Those of you who frequent the forum may have already seen this nifty little project, but I thought I’d share it with the rest of you.

Vernon Peterson came up with a great idea when he decided to build a base for his Magnetic Drill. Personally I’ve always wanted a Mag Drill, but I’ve never had a project that required one so it was a hard purchase to sneak past the wife. But with Vernon’s base I could totally justify adding a Mag Drill to my shop because it would double as a second drill press!

Here’s a video of Vernon’s creation:

Vernon originally posted this project to the forum here, but I liked the project so much I felt it needed to be featured on the home page.

I hope it inspires those of you who own a mag drill to pull it out, dust it off, and turn it into a more frequently used tool in your shop.

You can download plans to make your own below.

  Mag_Drill_Base_-_Drawings.pdf (981.4 KiB, 205 hits)
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John Lawson invited me over to his shop a few days ago and showed me some pretty amazing things he’s made over the years, including his Atlas vertical milling attachment that he made from Taig parts. His vertical attachment really caught my eye because I am in the process of restoring an Atlas MFC mill and I’ve been looking for a good vertical option for a while now. I think the design is in some ways an improvement over the Marvin milling attachment. Apparently John got the idea when he saw a Taig mill being parted out on eBay. He bought the spindle and motor for a fraction of what a Taig mill costs new and he had everything he needed (except for a mounting plate which he made) for his conversion.

Here’s a video of the attachment in action.

And here are a few pics.

I know what some of you Atlas purists are thinking. “How could anything be better than a Marvin?!” Well, for one thing, it’s available. I’ve never seen a Marving on eBay or anywhere else for sale (although they do supposedly show up for sale occassionally). And I’ve heard that when Marvin milling attachments do show up for sale they cost a fortune. Unless you’re a collector the Marvin isn’t practical. John’s attachment is.

Got a better idea for a vertical milling attachment conversion for an Atlas (or similar) horizontal mill? Share it with us by visiting the forum and leaving a comment/pictures/etc. We’d love to see it!

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Barry Young (author of the “Norman Newguy” column) walks us through the various stones he keeps in his tool box. His stones range from rare Hard Arkansas to cheap dollar store stones. Barry not only discusses different stones and their uses, he also explains how to flatten badly worn stones, how to tell natural stone from man-made, etc. He also gives us his recommendation for the first stone a hobby machinist should buy.

You’ll also get a little humor along the way – something that is usually missing from most machining-related videos. What stones do you have in your toolbox? Feel free to add your “two cents” by visiting the forum topic related to this video.

Enjoy!

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