As a recently new owner of a TS55 I was intrigued by the storage possibilities of the systainers. I purchased a new one to hold two routers, a Bosch 1617EVS and the P.C. laminate trim kit. Everything fits in nicely on a plywood base that I routed to match the footprint of the tool.
Everything, that is, except the wrenches. I tried a few ideas - cardboard tubes glued upright to the ply, laying them flat on the ply, even wrapping a bungee around them and standing them up in one of the empty Bosch bases. All of these ideas worked in their own way, but the wrenches were never right at hand when needed.
I saw the post here on FOG where someone modified the lid of their systainer to hold the power cord. I like the idea of using that unused space. These boxes are just too expensive to let such prime real estate go to waste. I hit on the idea of using magnets to hold the wrenches in place.
Luckily, the local big box store had cheap magnets that were just the right size to fit within the plastic reinforcing web under the lid. They are block magnets, 3/8" thick. With a little hot melt holding them they fit flush with the plastic ribbing. The magnets are inexpensive, so by using two per wrench and making sure that all the wrenches touch one another, they really hold well. Now I always know where the wrenches are( except when I have absentmindedly laid them down somewhere.)
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I am also impressed by the various parallel cutting jigs shown in this forum. To see if they worked as well as it seemed they would, I decided to make a prototype based on the design that lablover came up with for his guides(doffs hat!). I made the sliding stops out of ply as he did, but found that in order to get accurate settings I needed to square the stop to the arm for every measurement. That was too time consuming.
Back in the big box store I found inexpensive yellow plastic squares that looked like they might be useful somehow. I even checked them with my Bridge City square and amazingly enough they were accurate. It wasn't obvious how they could attach to the sliding stops to make them useful and at the same time not get in the way. After staring at them and the jig for awhile I realized that they could completely take the place of the ply sliding stops.
So I drilled some holes, moved the Starret tapes around and here they are. Now I always know the stop is square to the arm and thus parallel to the rail.
Notes: I found the brass standoffs at a local computer recycling store. The aluminum strip connecting the ply arm to the rail is actually a portion of an aluminum yardstick that was cheaper than plain aluminum stock metal. At some point I will need to make another set of arms out of BB ply. The Luan ply I used works but is too flexible and seems too fragile, especially for the jobsite and the back of my car/truck.
I have been pondering how to store these things and the rail. I am wondering if any of the ski/snowboard bags would hold the rail, the jigs, clamps and any other accessories to the rails. Anyone have any experience with this?
Hope all these words prove useful...Paul
Edit...Can someone tell me why the photos appear as different sizes? They are all 800x600 pixels and 72 dpi. Any suggestions?
Edited to help original poster. P. Halle
Everything, that is, except the wrenches. I tried a few ideas - cardboard tubes glued upright to the ply, laying them flat on the ply, even wrapping a bungee around them and standing them up in one of the empty Bosch bases. All of these ideas worked in their own way, but the wrenches were never right at hand when needed.
I saw the post here on FOG where someone modified the lid of their systainer to hold the power cord. I like the idea of using that unused space. These boxes are just too expensive to let such prime real estate go to waste. I hit on the idea of using magnets to hold the wrenches in place.
Luckily, the local big box store had cheap magnets that were just the right size to fit within the plastic reinforcing web under the lid. They are block magnets, 3/8" thick. With a little hot melt holding them they fit flush with the plastic ribbing. The magnets are inexpensive, so by using two per wrench and making sure that all the wrenches touch one another, they really hold well. Now I always know where the wrenches are( except when I have absentmindedly laid them down somewhere.)
********************
I am also impressed by the various parallel cutting jigs shown in this forum. To see if they worked as well as it seemed they would, I decided to make a prototype based on the design that lablover came up with for his guides(doffs hat!). I made the sliding stops out of ply as he did, but found that in order to get accurate settings I needed to square the stop to the arm for every measurement. That was too time consuming.
Back in the big box store I found inexpensive yellow plastic squares that looked like they might be useful somehow. I even checked them with my Bridge City square and amazingly enough they were accurate. It wasn't obvious how they could attach to the sliding stops to make them useful and at the same time not get in the way. After staring at them and the jig for awhile I realized that they could completely take the place of the ply sliding stops.
So I drilled some holes, moved the Starret tapes around and here they are. Now I always know the stop is square to the arm and thus parallel to the rail.
Notes: I found the brass standoffs at a local computer recycling store. The aluminum strip connecting the ply arm to the rail is actually a portion of an aluminum yardstick that was cheaper than plain aluminum stock metal. At some point I will need to make another set of arms out of BB ply. The Luan ply I used works but is too flexible and seems too fragile, especially for the jobsite and the back of my car/truck.
I have been pondering how to store these things and the rail. I am wondering if any of the ski/snowboard bags would hold the rail, the jigs, clamps and any other accessories to the rails. Anyone have any experience with this?
Hope all these words prove useful...Paul
Edit...Can someone tell me why the photos appear as different sizes? They are all 800x600 pixels and 72 dpi. Any suggestions?
Edited to help original poster. P. Halle
