Shop Made Tools

[ATW]

Thanks for the positive feedback, yes they are going to earn their keep.

At first I was thinking a sharp or lightly deburred corner may be susceptible to round over so went with a large radii. TGT I wouldn't say I am annoyed with radii I obtained, its perfectly functional, its just that it wasn't what I was trying to obtain, ok maybe my expectations were too high, I was just wondering if there was an obvious trick I had missed.

matt - yes the fixed jaws have a very slight angle to them to discourage the part from rising up.

BCRider, yes 2cm high.

Bob, thanks, hadn't seen those Car Lane ones, yes they look very useful and another catalogue of goodies to browse through.

Andy

[rcaffin]

[QUOTE]Mitee Bite "Pitbull", the "Heavy Duty T-Slot Clamp" variant looking fit for the job - I'm glad I was sat down when I saw the price!
Whilst functionally ok, I wasn't that happy with pivot radii on the moving jaw[/quote
Yeah, not at all cheap.
I made my own, like yours. I tilted the top of the backstop forward a little, just enough to hold the corner of the movable bit. For the rounded corner ... I used my linisher.
Yep: a free-hand curve, radius about 1.0 - 1.5 mm. Works just fine, and yes, grips well. Just a shade fiddly to set up, but otherwise fine.

I also made some bigger ones - longer arms, but same principle. The one thing I think you have to watch out for is that you do not damage the T-slot, or distort the top surface.

Cheers
Roger

[mattthegamer463]

This weekend, an indicator mount for my surface grinder.


Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Tim Clarke]

Tee slot extrusion from woodcraft? I do like this! I'm so inept at the grinding game. Still trying to sort it all out! Among my treasures, I have a Federal tenths indicator, I think I have found a home for it. Many thanks, Matt!

[mattthegamer463]

Tee slot extrusion from woodcraft? I do like this! I'm so inept at the grinding game. Still trying to sort it all out! Among my treasures, I have a Federal tenths indicator, I think I have found a home for it. Many thanks, Matt!

I have the "pointer" thing keyed into the track, to keep it perpendicular to the indicator travel, but I think this may be more trouble than it's worth. It's pretty easy to "crash" the pointer on the indicator or on the oil fitting below, and it would be better if the pointer could just rotate out of the way when it crashes rather than breaking what it hits/breaking the T track.

[BCRider]

Yeah, friction alone would be just fine for moving an indicator pointer. The downside being that it would try to just drop down when you loosen the knob.

As shown if the plunger "crashes" and if the arm were only held by friction the rotating of the arm would tighten the knob. What might be better would be that the arm were floating on a sleeve or "shouldered" stud and had something like Belville washers to provide enough friction to positively move the plunger without risk of the arm moving but if we were to crash the plunger that the arm would just swing on the sleeve or shaft of the shoulder. It would be a nice bit of insurance all around.

And back to the table clamps for another comment..... Roger, lifting and distorting the lips of the T slots with ATW's clamp design is much less of a risk due to how they pinch the ears between the T nuts and the bottom of the clamp bodies. I worry a lot more when tightening clamping setups with no direct upper support right above the T nuts. Setups such as regular strap clamps with studs and the lever fulcrum at the back of the straps where the area around the stud is open so the pressure of the T nut lifting has no support nearby in some cases. Or the style where the low profile clamps are their own T nut such as the small ones that Harold Hall showed on his web site and in his YT video.

Now this does not mean I don't like the very low profile clamps that Harold came up with. They would work like a champ for very thin materials where we can't use a high amount of pressure anyway or the part would buckle. But we can't torque the snot out of the clamp screws on the "slot width" styles as the pressure is all purely upwards rather than a "grab" or "pinch" of the lips like ATW's clamps.

[rcaffin]

re clamps and T-slots

lifting and distorting the lips of the T slots with ATW's clamp design is much less of a risk due to how they pinch the ears between the T nuts and the bottom of the clamp bodies.

Good point, thanks.
I must look at modifying some more of my clamps to work this way.

However, a lot of my clamps have to be very variable in height for tall jobs, so I use T-slot nuts with threaded rod sticking up and wing nuts for clamping at the top end. I have a range of threaded rods of different lengths - it's cheap. I do not lock the T-slot nut in place with the threaded rod driven downwards as that could upset the lip and could also leave marks inside the T-slot (not pretty and makes sliding difficult). If necessary, I also locate the bottom of the job with those low-profile clamps. In general, I find that wing nuts tightened by hand is enough when machining aluminium and plastic, but I won't rely on that for steel.

As for the horizontal clamp at the top - I find the worn-out blades from a large ride-on mower to be very good source of steel for this. Machining and tapping that has to be done with some care of course.

Cheers
Roger

[BCRider]

I may be getting all OCD on the idea but a thought I've had more than a few times over the years is extended T nuts that are just barely short enough to fit down through the end trays of the mill tables. And on the shoulder that presses up against the underside of the slot overhangs I'd relieve the middle by a couple of thou. In use the T nuts would first touch down at the ends and then bow up from tension to touch in the middle as well. The idea being to spread the load out over more of the length of the T slot lips. Not sure if it would aid with avoiding busting out the lips or not. But spreading the load never seemed like a bad idea.

Along the same line I'd also thought about the idea of cutting slight "ditches" along the T nut shoulders near the center "head". The idea there being to focus the load out at the upper outside corners and put the cast iron more into shear than a bending from the overall contact.

In practice I've just tried to be mindful of the whole issue of not wanting to torque the clamping gear to the point of producing a cast iron eruption. And so far my jobs have not started crawling away on me.

[oldstarfire]

[QUOTE=mattthegamer463;1258128]This weekend, an indicator mount for my surface grinder.

I may be missing some thing, but would a riser block (say 2 inches thick) under the indicator mount not give additional travel before any crashing?

[mattthegamer463]

[QUOTE=oldstarfire;1258450]

This weekend, an indicator mount for my surface grinder.

I may be missing some thing, but would a riser block (say 2 inches thick) under the indicator mount not give additional travel before any crashing?

The crashes go two ways; down into the oiler and up into the indicator. An easy mistake to make when watching the distance between the wheel and the workpiece.

A washer or a short stiff spring would be a good addition to permit release and prevent self-tightening in the event of a crash.

I did test it a little bit and found that it did slip free while still working properly, so long as I don't overtighten. A spring may help idiot-proof it further.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[mattthegamer463]

2" boring head attachment for those tough bores.



Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[mattthemuppet]

that is really sweet! CCMT insert? Must be alot more rigid than a bar sticking out.

[wbc]

another surface grinder indicator

Another way to add a surface grinder dial indicator for these taiwan surface grinders sharing the same 40+ year old
basic castings, up to present day Tormach personal grinder: magnetically.
Magnet slip allows for distracted bozo moves.
If you have an oiler clearance requirement (yellow plug), same idea, just more offset mountings.

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[wbc]

Another HD boring bar insert holder

Similar boring bar idea as #3581, but these two are NOT adjustable for different boring bar spacings...alas.
Fixed tig'ed posts, and TCMT inserted in some scrap metal.

[DICKEYBIRD]

2" boring head attachment for those tough bores.

Whoa, that there's a good-un'!