Shop Made Tools

[Bob Engelhardt]

Bought some fibre abrasive wheels on eBay, ... I really like it so far for removing tool marks on aluminum and deburring.

What hardness (5P, 7P, 9P) are the wheels? How much do they deflect/distort in use?

[MaxxLagg]

Matched pair of V-blocks for holding parts to machine 45 degree angles on. I have lots of occasions that I need to grind 45's on the edges of parts, especially parts with a heel on them, that I can' t just dress an angle on the wheel or set up in some other conventional way. This act as V_blocks and the clamps are basically toe clamps. There is a removable back stop for referencing parts.

[Arcane]

Pretty skookum pair of V-blocks! 👍

[mc_n_g]

Those V blocks look great! Good job

[BCRider]

I like the V blocks too! I like that they have a way to grip the work built in.

[mattthemuppet]

not much of a tool, but I had to make it to complete my nutcracker project - an 80deg press die for my hydraulic press to bend the 1/4" steel legs on the cracker.


had to use a bunch of C-clamps to stop my adjustable lower bending jig from spreading (see broken bolt above) - the forces involved were quite a bit more than what I'm used to!

[the professor]

AXA tool holder for 3/8 HSS bits, angled 15 deg in 2 axis. Now you don't need to grind on the top of the tool bit. It should offer some advantage in not lower the cutting edge height from repeated sharpenings to the point that you grind the
end of the tool bit off and start over.

[BCRider]

This looks somehow familiar...

I'm about to design and make my own AXA holder for the same geometry as my early test version. But I'm going to set the slot a little higher and make the top view a wedge shape so the front edge sits just past parallel to the post body. That way I don't have to angle the post for facing cuts and I can use a longer tool bar. the body will sit slightly low or be a touch deeper.

The tool holder got put onto the computer desk just yesterday and the CAD'ing will be done a bit later today.

[rcaffin]

Very small bit of metal under the tool bit. I have seen that lower part snap off under load.
Cheers
Roger

[mattthegamer463]

What hardness (5P, 7P, 9P) are the wheels? How much do they deflect/distort in use?

Sorry Bob, missed this comment. I think the grey one is a 9P. The other is scotchbrite so it kind of does whatever it wants. The grey one doesn't seem to deflect at all, but it wears a rut quickly if you're not careful.

[BCRider]

I've gotten around to making chips on my own AXA sized angled tool holder. It's designed along the same lines as the professor's holder a few posts up but with slightly less angle to the tool bit. Back rake of the slot is 8° and side rake is 10°. This is more angle than my previous trial run holder... .you know, the "temporary" things we do that end up being used for around 7 years? That's the one shown in picture #1 to show where the idea started.

To be honest the lump shown wasn't only a test for that cutter style but also to see if I would buy a QCTP or just make up a lot of blocks of this style and use them as my tool holders. The ones for other uses were going to be set for height with shims but the slot would have a slight angle for fine adjustment either by altering the stick out or if the cutter had to have a flat/level top then it I'd use an angled wedge. I still think it was a good idea. Good solid supportive tool blocks on a quick change post where each slot has a height adjustment instead of the whole holder. And of course with this method each tool block rests solidly on the compound. So no cantilevering.... I still think it's a worthy idea. And the combination use of shims and an angled wedge in an angled slot solves the issue of fine adjustment for height very nicely. Anyway.. that's another idea for another time....

Picture 2 shows one of the two of these I'm making. One is for a friend... who doesn't know it's coming to him. The other shows the first one done in blue for the initial setup sitting on the post. I still need to open up the top of the slot to accept a wedge shaped key that I want to use to avoid stressing the set screws to the side. That and add the set screws and height adjuster bolt.

Making the dovetail slots didn't get a picture as I was too focused on getting them right so that they would fit the same as all the other holders. But these were cut by hogging most of it away with a 5/8" two flute and then I used a fairly large 5/8" shank dovetail cutter to cut the final angles only.


So here's where it started;


And here's the funky setup for cutting the angled slot in an angled lump of metal. And yes, it IS that lumpy a vise that likely has no business on a mill or lathe or anything other than perhaps a drill press. But it's actually fairly tight and accurate and solid enough provided I don't take any heavy cuts. Works like a charm for the 3/8 cutter taking about .08" depth from the slot at a pass or less.


And two of the progress so far.

[Arcane]

BCRider, I have a little angle vise that looks to be the twin of yours. It was cheap to buy and has been more than adequate for the limited amount of angled cuts I've had to make.

