Shop Made Tools

[outlawspeeder]

Well I made my first tool starting with only stock steel. I looked at many plans and like this one the most. I have about 2.5 inches from center to base. That’s a easy 4 inch ball. Why? Well always WHY NOT. Hahaha My next tool is going to be a taper attachment for the lathe. All these are steps to a Quorn Tool & Cutter Grinder.


My base

The mount

I know I saw this trip here on this site and I owe someone a thank you

The finish with its first ball as a handle

[sasquatch]

Nice work, A needed tool in any shop.

[mars-red]

I don't think anyone has posted here with their shop made drill bits yet? It always amazes me how well they work when you're in a bind for a particular size. The other night I needed a couple of 6.8mm holes to tap for M8x1.25 threads - this was in some 1/4" mild steel plate. I can never quite manage to pry open the ol' wallet far enough to spring for a set of tap drills so I end up doing this sort of thing from time to time.

The nice thing about these simple drills is that they aren't prone to wandering or grabbing into the work. I usually drill a pilot hole first so I don't have to fret over shaping the center point to cut.

Here's my 6.8mm bit after I used it a couple of times:


I just used O1 heat treated with a propane torch. It has about 1 degree of taper turned up to the shank - after turning that and the point taper, I just took a small file to it. After filing the flats but before filing the cutting relief angles, I like to cover the remainder of the tapered OD with blue sharpie so as I close in on a sharp edge I can make sure I'm not taking anything off the OD. Toward the end I switched to a needle file. Also note the bit is left-handed - between my files being right handed and myself being right handed, I find them a lot easier to shape this way. My drill press runs in reverse so no big deal.

Anyone else here make their own bits from time to time? I'd be interested to learn more about that - I'm pretty much just going on pieces of info I've read here and there, on the Internet as well as old books.

-Max

[achtanelion]

Haven't made my own drill bits yet, but now I'm intrigued. Could you maybe do a bit more of a show and tell on how you make them? It sounds like a great technique to have available for those late night and weekend projects.

J

[mars-red]

Haven't made my own drill bits yet, but now I'm intrigued. Could you maybe do a bit more of a show and tell on how you make them? It sounds like a great technique to have available for those late night and weekend projects.

J

Absolutely, I'd love to! I foresee some 3/8-24 threads in my near future, and I don't have a Q size drill bit... I'll do that sooner rather than later and take pictures along the way. These holes are going to need to be quite a bit deeper than usual so this will be the longest spade drill I've made to date. I'll do my best to sneak off to the workshop for a bit over my long Thanksgiving weekend.

[Ron of Va]

Just some more stuff I have done I thought I would share.

I used to use a gunsmithing barrel vise to take apart my Albrecht Chucks. But I like this better so here are a couple of Albrecht Chuck vises I made for disassembling the unit so I can take them apart for cleaning or to remove the arbors. They can be clamped to a table or put in a large vise so you can use a strap wrench to unscrew the hood.


I have several water shutoff valves under the sinks and behind toilets that are extremely hard to turn. If you can get your hand on them you still can’t get a lot of leverage to close them off. So I made a 3/8 inch drive socket just for them. Note that the pressure from the tool stays at the top of the faucet handles dome, and not at the bottom of the skirt which could break.



I guess everybody has an oil dip can. I put magnets on the bottom of mine, so it is not likely to get spilled. The magnets also attract swarf and pull it off my brush. I also put a large magnet in a plastic container inside the can that also attracts swarf.


I put different color electrical tape on the knob of my power feed so I know at a glance about where to start.

[Ron of Va]

For you woodworkers.

Most woodworkers know that a board should be first run flat through a jointer to start the squaring process. But sometimes the board is so hard to push forward; you end up pushing down so hard it takes the cup out of the board, and then springs back after you let up on it, which defeats the purpose.

This push block lets you reach back and hook it onto the end of the board so you don’t have to use so much downward pressure, which might take the twist or cup out of the board before it gets to the cutter. It keeps your hand safe too.

Oak strips are glued into a dado, and then backed with a flat support. No metal fasteners can be used attaching the wooden blocks.


Just a cross cut sled with an adjustable stop block.


A duel action wood workers bench vise. (poor mans version)
Almost 20 years now, back when I was dirt poor, I built my woodworkers work bench, and didn’t have any money for a bench vise, or a proper bench screw to operate the bench dogs. So I made this work with an acme threaded rod and an acme nut. The bench dog assembly and the bench vise work off the same screw. It works really well. I think I have $3-$4 in it.

[sasquatch]

Very good practical projects Ron, thanks for posting these.

(Yup,, been "Dirt Poor" also,, and it can really get the old brain working to create a solution that you can make into a useable item.) - I think everyone needs to go through that stage first, as it does help to see solutions, and builds some creativity in ones self.

[chip's]

Ron, some nice work. What did you use for the back edge guide/clamp rail and the miter slot guide?

[Ron of Va]

Ron, some nice work. What did you use for the back edge guide/clamp rail and the miter slot guide?

The back of the cross cut sled has a T-slot guide channel fit in a dado. I had it left over from a router station I built. I think I got it from Woodcraft Supply. These come in two widths, T-slot and Miter Channel widths. I used the T-slot size which is narrower.

The Stop was made from a couple of ¼-20 knobs, and two “T” nuts from the plumbing dept. of Lowes. The flip stop is just a piece of aluminum I fashioned from a piece of scrap.