Continuing to make the garage a better place

In the on going saga of trying to make the garage a better place, either through better storage, organization, lighting etc, I did this today.

I've got extension cords running around the garage and the one near my work bench isn't even on some sort of reel.  It's a mess and I don't want to trip over it.  A cruise around Amazon yielded an interesting solution.  It's a reel for the extension cord that uses a net to hold it and natually loop it around.  Looked cool, had good reviews so I decided to try it out.

Easy to assemble, getting the cord in is sort of a pita with an old cord that has a "memory" to it, but I got it in there pretty cleanly.  Pretty happy with it!

My buddy has some of those throughout his shop.  Definitely worth the investment!!!

So I've been playing around with the idea of getting a drill press.  Cruising FB marketplace for a bench drill press for a bit now and I see an ad for a floor standing Porter Cable.  Looks pretty nice, scan the ad, at the bottom it says he'll trade for a 20 ton press.  Hmm, I've got a 20 ton press.  Think it's been used once since I got it, by a friend.  I picked the press up from advrider, used. 

Seems like a decent swap, so I reach out to the seller, send him some pics and he's down!  So I load the press in the back of the Cruiser and head over to his house, 20 minutes away.  Turns out he's a Cruiser guy too, has a 100 series, so we talk about them for a bit.  Plug in his drill press, works great and is in like new condition.  He checks out my shop press, likes it, so we load the drill press into the back of the Cruiser and I'm out.

Pretty happy with the swap here, I think I ended up with a nice tool on this exchange.  One question tho, the slots in the drill press table aren't through slots, looks like they're meant for a T bolt.  Do any of you guys know of T bolt clamps I can use that'll slide in those slots and let me hold things down?

So I traded this...

For this!

You should be able to measure the T-slots top and bottom and just buy new T-slot nuts fairly inexpensively. 

I've also found that a decent keyless chuck will make life much easier! 

In reply to brandonsmash :

Thanks.  What I'm hoping to find is some sort of T bolt/clamp arrangement.  So it's all one piece, the T bolt slides in the groove, I can tighten it from the top and then use the integral clamp to hold down whatever it is I want to punch holes in...

In reply to brandonsmash :

So I think I found what I'm looking for.  This should do it...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z74DR5P/?coliid=I1C4JKCHT4KW8N&colid=1CRL8COSI3ABX&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

CharlotteFilemdar, I usually use the extension cords for the shop vac, battery tenders, now the drill press, etc.  I've got a row of outlets right above my workbench, so I'm all set there.

In reply to docwyte :

I put a cheap XY table on my drill press. Got the set of lock downs for it at the hammer store I think. 

Can't really side load the head hard like a real mill but the XY is huge.