Shop Made Tools

[trackfodder]

On a roll and can't quit

When Sears sold off the last of the good 14" floor drillpresses for $92, I bought one and an 8" rotary indexing table (Palmgren?) for $95. (eat yer heart out) I decided to make a sprocket for a little motorbike for my kid. I dimpled the center of the table and sharpened a 1/2" stud to screw through some strap stock to lock it in the hole. The sprocket blank was nutted down to that I driled 36 holes (10 deg) at the required diameter in some 1/4" ally and removed some of the hole diam. on the lathe. Then I bought a 1/4" milling cutter and made a plate with (2) 1/4" pegs at the required pitch for #41 chain. The sprocket blank was rotated on the close peg and the other peg by hand in both directions giving a perfect profile for the chain movement on the teeth. Finally the sides of the sprocket teeth were profiled. It looked like one and I had a ball engine-turning prettys on it with a rotary wire brush. It did yeoman service on the motorbike.

[trackfodder]

One more once
I worked at 2 shops that used 3-M 48"X2" burnishing belts. I was impressed at the rate they removed metal and left a polished surface. One was home-grown using a motorcycle fork leg. I was given some partly worn-out belts so I bought an 8" cast iron caster wheel and a 6" rubber-tired one from Harbor Freight Tools. The 8" was modified with an arbor to fit a motor shaft and was trued on the lathe. The 6" has a vee crest pattern perfect for alignment. I welded a shortened Norton Atlas fork leg at an angle on a piece of thin 8" channel iron for a base. The fork spring tension is perfect for my use. A 1-1/2HP capacitor start motor was mounted with the 8" wheel on the shaft. An arbor for the 6" wheel was mounted in the axle hole. The leg has a bracket surface for a fender brace and an arm was mounted to that with a jam nut and screw that bears on the capacitor housing for alignment adjustment. Origionally I intended to make a work surface for it, but the unobstructed access to the belt was too good to ruin. It is VERY resistant to jumping with side pressure. The belts come in 4 grades . Mine are all brown (coarse) and are reversable. It is quite slow coming to RPM but doesn't blow my 30 A. breaker. Whatever works. I give it a bit of shove to help it occasionally.

[trackfodder]

My, what pretty pix. Maybe some day I will be allowed to post pix. The lil bandsaw reminds me of a Carolina bandsaw I modified at Mesa Products. (I was the whole maint. dept. for 10 yrs). They were sawing magnesium rod stock with iron cores on it. They had to tighten the vice and make the cut, loosen and re-tighten. I fell in love with truck airbrake actuators. They come in 5 through 8" dia. diaphragms and the pressure they exert is the area times the air pressure. Only 20 bucks and replacement diaphragms $2. The action travels 2" and if needed will move laterally a bit as opposed to an air cylinder.
I replaced the hand wheel on the vice with a 5" one revolving in a pipe union set loose and setscrewed. A button type valve was positioned with a pushrod so bringing the blade down would close the vice and loosen on lifting it.
Initial opening of the jaws was accomplished by rotating the actuator like the handwheel where the stock would slide freely. That and a stock stop saved MUCH labor. One hand on the stock, one on the arm.

[trackfodder]

labor- intensive job simplified

I watched a guy punching 3 and 4" holes with a hydraulic Greenlee chassis punch in 1/8" ally and FRP cabinets. It took 100 strokes on the pump. OVER AND OVER ! I begged $300 from purchasing and bought a little 10,000 psig. Haskel intensifier pump, a bicycle drink bottle, and some 90deg. ball valves. The bike bottle holder was mounted on the Unistrut superstructure on the table and held the hydraulic fluid. The hole was reduced to less than 1 minute once the 1/2" pilot hole was drilled. The guy was VERY grateful.

[_Paul_]

Must be figgerin' on doing some mighty powerful dividin' there Paul... judging by the size of that there stepper motor!

Looking good! Is that a piece of galvanized pipe you attached the flange to? Looks like it's attached with threads? Good utilization of stuff on hand.

Well spotted! it's actually a piece of office chair stem and the end plate was a piece of 10mm angle bracket for something or other, all threaded together using 20 TPI Whitworth threads.

Stepper is overkill at 220 Ncm but all I had, still it wont wear out in a hurry.

[trackfodder]

Mesa had 13,000 bronze electrical shunts stamped a couple times a year and the stamping oil was hand wiped with solvent for soldering. That sucked. I got 2 SS Coke syrup cans and cut them and had them welded end to end to make a tall tank. I had a cylindrical can made with a slight taper, bigger at the top with a syphon tube welded to the bottom going all the way to the top and all the way back down to the bottom that would hang inside. A 25 ft. copper coil was wrapped to make a heat exchanger over the top of the inner container. A controlled band heater was clamped to the bottom of the outer vessel. It would contain 1,000 shunts per load and dry cleaning solvent vapor condensed, filling the parts container and syphoned dry over and over leaving the oil in the bottom of the outer vessel. It is called a Soxhlet extractor in a laboratory like I worked in for 35 yrs at Phillips Pet. R&D. The taper facilitated emptying the parts.

