OurWorkbench

Lock Mechanism

The work stand uses balance to make moving a machine to a desired position easier, but a lock mechanism is needed to keep it from moving, once there.

I left the lock mechanism for last. It may need slight modification if another means of support than our simple table base is used, such as one of several suggested alternatives on page five of this thread. I'm going to do this section in more than one post. Breaking things up a little will make it easier. It's not difficult or complicated, but the lock mechanism requires thought and care. Measurement is more critical. Slight measurement errors elsewhere which may have gone unnoticed, can show up here.

While I work on more illustrations, any who are interested in making one of these can experiment printing the following pattern. It can be used in several ways while creating the disc. I'd like to verify that I've gotten it onto this thread and that it can be retrieved and printed by others to the right size. The pattern picture is a JPG, 360 x 360 pixels, set to print at 72 dpi (dots per inch). The pattern when printed should measure exactly five inches in diameter, measuring to the very outer edge of the circular line.

I would NOT recommend trying to print the entire web page from your browser. It will work but you may waste a lot of paper. For Windows users, I'd suggest right-clicking the picture, then selecting SaveAs to save the picture file somewhere on your computer. (I'm not a Mac user so can't describe an equivalent operation, but there must be one) Then try to print that saved file with any available graphics or paint software package. It might be good to remember how you do this. It is likely that you may want to print another copy if the pattern gets used up or damaged in the process of making the disc.

(Lock Disc Pattern)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]524714[/ATTACH]

Next post I'll describe making the disc. Before starting on the disc, you might decide on something you want to use as a locking pin. The hole sizes you drill in the disc will depend on that pin diameter. I used an old hinge pin with a round top, painting the top part white. You can use anything you like with the same approximate diameter, somewhere around a quarter of an inch, and around three inches in length.

More soon,

John