Angle grinders are among the most useful tools for anyone who’s ever had to cut metal. They’re ergonomic, compact, and get the job done. Unfortunately, one of the tradeoffs you usually make when using them is precision.
But thankfully, there’s a DIY solution. YouTuber [workshop from scratch] demonstrated the build process for a sliding angle grinder in a recent video, welding steel beams into a flat frame and attaching fitted beams on top to slide across the rows. Where necessary, spacers are used to ensure that the slider is perfectly fitted to the beam. The contraption holding the angle grinder – a welded piece of steel bolted to the sliding mechanism – has a grip for the user to seamlessly slide the tool across the table.
The operation is like a more versatile and robust chop saw, not to mention the customized angle references you can make to cut virtually anything you like. The build video shows the entire process, from drill pressing and turning holes to welding pieces of the frame together to artfully spray painting the surface a classy black, with familiarity enough to make the project look like a piece of cake.
As the name implies, [workshop from scratch] is all about building your own shop tools, and we’ve previously taken a look at their impressive hydraulic vise and mobile crane builds. These tools, largely hacked together from scraps, prove that setting up your own shop doesn’t necessarily mean you need to break the bank.
Must make…. have to build the Gingery lathe first
Unless you’re in it for the fun of the build it’s more time/cost effective to restore a chowdered out piece of old steel or buy and upgrade an import.
Definitely for the fun of the build… Bonus when it incorporates scrap lawn tractors.
Yeah, buyer beware.
These kinds of people often tackle this type of stuff because they enjoy the fabrication part of it more-so than saving money.
Sure there are people in the world that cobble together stuff from scrap heaps because there isn’t a harbor freight (or any “freight” for that matter) But in the first world, just the steel for this guy’s engine hoist that he built would cost more in metal, parts, welding rods, tooling and time than simply buying one, either used or otherwise.
Long and short of my point here is: Don’t believe these youtubers are saving massive amounts of money building things themselves when that’s typically not the agenda at all. It’s a trap that people easily fall for. Even going to a lot scrap yards anymore is getting bad because they know a used hydraulic cylinder is more valuable selling it as “scrap metal” and will charge accordingly.
they know a used hydraulic cylinder is more valuable -THAN- selling it as “scrap metal” and will charge accordingly.
They do build videos to put out content and get views (ad revenue) / donations. So for them it is a cost savings as making the jig is effectively them getting a second job to buy tools.
I respect your POV, and don’t want to sound curmudgeon-y, but surely there’s more than just cost savings (short term) to consider, right? Yeah, you can go out and buy the small/easy/cheap stuff, and it’s probably more cost efficient, but rolling your own on the cheap stuff builds knowledge and skill to let you do the hard stuff later.
I could go out and buy a wooden planter, but if I have scrap, and build it myself, I get a little better at building boxes, and that’s the foundation for a lot of things. Maybe it ‘cost’ me more money/time today, but when I go to do something harder/more complex in the future I’ll be more likely to succeed.
I think there’s value in ‘waste not/want not’, but I also am not trying to take the green “reuse/reduce/recycle” ideology to the extreme. I think the knowledge gained in getting your hands dirty on small projects isn’t always valued completely.
This is exactly the right philosophy!
I prefer the build yourself as you get exactly what you wanted – or at least know what compromises were made and why. Not always possible or practical of course. Often need something quicker than I could make it – or I have a project I want to spend the time on.
One point you missed, build it yourself and its fixable.. Buy and the odds are when in breaks you can’t get the part they knew would break. Or its so nearly cheaper to buy a whole new machine than the replacement part => everyone will buy a new machine. (Think Injet printer business model for example).
I wish there was a way to love the previous comments by Nathan and Foldi-One… many of these once “basic” skills which are fundamental and essential to being able to manipulate the physical world around us. I recently changed career pursuits into the world of agriculture, which by sheer necessity is probably the longest running group of “makers” in the world due to the often solitary nature of the work, and I don’t care if your work on a 5 acre farm or a 5000 acre farm, EVERYTHING takes FOREVER to accomplish even when totally prepared and in the best of circumstances with no mechanical breaks downs, simply because everything you need to do is so goddamn far away from from wherever you happen to be at the moment. in remote locations, whether being alone and in a location far from the comforts of your tools and workshop when your tractor implement breaks you HAVE to know what you have the ability, and resources and you HAVE to understand the realistic dangers and odds of the each less than ideal options are to you, your equipment, so that you can determine whether its worth it to pour that hydraulic fluid in because the motor on your tractor has a oil leak and you don’t have motor oil but you have plenty of hydraulic fluid and you’re cellphone died, so ya can’t google or call anyone to find out whether or not pouring hydraulic fluid in a tractor will permanently and unrepairable seize the engine up and your pickup truck is a 40 minute walk from you and your tractor out in the fields..every delay on a farm runs the risk of costing you a season, the farm research and development team hasn’t figured out how to provide more than one of those a year to each farmer…
Think about a farmer in that had traveled west to homestead some land with his new wife and children 1820 in America, chances are pretty good that farmer was no older than 19-20 years old, And about 50/50 chance that he met his wife and had children prior to moving west for his family’s dream and the promise 160 Acre of land to call their own and in many cases MUCH younger. Beyond the daunting task of travelling across America, with a wife and kids in a horse drawn carriage. Upon choosing a place to settle which likely had no neighbors what so ever, no stores to purchase essentials at, no library, parents or google and youtube to consult about how the F*** you were going to build a home for your family… no one other than your wife and children for miles…. if you f***ed something up and got yourself hurt, there was no 911( and no phone to to call 911 even it had existed) and if you got hurt that bad, not only did you die, but its likely to have also contributed to the pretty good chance your wife and children’s’ lives had been jeopardized as a result