Ellis Auto Parts, my family’s business that closed down in 1996 when my parents retired, used to carry Dorman Products, a line of automotive hardware such as bolts, nuts, washers, pins, caps, and a variety of other kinds of parts. While my dad sold a lot of our remaining stock when he closed the store, he kept a lot of unsold product and the metal drawers that we kept the stock in. When I was at home, I stacked up more of these drawers to create a grid against one wall. The full grid is 5 x 5, but I took a photo of 4 x 4 because one of the corner bins was missing a drawer that I couldn’t find–it is likely somewhere in the shop but waits to be rediscovered. I’m glad that we had access to all of these parts during my trip this time, because we made use of them in our many projects.
If you’re like me, you might have newer computer hardware that isn’t fully supported by Linux kernel 6.1, which is installed with Debian Bookworm 12. Thankfully, Debian offers Backports, or newer software in testing in Trixie, the development name for Debian 13, that will eventually find its way into future Debian releases for use on an otherwise stable release of Bookworm.
Updating to a newer kernel often brings more hardware compatibility. However, it’s important to remember that using a backport kernel can introduce potential compatibility issues with the software officially supported on Bookworm. Even if installing the latest kernel causes some issues, you can choose to boot from one of your older 6.1 kernels on your install as long as you don’t delete them (by using the apt autoremove command).
I wrote this guide based on my experience installing Linux kernel 6.12 from Backports with the non-free firmware that my hardware needs to work. If you are trying to keep your system free from non-free software, you can omit those references in the instructions below.
Before doing any changes to your Debian installation, remember to backup your files first. Saving important files in more than one media and storing it backups in different physical locations is best practice.
After backing up your files, make sure your install is up-to-date with these commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
After those updates complete, it’s a good rule of thumb to do a reboot to begin working with a clean slate.
Next, add Debian Backports to /etc/apt sources.list. I used vi to do this:
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
In vi, arrow down to the bottom line, type a lowercase “o” to add a blank line below the current line, type lowercase “i” to enter input mode, and type the following line into the document:
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
After double checking the added line, press the “Esc” key, and type “:wq” to write the file and quit vi.
Now, you need to update apt again:
sudo apt update
After the completes, enter this command to install the latest kernel from backports along with the kernel’s headers and firmware that might be needed for your hardware (such as networking card, video card drivers, etc.).
It might take awhile for the installation to complete. If there are no errors, it should return you to your terminal prompt. If it did, reboot your computer to load the new kernel.
After your computer boots up again, you can verify that you are running the latest kernel by entering this command:
uname -r
After installing the latest kernel, my computer reports this from the uname -r command:
Another project for my dad and I was setting up his Grizzly oscillating spindle sander, which had been sitting on a broken pallet for some time.
He had a rolling Shop Fox equipment stand, but it was slightly too large for the sander’s base. So, we cut a piece of 3/4″ plywood to fill its support area and distribute the weight of the sander.
Then, we layered some boards to create a ramp from the pallet the sander was on down to the Shop Fox equipment mover.
When he’s ready to use the sander, the Shop Fox mover has floating feet that can be lowered to take the weight off the front caster wheels.
My dad has a dozen or two of screw bottle car jacks that he used to press and hold every tongue-and-groove cypress board covering the walls and ceiling of the upper floors of their house. We made use of four of them to move two pieces of his heavy machinery into place in his shop.
Some time back, he purchased a milling machine and lathe from Grizzly. He had managed to get them into his shop on furniture movers. Of course, they can’t be run on those platforms, so we needed to find a way to place them flat on the shop’s floor.
For the milling machine, which was heavier than the lathe, we drilled four holes through the metal cabinet and constructed a wood box with bolts going through the short sides of the wood box into the metal cabinet. We placed the four jacks under the long arms of the box, raised it a fraction of an inch to remove the furniture mover and then lowered the jacks until the cabinet rested on a 3/4″ plywood base that we cut to fit. Then, we removed the box from the cabinet after unbolting it and unscrewing the deck screws we had built the box with.
If you do something similar to this, be mindful of the total reach/height of the jack and its minimum. We built the box around the cabinet at a height that allowed for a slight lift and enough lowering to allow the jacks to be removed after the cabinet was lowered.
