Interesting new tool

Posted on July 4, 2011 by dp

I recently bought this “Power Bit Start” for a new weed whacker I also bought. It is a coaxial pair of Sprague (one-way) clutch coupled shafts that will allow me to use my battery drill to start the weed whacker. No more endless yanking on the pull-cord. I have a Ryobi 90º drill and it works perfectly for this – about 2 seconds of spinning and the motor was humming. The red wheel acts as a grip to spin the shaft on the drill end. It is inconsequential to the operation. The price, I think, was $9.00 and some change.

Power Bit Start from Craftsman

Power Bit Start from Craftsman

Then I got to thinking this might have other power coupling uses. It has one minor problem which will probably prevent them from selling them by the millions – it has a hex shaft on the drill end, and a 5-sided shaft on the other end. WTF? If it had been a 1/4″ hex shaft it would have coupled millions of existing tools. What were they thinking?

Anyway – It is a very simple device which I will disassemble at the end of the weed whacking season to see what it would take to make the pentagon shaft more useful.

Posted in Machines | Comments Off

Saved by the lathe

Posted on February 28, 2011 by dp

I have a couple old radial arm saws. One, a DeWalt MD, has been my dusty friend since 1979. I paid $40 for it then, replaced the motor bearings and gave the head a good cleanup, and it’s been a perfect tool since. I’ve made a lot of stuff with that little guy. One annoying thing about it is it was missing one of the red balls that threads onto the arm stop – the one the keeps it from swinging on the post. Still looking….

A couple years ago I bought a Rockwell Delta branded DeWalt Super 900 saw and it had all the balls but was missing the wing nut that holds the blade guard in place. And the 90º rubber hose adapter that goes to the vac. I shopped around for the wing nut – 5/16″ course thread, always envious my older saw had the original part. I found a reasonable replacement but the parts house wanted $19.00 for it. WHAT?

So I bit the bullet and decided I’d save some money for my old age which just began this year, actually, and made a knurled thumb nut. Nothing fancy, but damn that works nice! Here’s a few pix – no surprises – made a shouldered dowel, drilled it, tapped it, knurled it, parted it off (with a hacksaw).

Posted in Machines, Projects | Comments Off