Unless you have a fully-enclosed router table, your chip and dust collection probably leaves something to be desired. Instead of fully enclosing the entire table, Rockler’s Dust Bucket just encloses the router to get the same level of dust collection. When used in conjunction with a fence collection port, the Dust Bucket will allow you to collect virtually all the dust from your table.

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I mentioned a bit of a problem with my Shop Smith band saw that sprang up this weekend. The rubber tires that hold the blade on the wheels basically disintegrated after about 20 years or so, and the bottom one popped off the saw.

I called Shop Smith and was impressed with the service which was both prompt and knowledgeable. The very nice lady on the other end identified the model number of my saw and told me how I could save some cash by ordering a little differently and sent me on my way.

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Judging solely from what I can gather from the serial number on the headstock, my father’s Shopsmith — now pulling duty in my shop — was built in August of 1984. Almost exactly twenty-five years later it’s still going strong.

I mentioned a while back that my dad’s Shopsmith Mark V came to live with me on super-extended loan from the old man. Read: he’ll have to pry it out from under me to get it back. I left it be for a little while and started to read manuals and figure out what everything did.

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Sean previously covered the Veritas twin screw vise with a chain drive here at TM. Evidently Lie-Nielsen thought it was such a good idea they produced their own chain drive vise. The concept behind both vises is simple: make sure the large jaw closes parallel by turning both screws the same amount.

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You wire your shop for electricity and run ducting for your dust collection system, so why not outfit your shop with compressed air outlets where you’ll need them rather than dragging the air hose around?

RapidAir makes running air lines throughout the shop as easy as running PEX water line. You don’t have to cut and thread pipe or mess with pipe dope at the fittings. The system can handle pressures up to 150 PSI using just flexible 1/2″ nylon tubing and simple push-on fittings.

Pricing for the master kit starts at $140; it includes one compressor manifold, two outlets, and 100′ of 1/2″ blue nylon tubing. Outlets, tubing, and fittings are also available separately.

Master Kit [RapidAir]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You can use bar clamps, parallel clamps, or a vertical clamping system like Hawk’s to glue up a flat panel from several small pieces, but you have to watch out for the panel warping or cupping. The Plano glue press ensures flat panels by exerting force on both the edges and the top and bottom of the panel.

Advanced Machinery claims that by using their system you don’t need other alignment methods like dowels or biscuits, and the panels come out flat so there’s no additional planing or sanding required to get a flat surface. The clamps mount vertically on a 39″ rail to save space, which also supposedly reduces drying time. You can make panels up to 5″ thick and can expand the system to make almost any length of panel, but they recommend one clamp at least every 12″.

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JessEm has created a featherboard that lets you adjust its height (or width) independently of position. What’s more, while positioning the height, guides keep the featherboard parallel to the fence or table.

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Do you know what a good pair of fabric shears costs? It surprised the heck out of me the first time I borrowed my wife’s pair. I might have to pick up a pair of Fiskar’s titanium nitride Shop Shears for my shop so I won’t have to listen to that tirade again.

When you think Fiskars you don’t immediately think shop tool, but they’ve actually sold their Shop Shear for a few years now. They match ergonomic handles to TiN coated stainless steel blades which resist wear, scratches, and chemicals. The resulting shears will cut through fabric, cardboard, rope, wire, plastic strapping, Kevlar, and thin sheet metal, to name a few.

You can pick up the 8″ in pair starting at $11 and the 9-1/2″ pair starting at $16.

Fiskars [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Different tasks sometimes require different work heights. One solution is to use a lift table like this one from Southworth to turn your workbench into a variable-height workstation. You can use it on top of the bench or build into the top so it’s flush with the surface, depending on your needs.

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The 1-hp BucketVac vacuum head fits any standard 5-gallon bucket like a lid and turns it into a shop vacuum. This is brilliant — not only does it make use of buckets lying around the shop or jobsite; you can lug it around or store it in the shop in a minimal space.

Once attached to a bucket the BucketVac is a wet/dry vacuum just like any other model except with no wheels. It comes standard with a 2″ diameter hose and looks like a great way to put to work all the extra 5-gallon buckets that need to be filled with stuff you’d rather not touch.

