APU stand - Previously, while the APU(auxiliary power unit) was being shown to students, it was sitting on a small wheeled cart used for carrying boxes, etc.  It wasn't secured to it in any way and it didn't provide the students with an easy means of seeing the whole APU, or show the proper orientation of it, so I made a stand for it.  The stand is made out of 1" angle iron and a few spare pieces of 1" steel box tube with 4" casters.

     Blue print holder - While working on projects at my work bench, if there were blue prints involved, I either had to work on top of them, put them on a different, unused bench, put them on the floor or keep opening and folding them up.  In short, it was a pain as my bench wasn't all that big.  To solve it, I made a blue print holder that would fold down out of the way on the far side of my bench, and when I needed it, I could fold it up and pin it in place.  There were two paper clamps, one in each corner at the top to hold the blue prints on the board.  It was made out of welded 6061 1" angle and some extra 2024 .030" aluminum.

     Can crusher - We had a lot of empty paint cans to dispose of.  Previously, they were bundled up in bags and sent out as toxic waste which was very bulky and very expensive.  Sometimes people would attempt to bash the cans flatter, but it wasn't very successful.  I reasoned that first, if we could throw out scrap metal with paint on it, then we should be able to throw out the empty paint cans with some dried paint in them.  The bosses agreed.  Problem was, the full size paint cans took up a lot of space in our waste metal cans, so I came up with the can crusher design.  It's made out of some 3.5 lb steel C channel, some 3" and 4" steel box tube and a few pieces of steel flat stock.  It locks in the "up" position and you pull the ring at the top to release the "up-lock" which allows you to lower the handle and crush the cans.  The handle adjusts outward to make it longer which gives lighter people more leverage, and the ability to crush big cans.  You can crush anywhere from pints up to 5 gallon cans with it, including rectangular thinner cans.

     Chop saw #1 - We got a new chop saw, but the base was pretty weak metal and flexed when you cut with it, consequently, most things were not square after being cut with it.  Additionally, space was limited on a bench and it wasn't convenient to keep moving it around from bench to bench.  I took the chop saw arm, and the two pivot mounts off the factory base, and mounted them to the stand that I made for it.  It's made out of 1½" and 1" angle iron with .032" 2024 AL skinning the table top and fold up sides.  The fold up sides add about an extra 3' to each side and stay in place with a simple over-center lock, like on 6' tables, that I made out of 1" angle iron.  It has a spark guard at the back and a tray at the bottom to catch the spall and grindings.  It has two 4" casters on it with steel legs at the back.  A telescoping handle could be extended out the front to help move it around in the shop.

     Chop saw #2 - With the 2nd chop saw, the base wasn't much stiffer than the first one, but space was even more limited, so using it on the floor or on a temporarily cleared table was quickly becoming tiresome.  I decided to make another stand, but it didn't need to be as heavily made as my first one, and as the saw arm's pivots were spot welded to the base, I had to use the whole saw.  The stand was again made out of 1½" and 1" angle iron.  I drilled a hole in the factory base and bolted it down to the new stand to eliminate the flexing while cutting.  The fold up sides are about 3' again, but not quite as wide as on the original and I used the same, simple over-center lock to keep them up.  On the right hand "wing" I added a stock stop that could be clamped in place, parallel to the blade.  This made cutting multiple pieces of the same length much easier than measuring each piece.  I added a small spark guard and spall tray as well as a rack to hold extra blades, the stock stop and the wrench.  It has 4" casters on the front and I decided not to add a handle as it's pretty easy to move and lighter than the first one I made.

     CPU fan shroud - I decided to try overclocking a couple Celeron CPUs I had and was concerned about getting adequate cooling for them.  While bigger heat sinks and fans were obvious improvements, I also wanted to increase the air flow over the heat sink, and exhaust the hot air outside the case.  I bought a Global Win FDP32 heatsink/fan combo, and started on a shroud.  I made it out of scraps of .032" 2024 AL and rivetted the heatsink back half to the fan front half.  The shroud fits tightly over teh heatsink and requires no other mechanical fasteners.  The fan uses 2 small case screws and are accessed by removing the small case screw and opening the top of the shroud.  The fan is oriented to suck air from down near the motherboard, pull teh cool air across the heatsink fins, and then blow the hot air right out the side of the case.  Aside from my intended plan of the shroud, the large size heatsink and fan would not have fit because the DIMM slots would have been in the way.  The shroud idea solved the DIMM slot problem as well as cooling the overclocked CPU to below default temperatures.  More details are here.

     CPU fan shroud #2 - I had a dual CPU Tiger Tyan 100 with two 300 mhz Celerons in it that I wanted to try overclocking as well.  I bought two Global Win FEP32s (slightly thinner brothers of the FDP) and while the YS Tech fans are very good quality, I wanted something with more air flow so I bought two 4" case fans too.  On the dual MB, there was barely enough room for the new FEP heatsinks, and definitely no room for the fans, so it was another reason for shrouds on top of my original plan to increase the airflow and dump the hot air outside the case.  I made two new, and bigger, shrouds out of pieces of .032" 2024 AL again, and again used small rivets to attach the rear heatsink half of the shroud to the front fan half.  Due to the extra size and weight of the new shrouds, I opted to use 2 small case screws to screw the shrouds to the heatsinks.  I made the front of the shrouds slightly undersize so the fans fit very tight, and vibration free, without any fasteners at all.  Again, the fan pulls cooler air from down near the MB, through the shroud across the heatsinks, and exhausts it out the side of the case.  You can see how much bigger the new fan and shroud is compared to my first one.  Once both shrouds are mounted on the MB, you can see that there would be no chance of a conventional mount for them.  The air coming out of the shrouds never gets any hotter than "slightly warm" even though the CPUs have been running at 468 mhz instead of their default 300 mhz for nearly 4 years now.  More details are here.

