Arnold's tooling odds 'n ends

[arnoldb]

Marv once suggested that one must keep a list of all the little tools that would make life easier while machining. I took that advice, and have a growing list (it'll never end!) and will peck away at it as and when I have time - or foresee a need for specific items for an upcoming build. It's easier to have needed tools before any engine build; that can save a lot of time and frustration, as well as keep a build on track.

I have also been surprised quite a couple of times when I received PMs or emails with queries about the small tooling bits I have thrown into my build logs thus far, so I decided to create a single thread dedicated to making all my small bits and bobs from said list - queries and suggestions are as always welcome.

A lot of the things I'll be making are available commercially - or have been designed and made already by others; I doubt very much that anything new will surface here, but there will on occasion be my own twist as I adapt ideas to suit my own needs and machinery - or simply use what I have on hand to make a useful - but safe to use - item. I do enjoy making my own tools, and I think I have learned as much, if not more, about machining from making tools as I have from building engines.

Some of the items that will get done in this thread include, but is not limited to the following - in no particular order or sequence of completion:
Adjustable parallels
Small sine bars
Angle plate for the mill
Edge finders
Vise stops
Toolmaker's clamps - a diverse selection
Knurling tool - my current one is just horrible!
Pump center
Tooling plate for the mill
Collet blocks for my ER collets
Cylindrical squares
Spinning post and tools for the lathe
Lathe chuck back-stop
Cross drilling jigs
...and more...

More complex items - like a Tool Grinder will get their own threads when I get around to those.


To kick off, a lifelong friend recently asked me if I could help him make some ball knobs for some furniture he's restoring. I don't normally turn wood on my lathe, but for some people and jobs I'd do it, so cue a ball turner.
I cobbled this one together based on Steve Bedair's design, and sized for my Myford ML7; there have been a lot of them built, so not too much build details. It's based on a length of 50mm x 10mm hot-rolled flat bar and a short bit of 55mm diameter cast iron that I turned down:

I have quite a bit of round 4mm HSS blanks that I use regularly, so the toolbit for this would, naturally for me, be of the same instead of the inserts normally preferred - so the tool carrier was adapted to take the HSS with two grub screws (set screws) to lock it in place. I didn't work from the plans; I just bodged along on this one and made parts to "gut feel". All the parts done:

The head rides on the protrusion on the base, and has a boss that locates very closely in the hole bored in the base. The toolpost is also just some of the same flat bar as the base; I milled the slot in the head 9mm wide, so that I could fly-cut the icky black coating off the HRS for a slightly neater appearance. The screw I turned up from silver steel (drill rod) as it needs to be tough; I didn't harden and temper it; in it's untreated state silver steel is quite tough, so that is ideal for this job. The correct shoulder length on the screw was obtained through trial-and-error fits while I was making it - I simply turned the length down by minute amounts each time, and when the base plate and head screwed on and the base was just slightly tight to turn between the head and screw shoulder I stopped; the slight stiffnes will wear out quickly. This may sound a bit crude, but it does work. The toolbit hole is dead on center with the lathe spindle - I usually grind the round HSS toolbits I use like this down half-way at the tip, as the curve of the bottom part then gives adequate clearance in most cases.

All assembled and on the lathe:

I used some grease instead of oil to lubricate the moving parts.

Definitely not the prettiest tool I've made - I didn't file and sand down all the machining marks like I do of late... but does it work?:

Yes, even though I was too lazy to turn up a proper mandrel from steel; the brass threaded rod deflected like mad while turning, but still it only took about 5 minutes to turn that up.

And a bit of emery later:

Regards, Arnold

 

[Deanofid]

Your ball turner sure turned out well, Arnold. I've had that one on my list for a while, too.
My list has become so long that I've re-written it a few times. For every thing I get made,
it seems that three others get added!

Dean

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Dean
:big: - Yes, the list does grow seemingly exponentially - I'm just kicking my own butt I haven't gotten around to some of those bits yet - surprisingly some of the simpler ones : - Some of them will get done sooner rather than later!

Regards, Arnold

 

[mklotz]

I find that a good approach is, after the completion of every major (e.g. engine) project, to build two tools - the one you needed on the last project and the one that you will need on the next project. That approach seems to double the satisfaction derived from the time stolen for the tool building interlude.

 

[SBWHART]

I find that a good approach is, after the completion of every major (e.g. engine) project, to build two tools - the one you needed on the last project and the one that you will need on the next project. That approach seems to double the satisfaction derived from the time stolen for the tool building interlude.

