Making a Metal Bandsaw Length Stop With Mini Lathe and Mini Mill

I'm using my metal bandsaw for almost two years now and are still very happy to have this machine as it makes my work a lot easier.
But one thing bothered me for quite a while. There is no easy way of indicating the legth of the sawcut. The saw originally came with a sort of length stop but this thing was really windy and had no indicating for the lenght of the cut. So I designed my own version of a lenght stop which will hopefully make working with this machine even more convenient in the future.
The stop assembly consists of a 16mm steel rod which was flattened at the top and a groove was milled into for a 10mm wide self adhesive measurement tape. Then I made a stopping block from 25mm flat steel with a 4mm perpendiculare steel plate on it. The little plate which indicates the position of the stop serves also as the clamping plate when pushed down with the little red lever. To my surprise this easy approach works quite well.
I hope you enjoy this little build and can take it as an inspiration.
Feel free to comment and let me hear your thoughts and suggestions.
Thanks for watching my videos. Subscribe to the channel for more mechanical and machining content.
My Patreon page:
www.patreon.com/wecandothatbetter
00:00 Intro
00:22 Making the measuring rod
05:46 Making the grooved stopping plate
07:29 Making the indicating finger
09:17 Making the clamping block
13:45 Modifying the clamping lever
15:11 Chamferring and finishing the parts
16:03 Final assembly

[@randomtechnician]

Nice as always, you are pushing this little mill to its limits.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! Oh yes, this little machine has to suffer a lot in my hands... :) It screems badly when getting fed so much steel... :)

[@Carnold_YT]

Great design, that locking mechanism is very interesting!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you so much!

[@orangetruckman]

Very slick 👍🏻

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much!

[@angelramos-2005]

This is a quality project and good to see your skills with tools and machines.Thank you.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment! I really do appreciate that!

[@ED_T]

That's a very cool design! Especially the clamping mechanism, it seems very solid. Good stuff

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment! I really do appreciate that! That clamping works fine, yes.

[@steved8038]

That wss very well made and puts paid to people thinking you need a workshop full of large equipment to make anything worthwhile.Thank you.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much! Happy to hear, you like it.

[@zerk773]

I love the clamping action for the stop, nice job!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yeah, that turned out to be a well working solution.

[@nullcycle]

Every time I see a chamfer montage, I feel like there needs to be some sexy music to go with it...

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha :D Thanks!

[@simonstininato5851]

Seriously awesome bit of kit. I bought a 2nd hand cold saw in great condition for my hobby shop a while back that was missing its measure & stop. The manufacturer wanted $250 for the parts but thanks to you I’ll build it myself. Well done mate.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment and feedback! I really do appreciate that. Happy to hear, you like my work!

[@Pushyhog]

thanks again, please keep em coming.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your support! I really do appreciate that!

[@britenrhodehouse8692]

Very nice design! No plastic!!! Love it.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your kind feedback! I really do appreciate that!

[@britenrhodehouse8692]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter I really appreciate your videos and incorporated several points of your reworking of those small machines into my own set up.

[@Lone-Wolf87]

Dam!!! Very nice. Well done. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much!

[@marcelodemorais21]

Very good job my friend! Thanks for sharing your skills! 🇧🇷

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment!

[@homemadetools]

Nice stop! We shared this video on our homemade tool forum this week 😎

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thank you very much for your comment and for sharing my work! I really do appreciate that, thanks! :)

[@joewhitney4097]

Great build, great idea. Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment!

[@foogee9971]

nice Job! 👍 Thank you!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment!

[@ImolaS3]

I love this - just found your channel and already subscribed. Will be making one for my Evolution metal saw which is great but really needs a stop[ for repeatable cuts to reduce time facing ends on the mill. I really like hearing the machines instead of the annoying music other channels,s use - better in the later videos when you narrate lover it though

[@buddymartin7923]

Very nice. Very impressive.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@incubatork]

Great idea that will not only save material but cut down on time getting rid of the excess you cut off in the first place if you did not have the measure. Only drawback I see is that over time the locking screw may chew up the scale.

[@indie1138]

Thought the same, that screw tip will eventually make the tape unreadable. Though it seems easy enough to replace.

[@SELG88]

awesome video, and the modification rocks

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much! Happy to hear, you like it! :)

[@werschkowdennis6533]

Bravo. Excelente und saubere Arbeit. 👍👍👍 Alles gute wünsche ich dir.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Vielen Dank! Freut mich :)

[@MASI_forging]

Nice work as always. Such a beautiful design. 🙂🙂

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much. I really do appreciate that!

