Necessity is the mother of invention

Time marches on, and so does the growth of my beard....and so do the projects at hand.

The nice things about the bus is that there is lots to do and its not all connected, so when I come to a natural 'waiting period' on one job I can move on to another. In this case while some finishing steps happen for the for mentioned cabinet, I moved back and picked up on the table.

The table frame came back from being powder coated, and it looks lovely.

While we waited for that step to happen I sourced out some retractable retention pins that will hold the rotating table in place when you've decided on which table surface you want to be using.

Although the pins are almost perfect....there is one problem. Size does matter. The table top is about 7/8" thick and the retractable pin is 3/4" If I used it as is I would have to drill a hole in the table edge @3/4" leaving me 1/16" of wood between the table top  surface and the hole for the pin. Obviously this will be to weak. So I have to figure out how to solve the problem. Most obvious(and easiest ) I contacted the manufacturer, but they don't make the pin in a smaller size. Option two would be another pin from another company.

Although this option had promise, it still was going to require modification....and frankly....to be honest....I didn't like the way it looked. I know, I know that's shallow of me and I should look beyond the front cover...these pins are important too but.... not pretty enough.

So on to option #3, that would be taking the pin tom a machinist and having him modify this pin, or make a new pin to the new specifications. The problem I have with option #3is time, money and access. I am sure I could find a machine shop that is open, but they are specialised kinda guys, and working on big projects. To ask them to stop and work on this will cost a fortune in shop time alone. So....being that I have time on my hands and always up to a challenge. I came up with a solution. I thought it was quite ingenious.....I think my brother , Shawn (the salty one) , used the term redneck......but we are all entitled to our opinions.

Welcome to the Sinclair custom metal lathe.....well truth be told it's really more like a custom griding station but lets not split hairs.

The important part is the results, and I think they worked great.

Speaking of redneck lathe....Jeffs project was finally ready for Beta testing. Here is how you make exercise equipment during the pandemic when fitness stores are closed and limited stock.

I'm not sure its entirely practical but man it was fun to dream,design, manufacture and then test!

Now that the chainsaw sawdust has settled and the sweet smell of pine has cleared the room, it was time to return to the cabinet and take it to the next level. Level three...