Thats what I like to do:- spend a bit of time on tool manufacture and shop maintenance work.

How about one of these.

A small running centre so you can get up close on those thin spindly jobs.

Or

A Tram

Or

Depth foot for you digi vernier.

Or

Key way slotter.

We will keep you busey

:big: :big: :big: :big: :big:

Have fun

Stew

 

[Deanofid]

Stop it, Stew! My list is already three arms long!

 

[metalmad]

lots of great ideas here
pete from oz

 

[Artie]

Ahh, Stew, Ive picked the very first one, a narrow shouldered live centre... been caught there a few times..... and so the list grows.... seriously, I do enjoy making the tooling.... seem to do more of that than actual engine work..... 8) Tah mate....

 

[Lew Hartswick]

I do enjoy making the tooling.... seem to do more of that than actual engine work..... 8) Tah mate....

A big SECOND to that. Tools, Fixtures, and Jigs. That is what I enjoy most.
Find and make a BETTER way to do a job. Others can build the toys.
...lew...

 

[Blogwitch]

I tend NOT to make tooling just for the sake of it, but when necessary.

Doing it that way ensures that the tool you have just made will get to be used, plus it is usually a welcome break half way thru a project.

Another thing is that if something is available commercially at a reasonable price, I will buy it rather than waste precious time making one.

But it was a no brainer when it came to making the tramming tool like Stew's above, mine cost about 25 squid to make, and the commercial one was way over a hundred.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=822.0

But there are some that have to be made, because they are either so cheap and easy to do.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1441.0

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2175.0


Bogs

 

[SBWHART]

Sorry Guys but I've just got to pass this one on,

A great design for a coax indicator by Bill over on madmodder, it gets over the length problem that you get with shop bought indictors.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3776.0


Stew

PS sorry Arnold we seem to have high jacked your thread.

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Guys ;D - Good suggestions and more to add then :big:

"PS sorry Arnold we seem to have high jacked your thread." - No problem at all Stew; the more the merrier ;D

I'm starting on a new engine build today, but I might just defer it a bit for some tooling work :big:

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[arnoldb]

Well... So much for starting the Little Blazer engine build; I can't find the block of aluminium I thought I had for the base...

So I started on a height gauge that will come in useful for said engine build and marking out in general; I've on a couple of occasions wished I had one.
A "cheap" Asian digital caliper will do the measuring, but I do not really want to modify the caliper - the "cheap" ones are expensive here in Namibia, so I want it as backup; just in case...

There are a couple of very simple designs around for turning a normal caliper into a height gauge, but I do want a bit more rigidity from the setup, so I'm slightly over-engineering this one :big:

I have a couple of meters of 10x60mm hot-rolled flat bar, so - put some of it to use, together with a short bit of 18x40mm HRS that I found. A bit of 6mm silver steel and some 4mm square HSS completes most of the basic building blocks:

There will be some more material needed to finish the scribing/measuring arm, but I'll add that later when all the dimensions are finalized.

The HRS is pretty horrible stuff to machine, but here goes.
For the base, I set it up in the 4-jaw; just roughly on center. My lathe faces ever so slightly concave, and this makes it ideal to turn up bases for things that need to stand flat. A bearing shell is used as a parallel to get the workpiece out from the chuck a bit but flat to the chuck face. A light tap with a hammer on the workpiece while tightening up the chuck jaws makes the bearing shelll sit pretty tight. As the bearing shell cannot be taken out between the jaws it is perfectly safe to use it like this while turning. I do tie it down with some binding wire to the chuck jaws though, as I do not want it to start tumbling around and marring the chuck face should it come loose while turning:

Next the scale needed to get cleaned off the bits... On to the mill - similar sized bit sticking out from the vise on a bit of a makeshift parallel setup:

And some flycutting later:

The scale really takes a toll on my HSS flycutter, and I got tired re-sharpening it, so I decided to do an experiment. I bought a couple of carbide tipped tools a while ago; one left and one right-hand. On my lathe I'm not too happy with the results - so If I stuff up one of these it's not really a waste. I mounted the right-hand bit in the flycutter; it has an 8mm shank just like my HSS bit I use, so no fussing around needed. Then I played a bit with feeds & speeds; it turns out the cutter wants my mill's top speed (1200RPM) and a good rate of feed - about 3mm/second - this is the result:

I was scared of the carbide tip chipping from the interrupted cuts, but it just chewed through all the gunk. And taking 0.5mm depth at a time at the speed above. The finish is not quite as good as I get with my HSS cutter, but quite satisfactory - and MUCH faster ;D

