I purchased a new ROS about two weeks ago, as my old palm sander is on its last legs. After a lot of deliberation, I settled on the Milwaukee 6021-21, and I have to say so far it’s been great . Last weekend I spent a few hours in the shop, and made the adapter shown below, to connect the it to my Shop-vac. The total cost of the project was around $25; $20 of that being for the pool vacuum hose.
A 2-1/2" to 1-1/4" reducer that fits onto then end of a standard Shop-vac hose.
A section of cheap 1-1/4" pool vacuum hose, cut to roughly 12 feet in length.
The stock end of the hose, fits snugly over the small end of the reducer.
A custom adapter turned from alluminum. The end that fits into the sander has a 1 degree taper.
The strait end of the adapter fits snuggly into the cut-off end of the hose. For a permanent bond I used a dab of 30 minute epoxy.
Hooked up and ready to sand.
Saturday, I went into my local Rockler looking for some 2-1/2″ dust collection hose, unfortunately they where sold out. While chatting with the clerk, she pointed out the new FastCap ProCarpenter tapes. As soon as I examined a tape, I knew I had to have one. The tapes have several interesting features, but the one that really caught my eye, was that the hook doesn’t jiggle like every Stanley I’ve ever handled. Below is a YouTube video covering some of the tapes other features, along with some close-up shots of mine. For reference, I purchased the 16 foot Flatback model.
Back in February, I wrote about a great marking knife I found on eBay. I’ve been so impressed with it, that when the same seller had a scratch awl listed a few weeks ago, I just had to have it. The seller goes by the screen name cdnrx1, and he does excellent work, so if your in the market for a quality marking knife, or scratch awl, be sure to check him out.
The awl handle is made of Lacewood with East Indian Rosewood accents. The shaft is made from O-1 steel, and its sheath is made from East Indian Rosewood.
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Construction is finally done. Ok, It’s not completely done, but finishing and electrical will be a piece of cake compared to construction of the cabinet. I won’t be able to do any finishing this weekend, but hopefully by the end of next week This project will be complete, so I can move onto some simpler projects.
I haven’t had much time to work in the shop over the last two weeks, but I’ve made some progress, I’ve managed to finish off the top & I’m partway done with the fence. Hopefully by this weekend I will have the fence done, and be ready to apply a finish.
