Shop Made Tools

[John Stevenson]

Found these today whilst I was searching some files. Not sure of the date of these because they were scanned in from original photo's.

Must have dated back from about 1978 /79 because this was before I had a milling machine and had to rely on the little Myford for everything.



This is a piston for one of the Jones twins, operation is milling all the cavity out in a new piston. Work is held in 3 jaw which in turn is held in a simple indexing head controlled by a change wheels for position.

This in turn is held by a vertical slide to control hight.



Boring the recess out beyond the gudeon / wrist pin bosses.




Boring the valve cutaways out again using the same homemade indexing attachment which can be seen better in this shot.



Toolpost grinder setup for some grinding operation about the same era because the pic's were alltogether, can't remember what it was.

At the time this little 7" swing lathe was all I had as regards machine tools other than a small home made bench drill but it bit sterling work.
I made close ratio gears for the Nortons, including broaching the 6 splines, many went on to race in the Isle of Man GP races and in Germany so it proves you don't always need the biggest and best although it helps <grin>

.

[clutch]

=
A prick punch with a built-in slide hammer to avoid the problem of the punch shifting while you locate the hammer.

That is impressive. First reverse slide hammer I've ever seen.

Clutch

[vpt]

That is outstanding! Thanks for sharing!

[John Stevenson]

Finally found it.

And here's the one that started the Readers tips book 1 off.



Jack screw fitted to the vise jaw on a bandsaw to allow it to hold short pieces without tipping the jaws.

Bonus are the two V blocks to further support a short piece to allow a thin slice to be cut off safely and securely.

.

[vpt]

^ Just tonight that would have helped me about 15 times! I need to make some mods to my saw. It needs an extension on the movable vise jaw because it is shorter than the back jaw. I also need one of those fancy screws like pictured above and I need a removable extension off the side of the saw.

[clutch]

Finally found it.

And here's the one that started the Readers tips book 1 off.



Jack screw fitted to the vise jaw on a bandsaw to allow it to hold short pieces without tipping the jaws.

Bonus are the two V blocks to further support a short piece to allow a thin slice to be cut off safely and securely.

.

That one is awesome. I bought a small length of 6" diameter cast iron to use as a lap for scrapers. Then I realized that I could cut it in half so I could charge two grits.

I bolted via a center hole to an angle plate held in a cut off saw with a bridge on the other side of the vise. Had to rotate it a few times to get though.

I am going to steal your idea.

Clutch

[j king]

I use the stepped setup blocks from the mill to put in the rear of the vise.Have several sets.Stack as many as needed. Jim

[Doozer]

John-
Milling that piston on the Myford looks just like the scene in Worlds Fastest Indian where Burt Monroe casts his own.
--Doozer

[Sportandmiah]

By far my favorite thread! I hope this continues for awhile. My home made fly cutter.

[gary hart]

Using some unknown industrial plastic that was a throw out, hunk of planer blade and some steel for shank to fit half inch drill. Using picture from Lee Valley catalog, Veritas® Power Tenon Cutters , as a guide. Tough plastic held up for doing bunch of fence rails.

[gary hart]

Some punches made from drill rod



Washing machine motor with some tin rapped around it. Hunks of broken table saw cut out. Bottle has kerosine and acid brush in it.



Propane gas forge. Has selinoids for pilot light and main fuel line. Also ignition so tank is turned on it starts when switch is put on.


Except for the 6" travel wheel these two were made by heating, beating and filing.

[gary hart]

Got a lathe with a D1-2 spindle nose. Couldn’t find any backing plates for this so had to make. Made copy of spindle nose. Turned out to be easy to make accurate duplicate. Set compound to taper with indicator on center. Chuck up blank for duplicate of spindle nose on same lathe. The taper and flat have to be close to right on. Turned out it was easy. Smear on little prussian blue and test best backing plate got. Take little off what is needed either taper or flat. Keep testing and repeating until get results wanted. Drill holes for guiding drill for pins when making new backplate.

Made another one for lathe that has D1-3 spindle only this time added cams and method to bolt to mill table. Now can turn something in lathe, take chuck off and mount on mill table. Mill some and put chuck back on lathe and things should be running true on lathe. Whew, hate that much writing.



Screwed up making slots for toe clamps and made slot too deep breaking into a bolt hole. Covered mistake with tag


From plans this last summer in Model Engine Builder


Copyed Marv Klotz’s hand hammer

[bborr01]

Simple Chip Guard

Below is a very simple chip guard. I got sick of having chips hitting me so I picked up a couple of pieces of scrap and here is what I came up with.

I've seen others that are mounted on magnets but they are a pain except when cutting non-ferrous materials.

Shown here cutting some 1 1/2 inch thick carbide tool bits down to 1 inch to fit my tool holders.

I picked up about 15 of these brand new for $20. The carbide on most of them is 1/4 inch thick. The guy said they wouldn't fit his lathe.

Brian

[bborr01]

My First Metalworking Project

This is the first metalworking project I recall doing. Metal shop class in about 8th grade. We were learning sheet metal work. Soldering, bending, various seams, etc. All by hand.

Boy, that was a while ago.

Brian

[bborr01]

Angle Wedges

I made these when I was an apprentice. I ground them on a magna-sine.

Started with the 45, then the 30 and worked my way down to the small ones.

When I got to the 4 degree one, the wheel grabbed it and threw it off the magna-sine. Landed across the grinding department.

Grinder hands were bringing me rolls of toilet paper. Big joke.

I was pretty new to grinding and didn't think about turning the magna-sine around so if anything went wrong, it would push the wedge down and away from the wheel.

Nobody else mentioned it to me either.

Maybe we all learned something that day.

They also have my name and angle stamped in a recess on the back side.

The dull looking piece is just something i made for cutting various angles on the mill.

Brian