Next all the cleaned up bits was clamped together on the mill bed - to the best accuracy of eyeball MK1 - with the areas I wanted to drill and ream directly above a T-slot for clearance - then a couple of holes drilled at 5mm with the outer two further enlarged and reamed to 6mm:

The middle 5mm hole in the base plate was threaded M6; I'm right-handed, so normally start a hole with my right hand, then finish threading with my left hand, as I tend to have better feeling of what the tap is doing. I keep my arm in-line with the tap and use my wrist to turn "on the center line", usually just with my forefinger and thumb to twist the tap wrench. In the next photo my arm is not in line... - it's a bit awkward to do that and handle the camera, and I've never been known for having a rubber body :big::

This is the method I have used on hundreds of holes for tapping from M3 upwards, and have not yet broken a tap in these sizes, so it does seem to work. The one and only tap I've broken so far is an M2 last year; in some work-hardened stainless :-[ - and for M2 I use a tapping guide.

The thicker (18x40) block was counter bored and drilled out to take an M6 cap screw; I thought I had a photo of that, but don't... This was screwed to the base plate, and a 6mm drill and a bit of 6mm silver steel (my collet chuck's one locking lever actually) used to align things through the holes, and then all was clamped together in the mill vise for some more cleanup with the flycutter:

Not a great finish - but at least my mill's tramming is spot on....

The 18x40 block needed a slot milled in it where the caliper will sit. I measured the calipers I have and their thicknesses range from 2.8 to 3.5mm - for identical-looking calipers. So I decided to mill the slot at 4mm wide - anyway, my smaller milling bits can't go deep enough. I may not break many taps, but milling bits are another matter :-[ :

Fortunately I had one spare 4mm milling cutter to finish the job.

Still some work required, but this is how the caliper will sit in the slot:

Some more drilling and tapping for set screws on the base later, and this is the end result so far:

With the caliper installed:

It still needs the scribing/measuring arm and a retainer for the caliper arm to the top section.

I ended up milling a step in the mounting slot so that the caliper's slide can go down right to the bottom; this will make the measuring arm a lot shorter. This photo shows the end of the caliper and the extra milled space in the slot:

Without any changes except for the upright lengths, the stand will actually take my bigger 200mm caliper as well:

I'd hoped to finish this this weekend; maybe I'll get a chance during the week, as well as find a block of aluminium :

Regards, Arnold

 

[1hand]

Arnold........ Thm:

Keep em coming, great stuff.

Matt

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Matt - I'll try to! I'm really looking forward on your progress on the A3 as well
No Shop for me tonight; it's raining here in Windhoek for a change, and that causes a celebration ;D

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[mklotz]

Arnold,

When you make the scriber arm that will attach to the movable jaw on your depth gauge, drill and tap a vertical hole in it before you harden it (assuming that you will harden it). Then you can make threaded rods to fit and use your height gauge to measure features down inside a recess in a part. I've done this on several of my depth gauges and there have been numerous occasions where it turned out to be a very useful feature.

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Marv - great idea! I was thinking of making the arm with a bit of square HSS clamped in for the scriber, but can just as easily make the entire bottom part of the arm from silver steel milled away as needed, add the suggested threaded hole, and then harden it.

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[mklotz]

Thanks Marv - great idea! I was thinking of making the arm with a bit of square HSS clamped in for the scriber, but can just as easily make the entire bottom part of the arm from silver steel milled away as needed, add the suggested threaded hole, and then harden it.

Another possibility for a scriber might be a small (e.g., 0.25") brazed carbide lathe tool.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=169&PARTPG=INLMK32

The shank is soft so it can be machined and the carbide is already secured for you. Availability of such tools in Namibia may be a problem though.

As long as you're making tapped holes as suggested, make one perpendicular to the one mentioned above and use it to mount a (removable) DTI to your gauge. This will allow you to obtain reproducible measuring pressures when doing really accurate work.

 

[arnoldb]

Once again, thanks Marv
I can get similar carbide tools down to 5/16" shank (8mm) locally, and the shanks are actually very nice steel to machine. I have a "green" stone mounted on my bench grinder, so grinding the tip to a scribing point is not a problem. It will take some work with my Dremel afterward to make sure the bottom (which is normally carbide tool's top face) is truly flat though...