     Digital tach - With my interest in home made windmills, I needed a tachometer to help in design planning as well as determining the wind turbine's performance.  I found a website that sold digital tach kits, Design Specialties, so I ordered one.  I figured I'd get the tach I needed, plus get a little practice at electronics and soldering.  When finished, the tach looks like the picture below.

     My tach looked pretty much identical except for the fact that I soldered the two LEDs in reverse positions while in some state of in-attention.  Needless to say, it didn't work.  I was very depressed.  With the help of a couple friends to de-solder them, and install them in the correct position, it started working.  I was now elated.  Another co-worker mentioned how he used various things like old deodorant containers to protect little circuit boards he used to make.  I did some careful measurements and decided that my new WORKING tach might fit inside an old stick deodorant container.  I got a couple pieces of styrofoam that were kicking around, and started my little tach container project.

     I wiped out the inside of the deodorant case, popped the screw knob off the bottom and enlarged the hole for the two LEDs (emitter and receiver) to stick through.  I laid out where the holes for the display and the on/off switch should go and cut them out using a sharpened hack saw blade and an xacto knife to cut through the thick plastic of the deodorant case.  The 2" x 2" circuit board was a perfect fit inside the case and I used thin contoured pieces of styrofoam as packing between the underside of the board and the inside of the case.  The on/off button was still recessed inside the case, so I went looking for something to extend the switch button so it stuck outside the deodorant case.  My wife, who is very clever, suggested I use a small piece of Lego to extend the switch button.  I got one of the small round pieces and it was a PERFECT fit over the switch button cover, so I glued it on the small cover with crazy glue.  The switch button cover pops off the actual switch so I could snap it back on through the hole in the case once the board was inserted in the case.  I picked a yellow Lego piece because I couldn't find a red one to match my red/black colour scheme.

     With the styrofoam under the board, it fits very snuggly in the deodorant case so no other fastening was required.  I glued the red plastic display lens into the deodorant case with crazy glue and while it was setting up, I test fitted the battery holder sideways in the cap.  It was a little big, so I used the xacto knife to trim off the top and bottom corners of each end so it would match the curved contour of the lid.  It fit nice and snuggly in the lid, so it was time for final assembly.

     The thing I liked about the deodorant container was that the LEDs were protected by the flange on the base.  You can see the yellow Lego piece sticking ou of the left side about 3/16".  The snug fit of the battery case means it slightly swelled the case and now the lid was nice and tight.  I anticipated having to use a couple small screws to hold the lid on, but they weren't required at all.  Next thing was the function test.  If it didn't work, at least it would smell really nice.

     Works like a charm!  I showed it to my wife, and she immediately put her thumb in the display window and popped the red lens off.  I forgave her though because the Lego piece was such a great idea :)

     Exhaust pipe stand - A Tutor(a small jet training aircraft) exhaust pipe was used for instructing students and training on maintenance and rewrapping the exhaust pipe insulation.  This was done while it laid on a table top or on the floor.  It was carried by hand from place to place in the hangar and either stored on the floor or leaned up against a wall.  I made a small stand for it that utilized the exhaust pipe's actual mounting points and provided full view from all angles as well as the ability to re-wrap the insulation unhindered.  It was made out of 1" and 1½" angle iron with 4" casters.

     Fence post pounder - I've made a number of fence post pounders.  Not much high-tech in them and I generally use a 2' to 3' piece of the thickest/heaviest steel pipe laying around.  A good thick piece of plate welded to the bottom with handles made out of bent ½" steel round stock, a little paint, and that's it.

     Floor sweeper rack - We got an electric floor sweeper/washer to clean the hangar's floor, and it came with a very heavy recharger.  I guess the idea was that the recharger would be mounted on the wall somewhere and have a dedicated plug.  As this wasn't very convenient for us, and due to the fact that the recharger had to be stored separately from the sweeper, it ran the risk of being knocked off a table/shelf or someone might get unjured carrying the unit to an available socket to recharge the sweeper.  Most of the steel on the sweeper was 1/8" or thicker, so I reasoned it was strong enough for me to come up with some kind of recharger mount that was permanently mounted on the sweeper.  This would mean it could be plugged in anywhere in the hangar, no one would have to worry about carrying the heavy charger, and we didn't need to worry about it getting lost or knocked off a table/shelf.  Again, it was made out of small pieces of 1" angle iron and 1" steel box tube.  I tried to keep the mount low so it was still easy to see where you were going, and to keep it on the front where it was out of the way.  The charger can be removed, if need be, by removing one screw at the front right side.

     Gear stand - We had a MLG (main landing gear) off of a training aircraft that was used to show students the different parts of the assembly.  Previously, it was laid on top of the table and rolled around as different parts were pointed out.  This wasn't very practical or safe, IMO, so I came up with a retractable stand, that allowed the MLG to be firmly mounted, allow all-around visibility, required no tools to set it up for display and left the table top available for use.  Using 1½" and 1" angle iron, I made the stand in two pieces.  One piece, the actual stand, had the landing gear firmly mounted to it using the aircraft mounts and it would pivot and slide under neath the table top.  The second piece, was the rails made out of angle iron that were permanently bolted to the underside of the table.  There are no moving parts and the MLG mount slides on the rails by way of two short pieces of ½" steel round stock.  The MLG mount section slides out, rotates up and hooks on the side of the table in a vertical position.  The MLG mount can be lifted, and separated from the table, and the MLG can be removed from the stand by removing two nuts.