Pro/Forums - View Single Post - Advice sought- cheap block making setup

Axle · 03-29-2003, 01:26 PM

I have $75 in Home Depot gift certs from a 'Rewards' program with my dad's coprerate card, which pretty much covers a nice drill press (yay! cost so far- $0). However, I'm painfully aware a drill press is not ALL you need to make a block.

I plan on getting my copper off ebay, and what I'm looking at comes 2" thick. How could I cut this down to a good size? I have a jig saw, dremel, hand drill, and even an old hack saw, but will these really do? I'd like a pretty nice straight corner. I suppose I can rig something up with the hacksaw, but..geeeze, that's a lot of hacking. I see some of the circ saws at Walmart for $50, useful?

Now, tapping(?) the barb. I don't get it. Barbs I get get from HD also, but how exactly do I get them into the block? I watched a video of someone showing how to do this a while back, but I sure don't have the piece of equipment. Oh, and does anyone know how much it costs?

A possible mill setup. I've seen someone here but a 3dish vice of some sort, and some mill bits & use it as such. Any idea as to how much the cost of this might be?

I'm looking cheap, but quality. I'd rather get one thing of quality and wait a while then get everything cheap at once. I'm looking at this drill at Home Depot- good? (I know Roybl is a reasonably quality name, but how about the RPMs, etc?)

Any advice at all would be greatly apprechiated!! Thank you much,
lex

03-29-2003, 01:26 PM	#1
Axle Cooling Savant Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wind Gap, PA Posts: 112	Advice sought- cheap block making setup I have $75 in Home Depot gift certs from a 'Rewards' program with my dad's coprerate card, which pretty much covers a nice drill press (yay! cost so far- $0). However, I'm painfully aware a drill press is not ALL you need to make a block. I plan on getting my copper off ebay, and what I'm looking at comes 2" thick. How could I cut this down to a good size? I have a jig saw, dremel, hand drill, and even an old hack saw, but will these really do? I'd like a pretty nice straight corner. I suppose I can rig something up with the hacksaw, but..geeeze, that's a lot of hacking. I see some of the circ saws at Walmart for $50, useful? Now, tapping(?) the barb. I don't get it. Barbs I get get from HD also, but how exactly do I get them into the block? I watched a video of someone showing how to do this a while back, but I sure don't have the piece of equipment. Oh, and does anyone know how much it costs? A possible mill setup. I've seen someone here but a 3dish vice of some sort, and some mill bits & use it as such. Any idea as to how much the cost of this might be? I'm looking cheap, but quality. I'd rather get one thing of quality and wait a while then get everything cheap at once. I'm looking at this drill at Home Depot- good? (I know Roybl is a reasonably quality name, but how about the RPMs, etc?) Any advice at all would be greatly apprechiated!! Thank you much, lex __________________ "Once we've got those bugs flattened out, we'll be running on flat bugs"