Good-Evening Chaps,

Some of the more-bored amongst you might vaguely remember a couple of Threads I had going earlier this month, respectively titled "Heating, Bending... and Breaking a Steel Rod (Where did I go wrong?...)" and "Opposing toothed "Clutch-Plate" Nuts? (a bit like "Castle" Nuts...)". In the first one, I was trying to bend the Axle off an old Shopping-Cart in an effort to get the particular shape of Rod that I needed to make an alternative Depth-Stop for my old Elu Mitre-Saw. In the second-one, I was envisaging one of the more critical components that would be needed to make the concept I had in mind actually work.

Anyhow - She's all done now, so for those who were kind enough to respond to those Threads, as well as for anyone who has just recently also become bored, here are some photos of the completed arrangement:

This first shot shows the assembled, ummm... Assembly - but obviously out of the Saw. Visible From left-to-right (which will be from top-to-bottom in the Saw) is an old Brass Tap-Handle (drilled and tapped for mounting on the Rod), a barely visible Locking-Nut (to secure the Handle against loosening itself), the 8mm Rod (which started life as one-half of an old Shopping-Cart Axle...), the Engagement-Spring, a Washer (to stop the Spring from biting into the Elu's cast-Al Chassis), the fabricated Captive-Clutch-Nut (more on that in a moment), the just-visible Disengagement-Spring (that runs up into the Captive-Clutch-Nut), and the Swinging-Arm (started life as an offcut from the longer leg of some 75x50 Angle, and is welded to the bottom of the Rod). Mounted through the Swinging-Arm can be seen the Depth-Setting Screw (in a tapped hole, complete with a Locking-Nut), and if you look very closely just in front of where the Rod is welded to the Swinging-Arm, the little Locating-Pin for the Captive-Clutch-Nut (it's just a little M3 Round-Head screw tapped into the Swinging-Arm...)

Attachment 106519

The Captive-Clutch-Nut deserves a special mention, because in some ways it was the most crucial component of the lot. Its purpose is to lock the Swinging-Arm into two preset positions (Depth-Stopping and Non-Depth-Stopping...). It was a "Tough Nut" in more ways than one, because there was no actual way of fixing it in turn to the Elu's chassis.... As fate would have it, however, the shape of the Saw's chassis - right at that point - seemed to lend itself to concocting a "captive" arrangement of some sort. So I fetched an M10 Nut, and built it out along one of its faces with my little GMC Arc Welder, and then ground it back to a right-angle (if you look at the photo below, you'll see what I mean...) But that was only half of the battle, because in order for the Clutch-Nut to remain captive, as well as to facilitate disengagement away from the Swinging-Arm's Locating-PIn, the Clutch-Nut had to both "house" and "stop" a disengagement-spring. So if you look very closely at the photo, you can see the little Washer that I had to weld to one end of the Clutch-Nut. It was less than 1mm thick, but all I had on hand were 3.2mm Rods... (The Horror... The Horror......) As you can see if you go back to the first photo (which looks down onto the top of the Washer-end of the Clutch-Nut), it didn't actually turn out too bad, thanks in no-small-part to a gritty session on the Bench Grinder. This second photo also shows the two locating-notches that were ground into the underside of the Clutch-Nut to "accept" the Swinging-Arm's little Locating-Pin:

Attachment 106520

So, how does She look installed? I couldn't help putting this next photo in, because it shows just how "Use-Uppy" the Tap-Handle-for-a-Handle looks on the thing (and I really, really like using old things up instead of going out and buying more new stuff... The whole thing was made out of old bits that I had lying around - even the Springs...) And, for the extremely observant, Yes - I ground the Handle's brass with my Bench-Grinder after my old collection of Files proved unequal to the task. And Yes - I know I am going to die next time I use the Grinder (which was this afternoon actually, when I was putting a little chamfer on the ends of the Saw's CHS-legs... Hey - I am actually dead... How come nothing suddenly got any easier or better? )

Attachment 106521

These next two photos of the bottom-end of the installed-assembly should give you more of an idea of how the thing actually works:

This one shows the Swinging Lever Arm in the straight-ahead "Non-Depth-Stopping" position. It was necessary to provide a non-stopping position, because at the 90deg, straight-ahead position on the Elu's table, there is an extended slot in the table to allow extra-wide cross-cutting. But you can only access the extra capacity it offers by disengaging any Depth-Stop, so that the blade can drop down further into the table - closer to its wider centre.

Attachment 106522

This final photo shows the Swinging Lever Arm swung around to the "Depth-Stopping" position, and actually in the process of "stopping" the drop of the Saw. The little black "Stationary Arm" (that the "Depth-Setting-Screw" is registering on) is just a short length of angle that was fixed to the side of the Saw's Neck-Axle (which had to be removed, drilled, and tapped, in order to accommodate the little Allen-Screws that are fixing the Stationary Arm to it...). And just for one final cynical snigger, you might have noticed that the Depth-Setting-Screw has been extended somewhat (The original just wasn't quite long enough...). I had to drill a short blind hole into the end of the main M6 screw, tap it as best I could, and then screw an M4 into the hole, and then weld the two together without blowing them away using a 3.2mm Rod... Oi, oi, oi...

Attachment 106523

Well, nothing much more really worth saying about the thing...

Thanks for staying awake,
Batpig.