HI! Awhile back, I was fascinated by the Wooden Tool Man videos showing his experiments with foot actuated Kreg Jigs. I built one version per his measurements. But I found that the device took up too much room (I am not going to just screw it to the next machine in the shop whenever I want to use it and toss it in the corner every other time). So, I then adapted his foot pedal/bike cable version, which made the unit far more portable.
By that time, the K5 had come out and it was perfect with the front lever instead of the back. I ripped that big black handle off and was left with this metal lever, like a 2 layer metal popsicle stick. I think at the time I made this, I had indeed tried to drill a hole in the metal and couldn't drill into it. I then took a scrap piece of 2x4, drilled a hole and used an eyebolt and attached the cable to the eyebolt and ran the cable to the pedal (per wooden tool man's design, except that I used a hinge and I think he just used screws to pivot).
Fast forward to now (maybe 2 years after building this thing). The eyebolt is pulling out of the wood, but other than that, it's working well. I'm now going to "transform" the unit into a doghole mounted plate, like Dan Pattison did recently. Since I'll have to do modifications, I'd like to try to "fix" this problem with the eyebolt pulling out (I think it's really a design issue on my part).
Any ideas on either how to drill a hole in the metal "Popsicle stick" (the ideal solution) or some "good" way to attach the eyebolt to the "popsicle stick"? Would Epoxy glue the two together? Or maybe I should have used hardwood around the "popsicle stick" and then attached the eyebolt to the hardwood? Ideas on methods/fasteners or other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
By that time, the K5 had come out and it was perfect with the front lever instead of the back. I ripped that big black handle off and was left with this metal lever, like a 2 layer metal popsicle stick. I think at the time I made this, I had indeed tried to drill a hole in the metal and couldn't drill into it. I then took a scrap piece of 2x4, drilled a hole and used an eyebolt and attached the cable to the eyebolt and ran the cable to the pedal (per wooden tool man's design, except that I used a hinge and I think he just used screws to pivot).
Fast forward to now (maybe 2 years after building this thing). The eyebolt is pulling out of the wood, but other than that, it's working well. I'm now going to "transform" the unit into a doghole mounted plate, like Dan Pattison did recently. Since I'll have to do modifications, I'd like to try to "fix" this problem with the eyebolt pulling out (I think it's really a design issue on my part).
Any ideas on either how to drill a hole in the metal "Popsicle stick" (the ideal solution) or some "good" way to attach the eyebolt to the "popsicle stick"? Would Epoxy glue the two together? Or maybe I should have used hardwood around the "popsicle stick" and then attached the eyebolt to the hardwood? Ideas on methods/fasteners or other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I'm thinking about extending the "popsicle stick" with hardwood and having the eyebolt at the top as an "extension" of the popsicle stick. I need to experiment more. Thanks for your thought.