Engraving stand

[Tom Curran]

This base is primarily for working under a scope. You know how it is when you put a tall piece in your vise? You gotta move the scope up, and your chair up. Then you roll the vise a little, and you have to lower the scope, grrr, lower the chair....

The beauty of this stand is that I adjust the workpiece up and down, leaving my workbench height, 'scope, chair, all the same. If the piece is shallow, I bring the work up and into focus. When I switch to a thicker piece or another vise, I can adjust down, bringing the workheight into focus WITHOUT MOVING THE SCOPE!

To slide the great big LeTourneau vise off, I bring the stand up to desk level, and slide to the side. Safe, simple, no strain.

The whole gizmo slides right under my desk. If I needed to turn a long piece, such as a gun barrel, I could bring the whole stand out into the room for a clear swing.

Note the desk is cut so I can rest my elbows while cutting. No shoulder strain or pain, no tight neck.

 

[pilkguns]

looks like a great design. When are you bringing one down to set up in my shop?

Seriously, where did you get the threaded rod/handwheel setup?

 

[Tom Curran]

Scott, the rod thingie is an elevator from an old drill press table. It is PERFECT. One of those things I had for twenty years in a junk pile, too cool to throw out, when HEY! I can use this!

A house screw jack might work. A hydraulic jack would work, but might be a pain to reach down to fiddle with the valve. But you don't have to put the jack on the floor, it can be on a box 12" or so up, easy enough to reach.

It's made of 3/4 cabinet ply, glued and screwed. The knee moves freely on a couple of cheapo drawer slides. There's a $15 lazy susan under the wooden disk. I will cover that disc with a slippery plastic so I can slide the vise around to better center the work under the scope center.

 

[Ray Cover]

I got to hand it to you Tom, that is pretty slick.

Ray

 

[quickcut07]

I like your setup. Wish i could make up my mind on all the designs I've seen and run with one. Just when you think the ultimate design has been found another approach pops up on the cafe. Well thought out.

 

[Dave London]

Sweet ,I thought it was the lower end of a milling machine

 

[Unkl Ian]

Sweet ,I thought it was the lower end of a milling machine

That's what it looks like.

 

[Tom Curran]

You know, now that you mention it, the pantograph mills by Gorton and others would make a great base...rock solid and full height adjustable for our purposes. Most of the machine tools in this country have been scrapped or sold overseas.

I have been using this all morning and am very pleased. My drawerslides are not precision units, and therefore, I have a little more wiggle than I like. It's not a problem when cutting. I notice the knee wiggling when I am repositioning the ball vise.