Nice tool holder, btw.

[BCRider]

Eggzactly... tough enough and cheap to boot.... It's surprised me more than a couple of times at how something so light can be surprisingly sturdy. I checked the faces of the jaws and the fixed is under a thou out of flat and the moving jaw when holding a 1/2x8 square HSS blank and checked for parallel holds evenly at the ends with just a whisp of pressure. Add to that the lack of chatter or other issues and it's been a really great tool that delivers well above the price. Who'da guessed, right?

So it's sort of finished.... At least all the machining is done and I can't do any more.. The "sort of" comes from getting befuddled by my attempt to cold blue the body which didn't so much as take on a hint of color. I suddenly realized why the material had been so tough to machine. Yep, it's stainless of some sort. One of the totally non magnetic alloys.

I got the stock off the offcuts section at a local fabricator's outfit. The owner and staff is nice enough to allow hobbyists like me to pick out mild steel and pay a very attractive price for it. And same with aluminium but obviously more per lb. But still highly attractive.

They have stainless as well but someone misplaced this and the lump I bought looks like a piece of darker grey cold rolled. So I got it for the plain steel price.

So looks like it's going to remain shiny silver. It's nasty for glare though. I have to check but I may be able to track down a buddy with a sand blaster I can use on the outer sides and top to cut the glare. As it is now it's REALLY shiny ! ! ! !

In the first shot the tool post is turned around so you can see the holder. Second picture is the user's view showing why it's angled so I can leave the main post square to the work axes. Initial cuts with a freshly ground tool show that it laughs in silence at a .15 cut on mild steel. Just sits there with no flexing or nodding at all.

There's 1.37" of free blank behind the rear holding screw. And assuming I shorten the end and dress the front by .005'ish just to freshen up the edge that works out to about 275'ish sharpenings. In some cases where I hit something that gouges the end I'll have to grind away more. But even so that's pretty rare so it'll be something around 200+ sharpenings with one tool blank.

[challenger]

Eggzactly... tough enough and cheap to boot.... It's surprised me more than a couple of times at how something so light can be surprisingly sturdy. I checked the faces of the jaws and the fixed is under a thou out of flat and the moving jaw when holding a 1/2x8 square HSS blank and checked for parallel holds evenly at the ends with just a whisp of pressure. Add to that the lack of chatter or other issues and it's been a really great tool that delivers well above the price. Who'da guessed, right?

So it's sort of finished.... At least all the machining is done and I can't do any more.. The "sort of" comes from getting befuddled by my attempt to cold blue the body which didn't so much as take on a hint of color. I suddenly realized why the material had been so tough to machine. Yep, it's stainless of some sort. One of the totally non magnetic alloys.

I got the stock off the offcuts section at a local fabricator's outfit. The owner and staff is nice enough to allow hobbyists like me to pick out mild steel and pay a very attractive price for it. And same with aluminium but obviously more per lb. But still highly attractive.

They have stainless as well but someone misplaced this and the lump I bought looks like a piece of darker grey cold rolled. So I got it for the plain steel price.

So looks like it's going to remain shiny silver. It's nasty for glare though. I have to check but I may be able to track down a buddy with a sand blaster I can use on the outer sides and top to cut the glare. As it is now it's REALLY shiny ! ! ! !

In the first shot the tool post is turned around so you can see the holder. Second picture is the user's view showing why it's angled so I can leave the main post square to the work axes. Initial cuts with a freshly ground tool show that it laughs in silence at a .15 cut on mild steel. Just sits there with no flexing or nodding at all.

There's 1.37" of free blank behind the rear holding screw. And assuming I shorten the end and dress the front by .005'ish just to freshen up the edge that works out to about 275'ish sharpenings. In some cases where I hit something that gouges the end I'll have to grind away more. But even so that's pretty rare so it'll be something around 200+ sharpenings with one tool blank.

Maybe try heating it until it changes color and dropping it in used motor oil.

[BCRider]

If it would give off the same oxidation colors as mild steel I'd run it up to a nice electric blue. But as it is now it's got a toughness to it that I would like to keep since it is tooling. If there's a chance that going to red heat to get to the point where it would pick up color from the oil dip would warp it or anneal away that toughness then I'll live with the shiny. Or if it comes down to that I could paint it with one of the fancy gun coatings which are very resistant to oils and such.

Mostly I'd like to just reduce the glare. Silver-grey is fine if I can just mute down the shine.