Hillbilly/Redneck machine tools

[fredintoon]

Rather than hijack a tech thread I'll start this one.
I had to ask "what is a Redneck lathe?" and was told:-
"it's AKA a Hillbilly lathe;
a slab of nearly circular metal plate bolted to a bench grinder spindle and set to run while being shaped into a disc by holding a file against it."
Here are some others;-
Re-shape a cylindrical object by chucking it in a power drill and holding a file against it as it spins. Alternatively, spin it against a bench grinder.
Hold a valve in a bench drill to sand the carbon off it.
A bench drill will also work as a vertical lathe, using a file or emery tape on the workpiece.
Or as a vertical grinding fixture, use in conjunction with an angle grinder
And as a press (unplug it for this one) to hold a screwdriver bit down hard onto a stuck cab jet to back it out by hand turning the drill chuck.
Absent a chopsaw, cut steel with a 7" abrasive disc in a Skilsaw or a 9" or 10" abrasive disc in a table saw.

[BA80]

Rather than hijack a tech thread I'll start this one.
I had to ask "what is a Redneck lathe?" and was told:-
"it's AKA a Hillbilly lathe;
a slab of nearly circular metal plate bolted to a bench grinder spindle and set to run while being shaped into a disc by holding a file against it."
Here are some others;-
Re-shape a cylindrical object by chucking it in a power drill and holding a file against it as it spins. Alternatively, spin it against a bench grinder.
Hold a valve in a bench drill to sand the carbon off it.
A bench drill will also work as a vertical lathe, using a file or emery tape on the workpiece.
Or as a vertical grinding fixture, use in conjunction with an angle grinder
And as a press (unplug it for this one) to hold a screwdriver bit down hard onto a stuck cab jet to back it out by hand turning the drill chuck.
Absent a chopsaw, cut steel with a 7" abrasive disc in a Skilsaw or a 9" or 10" abrasive disc in a table saw.

I have used every one of those methods at one time or another Fred.

I guess I are one........

[Poprock]

Fred, somebody's gonna die, right after saying "Hey, Y'all! Look what I read about on the interwebs."

[TADracer]

I'm not a redneck or a hillbilly....I'm a Cajun but still, sometimes you just gotta make do with what you have. And believe me, a drill press or grinder motor is a step up for many people. I too think at one time or another I have done all of those.

[DGXSER]

Take a cutoff wheel for an angle grinder mount it to a large bolt and nut with lockwasher, mount the bolt in your hand drill and you have a redneck ceramic tile saw. you can make circles with it if you take your time.

In absence of anything better, when my mother bought a side of beef, I took my 7-1/2" circular saw, cleaned the blade really well and wiped it with alchohol then used it to cut up the beef. I looked really intimidating covered with the shavings that spit out of it, and bone smells really nasty when cut like that.

[81xsproject]

...a slab of nearly circular metal plate bolted to a bench grinder...

And before it was circular, I cut it out with a jig saw

-Dremel "lathe" for filing the heads and shoulders off of float pins
-Table saw with standard blade did a great job on copper sheet for counter top
-Soldering iron for plastic welding

I know there's more, I just can't think of them right now (too early).

[trbig]

In absence of anything better, when my mother bought a side of beef, I took my 7-1/2" circular saw, cleaned the blade really well and wiped it with alchohol then used it to cut up the beef. I looked really intimidating covered with the shavings that spit out of it, and bone smells really nasty when cut like that.

I had a buddy that had some cows and a business in town. One morning, a cow was having troubles giving birth so he had to pull the calf. He tied the cow by a rope to a tree, pulled the calf, then took the calf to the barn. By the time he'd come back, the cow had strangled itself on the rope. He called me and told me I could have the cow since he didn't have time to mess with her, otherwise it would just go to waste.

I also was not prepared with the proper tools... lol. I had to get her to a manageable size, so I used a come-a-long to haul her up into the air by a hind leg from an old oak tree, gutted her, then had to use all I had at the time with no plug-ins anywhere around. I drained the oil from the automatic oiler, cleaned the blade as best I could... and fired up the chainsaw. Yup... reminded me of a horror flick. Got her into barely mangeable quarters to get her home to a cleaner environment for processing.

[trbig]

Hillbilly/Redneck machine tools

When I first saw the title, I thought Fred was going to make fun of the tools I make up to remove the cylinders or valves, etc.. lol.

[Dragon Tamer]

I must confess that I am a bit disapointed with this. I was hoping that someone had a new idea here but I have had to resort to all of this at least once or twice.

I do have a new one though, I know a guy that spent almost a month (using proper redneck tools) modifying a half inch drill chuck and attaching it to an old chain saw to he could use it out in the woods in the spring to tap maple trees for sap. He then spent almost as much time in the hospital contemplating the fact that drill bits ain't supposed to turn that fast!

[crazy steve]

..Table saw with standard blade did a great job on copper sheet for counter top

A table saw works great for cutting non-ferrous metals with a carbide-tipped blade. The blade should have 40 teeth or more (don't install it backwards; that pops all the carbide tips off!), set blade depth so it's just sticking through the material, and feed the metal in slowly; the thicker the metal, the slower the feed. Wear eye protection, this makes nasty chips!!!

With a sharp blade and proper technique, this will give a machined-edge finish...

[81xsproject]

You're right on as usual, Steve. It did a great job cutting the copper, and as for the nasty chips, I pulled a lot of copper out of my.