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how the DTI setup would work. Would this be used more in a "comparative" mode - i.e. measure one piece or section; get the reading off the caliper as well as the DTI, and then when measuring another piece (or section of the same workpiece) check to see if I get the same readings on both ? For now this might be overkill in my shop; I try and work to 0.01mm (.0005") for the most part. That is also the lowest resolution at which my digital calipers will work - with an accuracy of only 0.02mm anyway. On rare occasions I bring out my M&W micrometer for something better...

As an aside; I had an appointment at the optician today - broke my pair of glasses over the weekend, so back on an older stand-by pair : The last time I was there I mentioned to him that I've started on model engineering, and he seemed mildly interested, so today my "Elmer's Tiny" went along. He liked it but commented that the 2mm thread and nut I used on the pivot pin was "large" compared to what he is used to working with ;D I couldn't let the chance go by; so I asked him how he deals with smaller screws and threads, and I was invited to his "workshop" for a show & tell ;D I must admit I was VERY careful not to get drool over some of the machinery in there. After getting shown all the machines and tiny screws and taps, he asked me if I want small taps and screws... According to him the taps they use are a bit "expensive" because he gets them from Germany as cheapies just does not work - that was no new news to me! The last time I priced M1.2 taps here, all the tool suppliers except my favourite one literally laughed in my face. The only quote I got was for N$ 650 for a set - at that point it was US$ 81 - excluding transport & taxes for carbon taps. My optometrist today offered to get me HSS taps from Germany - and after all costs / taxes etc, for N$ 210 per set - and with the now lower US$, that comes out at US$ 30 ;D I'll be getting some small taps soon woohoo1. I'll just buy screws and nuts from the optometrist, so a die is not needed yet.


Regards, Arnold

 

[arnoldb]

Some more work on the height gauge...

For the arm I cleaned up some more HRS flat bar, and marked it out. Don't know what I was thinking though; I've become pretty much used to blacken up the entire part and then use very light scribe marks - but today I didn't, and used heavy marks. Some of them will remain on the arm to remind me not to do it in future:

Off to the band saw to get rid of most of the excess - much quicker than milling it all out, and there's a possibly usable off-cut left:

Then on to the mill to clean up to final sizes:

Milling a slot in the bottom that will fit over the leg of the caliper. This was a bit difficult, as I had to have the milling bit fairly far out of the collet for the head to clear the upright "leg" on the workpiece:

I left the caliper in the photo to show that the caliper leg (the one next to the workpiece against the vise jaws) is tapered - well "DUH" - I should have milled the slot on a taper then clearance with the chuck would have been much less of a problem.

A quick rotate later, and milling at the approximate angle of the caliper leg:

The finished slot. It is not centered, as I wanted to leave a bit more meat on the side where the retaining screw holes needed to be made:

On to the scribing tip. A piece of 12mm silver steel (drill rod) clamped up in the vise with the quicky-set of matched V-blocks I made a while ago. I used an old business card behind the v-blocks to ensure they were clamped evenly; this is a great use for old business cards. My vise unfortunately does not have a suitable V-groove; that has to wait for a while still:

Then I milled the top and sides of the silver steel to square and size, and drilled a 3.3mm hole (for M4 threading) on one side; this will be used for Marv's suggestion for threaded rod for measuring depths. Next I drilled and countersunk two holes for M4 countersink screws. I made sure that the holes were countersunk deeply enough that the screw heads will be well below the top level when installed. All this faffing around was to make sure that I can have this side of the workpiece truly flat, as it will become the bottom of the measuring tip:

Next I sawed the partly completed measuring tip off the parent stock and milled the left-over semi-round bit (that was on the bottom in the previous operation) square. It's not imperative that this cut is 100% parallel length-wise to the bottom, but it must be as darn accurate as possible parallel cross-wise to the bottom of the tip-in-making. Then I milled a step into it at the "scriber" end where the threaded hole is, and pivoted it at an approximate angle of 45 degrees and milled the point down. The result - top view:

And bottom view; I did flat-lap all machining marks off the bottom on a bit of 1200 emery - taking as much care as possible to keep it truly flat:

Assembled thus far the lot looks like this:

An example use of Marv's suggestion - I just turned a screw into the hole on the tip, zeroed at the rim edge of the flywheel, and measured the depth of the web:

Of course, it would be best to use a lock nut on the top side to lock down the screw/threaded rod.

I hoped to finish this project today, but the top vernier arm retainer is still left to do, as well as hardening the scribing bit.

Many of you might be thinking I've been a bit blasé about accuracy thus far... - and so I have, except for the bits I pointed out. It all comes down to some simple steps at final assembly that I'll show, well, at final assembly.

Regards, Arnold