Shop Made Tools

[mattthemuppet]

thanks Tim!

finished the holder for my rotary tool last night




and made a quick'n'dirty rack for the toolholders. Sure is handy having them lined up like that

[fixerdave]

Two reasons, 1) money+ availability of reasonably priced machinery and 2) we'll be moving next year, most likely across country and potentially ... Not ideal but it is what it is.

Sorry, this is bugging me... I just have to ask...

Why are you using a drillpress to mill when you have a lathe? Would not milling in the lathe be significantly better? You certainly wouldn't be the first person to do so. I could see if you needed more envelope, but for something small like a toolpost dovetail... just seems a lot easier to put the endmills in the spindle and mount your X/Y on the lathe cross-slide to get a Z axis. Bolt your part on that and have at it. Not ideal, but way more rigid than a drillpress.

David...

[mattthemuppet]

Sorry, this is bugging me... I just have to ask...

Why are you using a drillpress to mill when you have a lathe? Would not milling in the lathe be significantly better? You certainly wouldn't be the first person to do so. I could see if you needed more envelope, but for something small like a toolpost dovetail... just seems a lot easier to put the endmills in the spindle and mount your X/Y on the lathe cross-slide to get a Z axis. Bolt your part on that and have at it. Not ideal, but way more rigid than a drillpress.

David...

it would be feasible, I have a collet chuck after all. I got the drill press/ XY set up done before I got my current lathe (Atlas 618), which is one reason, and making a milling attachment for the lathe would be feasible but a reasonably involved project that I can't see the point in when I have a workable set up already, which is another. No way is that XY vise going anywhere near the lathe, it's huge in comparison. Besides, milling on the lathe isn't exactly touted as all that rigid or ideal either, in addition to the much smaller cross slide travel. It's a stop gap, nothing more, much like a milling attachment is on a lathe for a lot of people.

[jhe.1973]

............. made a quick'n'dirty rack for the toolholders. Sure is handy.......................

Thanks so much for the idea! Mind if I steal it? I'll be sure to give you credit - honest! Really!



Here is one I did 40+ years ago and I have gotten so used to it that I never thought of posting it until now:



I turned a piece of 5/8 CRS down to 1/4 and put the 2 sharp bends in it to bring the indicator point to the center line of the 5/8 shank. Now I can quickly slip it in to my boring head like so:



It helps a lot, especially when tramming smaller bores.

[mattthemuppet]

steal away! as long as you don't mind me stealing your boring head indicator idea in return

[GEP]

Wouldn't a edge finder be much easier and faster

[rklopp]

An edge finder will not get you as close to centered as sweeping a hole with an indicator, independent of how you hold the indicator.

[hephaestus]

With the bend, how do you know the
last word indicator is dead center ?
or does it just need to be close ?

[mars-red]

With the bend, how do you know the
last word indicator is dead center ?
or does it just need to be close ?

The closer to center, the smaller bore you can indicate. For accuracy, it doesn't matter how far off from the center it is.

[Spin Doctor]

Wouldn't a edge finder be much easier and faster

Depends on the edge finder. One of those fancy 3D Taster indicators is basically an edge finder. but it also requires an accurate means to measure your distance so you can go back to your mid-point. Everybody check their DROs of late? One reason the own a set of gage blocks is even so you can check a DRO over a set number of distances. If everything is up to snuff they are faster than anything else out there. But if you are picking up a bore up above something else then everything has to be square too.

[jhe.1973]

With the bend, how do you know the
last word indicator is dead center ?
or does it just need to be close ?

Actually IIRC.., I tried to make the bends tight to get it as close as I could to center the tip & to have the entire assembly short so I could easily exchange it for a boring bar & back again if I have multiple holes to finish.

As it turned out, because the indicator can swivel in its clamp, the 1/4 inch socket of the clamp can swivel on its shaft and the entire assembly can swivel in the boring head it allows for a fair amount of adjustment.

It wasn't part of a clever plan, I just stumbled into it once I made it.

I have several of these indicators and they don't all have the ball & socket swivel as this one does. I can still use this w/the other indicators.

The closer to center, the smaller bore you can indicate. For accuracy, it doesn't matter how far off from the center it is.

Very true. I found that when the hole being indicated is quite small because and the tip of the indicator is off center, the side thrust on the tip & its lever increases. This reduces its sensitivity/response accordingly. So, in this way it does affect accuracy and having all these unplanned adjustments comes in handy.

[urrutia]

The basis for the bender was a piece of scrap H beam that was already cut on both ends at the angle you see. A few hours work with an angle grinder cleaned it up nice. To copy it you would need a big drill press (which I have) or you would have to build it up from plate.

If you want to copy the bender drop on down this way after breakup. Just let me know a couple of days in advance.

Hola saludos desde Venezuela. Me a gustado mucho sus 2 maquinas dobladoras lo felicito muy excelente trabajo. Me gustarيa que me ayudara amplia mente, a copiar las 2 dobladoras con algunos planos o manuales gracias espero su pronta respuesta. Mi correo [email protected]

[enl]

Been watching this thread for a good while. Did a partial reconditioning on my Atlas lathe, and in the process:

A carriage stop for use with micrometer head or dial indicator. The bosses on the clamp strap were done by walking the shaper tool up and down during the cut until it looked right.


A cross slide stop, for use alone, or with micrometer or dial indicator. The mic head is from a beat up Starrett 236. Cut the frame and turned to a 0.375" seat:



And, for use with several machines, a QC toolpost holder I made a while back to hold a Noga arm. The dovetail is a few thousandths larger than the standard, so, on its own, it will lock in the toolpost, but it is also sized to clear a toolholder already in the toolpost and drop on the other dovetail. I may eventually install a lock screw so I can snug it when installed with a tool holder already mounted, but wasn't sure how much that would be needed, so I didn't when I made it. I used a piece of paper to shim it on the job I made it for, and have only needed that feature a couple tomes since. It can be flipped over for use on either mount of the toolpost.


All were done using lathe, shaper, and drill press. Untouched by the mill, because that is how I wanted it, and it is easier to cut dovetails on the shaper.

[thaiguzzi]

"Untouched by the mill, because that is how i wanted it".
Now where's a "Like" button when a man needs one...

[_Paul_]

Nice Shaper work

P