Three For Three

I was knockin' 'em dead yesterday. The above photo shows the insert I made for router table. When I bought the router from Sears I figured I'd make a table for it to increase the utility. My last year at the high school I had the boys in the woodshop put the table together using the plans I had from the Marc Adams School. I went back to Sears to get the metal plate to sink down in the table. It had a 3" hole in the center but I figured they sold something else to drop in there that I'd get at a later date. Seems they don't have anything else to go in there and the 3" hole is just not safe so I've been thinking of what to make that would be safe and allow me to use the router with a variety of bits. Inspiration finally hit and I came up with this. 

There's a matching pair of 3" discs that are bolted together with the plastic router bottom sandwiched  in between them. The one facing up in the photo has a 9/16" center hole for clearance on the common 1/2" bits. The one on the bottom has an 1-1/4" hole. For big bits I can just flip the two pieces and I'm set. There are six holes in each plate on the outer circle - three are threaded, three are countersunk for flathead screws. No little nuts to drop in the sawdust and it's a pretty quick change-out.

Finally got around to finish welding the press brake attachment yesterday after working on the router insert. I need to chip the slag, knock off the BB's and splash a little paint on it still. I'll also pick up a couple of proper cup point screws to fasten the top piece to the press. I'll get everything lined up and then spot a couple of holes for the attachment screws so it'll line up properly and have less chance to fall off and smash one of my fingers while I'm installing it. 

I also got around to soldering up the additional water tray I made to help humidify the house. I've got a big electric soldering copper but for some reason it wasn't working. Might be because it's 50 years old, so I drug out the air-acetylene torch and used that. Not quite as easy to control and I waited until I did a little additional cleaning before tackling that and the press brake so I wouldn't burn the barn to the ground. 

So that gave me three, count 'em, three jobs off the list yesterday. Yippy, Damn, Skippy!