Tossing up whether I should post this as a “hints and tips” or a project, however, in my endeavour to separate my puzzle posts, with another one (puzzle) already on the drawing board, projects won out… and the foot power-button cradle was a major “engineering exercise” (more on that later).
Foot power also permits your shop assiatant(s),
to use their heads.
AND NO, by the title of FOOT, I'm no way endorsing imperial.
This was migrated across from a LJ post on 20th. May 2017.
----------------------------------------- ooooOOOO From LJ OOOOooooo ---------------------------------------------
I didn't get this Adonis body by partaking in marathons… even half marathons didn't inspire me to pound the asphalt… furthermore, I take pride in knowing precisely how long a 50M swimming pool is, and rehearse memorising its measurement every 2nd day… I prefer to think of myself as an advocate of VPAA (Visual Protest Against Anorexia).
I bet you are wondering what he's crapping on about with a title of "foot power". Well wonder no more. In my youth (just a few years ago), I used to be a "quarterback" for the Warragul Dusties Aussie rules football club. While they never actually had such a position, I was so slow that I was always a "quarter" of the football field "back" from where I should have been. The coach wasn't impressed and as you cannot kick a baseball (legally) I was relegated to WOGball (hey, back in those days political correctness, was a well-dressed, non-swearing member of parliament and that terminology was an acceptable acronym for soccer).
Picture thrown in to give you a "reading-rest".
and with a leather ball to boot, that made heading
replace the toll of a cow bell.
Again I digress. One day I dropped one of those vanishing "Houdini" bits of hardware on the floor and as I bent over… I noticed them… CANKLES!!! I freaked out and quickly took a number of "skinny" portrait photos and even with Photo-Shop I could not make them look shapely enough for my collection of high heels. I panicked when I thought I might miss my audition for the upcoming Churchill Seniors' Soccer World Cup.
Forever daydreaming, the solution came to me in the form of a "foot operated machinery toggle switch" training regime. Now wasn't that worth the wait?
I had recently acquired a "Full Boar variable speed Digital Bench Drill Press", with a name longer than the drill is tall. It was outfitted with variable speed and one of those mongrel fangle-dangle mag-switches. I have never been a fan of mag-switches and with my newly found get fitness campaign, my first agenda was to install a foot pedal control switch to eliminate the need to make a regular pilgrimage to the local gym to beautify my cankles.. The mag-switch was just a tad more complex and larger than a standard light switch,
so I had to plug the hole with MDF (the wood component of the project),
and somehow fit the switch to cover the gaping edifice vacated by the relegated "mag".
You may notice it doesn't look as pretty, but with the green-texta eye shadow, I managed to make it look a little more appealing to my other horny, celibate tools.
Then all I had to do was to activate the new switch on the drill, plug it into a "foot pedal operated power board"…
AND just as quickly turn the power OFF to the power board as the unexpected and immediate feed of live electrons to the drill scared the bejesus out of me when I first plugged it in. Word of warning to the (un)wise, always wear RUBBER soled thongs when playing with electricity (even in winter),
The above picture is of a hand model I hired. I had to put the thongs on his feet as his hands were not that good looking and I couldn't afford to hire a better model.
Now all I need to do is place the switch on a spot where I won't trip over it and I now have two hands to caress my drill and workpiece.
With the availability of my two hands, I only have to crank up clamps half as tight as normal, thereby protecting my knuckles from loose workpieces. Just kidding about the pressure… I can now get away with using tiny clamps or rubber bands instead. If you still insist on using LARGE clamps, you can always bring the switch close to your work and give the foot a well-deserved rest,
I have converted my workshop into a total gym. I also use a foot switch for my table saw (note the fitted switch is always on),
Fortunately it is old and does not have a mag-switch. Furthermore, while the foot switch has a permanent place,
I can reposition it to suit the job… eg. cutting large sheet goods or different footwear (high heels).
I added a router table on the east facing end of my table saw… Bad move, as the east end changes direction when I rotate the TS to suit the job (it's the TS on a mobile base and not the job) and it's no longer the east end. Again I incorporated a foot operated power board that I have built a box for the switch, for routine operations,
For those special jobs when I need to use both hands at the start of a job, I take the switch move the switch to the floor and that way I have greater control and continue to slim the cankles.
It doesn't stop there… I have my mitre saws permanently piggy backed to a shop vac (and the mandatory DD). Unfortunately the laser beams (I bought mitre saws with lasers, as a permanent red-texta line scribed on the sub-fence nearly always produced inaccurate cuts) draw enough juice to NOT turn the shop vac off after the saw stops. Though sometimes it turns off after a few seconds, most times I had to turn the laser off manually once it started to annoy me after a few minutes of continuous running. I can only imagine the designers of laser light switch placement are not woodworkers. In both my mitre saws, the switches are in what I consider a very inconvenient position (I am guessing they were trying to encourage energy savings). No more ferreting for the switch. An appropriately positioned foot switch (power board) now quickly permits me to toggle the electron feed with two quick kicks, which is enough to interrupt the laser to turn the shop vac off.
The laser is then ready for the next cut… and I get the cankle exercise.
I still have my fair share of those awkward mag-switches on other machinery, but for those I don't see any major operational benefit by giving them the nip'n'tuck, however, I never stop thinking… except when I'm awake.
