- Joined
- Jan 25, 2015
- Messages
- 2,558
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m forever looking for notepads, scraps of paper and that sort of thing to do a quick calculation or to write down a measurement I don’t want to foget.
But to be honest, that was always a PITA and not overly useful when at the lathe.
I went to the local thift store and picked up a couple cheap dry erase boards. Buck a piece, can’t beat that!
Like most home owners, I dont have a lot of room in the shop/garage, so they had to be small and easy to put away. But not mounting them somewhere also means they’re not very useful at the lathe.
So I came up with a “scrap pile” solution. An old piano style hinge from something (I can’t remember what), and a couple pieces of thin wall square tube (I think it was from an old bathroom stand or something) and a bit of figurin’ gets me this:
It pivots up out of the way when I need it stored, but I can swing down to where I can write on it. With the piano hinge, I can swing it left/right so I can see it from the headstock or most anywhere else in the garage (swings almost 180).
It even came with a marker holder attached. Side bonus is it’s also magnetic, so I can stick a piece of paper to it with a magnet if I want a drawing (or other document) close by to reference it.
Last thing was a bit of string and a rag to use to wipe it clean when done.
I think I’m going to add a little bracket to hold a claculator too. That’s always another PITA to store on/close to the lathe and something I always seem to need when making things “on the fly”.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way it came out! All for less than a buck!
Last thing I have to do is work out a spring mech so I can move it up and down and have it stay where I put it. Right now, the lower arm just has a hook/spring that I can move up and down the pegboard holes.
Just thought I’d share some of my “junk pile engineering”.
But to be honest, that was always a PITA and not overly useful when at the lathe.
I went to the local thift store and picked up a couple cheap dry erase boards. Buck a piece, can’t beat that!
Like most home owners, I dont have a lot of room in the shop/garage, so they had to be small and easy to put away. But not mounting them somewhere also means they’re not very useful at the lathe.
So I came up with a “scrap pile” solution. An old piano style hinge from something (I can’t remember what), and a couple pieces of thin wall square tube (I think it was from an old bathroom stand or something) and a bit of figurin’ gets me this:
It pivots up out of the way when I need it stored, but I can swing down to where I can write on it. With the piano hinge, I can swing it left/right so I can see it from the headstock or most anywhere else in the garage (swings almost 180).
It even came with a marker holder attached. Side bonus is it’s also magnetic, so I can stick a piece of paper to it with a magnet if I want a drawing (or other document) close by to reference it.
Last thing was a bit of string and a rag to use to wipe it clean when done.
I think I’m going to add a little bracket to hold a claculator too. That’s always another PITA to store on/close to the lathe and something I always seem to need when making things “on the fly”.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way it came out! All for less than a buck!
Last thing I have to do is work out a spring mech so I can move it up and down and have it stay where I put it. Right now, the lower arm just has a hook/spring that I can move up and down the pegboard holes.
Just thought I’d share some of my “junk pile engineering”.
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