Shop Made Tools

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

This is a little die that a made to make a .047od x .020id x .003 thick washer that I used as a shim on a micro wobbler steam engine that I built.





-Bob

Where did you buy those huge M&M's? I can't find them anywhere

[Bob Engelhardt]

The measured that the regulator is consuming 250mA at 12V. About 3 watts total. I haven't counted the number of diodes or speculated on the arrangement.

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Thanks. I'm gonna' try putting some more power into mine see what happens.

[MattiJ]

Where did you buy those huge M&M's? I can't find them anywhere

And I was going to suggest turning the washers in lathe between support "dowels".. works fine with little bit bigger sizes.

[bborr01]

And I was going to suggest turning the washers in lathe between support "dowels".. works fine with little bit bigger sizes.

I have turned thin shims on a mandrel on a lathe. Almost no burr if you do it right.

Brian

[MattiJ]

I have turned thin shims on a mandrel on a lathe. Almost no burr if you do it right.

Brian

Yup. But I haven't tried to turn 1mm OD 0.5mm id washers!

[bborr01]

Yup. But I haven't tried to turn 1mm OD 0.5mm id washers!

I haven't either but I have turned stacks of very thin shims that were larger OD and it worked good once they were all the same diameter. Until then they had a habit of just folding over.

[mattthegamer463]

Whipped up a little vise stop out of some scrap unknown alloy steel. Has relief cuts so you can still mill past the edge of a short part, although not by much.

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[mars-red]

I made another specialized watchmaking tool recently, this one is a movement holder for securing watch movements during disassembly, reassembly, oiling, and adjusting. There are a couple different basic designs I've seen, and I prefer this type for its versatility due to interchangeable jaws. The holder I had been using is an inexpensive one of mediocre quality that works but I really wanted something with much larger capacity (most of the watch work I do is on larger pocket watch movements and I have some car clock and travel/desk clock movements that are even larger, that I'd like to have a holder to fit). My current holder also has only one set of jaws that are plastic (which is great) that don't have a very convenient profile for most movements. I could have made jaws for my existing holder but it still would have been smaller than I want.

I had the design for this kicking around for a while, it's one I did to get some practice with Fusion 360. Recently I was visiting my family down South and decided this would be a great project to work on, for some quality time in my Dad's shop with him and my brother. All the parts for this (except the one spring it uses) were made on my Dad's South Bend Heavy 10 lathe and Rockwell mill. All components made from nothing but the finest scrapbinium.

The side plates (body?) and the set of jaws shown here are made from aluminum. The guide pins (dowels) are O1 drill rod (not heat treated at all, just used because of the good ground finish and consistent diameter), and the screw is a single piece made from 416 stainless steel (single pointed 1/4"-28).

This set of jaws should be fine for most everything but I foresee making a plastic set for some of the much older movements that have delicate gilt finishes, and the next very small wristwatch movement I have to work on will probably warrant a set of larger diameter jaws to save having to close up the holder as far. I haven't used it for real yet, but so far it is at least very pleasing to fiddle with, the operation is pleasantly smooth and free of slop, and it has some nice heft to it. I will post a follow-up pic when I've had a chance to try it with a watch movement. If it works as well as I think it will then I may tweak a couple of things and then make a few more of them using materials specifically chosen rather than whatever happened to be on hand.

[jphonger]

Another beauty, Max!

[lugnut]

Max, that looks great and very useful. Now I have another tool to make, hope you don't mind me copying it.

[1-800miner]

The penny! you didn't lose it, did you?

[Bob Engelhardt]

I made another specialized watchmaking tool ...

Beautiful ... a job to be proud of! All 3 of you. Like Stefan's it should have your names engraved on it.

What parts were ground? What is the fit on the "ways"?

It looks like the spring doesn't have enough travel. You could add a circlip to the threaded rod & eliminate the spring.

[mars-red]

Beautiful ... a job to be proud of! All 3 of you. Like Stefan's it should have your names engraved on it.

What parts were ground? What is the fit on the "ways"?

It looks like the spring doesn't have enough travel. You could add a circlip to the threaded rod & eliminate the spring.

Thanks!

I didn't grind any parts at all, the only ground surfaces are the OD of the two guide pins that is simply the factory finish from the length of O1 drill rod that was used. The fit between the pins and the side plates is about 0.0002" clearance, in theory. The holes were reamed oversize, with both side plates ganged in the vise. Loctite was used on one side to secure the pins. In practice, the clearance varies with the temperature of the aluminum. Thoroughly warmed up to body temperature, the fit is very free but still with no perceptible slop. I noticed that at cool temperatures (around 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit) the fit changes to a sliding fit with a minimal amount of drag. Even though that's a more than acceptable range of operating conditions, aluminum will not be my first choice of material if I decide to make a batch of these.

One of the changes that will be made to the design if I make more than just this prototype, is a circlip as you mentioned but also using a weak spring washer, to eliminate the need for a long spring and to keep some light preload to preserve the pleasant feel.

[mars-red]

The penny! you didn't lose it, did you?

Not to worry, I have a feeling it will turn up

[QSIMDO]

Not to worry, I have a feeling it will turn up

Beautiful work, mars and miss your posts.