Refurbished Radius Tool

[CCWKen]

This is the Threadwell Radius Tool I picked up at the salvage yard Friday. After a night in an electrolysis tank and some cleaning and oiling, (maybe a splash of paint too) the finished Radius Tool is below. Not bad for $2.60 and some elbow grease.

Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/Radius/RadiusTool001.jpg


After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/Radius/Radius-Tool-After-011.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/Radius/Radius-Tool-After-006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/Radius/Radius-Tool-After-010.jpg

[IOWOLF]

Now that is nice . Thanx for showing us Just how lucky you are. http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//wink.gif

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The tame Wolf !

[lynnl]

WOW! It came outta the tank with a fresh coat of paint! It's a miracle.

Kidding aside, that looks great. Bet'cha can recoup the $2.60 from under the cushions on your sofa.

[topct]

That's amazing.

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Gene

[wierdscience]

That's nice,now send it to me so I can show you how to use it http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//biggrin.gif

[hoffman]

Looks great Ken! A lot of folks are quick to write off stuff that has a lot of life left in it...

[J Harp]

Very nice job. Please tell us what machine it's used with and how it does what its made to do, can't figure out the christmas tree knobs. thanks.

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Jim

[aboard_epsilon]

Great job Ken
any pics of it just out of the tank .
did you pull all those brass bits off .
or did it eat the rust from underneath of them .
all the best.mark

[CCWKen]

It's used to grind a radius or shape on grinding wheels. But... I may find some other uses. http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//biggrin.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/Shapes.gif

The larger knurled wheel is a lock nut. When loose, the middle knob rotates the entire front between movable stops. The stops can be adjusted to the degree wheel. There's also a venier scale at the top to divide the degees into five(I think) minute increments.

The small knurled wheel at the rear is the off set adjustment. It moves the cutter assembly left and right. (When the lock levers are released.)

The knurled knob on top is the height or radius adjustment. It's marked in thousandths (0-50). The brass scale/index on the side shows the radius in tenths of an inch.

Clear as mud?

[Your Old Dog]

Great job! Don't let your ego get the better of you and start flashing it around the salvage yard you found it at! I can see things getting pretty expensive for you! Really a great job you've done there.

[C - ROSS]

Great find and a super job. The local junk yards will have to look out, I'm gonna be watching.

Now I just have to find out how to get that paint into the tank, will save a lot of work.

Ross

[CCWKen]

Mark,
I don't have pictures of the mess out of the tank. When it comes out, everything is covered in black iron, including the aluminum and brass. Don't let dry! All you have to do is wash the black off. Water and a paint brush work.

I put the whole thing in the tank. No need to remove brass or aluminum parts. The only affect is a slight dulling. The etching is so light, it's not worth the chance of breaking a screw getting them off. They polish up easily. And yes, the rust under the brass was converted/removed. At least under the larger scale--It was the only one I removed to polish. I didn't try to remove the smaller 0- indicator.

I just used a buffer on the aluminum parts.

This is how the parts looked after disassembling and drying.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/Radius/Radius-Tool-After-002.jpg

[aboard_epsilon]

Great job and pics of what I wanted to see thanks.
so it frees up the corroded and seized parts as well...brillient....saves a lot of time.
what would be the smallest charger you could use on a job like yours ...I only have a 6 amp one.
all the best.mark

[BillH]

Beutiful, good find, good job.

[CCWKen]

Hey Mark, I think it would depend on how large of an item you're trying to clean. This piece weighed 22lbs. and has quite a bit of surface area. It was drawing about 10amps. (My meter is off a little)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/CCWKen/Tools/Machine/RadiusTool005.jpg

[MikeyR]

WOW! Great job! I gotta build me one of those tanks. Wouldn't have believed it iffin I hadn't seen it.

[aboard_epsilon]

Yup and I've got to go out looking for big second hand start/chargers like Kens.

all the best.mark

[Cecil Walker]

Great job Ken, congrats on the find.

[flatlander]

In this day & age of the 'throw-away' society, it's a real pleasure to see what a knowledgable & industrious fellow can do with a piece of what ordinary folks would consider junk. Makes me want to head for the nearest scrap yard and start digging for 'gold'. Nice job. Where would I find information on building an electrolysis tank?

[CCWKen]

Hey Flatlander, Evan did a whole series a while ago. If you do a Google on Electrolytic Rust Removal , you'll probably get thousands of pages. Around 26,000! http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//biggrin.gif

[hsmike]

Ken,
What was the solution you used ? That is amazing!
Mike

[JRouche]

Ken, real nice. Makes me heart full knowing the fine tool got another life.

Are the knurled wheels aluminum or SS? They really didnt get that bad and turned out great. JRouche

[CCWKen]

JR, the knurled wheels in the back are aluminum. The scales on the side are brass. There's also a bronze nut for the radius screw. All I did was wire-wheel a spot on the base to make a good connection and lowered the whole thing into the tank.

Mike, the electrolyte is Sodium Carbonate--Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" if you do the shopping. http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//biggrin.gif

[freddycougar]

VERY NICE.. xcelent workmanship....
freddy

[Rustybolt]

WOW!! Beautiful.

[Evan]

Sure looks nice. I have used my tank to clean up aluminum that was stored with a bunch of rusty steel. That works pretty well.

Here is the link to the thread on derusting:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//Forum1/HTML/013558.html

[abn]

Nice work!!

[SJorgensen]

That is a great looking tool. It is so much the better that you've found a diamond in the rough and then made it back into a diamond.

Thanks for showing how well it can be done.