tapped for 10-32 machine screws on the edge, for attaching equipment to the rack.
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So, rack rails are how I decided to handle the reconfiguration problem...but I don't really need the depth that normal music rack case has. So, now I needed to figure out how large to make it and how I would build a frame for these industry-standard rack rails.

My answer came from my material pile. I made a trip to a scrap yard up in Windsor, CA a few months ago. I found some wonderful 14-foot pieces of aluminum angle, 1.5" x 1/5" x 3/16" thick and about 14 feet long. I got three of them. I had no idea what I would have used them for, but they seemed like they could be useful.

They were clearly the right answer for building my framework. The spot I have in mind for this, right over my bench, lets me create four of these standard racks (19" wide) next to each other in that space. I decided on 35" tall for the rack...I gave myself a few inches over the top of the bench, to make sure I won't end up knocking tools off and I made the top of the rack just about as tall as I could reach.

That gives me 4 racks, which are 20 rack units tall (35" / 1.75"). After cutting all of the pieces, I've mocked up the complete RTR (Reconfigurable Tool Rack) on the ground, including the basic components...the heavy aluminum angle frame, the corner brackets (which will be riveted in place with solid rivets), the rack rail (just leaned against the frame for now), and a few blanks I cut for beginning to build the custom tool boards...
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While I had the table saw out, I made a couple of 19.5" wooden spacers, to make it easier to make sure I have the spacing correct, when I finally rivet the frame together...
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CONTINUED...

 

[machine_punk]

Reconfigurable Tool Rack (RTR)

...

Here is some detail of the joint (this is one of the 'center' joints...not the edge). These joints will all eventually be riveted together. I'll show you a sample of that in a moment...
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There will also be an angled corner plate on the back side of each joint. I built a sample of this and it is incredible just how strong the joint really is...
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The four corner joints will have much simpler brackets...just rounded-off triangles...
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The test piece for these joints is in the upper right hand corner of this picture...
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Here is a stack of tool-board blanks I cut last week, from a large sheet of 0.125" aluminum...
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I would love to be able to just 'punch' the slotted holes on these tool boards, but I don't have a press (yet) and I would probably have to get the punch custom made for me (not a problem, since I will make enough of these tool boards in my life to justify the cost, but not necessary when I don't have a press yet). So, I tried to drill them, but that didn't work out. The holes are too close to each other and the drill just deforms into the previous hole. I'm going to have to think this part through a little further...
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Here is a small sample I have been working on to test things out and show you where I am going with this. Here are some 'rivet sets' (standard anvils which fit in a pneumatic rivet squeezer) and spacers (OK...you found me out...they are really just brass washers) that I want to store together on a tool board. Here you see the bracket I knocked out in a few minutes to show you the sort of custom tool holders I am talking about, a few rivet sets, and a few washers...
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And here are a few pics to show you where I am going with all of this...
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So, there you have it...the little secret I've been keeping from you all...my next project. Now, imagine a whole rack of these (my wall rack will be 4 units wide and 20 units tall), filled with different tools. Now you see what I am going to be working on in the next few months.

 

[Identaltech]

Machine Punk if you ever need parts for your light RPI has most parts that you would need.
Did you get the tool for installing the bulb?
heres the linkhttp://www.rpiparts.com/PartsList.asp?equip=12&oem=50&model=259
The most comon problem is with the sockets or wiring.
If the light starts to flicker when moving the head one of your sockets is bad.
the wire going into the socket always break
this is the weakest point of the light!
Make sure the wire to the socket loops before going thru housing this will make them last longer

Mine is a newer version LFC II

I like the ceiling mount version.
Adec makes a better light if you ever run across one I would get it.
I work on 10 Pelton Crane light to 1 Adec
but with the limited use that they get as a shop light ether one will last a long time.

