Chuck’s dad was one of those guys who had training and skill in many shop-related areas including wood and steel. Strangely enough, I benefit it all the time with this outfeed roller he made that spends most of its days in my shop.
The ShopSmith table is small — everyone knows this. It’s a source of constant nagging when you mention the table saw on the Mark V. However, with this custom roller I get a smooth feed and a car in the garage when I’m done for the day — win.
The roller is mounted to a U-shaped frame that’s attached to a pipe. The pipe slides into a tube with a friction pin that locks it in place, and the frame folds and collapses into a very small space that stows cleanly.
I never got to meet Chuck’s dad but on a 95 degree beer-break today I got to thinking, we must have been of a like mind on a few levels. Looking at his handywork, it’s exactly what I would have drawn up as the perfect portable outfeed roller.
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9 Responses to Chuck’s Dad Fixes My ShopSmith Issue
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Izzat a Mazda 3 in the background?
The support for that roller looks a little like a fold-up ironing board, which made me wonder if you could just mount rollers to an ironing board if you wanted to replicate this at home.
cl
Yep, Mazda 3 indeed.
Ironing board eh? The height might be and issue if it’s not dead on. The good thing about this rig is the adjustable height that I can use on the miter saw, table saw or planer. That’s a lot of chopped up ironing boards. 🙂
Looks good. It looks much like this one:
http://www.harborfreight.com/132-lb-capacity-roller-stand-95621.html
On sale now for less than $15.
I have a couple of similar supports in the shop at work. I don’t know where they’re from since someone bought them before I took over the shop. They work really well, but they’re too flimsy. It looks like yours is a much better version.
Probably wouldn’t be too difficult to tweak an ironing board mechanism to be infinitely height-adjustable, actually. I’d have to look at mine to be certain, but I bet you could make a friction lock to hold it in any position you wanted with a minimum of fuss. And you can get all the old ironing boards you want for free in college towns everywhere when move-out day rolls around 🙂
Nice ride; mine’s almost the same year and color.
cl
Don’t you just love the 132 lb rating on the HF rollers? Yes, I realize it’s 60kg, but that sort of thing always brings a smile to my face. Amazing deal though…the Lee Valley ones are only rated for 68 lbs more (30.9 kg), are $24, and don’t come with legs…so there you go.
Here is an alternative that some of my guys like better than rollers:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100618242&N=10000003%2090401%20530616
i use a craftsman version ($8 on clearance) as an outfeed for my shopsmith at the farm.
one the sand tubes from my truck migrated to the floor of the barn. the roller stand is now a VERY stable platform.
I can’t stand those darn tablesaw stand rollers. if you have them just a bit crooked, they’ll take your stock for cross-ways ride.
I’ve had much better luck with Ridgid’d flip-stop stand. It supports without pulling to one side or another.
JT