Making tiny parts

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • MotorradMike
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2009
    • 1087

    Making tiny parts

    I made 20 of these today. For clamping a PCB into a case. 4 per, 5 cases.



    That's a Canadian nickle for scale.


    I wouldn't want to make anything much smaller. I guess I'm lucky that Lexan was specified.
    What do you guys do to make small parts easier?
    Smaller vise? More precise vise?
    Mike

    My Dad always said, "If you want people to do things for you on the farm, you have to buy a machine they can sit on that does most of the work."
  • bborr01
    Senior Member
    • Jul 2007
    • 3630

    #2
    I use a small machinists vise clamped in the Kurt 6".

    Seeing that part reminds me, I need to make a part that is almost identical to the ones that you posted. It is a clamp for the bezel on a Mututoyo dial caliper.

    Brian
    OPEN EYES, OPEN EARS, OPEN MIND

    THINK HARDER

    BETTER TO HAVE TOOLS YOU DON'T NEED THAN TO NEED TOOLS YOU DON'T HAVE

    MY NAME IS BRIAN AND I AM A TOOLOHOLIC

    Comment

    • Harvey Melvin Richards
      Senior Member
      • Mar 2010
      • 300

      #3
      I design a lot of small parts. Sometimes my guys complain about their size. It's funny, they all look big on my computer.

      Comment

      • T.Hoffman
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2001
        • 563

        #4
        Some guys make REALLY tiny parts.
        This is functional lathe, posted here by member mklotz.

        Amazing.



        Comment

        • MotorradMike
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2009
          • 1087

          #5
          Originally posted by bborr01
          I use a small machinists vise clamped in the Kurt 6".

          Seeing that part reminds me, I need to make a part that is almost identical to the ones that you posted. It is a clamp for the bezel on a Mututoyo dial caliper.

          Brian
          I'm guessing your clamp is a lot smaller.
          Do you have a pic of your vise in a vise setup?
          Mike

          My Dad always said, "If you want people to do things for you on the farm, you have to buy a machine they can sit on that does most of the work."

          Comment

          • small.planes
            Senior Member
            • Aug 2007
            • 953

            #6
            A couple of years back I made a lot of RC heli parts. My mill is a TOS FNK25, like a proper grownup bridgeport.
            This thread on another forum details the alloy head upgrade I made for the Walkera 4-3 Heli.
            This is my heli with the prototype head on it, sat on the kitchen worktop:



            All up weight is under 50g ready to fly.

            The hardest part of those was cross drilling the 2.5mm thick alloy through a 1.4mm hole with a 0.8mm drill.
            Jigs are your friend if you want to make more than a couple of anything.

            The bit to hold the flybar is originally 2 tophat shaped bits of brass, and a plastic piece.
            These could disappear if you crashed 'properly', so I made a few one piece ones in brass.
            1.5mm dia, cross drilled to take 1mm CF rod!
            Again jigs ensure the alignment of the part and cutter (once the jig is correctly setup of course...)



            Of course then I decided to make a CCPM version of the same Heli, so I made a controlable pitch head for it:



            Around this time the office I flew in at work got people in it, so I graduated to a Gaui 200 (200mm long main rotor blades).
            Of course I crashed, and the weak point on these was the mixer arms to mix the flybar and swashplate signals to the main rotor.
            Diecast pot metal I think. Anyway the helifreaks I hung out on the internet with wanted a stronger version, and I wasnt about to buy spares when I can make them, so this is a mixer arm pair I made:



            The Large hole is a bearing seat for a 4mm o/d bearing, the smaller ones are threaded M1.6.
            Controling the pocket depth was a bu**er, as there is a spacer, 0.8mm IIRC which fitted between the bearings inner races so you could tighten them down to have no slop, but they wouldnt bind.
            I ended up modifying a 4mm endmill to cut undersize, and then modifying a 4mm reamer to cut a square blind hole.
            Then using the quill stop to cut the intiial pocket, and the quill stop with the reamer in the spindle, but turning by hand I managed to get a repeatable process that didnt take overly long to do.

            I made a lot of those, without snapping a single M1.6 tap. I used my TOS as the worlds most rigid tapping guide.

            Looking back I used to make a lot of tiny things on my 'full sized' equipment.
            Sensative feel is important, and low run out with tiny cutters.
            I think a big heavy, properly built machine thats designed to take heavy, but precise, cuts is a good place to start.

            Dave
            Just south of Sudspumpwater UK

            Comment

            • mars-red
              Senior Member
              • Jan 2012
              • 1059

              #7
              For making small parts by hand (when no lathe work is required), I have a couple of sets of fairly inexpensive needle files (one regular set, and one diamond coated set that I tend to use on brass) as well as a small selection of high quality escapement files, a small Nicholson screwhead slotting file, an old pivot file (it is such a fine cut you need good light to even tell it is a file), and a very small home made burnishing file ( details here: http://joyofprecision.tumblr.com/pos...urnishing-file ). A good selection of small files really makes things a lot easier. I also have a very small vise (jaws are just a little over 1" wide) that I use for holding square work, and I have some pin vises that I use for holding small diameter round work.
              Max
              http://joyofprecision.com/

              Comment

              Working...
              X