 

[machine_punk]

Reconfigurable Too Rack - Continued

I have been intrigued recently with the whole 3M Roloc system. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a system of sanding and finishing disks which can be attached or detached from the backing pad with just 1/2 a turn of the disc. There are several types of discs you can attach to this system, but I was primarily interested in the 'surface conditioning' discs, from 3M. They are essentially mini Scotchbrite pads with the special Roloc connector on the back. They come in several different grades of Scotchbrite and I wanted them for putting a uniform finish on the aluminum with which I work.

I haven't had much time out in the studio to work on projects so far this weekend...as much as I would like to spend the whole weekend out there, family stuff comes first. There was a family movie night at church last night and the boys had friends over for a sleepover afterward. I've been trying to get the house straightened (I moved in three years ago and it is still not quite all settled in), so I spent a couple of hours working on a project in the house, before heading out to the shop to get some 'me' time.

Here is a closeup of the Roloc disk and connector. This is essentially a Schotchbrite pad attached to a very thin fiberglass-like backing, attached to a plastic nub with threading. The adapter, which you see on my air grinder, has the matching threading. It only takes a 1/2 turn to put it on or take it off...
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Here is a shot with a disk attached to the Roloc adapter on my pneumatic air grinder...
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I didn't have an air grinder, until today. Angle air grinders usually run around 20,000 RPM. All I had was an air drill. I happened to use my old Chicago Pneumatic 878 drill, which runs at a measly 1800 RPM. That was rather difficult to use--just keeping the disk at the correct angle was nearly impossible. My plan was to eventually buy a Chicago Pneumatic 9106Q-B air grinder. Today, I just needed a grinder, so I went to Harbor Freight and bought the $25 version. The air grinder makes it cake. Definitely the right tool for the job! One of those, "Why didn't I buy one of these sooner?" The only issue is the amount of air it consumes...I had to take breaks frequently, to let the compressor catch up.
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So, you're probably asking, "Machine_Punk, why is their a jumbo-size bottle of isopropyl alcohol in the picture? Here is why. Aluminum clogs EVERYTHING you sand, cut, or finish it with. I've found that the alcohol does a great job of cleaning the fine aluminum dust off the piece, when you are done sanding it. It also seems to help reduce the clogging of the roloc finishing discs. I suspect it also works a bit like a lubricant when surface finishing with the Scotchbrite.
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What you see a little of here is me, using the roloc disk to put a finish on the aluminum corner plates I will use with rivets to hold the the Reconfigurable Tool Rack together...
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What you cannot see in this picture is me, using a piece of a regular, gray Scotchbrite pad to even out the finish on the surface of the aluminum. I really like the look of aged aluminum, so I will leave these parts unpainted. I just want to get all the scratches out, from fabricating the plate to it's final dimensions...
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And here is my 'label' for the Reconfigurable Tool Rack. I got the letter and number punch set from Harbor Freight. I highly recommend the regular punch sets, over the 'spring-loaded punch.' It is easier to line the letters up (not that they are that straight here...but I don't mind the 'hand-worked' appearance)...
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[machine_punk]

IDENTALTECH: Thanks for the information on the lights! I'll have to check that site out. I suspect there are 'more-reliable' lights out there, but I got these purely for aesthetics...that handle shape on the LF1 (tan one below) is what I was looking for (although I am very pleased with the lamp trim piece on the original LF (gray one below).

If I was going to do anything else, i would buy the individual lenses and build by own light around it.

I think I'll end up converting these to LED lamps eventually anyway. I've found some 24V LED cylindrical bulbs which look like they would work.

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Thanks for taking the time to tell me more about these lights!

 

[KF5LCH]

Very nice work! I would love to have you build me some camera mounts for my storm chasing rig. I guess my home made mounts will suffice for now.

 

[machine_punk]

Fantastic Light Brackets - Rivet Layout

I am trying to balance my time between two projects now, the Reconfigurable Tool Rack and the Fantastic Light Brackets. I am in the finishing phase on the Reconfigurable Tool Rack (as in 'finishing the metal,' not 'finishing the project,' although I am getting fairly close to actually assembling the aluminum frame and attaching the rack rails.)