[@KF-qj2rn]

Pro! job

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@SethKotta]

When you can't, you won't, and you don't stop. But then you do.

[@Bob_Jones_]

Very cool.. I need some of those red levers for my projects

[@djpenner34]

@12:02 i feel ya buddy 😂🤦‍♂

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha :D little fail ;)

[@danielstewart3507]

So cool!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you!

[@markred4112]

Well done :)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@adriankohli4870]

Top Job, Sir r👌

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@andli461]

Very nice and solid! 👍 If a sturdier drill press is out of the question, a video where you improve the one you have? I’m thinking about a stiffer table maybe? (The flex is rather noticeable.) Just an idea. You know your real needs. 🙂

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thank you very much for your comment! Yes, the drill press is really not the most solid one.. :) I'm thinking about modifying it for a long time but there are so much projects on the list :)

[@Ironman9665]

Аккуратная работа👍

[@pawekowalski7469]

👍👍👍

[@hoernst2762]

Wiedereinmal sehr schöne Arbeit! Ich schaue diesem Kanal sehr gerne zu. Können die Untertitel auch ins Deutsche übersetzt werden?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Vielen Dank für deinen Kommentar! Freut mich, wenn meine Arbeit gefällt. Mit den deutschen Untertiteln werde ich mal überlegen. Das müsste man eingeben können, ja.

[@yuriy6414]

Do you have an overview of the machine you are milling with?

[@MaximKachurovskiy]

Have you considered 3D-printing some of the parts?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thanks for your comment! :) Unfortunately I don't have a 3D printer yet. So I have to go with conventional methods. By the way: sorry for not replying to your email yet. I try to reply soon ;)

[@schulzcbs]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Melde dich, wenn du was brauchst - SLA und FDM Drucker stehen und ich fahre aktuell immer wieder an deiner Heimatstadt vorbei. Die Flachschleifmaschine möchte ich allerdings nicht bewegen müssen ;)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@schulzcbs Hi, super, das ist gut zu wissen :) Danke Dir! Du hast noch eine Flachschleifmaschine? Darf ich fragen, was es für eine ist? Klingt auf jeden Fall interessant :) Grüße

[@schulzcbs]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Nicht übrig, aber falls du sie verwenden möchtest - ich schick dir die Tage mal ein Foto.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@schulzcbs Ah ok, wahrscheinlich wird es platztechnisch auch schwierig bei mir, je nachdem, wie groß sie ist. Aber interessieren würde es mich schon :)

[@BTSensei]

⭐🙂👍

[@bmalovic]

Nice job. Just.. what for you made that diagonal cuts on the stopping plate at about 7:00? I can not see any purpose of them.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! To be honest, the grooves don't have any real purpose. They are more for asthetic reasons. I think Robin Renzetti made a chamferring tool where the "table" has these diagonal grooves so that the chips can go somewhere and don't scratch the surface of the part. On my saw stop this is not really needed but I kept this idea in mind as it looks cool (at least I guess for me :)

[@Polarbear2829]

A bit clumpsy, but turned out okay. Btw please be carefull.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Clumsy? Sturdy perhaps ;)

[@ManiacallySmithing]

Oh my goodness can nobody manually powertap these days?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Manually powertap? If you mean machine tapping, I can say that I have no machine which runs slow and powerful enough for such an operation.

[@ManiacallySmithing]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter take the brakes off the follower, feed positive, brake machine, feed negative (lowest speed, e.g 300 RPM)

[@davidt8438]

You’re a genius and your machining ideas are brilliant but you need to take more care when tightening work pieces down. You have too many mishaps because of the tremendous forces applied when cutting, drilling or milling. All these time consuming processes could be avoided by using more lubricants and applying more force when clamping objects. You can’t use too much lube when cutting or tapping and you can’t have enough force when clamping. You are too good to neglect these techniques.

[@ThantiK]

Better than....that OTHER guy....who still saws all of his stupid projects with a hand saw....

[@britenrhodehouse8692]

Hey... Sometimes doing it the hard way and liking it has its advantages. Not many but if a guy likes to cut by hand, let'em

[@BeachsideHank]

Good enough, satisfactory, sufficient, acceptable, suitable, reasonable, agreeable, adequate, usable, all right; these words do not necessarily mean compromise in any endeavor, just a point at which nothing further of substance will be gained by additional effort. Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough. - Beachside Hank

[@user-tw9io9nz2m]

@ThantiK Lmao is it his accent that pisses you off?

[@user-zo8mm4sb4i]

Как всегда все на высшем уровне спасибо за видео

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

большое спасибо