Simonds Files

[Bovine]

I have the pleasure if using a Simonds file on the lathe to remove tooling marks and finish my work. The school had them in the tool room hid away.
The closest thing I can compare is cutting with a sharp knife. This file is a beauty. Light pressure and you can gently dress a piece. Put more pressure behind it and fine shavings are removed.
What files do you all suggest since I heard this company is no longer around?

 

[ShopShoe]

Bovine,

They're still around:

http://www.simonds.cc/pindex.html

Also, the well known US company Nicholson has quality files:

http://www.apexhandtools.com/brands/nicholson_files/index.cfm

If you want a lot of basic info about files and their use you can select from a "File Selection Guide" drop-down menu on the left side of that page.

ENCO sells Nicholson and import files:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRHM

KBC sells Nicholson and Simonds and others:

http://kbctools.com/usa/main.cfm

I know there are many other vendors, these are just two that I have used a lot since I started this hobby.

--ShopShoe

 

[chucketn]

Thanks for this post. Downloaded and saved the Nicholson "File Selection Guide".

Chuck

 

[skyline1]

Simonds are super files I have one or two myself. My personal favourite are Stubs, perhaps better known for needle files they did make the larger ones.

They are very rare now though. I am fairly sure the company is no longer in business.

I think most Engineers have a favorite maker and indeed a favorite file but this is not a "mine is better than yours" thing it's more like a favoured musical instrument, A file is one of the most personal tools we use so it is not surprising that we get very attached to them. (And even lock them away sometimes)

Regards Mark

 

[GWRdriver]

Mark,
There is another thread currently on Die Filers and one of the growing problems DF owners have is the availability of files made for DF machines, which are straight-sided and reversed draw. Are you aware of anyone in the UK still making such files?

 

[kuhncw]

Travers Tool sells Simmonds files.

http://www.travers.com/skulist.asp?...s&q=block+id+121864+and+class+level3+id+29969

Regards,

Chuck

 

[skyline1]

Hi GWRDriver

Offhand, no, limited market I guess, left hand taps and dies are easy enough to get so why not reverse cut files. I would have thought that manufacturing them is little more difficult than a conventional one.

Regards Mark

 

[GWRdriver]

Thanks Mark. No, I wouldn't think it any more difficult or costly than a conventional file, but it's definitely a function of demand. It's my guess that in due time enough demand will accumulate to make it feasible for one of the file Mfg's to do a run of DF files. In the meantime there will be the hope of discovering a hidden cache of NOS. I thought I might have run across such a cache a few years ago. I found a local industrial "surplus" liquidator which had a yards of shelves of NOS files, all Simonds oddly enough. But no die files among them.

 

[Lew Hartswick]

Almost any new file will cut like the OP found, UNTIL some idiot starts see-sawing it
back and forth across the corner of a piece of steel.. Like the average high school
kid it the metal shop. I've seen it all to often.

 

[BMyers]

Simond files are all made in Honduras now, they are not of the same quality as when they were made in Newcomerstown Ohio.