[_Paul_]

One more once
I worked at 2 shops that used 3-M 48"X2" burnishing belts. I was impressed at the rate they removed metal and left a polished surface. One was home-grown using a motorcycle fork leg. I was given some partly worn-out belts so I bought an 8" cast iron caster wheel and a 6" rubber-tired one from Harbor Freight Tools. The 8" was modified with an arbor to fit a motor shaft and was trued on the lathe. The 6" has a vee crest pattern perfect for alignment. I welded a shortened Norton Atlas fork leg at an angle on a piece of thin 8" channel iron for a base. The fork spring tension is perfect for my use. A 1-1/2HP capacitor start motor was mounted with the 8" wheel on the shaft. An arbor for the 6" wheel was mounted in the axle hole. The leg has a bracket surface for a fender brace and an arm was mounted to that with a jam nut and screw that bears on the capacitor housing for alignment adjustment. Origionally I intended to make a work surface for it, but the unobstructed access to the belt was too good to ruin. It is VERY resistant to jumping with side pressure. The belts come in 4 grades . Mine are all brown (coarse) and are reversable. It is quite slow coming to RPM but doesn't blow my 30 A. breaker. Whatever works. I give it a bit of shove to help it occasionally.

Some good depictions Mr Trackfodder I particulary like the sound of the fork leg burnisher do you have any drawings (or pics) regards
Paul

[trackfodder]

pump from junk

When I first went to Mesa Products I was told "we" had to empty a 10 bbl parrifin tank to remove graphite and put in fresh wax. I asked the production mgr where the pump was. "PUMP? I had to use a 5 gal. bucket when I did it." Would you let me build a pump, sez I? BUILD A PUMP? Hell yes, it will be quicker and easier. I was given permission. I had seen a guy throw away a Ford 460 water pump with a bad seal. I plated the open side with 2 tubes and put a flex coupling on it with a long shaft, mounted the pump to a pipe with a hook at the top and motor mount. Located a surplus motor and some old hoses, steam I suspect. Anyhow I filled a 55 gal. barrel in 2 min. flat with both discharge hoses. The anode support frames had to be pulled up and the graphite cake shoveled out. They forgot to tell me about that detail. We fixed that. Next story---

[trackfodder]

Mesa used a filled epoxy to pot anodes and it required stirring bi-weekly. They thought they were doing right with a drum roller, but my lab training told me you don't do that with a thixotropic suspension. I went down the road to a place that sells agitators and they showed me a $400 stirrer that would fit through a drum bung with 2" discs welded at intervals with pitch angle on a shaft. They said I was free to copy it. I had a bunch of notched discs cut across the street and welded them to 2 shafts, brought a 1-1/2 HP air motor from home, and a fitting to screw into the bung. That is the first time the epoxy and hardener was PROPERLY stirred. Not wanting to make a hangar queen that just did that, I made a 3-legged stand that held my lathe center rest for skinny stuff and also the stirrer. That fit into the wax tank.(see above rambles) The turbulance was something to behold. I NEVER had to shovel graphite from the wax tank again. LOL

[trackfodder]

I'll make a deal wit ya--send me your email address to [email protected] or teach me how to post here and I will publish some pix. I get the idea that posting pix at this early stage of my membership ist verboten.

[achtanelion]

The boar doesn't host pictures for anyone. Most people use photobucket to host their pictures. There's a tutorial here: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/thr...th-photobucket

You might want to edit your post and take your email address out or spambots will grab it.

[mars-red]

I recently made my first set of clamps. I milled the jaws from gray iron, on my little Barker mill, and the O1 steel screws were turned, single-pointed, and knurled on my Enco 3-in-1 machine.

[1935Ron]

small sample of 3 generations, sine bar my grandfather made , angle plate ,big tool holder, tap block my father ,blade welder, small angle, shapper tool holders ...me

[J. Randall]

My, what pretty pix. Maybe some day I will be allowed to post pix. The lil bandsaw reminds me of a Carolina bandsaw I modified at Mesa Products. (I was the whole maint. dept. for 10 yrs). They were sawing magnesium rod stock with iron cores on it. They had to tighten the vice and make the cut, loosen and re-tighten. I fell in love with truck airbrake actuators. They come in 5 through 8" dia. diaphragms and the pressure they exert is the area times the air pressure. Only 20 bucks and replacement diaphragms $2. The action travels 2" and if needed will move laterally a bit as opposed to an air cylinder.
I replaced the hand wheel on the vice with a 5" one revolving in a pipe union set loose and setscrewed. A button type valve was positioned with a pushrod so bringing the blade down would close the vice and loosen on lifting it.
Initial opening of the jaws was accomplished by rotating the actuator like the handwheel where the stock would slide freely. That and a stock stop saved MUCH labor. One hand on the stock, one on the arm.

Trackfodder, sounds like you had an interesting career. There is a post somewhere on the site that tells you how to post pics. You have to use a hosting service. the mod routinely prunes this thread of text to help keep the size down. They take the ideas an publish tips books, so most posts really need the pics with them if posted here.
James

[KJ1I]

That's awesome. My grandfather was a stone mason. Everything he made for us is still where it was set back in Iowa. My father was a woodworker: I have some of him tools, but the only items of his make are a footstool for my son and a pair of toast tongs he made by the dozen to give as gifts. My son is a music producer and could care less about anything "hard" (as in physically solid).