This just came (three days from a warehouse in Poland), so the money saved by making my own thumb got immediately reinvested 😆

It's bigger, heavier and louder than expected, but it cuts steel like butter.

Should make the next project much faster and my cuts more precise. And I don't need to use my mildly sketchy angle grinder tube cutting rig anymore.

#ColdCutSaw #Chopsaw #Saw #Tools #Vevor #Metalworking #Homestead #DIY

An Automatic Shop Vac Dust Extractor

Finding cheap or even free tools in the second-hand adverts is probably a common pursuit among Hackaday readers. Thus many of you will like [DuctTape Mechanic], have a row of old woodworking bench tools. The experience we share with him is a lack of dust extraction, which makes his adaption of a second-hand shop vac as an automatic dust extractor for his chop saw worth a watch. Take a look, we've put the video below the break!

The system hooks up a relay coil to the saw's on/off switch, which controls the vacuum's power. It's thus not the most novel of hacks, but there are a few things to be aware of along the way and who among us doesn't like watching a bit of gentle progress on a workshop project? The 120V current taken by both vacuum and saw sound excessive to those of us used to countries with 230V electricity, but the relay is chosen to easily serve that load. What's nice about the automatic system is that being at the bench is not accompanied by the constant deafening noise of the shop vac, and save for when the saw is in use the bench is both dust-free and mercifully quiet.

If you happen to have a solid state relay in your parts bin, here's another way to achieve a similar result.

#toolhacks #chopsaw #dustextraction #shopvac