Drill Press

When The Denver Spoke went out of business, they sold off their shop tools and supplies.  I bought a big load of tools, including a nice drill press.  Since I have had it, I have had it sitting on a stool, in the shop building.  It was usable, but its perch was somewhat pecarious.

Recently, at work, we got a new triaxial chamber for our resilient modulus machine.  It was shipped to us in a nicely-built plywood and lumber shipping crate. After I unpacked the chamber, I started looking at the crate, and my imagination took hold.  I asked my boss, Paul, what we were going to do with the crate.  He told me that it was destined for the dumpster, and that I could have it if I wanted it.

Yesterday, Paul hauled the crate to my house for me, so that I wouldn't have to drive the Dodge to the lab and back.  This morning, I got the power tools out and went to work.  I sawed the panel out of one side of the crate, bolted a couple of the 2"x4" shipping braces to the sides and then cut a plywood shelf to sit on top of them.

Then, I screwed the top back on, and bolted the drill press to it.

Voila:

I have my drills stored on the bottom shelf, with bits on the upper shelf.  On top of the stand, I bolted my bench vise down next to the drill press.  Behind the press, I have the batteries of my rechargeable drill charging up.

The shop building is slowly coming together.

x