Shop Made Tools

[mklotz]

It seems that, whenever I get the prick punch located just so, I accidentally nudge it out of position while reaching for the hammer I've inevitably forgotten to lay close to hand.

So, I made a prick punch that has a built-in hammer.



The steel slug rides freely on the rod and is dropped, slidehammer-fashion, onto the steel plate pinned to the shaft to drive the prick punch into the work. The punch itself is made from an index hole punch rescued from an old mechanical teletype. The brass screw at the end hides a pocket to store punches and also serves to keep the hammer on the rod.

[strokersix]

If you remake the vises in steel you should consider 300 series stainless for lower thermal conductivity compared to carbon steel. Plus they will stay looking nice.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I built this device some time ago to help me butt-solder two pieces together.



The two little vises are as identical as I could make them. The bodies and jaws were machined as single pieces and then cut apart to make the two units. The vises slide along a 3/8" square rod and can be locked in any position. The cylindrical post fits my Panavise base. It's removable so the square rod can be clamped in the workbench vise.

As shown, this little jig has been a remarkably useful tool. Soldering, gluing and sawing are only a few of the things it's been used for. But it really came into its own when I added a second chunk of square rod perpendicular to the original



using a half-lap joint to ensure that the two vises remained aligned. Accurate orthogonal solder joints are a pleasure now.

I made the vises from aluminum which, in retrospect, was not the best choice for soldering since it wicks the heat away from the joint. Steel would have been a better choice but my concern was to not mar the part surfaces.

I've considered adding a third rod perpendicular to the existing two to allow for three dimensional assemblies but haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

Great idea. I was trying to solder 2 wires together today and a wire jig like this would have been just what I needed.

[Okapi]

I like the simple indexer. Made from plans or your design?

Chuck

I've found your question in searching something else, you can found on this page some ideas for this type of divider make especially for the shaper but which can be use on a milling machine too.
This divider was made especially for the repair of non standard pinions, before soldering a new part on the broken teeth, I cut on a scrap disk the number of teeth needed using the original as a gauge, and putting this disk in place of the model for the recut of the soldered repair part.

http://www.lecollectionneur.ch/etau-limeur/

[RobWilson]

Here are a set of instrument makers vices I made a wile back .






Great for holding wee parts wile there being worked on .

Cheers Rob

[gundog]

Those are really nice Rob.

[Toolguy]

Those show a high level of craftsmanship. I would love to have a set like that! Maybe someday in my "spare" time...

[J Harp]

Very nice. How did you do the handle ends?

[vpt]

Excellent work Rob! Thanks very much for sharing!

[Lu47Dan]

Nice!

I made the vises from aluminum which, in retrospect, was not the best choice for soldering since it wicks the heat away from the joint. Steel would have been a better choice but my concern was to not mar the part surfaces.

You could add phenolic inserts into the jaws to limit heat transmission into the aluminum jaw body. This would allow for the jaws to dissipate any heat that would be radiated to the jaws but prevent the heat from the material being solder from transmitting into the jaws.
Dan

[RobWilson]

Very nice. How did you do the handle ends?

The ends of the levers are just machined up separate and screwed on ,like so .





Thanks Lads for taking the time to comment on my work .


Cheers Rob

[j king]

Very nice rob

[stevet]

What material did you make them out of ? Did you heat treat them ? Those are beautiful. I love vises, have quite a collection, but nothing that small or nice.

Steve t

[ncjeeper]

My spindle spider.

[Sun God]

One thing I noticed was that it would be great to be able to do a facing op without a tool change on my SX2LF CNC minimill, when in 'lathe mode'. I have been using an SCMCN 0602 tool holder for profile turning, and I noticed the ever wasted 100 degree corner of the CCMT insert was only about a millimetre away from the edge of the tool holder, so figured that it would be great to use that corner for facing ops and finally get a use out of those corners I've been paying for and throwing away all this time!



Set up the tool holder in the vise, loaded up the mill Mach 3 profile, and had at it. Hacked away at the allegedly HRC40 toolholder with an 8mm high helix carbide endmill. At about 800rpm, 75mm/min feed and 0.25mm DOC, managed to turn out a mirror finish on this Chinese Cheese toolholder. It will only ever be used with stock in an ER32 collet (i.e. max 20mm diameter) so 15mm of side clearance on the tool holder seems plenty.



Plugged the insert back in, went back to lathe mode. The point of the 80 degree corner is exactly 4mm lower than the 100 degree point on this holotype CCMT0602 insert, so using the end of the stock as home, a facing op is now as simple as rapid to Z-4 and feed in to X-5 (off the top of my head), with no toolchanges and no homing required. Leaves a perfectly smooth finish with no nub.



(promise I'll work on my photography in future!)