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The brass serves to conduct and spread the heat in a uniform way, you can spoon or move the brass around on the part to heat one part more than the other to obtain an even color. Clean sand also works. The emphasis is on clean. Any oil or grease will give color variations. A very fine sand...

Today I tried out file sharpening. 12 volt battery charger, plastic container, a couple of teaspoons of citric acid in the warm water and a scrap piece of stainless steel for the negative electrode. Clip the positive onto file tang and immerse for about ten minuets. The photos show the...

Don It is called Engine Turning. I made an attachment to fit on a pantograph engraving machine. It is spiral groove like a record has, only the tone is very monotonous. I sold the machine so I cannot show you a photo. It is in essence a Spirograph pattern with the loops knocked out of it...

I usually make extras of the very small ones. Then I do not have to go looking for them! Buchanan

Thank you for the compliments. you are never to old lo learn new skills. it just takes a little longer to master them. My 77 year old father is learning CNC. I would be very happy to answer queries you may have, what I found with engraving is that back lash needs to be looked after, even if...

Grezilli. I used brass as it machines well, then gold plated it. It was part of a presentation piece so not really a watch case and would not be handled often. Yes you are correct about watch dials. You need a precision engraving machine or non machining methods. I use a home made CNC to...

Yes, I have made a case for a watch a while ago. it was great fun. As you say size is one of the challenges. keeping everything dust free when fitting was another. There are Chinese watch movements available very cheaply. you can buy two and you can use one for testing and the second when you...

Yes Eric that is 5 kw! They have lead cooling pipes and it is an industrial environment where through put is everything. i will be monitoring every thing carefully and taking it slowly. Especially as most of my files are very fine cut. Thanks. Buchanan

Norman. Thank you very much for the Model Engineer article. I have many Model Engineer but no as old as this article, mine go back to the early 70’s From the article it seems that the amps make things go faster, 100 amps per file for fast sharpening. Swiss files often break teeth as...

Yes I have been following your thread all along, very pleased for you thar it runs so well.

Here is a photo through a microscope of the wear on the teeth of one of my files. You should be able to see them as small diamond shaped flats. I will show an 'after' photo when I have made an attempt at sharpening. They show better in the original photo on my computer so I will take one at a...

Place an inquirey on CNC Zone They are pretty helpful there. It is more industrial though.

Barnesrikw Yes I do clean my files and this helps when the teeth get clogged, but I need real sharp files as the material I file mostly is brass and it is often very delicate . I cannot just push harder as the part will bend. Have a look at the website in my first post and you will see what...

Thank you everybody for your input. Eric ,I will have a look at that that website. My files are mostly old high quality Valorbe and Grobet Swiss or Bedford English. They have given years of good service but have lost that beautiful new file sharp feel while they cut fine on steel. Give us a...

Paul initial correspondence started in 03, and construction proper 07, there are a few more years to go. Gold star. I remember it coming up in Model Engineer but wondered is there have been any recent progress or experience. I tried it once many years ago in battery acid but it attacked only...

Has any body first hand experience in resharpening files with battery acid or by means of electrolysis. I have a large number of very good quality fine second cut files that have lost their edge and do not cut brass any more. I would like to resurrect them if at all passable. You can see what I...

Why don,t you take a standard medical syringe with out the needle and test some standard toothpaste in it to see what force is required to get it to flow. You could easily add a brass tube with a nominal area the same as your channel and the same length. this would give you some basic facts to...

Would you be free to tell us what method you used to make them? Buchanan

That should work fine, ram your mold real hard and keep it in the oven until there is no more smoke! The sand being hot stops the metal cooling quickly so you should get real good detail. Buchanan

My mill is set up metric. But the G code is in imperial so no change is needed to make the part in imperial. Buchanan