I still have a little bit of fabrication to do on the Fantastic Light Brackets. I haven't drilled the holes to actually mount the lamp yet. I also plan to cut at least one 'lightening' hole in the bracket (which is really just a disguise for a hole I need to reach the back sides of rivets, in order to buck them) and a couple of holes which will eventually be a place for the power cord to pass through and behind the bracket (to keep it out of sight).

There is still a little bit of planning to do on the light brackets too. You can see where I was figuring the rivet length. Rivets are measured in length in 16ths of an inch.

In this project, I have 1/4" plate (4/16ths) with 1/8th aluminum angle for the corners (2/16ths). I nearly made the mistake of ordering rivets in the length which would only account for the plate material and one aluminum angle. I would have had a pound of rivets which were too short.

Every part of this project will have a piece of aluminum plate, attached by an aluminum angle ON EACH SIDE, or 'two' aluminum angles and a plate (1/2" total). So, you can see that I planned this out by '16ths' on the right side of the page. On top of the 1/2" of material (8/16ths), I need to add the allowance for bucking a shop head on the rivet (which adds between 1 an 1.5 times the diameter of the rivet to the length of the rivet). In this case, with 'dash five' rivets (5/32nds--remember that rivet diameter is measured in 32nds), I needed between 5/32nds and 15/64ths added to the length.

That gives me a range of 21/32nds minimum length (just over 10/16ths) and 47/64ths maximum length (just shy of 3/4", or 12/16ths...if we use the proper increment for rivets). Since they don't sell 11/16ths length rivets, I settled on 12/16ths and I will just grind a tad off...or just see how an extra '64th' affects the shop head on a test piece.

So, I ended up ordering a pound of AN470AD-5-12 solid aluminum rivets (translated into English, that is: rivets which meet the Army & Navy specifications (AN), with a universal head (470), hardened (AD), 5/32nds diameter (-5), 12/16ths long (-12) rivets. I also ordered a pound of AN470AD-5-16 (1") rivets--because rivets are like potato chips, you cannot order just one pound. I like the 1" length for stock rivets...it makes sure I pretty much always have the length I need...since I can just grind them down, if I need a shorter length.

NOW, YOU SEE WHY I DREW A DIAGRAM TO FIGURE THIS OUT...I think my eyes just crossed, after reading all of that. I see where the phrase 'a picture is worth a thousand words' comes from. I'll forgive you, if you just skip to the next picture.

Of course, from now on, I will just order a pound at a time, even if I just need a few of a given length for a project. That will build up my stock of rivets, until I have a fair number of most sizes on hand. Since someone is going to ask, it is about $15/pound for rivets in this size range...
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I already had a generic rivet spacing grid I created for the sizes of rivets I commonly use (and I found it pretty handy to have these numbers as I planned the rivet placement on this project). There are spacing issues you have to think about with rivets, to make sure you maximize their strength--so you don't deform or tear out the metal with rivets spaced too closely or use too few rivets and have the part fail in actual use...
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There are guidelines for rivets spacing in aircraft repair literature, particularly 'FAA Advisory Circular 43.13,' chapter 4 (for metal structures and riveting).

I'm sure there are several places to get it, I downloaded my copy from here...
http://www.everyspec.com/search_res...www.everyspec.com/&siteurl=www.everyspec.com/

There are things to account for in planning your rivets spacing, like rivets in a line should be between 4-5 rivet diameters apart. Rivets should be at least 2 rivet diameters away from the edge of the material. If you are using more than two rows of rivets to fasten a panel, the two rows of rivets should be at least 3 rivet diameters apart. All of this has to be factored into your rivet design....which is why I wrote out the sheet above, to figure out what I was going to need to do on this project.

