Comment

Comment by Brian Thompson on January 3, 2019 at 11:53pm

As mentioned in my comments with the first pic, crushing of the tube upright when tightening up the bolts that secure it to the boss in the base is a common problem, and they do need to be tight to hold it properly....not much clamping area either...

My idea was to simply 'fill' the hollow tube with a length of hardwood dowl, here seen bonded to the inside of the tube with 'JB Weld' and left to cure for 24 hours as per instructions. The expoxy filled any gaps and gave a seriously strong bond, with the added bonus of increasing overall rigidity, a main goal throughout the modification process.

Another big advantage gained here was that I was now able to add an additional screw to secure the upright, fitted through the base and with a hole drill in the centre of the base of the dowl. Drill carefully, this also meant it was easier to pull everything up nice and square to the base when clamping the tube in place, giving another gain in overall accuracy as the drill heads moves through it's vertical path.