The bad news is the price point appears to hover around $70. Simply put, you could buy two five-gallon Shop Vacs for what it would cost for one of these things, so it may be a little steep for someone that doesn’t really need it.

SpeedClean [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

The easy-to-relocate metal hooks that make pegboard so versatile also make pegboard so frustrating. By design, the hooks pop right out of the hole so you can insert them elsewhere. Unfortunately, pulling tools off usually means the hook comes with it, which then falls and bounces out of sight.

Crawford’s Peg Locks are a solution — the picture shows how these small plastic clips attach over the hook and clip to the pegboard. Removal involves using a flat knife or screwdriver to pull out one tab.  About a dime each ($2.62 for a pack of 25 at Amazon), they fit both 1/4″ and 1/8″ pegboard.

Crawford Peg Locks [Corporate Site]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

This interesting-looking old drill press posted to the Toolmonger photo pool has us scratching our collective noggins. It’s obviously a belt-powered drill press of some sort but we have no idea what its original setup would have looked like.

The stock plate doesn’t have a hole in it, which to me says metalwork — though I suppose that’s not always true. The whole thing looks like it’s built for fine adjustment with the knobs at the spindle shaft, but the wheels at the rear are a bit of a question for me. Is the belt supposed to loop through them or is it for a second belt that controls the height?

We always find this type of shop mystery thought-provoking. We hope reader Ghb624 finds out how this rig is meant to be set up and what its original purpose was. Let us know what you think in comments.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Amazon has the best deal we can find on a 7/8″ cutting diameter Magnate round nose router bit: $18.14, although it’s the same price on the Magnate website.

I happen to need one for an upcoming project so I spent some time looking around on the web. It’s hard to filter out the length vs. the cutting diameter or radius (7/16″), but I think this is the least expensive available. Any comments on the quality of Magnate bits is welcome!

Magnate 806 Core Box Router Bits - 7/16″ Radius; 1/2″ Shank Diameter; 3/4″ Cutting Length [What’s This?][amazon.com]

The folks at Big Ass Fans must be loving this picture right now. As we understand it, this is what’s left of a shoe factory after it was hit by a tornado that swept through the Sikeston, Missouri area earlier this year. If you look close, the fans are still there.

What does this mean?  Not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.  In all honesty, no one can predict how tornadoes will behave or what, if anything, will come through undamaged. These fans had just as much chance as anything else that was strapped down in the building.

But on balance, if I were Big Ass Fans I’d have this picture blown up and hung in the corporate lobby.

Note: We’re told that all employees escaped safely.

Big Ass Fans Withstand Extreme Winds [Big Ass Fans]
Big Ass Fans [Website]

The Parrot Vise swivels a full 360° like most bench vises, but you can also pull it from its base and replace it on its side to hold things vertically.  Shop Fox designed the vise so you only need to tighten the jaws to stop the vice from swiveling.

The jaws on the Parrot Vise measure 3-1/2″ wide by 2-1/8″ high, and they open to 5″.  Holes in the jaws allow you to mount custom faces, or you can buy the optional rubber-lined tilting jaws.

You can find a Parrot Vise for $40 to $50.

Parrot Vise [Woodstock International]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

In this great action shot, reader Vincent Ma cuts some stone for his latest backyard project and shows off his hard-won work clothes.

Using an angle grinder from Canadian Tire, and a Norton diamond blade, I can score grooves in the brick in order to snap the “wings” off the Celtik wall unit. This way I can make beveled units for curved sections of the wall.

My work pants are nearing their end. Here a giant rip opened up and all I can do is duct-tape it to prevent my underwear from showing. Yes, I do know how to sew, but I don’t wanna bother with it.

Never feel bad about working so hard that your work clothes can’t take the strain. The only idiots who’ll make fun of you for that are the same people who’d hire out the project you just did with your bare hands. The duct tape just means you value one type of work over another this weekend — nothing wrong with that.  Also, the stones look great.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

You want to quickly cut a fence post on the spot, but you don’t have a table or sawhorse close by.  You could try to balance the post on your foot, grip the pipe with one hand, and grip the saw with the other, but that seems a little risky and your cut probably won’t be all that accurate.   The Tri-Vise exists for situations just like this.

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