2016 POTD Thread Archive

I do a fair amount of sheet metal work reproducing old Erector set parts from the 1920's - 1940's. My primary sheet metal working tools are a Tennsmith 37" shear, a Diacro 24" brake, a Roper Whitney #218 punch press, a HF 30" 3-in-1 sheet metal machine, a Dayton 2" x 42" belt sander and 4 or 5 Roper Whitney No. 5 hand punches. A few of the parts have inside corners that can't be cut with a straight shear, so I use an aviator snips and a lot of hand filing and/or belt sanding. It wasn't too hard to justify the purchase of a 4-ton notcher and 8" metal shear from Woodward Fab. Now, where to put it all . . .

You can see from the original work bench photo that it was full. The bench was a 30" x 60" 1 1/4" thick particle board top on a Grizzly 24" x 36" roll-around cart. I'll still keep the old bench around (can never have too many work benches). Today's POTD was to make a 36" x 72" work bench.

The top is 2 x 6's and one 2 x 4 which ended up at just a shade over 36" wide. I drilled 7/16" holes through the edge of the bench top boards on a drill press with an angle plate; could get 3 1/2" deep. Finished the drilling with a 7/16" augering bit. The boards are held together with a couple of 3' lengths of 3/8" all thread rod.

Apron around the top is 2 x 6's, apron around the bottom is 2 x 4's. The legs are tripled-up 2 x 6's. Casters are rated at 600 lbs. each (Menards). The bench top is a piece of 1/2" thick masonite (think Menards called in melamine). The masonite was screwed to the dimensional lumber top and trimmed on the edges to size with a router (edging bit). The bench is about 31" high which is perfect at my height for the Diacro brake. My old bench was about 36" high; I had to stand on a box to bend a 12" length of 1/8" aluminum at a 90.

Last couple of photos are with the bench top tools just setting in place. Still debating on the final layout before everything gets lagged down in place. I went with two fixed and two swivel casters, might be changing the two fixed ones to swivels for easier moving around in my crowded shop.

Bruce


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Fantastically stout looking bench! How did the casters on your older bench affect the use of your tools? I'm always concerned about how to make a tool both mobile for positioning, and then stationary for use.
 
Johnnyc14
Looks like you are making good progress. That is going to be quite a machine when you get finished.

BGHansen
Never heard of or thought of making Erector Set parts. Are the Erector Sets from the 20s-40s different from the ones I had in the 50s & 60s? I think those sets were an important part of shaping the technical bias that became so much of my life.
 
John,

Thanks for the compliment! I didn't bother with locking casters and haven't had a problem with things wanting to move around. The force from pulling on the handles is straight down (up on the brake) so the bench isn't side loaded to make it walk. I made some wheel chocks for the old bench but never used them.

I'm on vacation again tomorrow; the ONE day a year I go to the mall for Christmas shopping. Will stop by Menards and pick up a couple of intermediate 17" deep tool boxes. I have around 40 punches/dies for the #218 press, will get them organized once and for all. The boxes will fit perfectly back to back on the bottom shelf. I'm tired of hunting for stuff in boxes and drawers and have been passionate lately on getting stuff put away and labeled.

Bruce
 
Groundhog said:
Johnnyc14
Looks like you are making good progress. That is going to be quite a machine when you get finished.

BGHansen
Never heard of or thought of making Erector Set parts. Are the Erector Sets from the 20s-40s different from the ones I had in the 50s & 60s? I think those sets were an important part of shaping the technical bias that became so much of my life.
Click to expand...
Groundhog,

I'll do the "quick version" since I could go on and on. If you're interested in seeing the evolution of Erector sets, hit the web site www.ACGHS.org and download a guide book I wrote on them. It's around 70 pages long.

Erector sets first came out in 1913 and were quite crude. The girders were about 1" wide and had a trussed look. These are called "type I" by collectors and were sold from 1913 - 1923.

"New" Erector started in 1924 and had the common ~1/2" wide girders used from 1924 - 1962. Collectors call these "type II". The 1924 - 1932 era is considered the golden age of Erector sets; many parts unique to a specific model. There were scoops for cranes, scoops for steam shovels, parts to build a White Truck model(s) - think Buddy 'L', etc. They came out with a 5-foot long Zeppelin model in 1929 and a 4-foot Hudson locomotive model in 1932. The largest set in 1931/32 was a Number 10 set that weighed 125 lbs. The Great Depression really downsized the sets starting in 1933. Stuff from around 1938 - 1962 ran pretty much unchanged except for the occasional addition of parts.

In 1963 the parts changed again to girders with evenly spaced holes. Most guys in the collecting club (A. C. Gilbert Heritage Society) have a real disdain for the type III sets. The company went bankrupt in 1967 but continued on with Gabriel Toys, Viewmaster and Meccano of France.

The Erector name is now officially dead. The rights to the Erector name was purchased by Spinmaster Toys of Air Hog RC plane fame and many of the little RC helicopters flying around the malls. Spinmaster is the 4th largest toy manufacturer in the world. They retired the Erector name in favor of the Meccano name which holds more recognition through the rest of the world.

I'm sure you are correct that many a boy and girl learned something about putting things together from Erector sets (and their Chemistry sets, microscopes, tools, puzzles, etc.). Unfortunately for them, the company didn't keep up with the times as Sputnik in 1957 started the space race. Slot cars were "cooler" than trains, Estes rockets shot 1/4 mile into the sky while Gilbert's Erector sets still had models in the 1960's of a steam engine or fodder mixer first drawn in around 1933.

See, "quick version" . . .

Bruce
 
Bruce,
I had no idea Erector Sets had so much history. Looks like you could build a functioning bridge (or whatever) with the early girder style sets.
I just scanned the Gilbert site but will have to spend some time there.
I'd forgotten my about my Gilbert chemistry set. I'm sure it helped me ace high school chemistry.
 
I loved my meccano sets as a kid.
I wanted to get some old sets a couple of years ago but the prices were astronomical.
The modern stuff is terrible as far as I am concerned.
 
I grew up with Meccano sets too. Kept me entertained for years, probably was what directed me towards engineering. Most of it went missing after I moved out but still have a collection of gears and pulleys stashed away in a drawer in the machine shop.
Thanks for posting Bruce.

Greg
 
Groundhog said:
Bruce,
I had no idea Erector Sets had so much history. Looks like you could build a functioning bridge (or whatever) with the early girder style sets.
I just scanned the Gilbert site but will have to spend some time there.
I'd forgotten my about my Gilbert chemistry set. I'm sure it helped me ace high school chemistry.
Click to expand...
Groundhog,

The first Gilbert chemistry sets contained sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate. Yup, kids making gunpowder. One of my favorites was an electrical set from around 1935. One of the experiments was called the "dancing spring". There was a porcelain base with a cup, two screw terminals on one end and a boss with a hole. When assembled, it looked like a hangman's getup with a steel rod in the boss going vertically with a bend so the rod went over the cup in the base. One terminal on the base had a wire that went into the cup, a long spring hung from the top of the vertical rod with the other end into the cup. A battery was wired to the two terminals. Then the vial of Mercury was dumped into the porcelain cup to complete the circuit; spring would move up/down. They had other experiments with Mercury making a switch. They also sold an Atomic Energy set in 1950/51 that contained radioactive sources. Then of course there were their Kaster kits for molding lead soldiers. They also sold a number of different soldering sets in the 1919-era with lead solder for fixing holes in mom's pots and pans. Ah, the charming toys of the past! I wonder what they would have done to amp up Jarts had they thought of them!

Bruce
 
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