For the lathe, we did something similar, except we couldn’t drill through its cabinet to bolt the box to the cabinet as we had done with the milling machine because it is double walled and could potentially create problems with bolt alignment (and we would need much longer bolts).
With the lathe being lighter than the milling machine, we felt safe building the box around the lathe’s cabinet and adding two “tongs” that fit into the recesses at the bottom of the cabinet. To make sure the tongs remained in place, we put a tie strap around these and the cabinet.
We lifted the lathe slightly to remove the furniture mover.
And then lowered it onto a custom piece of plywood for it to rest on the floor.
When you don’t have the muscle or manpower, use the tools at hand to get things done. As William Gibson writes, “the street finds its own use for things.”
When I recently visited my folks in Georgia, one of my projects was helping my dad clean up his shop so that he could more easily work in it. Over the years, it had become more and more cluttered. Perhaps most urgently, many tools were strewn about on the floor. I proposed turning a 48″ diameter wood spool that he had gotten from an electrical supply company into a moveable workbench. While the spool would take up roughly the same space, it would create two surfaces for storing tools and getting work done at elbow height. And, giving him a place to put tools when not in use where he could get them without bending over, would be a positive development, too.
The wood spool is approximately 48″ diameter and 28″ tall.
This side was cleaner and had no obvious problems for working on a roughly flat surface. It would be the top of the workbench.
We designated this side the bottom due to its rougher appearance and extra hole with arced routing (to secure the wire it once held?).
We picked up four 6″ caster wheels with grease fittings from Harbor Freight. These measure approximately 7″ tall including the base. Connected to the spool, these wheels will give the completed workbench an approximately 35″ height.
After closing Ellis Auto Parts, my dad kept a lot of hardware that wasn’t sold, so we were able to find all of the bolts, nuts, and washers that we needed. To connect the wheels to the wood spool, we used 3/8″ x 3″ bolts with washers on top and bottom, and we used two nuts per bolt to lock the bolt (we couldn’t find any 3/8″ lock washers).
To install the wheels on the bottom of the spool, I first selected one diameter line and marked it with a pencil. Using a square, I drew a perpendicular line through the center for the other two wheels. I knew that we were going to reinforce the workbench top with 2″ x 4″ boards cut to length, so I allowed enough room for drilling holes and driving screws through the spool ends into the 2″ x 4″s. I marked that distance (2″) from the outer edge along the diameter lines that I previously drew. Then for each wheel placement, I held a wheel where I had marked, centered it, and used a pencil to draw in the four holes at the corner of the caster wheel base.
I drilled the four holes with a 7/16″ bit and installed the wheels with the 3/8″ bolts with a washer on top, a washer on bottom, and two nuts per bolt.
Since we didn’t have 3/8″ lock washers, we opted to use two nuts on each bolt to lock them in place.
With the wheels installed, we began installing the 2″ x 4″ supports inline with each wheel.
Because the spool was built imperfectly, we cut each 2″ x 4″ support to length as needed. We cut them about 1/16″ – 1/32″ too long so that we could wedge them into place with a mallet for a tight fit.
Using a table saw, we cut notches as needed on each 2″ x 4″ support to clear the wheel’s bolt heads and washers.
We pre-drilled two holes for each screw that would go through the top and bottom of the spool into the 2″ x 4″ boards. We used 3″ long deck screws to fasten the 2″ x 4″ boards in place.
Each 2″ x 4″ is held in place by 3″ long deck screws that were driven in after pre-drilling holes for each.
With the wheels attached and the 2″ x 4″ supports installed, we tilted the workbench over.
The workbench rolls around effortlessly after being completed.
My dad also had a Columbian vice manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio. It’s about as heavy duty as you can get. It would certainly help him with some work, so we decided to install it on the workbench above one of the 2″ x 4″ supports.
For the vice, we used three sets of 9/16″ bolts, washers, lock washers, and nuts.
I marked the location of the holes using the base of the vice as a pattern, drilled 5/8″ holes, and installed the bolts through the top and washers, lock washers, nuts on the bottom.
Our mobile workbench made out of a wood spool for holding heavy duty electrical wire is completed and ready for work.
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