I also created a 'rivet plan' the other day...calculating clearances and spacing and drawing a scale diagram (1" = 1/2") to look at spacing issues and remind me of the dimensional requirements while I am actually laying out the holes for the rivets.
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There is nothing worse than a crooked row of rivets in a project. While there are many, very complex ways to lay out a row of rivets and make sure you are meeting all the spacing requirements, one of the easiest ways is to buy a 'rivet fan,' a stainless steel tool designed for the sole purpose of laying out a bunch of holes evenly...sounds like just exactly what we need for this project. I have two of them on the way, the 10-hole version and the 20-hole version. All you have to do is lay out your two end holes and change the number of holes between them, until you end up with spacing which meets your requirements (in this case, to get hole spacing of 4 to 5 times the diameter of 5/32" rivets, I am looking for a distance between 5/8ths and 25/32nds apart. Once I have spacing within that range with the rivet fan, I know I have the correct number of rivets for maximum strength...
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Well, that's all I have on the Reconfigurable Tool Rack and Fantastic Light Brackets for now...I'll do a quick post about studio colors, then get out to the shop to keep working.

M_P

 

[machine_punk]

There's been a lot of talk lately about colors to paint garages. I think I'm going a little bit different route than most--a lot of folks out there seem to be going with the classic gray/red/white or black/red. I've really come to enjoy the color brown lately. I wanted an interesting contrast color and I was really wanting to go with brown and red. I wanted the contrast color in a color for which it was easy to buy accessories (think about parts bins and the colors in which they tend to come...blue, gray, yellow, green, and red). The problem, I decided, is that both brown and red are really pretty dark colors...when I look down at the bottom of the storage bin, I want to be able to see whatever I have stored in it.

So, in the end, I decided on brown and yellow as my primary colors...and a specific '1950's-ish' shade of each...

So, here we are, my color choices for remodeling my garage...

'Fudgesicle Brown'...
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and 'Pale Yellow' (NO, that is NOT my car...just showing you a color)...
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I've already started to buy some accessories in these colors, like these storage bins. At the price of these bins (I got them at ULINE--the price was steep, but what I expected for a quality product--the shipping fee, however, was shocking), I don't want to be buying these again in a different color. This parts-picking rack was a fabulous CL find...$25 for the rack. It had some rusty spots I needed to wire wheel and prime. Eventually, this rack will be repainted brown and mounted on wheels...
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I plan to start painting everything in the shop in these colors, unless that item is going to be left in the 'natural aluminum' I also like. Even machinery and vises will be painted in these colors, someday...

 

[machine_punk]

Where "Machine_Punk" came from.

It has occurred to me that I have told you all where the name for my metal studio came from (The Aerodrome Studio), but I haven't told you what prompted me to adopt the moniker 'Machine_Punk.'

One of my first interests, when getting back into metalworking, was the concept of a machine shop. I did purchase a little 7x12 lathe, which I am sure I will get back to, soon enough. So, that is where the 'machine' in my name comes from, from the concept of a machine shop.

I have a couple of huge artistic influences...concepts I really enjoy from an aesthetic point of view...I really enjoy the Art Deco and Steam Punk styles of decorating. Steam Punk is considered 'Neo Victorian,' and it basically includes making modern things look like they COULD work with steam and gears as a power source. There's a little more to it than that...but I'll let you do your own search on the web to see some examples of Steam Punk styling.

So, there you have it...'Machine' from the concept of machining metal and 'Punk' from the style of Steam Punk and giving an antique and very mechanical appearance to things.

Machine_Punk

 

[A_Pmech]

You officially have me looking at OR and dental lamps now. Damn you!

 

[machine_punk]

You officially have me looking at OR and dental lamps now. Damn you!

Why do you think I bought my two lights BEFORE writing this story? I wanted to get mine without competing with all of GJ on eBay. Sorry for the new addiction though.

My actual thought was that if I couldn't get one for a decent price, I would just build one (how difficult can it be to bend a piece of polished aluminum into a parabola and build a cool frame for it?).

Happy hunting for your lights.

 

[A_Pmech]

Why do you think I bought my two lights BEFORE writing this story? I wanted to get mine without competing with all of GJ on eBay.

I figured as much!

There are a few near me but a little more $$ than I want to spend. But I'm keeping my eyes peeled now so I know what to look for.