Shop Made Tools

[camdigger]

Plans are available for Hossfeild knock offs like thatas free downloads from assorted places.

P.A. and the like have bench models on sale for as little as $70 cdn.

A little digging will turn up a hydraulic conversion too.

[EddyCurr]

A set of "lantern" holders for handling cap screws while grinding their ends to shorten or contour them:

A novel-to-me approach for dealing with an old issue and very
handsomely implemented.

This thread is chock full of inspirational posts, I am enjoying every
contribution.

.

[Frank Ford]

Sets of aluminum parallels - easy to modify to handle certain shapes, handy to use when drilling close to edges:





Stepped outside jaws for Kurt:



I keep 'em mounted for easy handling of wide pieces:

[Frank Ford]

A favorite adaptation - switching to a handwheel instead of the crank makes raising and lowering the mill table much quicker:

[MCS]

Made this to drill, bore and ream forged pistons, in order to get the piston pin hole parallel to the bottom and in the middle of the to be piston.

In this stage the piston has a small lump on top with a centerhole.

[Evan]

Eddy,

As it sits in the photo it needs to be bolted down to bend much of anything. I have anchors in the floor to hold it. However, I stuck a plate of scrap between the legs at the bottom and stacke several hundred pounds of steel plate on it and that holds it for all but the heaviest bends. The long handle is indeed for heavy bends. Either handle is a friction fit on the end of the bending arm. The pins for the dies are hardened 1045 steel and the smaller dies are case hardened mild steel. I have one large round nylon die for bending gentle curves in polished work.

A mag base drill would work too.

This is the first item I made using it. It's a pet gate for in the house.



Since then I have made around $10,000 worth of decorative iron work for our house and yard. Much of it I used recycled steel from shipping frames for quads and snow machines. Cost was under 500 not including a new welder.

[gary hart]

Keeping chips out between mill vise and table covers.



Cutting small step in base of vise so table cover will slip under.


Aluminum table cover pushed in groove between vise and table.

[gary hart]

Mill vise table. Piece of half inch steel welded to some heavy walled square tubing. Clamp vise table in mill vise and clamp work to table using half inch tapped holes or clamps.



Another plate with bolted bar underneath for clamping in bench vise for set up and then transferred to mill vise. Holes are tapped 10-32

[Evan]

Drip oiler for bandsaw. Stand it up to shut off flow and for filling.

[camdigger]

Hi Evan, great stuff! Do you have a drawing of the bender? If so I'd sure like to make one.

al

Poof! There's an old thread here that will lead to to a zip file containing 34 adobe files of individual sheets of the Hossfeld plans

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=31346

[Glenn Wegman]

It took about 30 minutes to spin out this holder from a piece of 2024 t4 aluminum bar that was lying in the stock rack. It has a stepped shank, 7/8" and 1/2" as my boring head has a 7/8" shank and the 1/2 makes it handy for other jobs. It also has a stepped bore so it will accept both 3/8" and 1/4" shank adapter accessories.



It makes it quite easy and handy to rotate the spindle for sweeping a bore.



The indicator holders that clamp to the spindle are OK too, but people tend to use them to rotate the spindle and the dial reading can be affected by doing so. This type of holder does not disturb the indicator reading.

[TGTool]

Hold Downs

I don't think this has been covered recently. This is a set of hold downs for thin material. They will grip the edges of stock and press it down flat as the vise is tightened and leave the full top surface clear for machining.




Looked at on end view, the back sides are tall and are ground at an angle. The front edge is thin and has a small relief under. The action when clamped is to press in and down.

[tryfred]

Light comes on …tryfred smiles…hurries out into shop…yep that’s what those “odd” hold downs are for…tryfred goes back to finish lunch / peruse HSM and smiles some more…life is good. Thanks, TGTool

[John Stevenson]

Need a large hole prior to using a boring bar ?

You need the patent El Stevo R8 holesaw.




Two sizes 1/2" x 20 UNF and 5/8" x 18 UNF to take both sized Starrett blades, handy for those quick holes.
And if you need to get real serious you need the step shanked drill MADE to fit a Bridgeport



Ideal use for a worn out No# 4 Morse drill that can be picked up for pence.
There is just enough meat on a MT4 to turn it into an R8.

It has to be used under manual feed, best to raise the table to apply feed whilst in low gear.

DO NOT USE THE TIMEX DESIGNED QUILL FEED - IT WILL STRIP.

.

[Glenn Wegman]

Made a "halo" with three bolts in it to load soft jaws for external machining.



Uust dimpled the soft jaws with a ball end mill so the bolts have a place to set into. Works with regular soft jaws as well.