ShopNGarage

I’ve had my hands on quite a few different cheap calipers over the years. The quality is nowhere near to those made by Starrett. Starrett calipers are very expensive when purchased new. A complete set can be assembled for a reasonable price, purchased used from eBay.

Outside and inside measurements are taken with outside and inside calipers.

For layout work, first mark the steel with layout fluid. This is available in a bottle or as an aerosol.

Dividers can be used to mark even divisions as well as arcs and circles. The points are used to scratch lines in the layout dye.

Hermaphrodite calipers can easily mark a line parallel to an edge. They are also used to find the center of round parts.

I purchased a new drill press vise from Grizzly Industrial…

T10440 Precision 2 Way Drill Press Vise

I expected to find the vise was made in Taiwan or China. When the product arrived, I noted that the box was marked ”made in India”. All of the tools I have purchased in the past that were made in India have been very poor quality. After cleaning off the cosmoline and carefully examining the vise, I found a very well made tool. The fit and finish was really nice. Using a precision square and my granite surface plate, I checked all the machined surfaces and found them to be very accurate.

Grizzly calls this a 2-way vise. It is machined on the bottom, the end, and one side. This allows the vise to be placed on the drill press table in three different ways.

The jaws are 4″ wide and can be opened 3 1/2″. The fixed jaw has one horizontal and three vertical V grooves for holding round stock.

It is difficult to hold thin stock in a regular drill press vise. The jaws are not usually flush with the base. Parallels or scrap material must be used to raise the part where it can be gripped by the jaws.

This vise has stepped jaws designed to hold thin stock. It was one of the main features I looked for when choosing a new vise. This is a nice vise for the money and I highly recommend it.

I’ve purchased an item or two from Grizzly Industrial in the past, but never took a close look at everything they had to offer. A few weeks ago, I received their thick 2012 catalog in the mail. I looked through the catalog and found they have a huge selection of tools for both wood and metal working. I also discovered that replacement parts are easily researched and ordered from their website. Grizzly parts, in many cases, are interchangeable with other brands of machines manufactured in Asia.

In a previous article, I wrote about replacing the switch on my Harbor Freight drill press…

I found a reasonably priced safety paddle switch available from Grizzly…

Grizzly Safety Paddle Switch

This switch fits the original Harbor Freight faceplate. It is also much easier to hit and quickly shut off the drill press if something goes wrong.

Always put a handle on a file before use. Without a handle, there is a risk of slipping, causing the tang to puncture your hand.

A simple and inexpensive file handle can be made with a with a piece of a dowel.

Select a smaller diameter drill bit and drill a deep hole in the dowel. Next, select a slightly larger bit and enlarge the hole, but only drill half the depth. Finally select a slightly larger bit and enlarge the hole again. This time, drill about 1/4 of the total depth. You are drilling a stepped hole that roughly follows the taper of the file tang as shown.

Tap the file tang into the dowel.

Ready made file handles are inexpensive, so I like to save time and just buy them. I really like screw on file handles. These and several other styles are available here…

McMaster-CARR File Handles

The switch contacts began sticking on my Harbor Freight drill press and the machine could not be turned off.

I replaced the broken switch with an illuminated rocker, rated at 20 amps at 120 volts. Because the replacement switch was a different size, I built a new face plate from plastic I cut from an electrical box.

Other manufacturers issue recalls for these types of problems. I wonder why Harbor Freight seems to be immune? A quick search and I found their recall list, only 2 items…

Harbor Freight Recall Information