Shop-made tools

[kustomkb]

nice work! I used one in a shop where i worked, the adjustable clutch in those units are great, we could do 2-56 in copper and 1/2-13
no problem. I also thought of building my own swing arm. I'll try ebay. thanks for the tip.

 

[John S]

Ok John... That tapper is very cool. care to do some drawings on your design for us?

Eric

There are no drawings, this is my way of working. I searched the Internet for designs, no make that pictures, and there are two common methods, the fixed column and two pantograph arms and the 4 linked pantograph arm type.
I plumped for the 3 arm type as it would be quicker to build.
The lengths of the arms are determined by how far you need to reach. I wanted to get anywhere on the bench including the 2 vises so that gave me the length.
Material in stock was 40mm x 4 mm thick box so that gave me some sizes.
Each of the 2 pantograph arms were drilled close to the end as possible with a 30mm drill on the Bridgy whist they were both tack welded together. this gives equal pivot points.

Eight pieces of 30mm bare were drilled and counterbored to take 8 stock bearings with a 8mm bore, these were cut to 42 mm long so they stand proud and don't foul the arms. These were tack welded inside from the ends of the arms.
The arms were left open as it was just wasting time to cap them [ just my take ]

Four side plate were cut from flat plate and three of these were laid on the ground and the arms laid on them, one was the back fixed plate and the other two represented the max and min movements. Once that had beel worked out the holes were transfered thru and the plates drill as pairs.

The fixed arm was cut to 50 degrees I think it was on the power saw, two 40mm bars were again drilled and counterbored for stock bearings with a 15mm hole. one was welded into place and two long pieces of 15mm bar were pushed thru and the end measured so the offset was the same between both ends and the second slug tack weld, more checking, then more tacks, finally welding the whole lot up.

A bit of sanding with an angle grinder and the bottom pivot made to fit the bottom slug and it was ready to have a block made where one side fitted the side plates and the other end fitted the bought head.

Assemble is just a few bolts but I did put a thin 8mm washer on each of the arm bearings to space it and stop the bearing rubbing on the side plates.

If someone wants the pivot layout for mine I can do a quick and dirty drawing, it certainly won't be in 3D ;D

Ironically it turned out well because I was doing a job that required one 6mm hole to be tapped into this laser cut bar on it's end. The bar could be drilled in the Bridgy but not tapped as the table wouldn't drop low enough to get the tapping head in so I was drilling these and tapping by hand as none of my machines had the reach to do these bars.

These usually can in in batches of 40 at a time so it wasn't too bad.
I had arranged to pick the head up at the Harrogate show and just before the show they upped the order to 180.
When I got back from the show it then stood at 380.
So it took me about just over a day, full time to make this hence the no paint and by the time the bars were delivered it was done and 380 bars were drilled and tapped in 6 hours.
That paid for the head outright, it cost 2 broken drills and no taps.

So far I have broken one tap and that was a 6mm one that just went part way in a hole for some reason, most of the time it's working on 4,5 and 6mm threads in alloy on these CNC conversions.

.

 

[Mcgyver]

Kevin, here are some details on the sharpener build and also the tube bender (no build photos of it)

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=24051

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=14890

 

[ksouers]

Thanks Mcgyver. That grinder fixture is a very interesting project. Well done. :bow:

 

[steamer]

Learn something new every day!

Mcgyver, that grinding fixture great!....wish I could weld, but I can braze.

I really like how you finished that.

Dave

 

[CrewCab]

here are some details on the sharpener build and also the tube bender

Nice write up's .................. and very nice work 8)

CC

 

[John S]

Proof of the pudding, just found this pic tonight when I was looking for some info on the tapping arm.

That made the bench grunt a bit :

.

 

[ksouers]

Grabbed another picture of some simple items while taking a break.

Clockwise from top right:
Some angle blocks, a holder for letter stamps, parallels, v parallels, vise stop, tapping center.
The stamp holder and center I picked up as part of an estate sale. The vise stop bolts to the side of the fixed jaw of my vise. The vees were made to hold some parts in the vise that were too short for a regular v-block.

 

[CrewCab]

a holder for letter stamps,

Kevin ;D .................. more info needed ............. how did you get the square internal corners 8)

CC 8)

 

[steamer]

Oh my....you do a few repeat jobs don't you John!

I can see why you made it....how else could you have done it.

Dave

 

[ksouers]

CC,
On the V parallels?

Easy. First squared everything up so all edges were square and parallel and all the same size. I insured size by milling them together bonded with Locktite.

I marked out the angles and hole.

Then drilled the hole at the apex of the vee. Then set up using a protractor so the top edge was at 45 degrees. That put one side of the vee parallel with the table and the other side vertical. Just milled across the horizontal until I met the line for the vertical.

I did a quick staging of the setup, picture should tell the whole story:

 

[CrewCab]

CC,
On the V parallels?

Kevin ................ No ....... : ................ the holder for letter stamps

CC

 

[ksouers]

LOL, um... I didn't make that one.

But from looking at it, it's two pieces silver soldered together. The slot was milled, then a plate soldered across the open top.

 

[CrewCab]

Thanks Kevin, I wondered if it was in two pieces ............ to be fair I can't see why it can't be bolted together though ???

Thanks for the info, I just bought a set of stamps and was wondering about a jig to keep things on the "straight and narrow" ;D

atb

CC 8)

 

[ksouers]

No problem, CC.
No reason at all it can't be bolted. Though on this particular one the far edge is too thin.

I imagine it could also be soft soldered. But silver solder isn't that hard to do.

 

[CrewCab]

Thanks Kevin,
I'll probably have a go at something when I remember where I've put the letter stamps ???

growing old is no fun :

CC ;D

 

[Bogstandard]

Dave,

Have a read of this before going any further with the staking project. It brings up the problem of cheapo stamps.

http://modelenginenews.org/meng/upt/tools.html

If you go to the bottom of the page, and click on UTP index, it shows you the whole article.

John

 

[CrewCab]

Thank you John, at least it made me get off mi' butt and find where I'd put them ;D .......... OK The set's I bought, (with the idea of being able to produce dials which at least looked the part) were from RDG, who I do like to deal with 8) ........ I'm told these are "better quality" they are 2mm in height and having had a look ............. bananaitis is present but it's quite modest so hopefully I can work around it.
Good article overall and I'll be going back to it in the future but, wouldn't using a fine grade of wet n' dry achieve a similar final result on the "digits" ........ surely it's got to be easier than machining a worn file etc ........... just a thought.

Ta 8)

CC

 

[John S]

Dave,
Instead of making a holder use the straight end of one of those cheap boring tools.
The type where you get one square at 90 degrees and the other at 45 degrees.

Handy for doing dials, enrave then in the chuck of the lathe with a tool on it's side than with the boring bar held on a bracket on the cross slide you can get the stamp over the dial and thump the letters on dead square and equally spaced

Bit of a plug here but if you want good quality stamps try the ones Arc sells, I checked out about 10 sample sets before Ketan ordered from the factory he has done. They are the best quality I have seen for a long while, far better than the Indian tat most of the others carry.
.

 

[John S]

I modified these to make them more accurate and swap easily from imperial to metric.

.