Quick POTD for my lathe's QCTP tool holder racks. Wouldn't you know it, have a few new tools on their way and I ran out of space . . . Tons of designs out there, my racks use uni-strut. They make extension bars for them, but I used low profile uni-strut so TIG-welded another 6" on each one. The uni-strut is zinc-plated, so sanded that off first around the weld area (just in case the safety Nazi's read this). Still had a little of the white powder, but (for the safety nazi's) I had a fan going to blow the fumes away.
Before
The Grizzly extension was easy to put back in place, dropped onto the vertical supports using the same holes drilled in the uni-strut. Not so lucky with my Clausing lathe, so drilled a couple of new mounting holes to slide the rack down the splash shield to the left. Was drilling the holes and noticed a funny sound coming from the drill press . . . Opened the cover and voila, turkey feathers! Yeah, mice making a nest in my drill press.
So where'd the feathers come from? We raise turkeys for slaughter. Had a tom a couple of years ago that weighed 72 lbs.! Breast meat alone was 22 lbs. We give them all the corn they can eat, they go from chicks in the spring to 35 - 70 lbs. in 7 months. Anyway, here's my better half with Thanksgiving dinner. My morbid sense of humor, but it just struck me very funny to see her with the bagged bird with the legs and butt sticking out. Guess next year I'll clean up the feathers after plucking instead of leaving the task to the mice. . .
Final product on the lathes. Yes, CDCOtools knows me very well . . .
Thanks for looking.
Bruce