While I am talking mag-switches and you have no choice but read about it (or switch your screen off), some other victims of my nip'n'tuck surgery are my dust extractors (link here). Unfortunately they are remote controlled by a gizmo hanging around my neck, which doesn't exercise my cankles unless I try to kick myself in the chest to activate it, so I will not bother to even mention them.
If you're a mag-switch devotee, happy with the shape of your ankles or just prefer wrist exercise, please don't bother reading this article.
----------------------------------------- ooooOOOO The End OOOOooooo ---------------------------------------------
Don’t be crafty Craftisians,... SHARE your craft!
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Wow..that is a long post. I would advise against the foot switch for the table saw, though!! I like both feet on the ground when running the table saw and like concentration on the cutting area at all times on that machine!! Trying to keep a foot on a switch could interfere with the needed concentration. A drill press or Fordom on a foot switch make sense.
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
I love having a latching foot switch tied into my router table. Don’t use it all the time, and I usually use the paddle switch (foot switch is inline after the paddle switch), but stop cuts or something like that where I really want to keep both hands on the work while the bit spins down the foot switch is awesome.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
JJ, all my posts are long, (as well as my comments)... A lot depends on practices and druthers. I have found that when handling larger sheet-goods/timber especially during in-feed/out-feed, that 3rd hand foot is invaluable. I place a lot of emphasis on safety in the workshop, just ask any visitor, however, I'm sure we all conduct practices that we are confident with, that others on first (or more) impressions would cringe at. I'm sure many would freak out at me replacing that (actually several) machinery mag-switches with an ordinary toggle.
I posted this project moreso as it included that "button" controlled power-board for those that may not have a paddle for their machinery.... and the button can be paddled... as I have done for a smart in-line switch I use to turn the shop lights on, so it can be controlled manually or voice.
FAIW, I have temporarily (though it may become permanent) added another power-board into the chain that can be controlled by a remote that can be placed in any convenient place, Another practice many may cringe at... I use it extensively when I need to cut small pieces that are too small for my sled (gave away my small one), and being a short arse, my 4' 15" stature finds the small pieces hidden out of sight with my mitre gauge as I don't have the luxury of a good top down view once it approaches the blade. I stand on the opposite side where I have a full view of the blade and pull the gauge towards me. Having full view I can minimise travel and closely watch the fingers being still attached... just remember that you are in a workshop and not French court, and etiquette requires the pinkie not be stuck out.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Got to love a thread Duck style, you'll never know what to expect next, and usually you are in for a few chuckles.
About the switches though, they have been around forever, mostly called "deadman switches", and that name always gave me a bit of apprehension about them. But they are easily gotten for as low as 7 bux, if you are of a mind to get one. Most I have seen already have a hole or 4 around their bases where they could be screwed directly to your workstation, and the area touching the ground usually has a rubber material, so they don't slide around on the floor. Back when, a lot of us used to use them on router tables, because the button to turn off the router was always hidden inside, it under heavy cover, Now with Ivac switches they are becoming extinct. Heck, the Ivacs are becoming so advanced for less than 100 bux you can get one that turns on the vac hands free, it senses the amps of the running tool, and automatically starts your vac, so your BIG RED panic off switch on your router table, or other tool is all you need for a panic stop, or a routine off cycle.
GW, I use the "paddles" for convenience not emergencies.... when I panic, I run... bugga turning switches off. It's seldom one has time to think of paddles under an emergency... it's not like hitting the paddle is gonna impersonate a SawStop.
for a moment I thought you were advocating replacing all with mag-switches till I hit the link and saw what you were referring to. I have a number of those "deadman switches" (if you refer to those foot pedals) incorporated in my air vacuuming clamps. The Fe$tool VAC-SYS has one built in, and these two I use with my air cups/clamps,
That "poached egg" looking thingo is a remote I can foot operate to turn my vacuum pump on. This one I tend to use hand operated as it is not a toggle... the pedal needs to be depressed for the seal to stay broken.
I though a "deadman" switch is one you must keep your finger on to keep it operating.
As well as the foot switches, I use a lot of IR remote powerplugs... problem with that is I used to hang it around my neck (bloody long red lanyard) and freaked out when I saw how close it got to my blade when I bent over my TS... I now hook it on my pocket (that's why I wear the nightie... most t-shirts don't pocket) with an extendable string. Has a magnet glued on so I can attach it to my machinery, Strictly used for all my dusties... was 30 Aussie shekels for 4 power-points and the remote.
Tried using Alexa... great for turning things on, but because of the ambient shop machinery noise, she couldn't hear the "OFF" command... or I had to scream so loud, the neighbours all sat down.
Those IVAC seem great, however, I always found they never fit the exact purpose I wanted it for and I wasn't prepared to modify my setups to fit in with their specs.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Strictly speaking, a dead-man’s switch is a switch that has to stay depressed in order for a machine (or whatever) to function. The idea being, if something happens to the operator, the whole operation stops immediately. We used to have them on our big aerial ladders at work so the operator couldn’t move the hydraulic ladder without being directly in front of the controls.
Not that it has to be strictly used that way, but that’s what a dead-man’s switch is!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
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