Shop Made Tools

[BCRider]

I'll give it a whirl, thanks for the effort. I'll let you know the outcome.

[Tim The Grim]

The WKE45 blanks are some of the best I’ve used. At $16.42 a piece for 3/8 x 3” they aren’t cheap but they sure do last.
I personally prefer them over Tangtung.
Honestly don’t know if they ship to Canada but they do take credit cards and I have purchased without a company account.

I have been using their products since ‘76.

William T. Hutchinson Company

www.hssblanks.com

About halfway down the download catalog are the square blanks.

Nice job by the way 👍

[bborr01]

I've had good luck buying new old stock US made inserts off of ebay. Usually from a dollar to a few dollars per insert. If you are having problems with chipping carbide inserts frequently you probably either have some real cheap carbide or the wrong grade for what you are cutting. I have a hard time wearing out inserts unless I'm in the shop full time.

[BCRider]

Since I've only bought the cheapest set I've got no doubts about the issues that occurred. But each time I look into inserts I get more confused. The ones with bigger nose radii seem to be the sort which must be used with a minimum DOC. And the ones that have small minimum DOC's which could be used to skim a half thou are the ones with really small radii.

I've also had few good name brand inserts given to me over the years. I managed to chunk out the tips of those when I've tried them on a couple of occasions too. So it's not just the inserts. So part of it is me doing things which I get away with when using HSS but which are death to carbide. I don't wear out the carbide, it actually chunks out the tips in every case. Clearly a case of wrong speed and feed overloading the tip. Or perhaps underloading it so the self engaging forces are pulling pieces out? When all this happens I sigh and go give my HSS tools a nice big hug and a "THANKYOU!"....

[Tim Clarke]

Inspired by a similar plate and clamp I saw on a Joe Pieczinski you tube video

[BCRider]

Nice job there Tim. I saw that on one of his videos too and thought that there's been a couple of times where I could have used a plate along the same lines for small parts.

Super job on the long finger clamps. I don't recall those of Joe's video. His were a little shorter, no? Your adaptation?

Part of what I'd like to do is also have a way to mount the plate vertically in either orientation. To that end I was thinking I'd give myself a way to mount it to the short end of a 1-2-3 block. The block could then be held vertically on the 1x3 edge in the mill vise. Or perhaps clamped down directly to the table along the 1x3 edge with the sub plate screwed through on the 1x2 edge. .... Or just attach it from behind through the slots of an angle plate into a couple of spare holes. Or did you have another idea along this line?

[gambler]

bcrider, check your messages

[rcaffin]

Hi Tim

I made up a stack of clamps just like yours, in various lengths, but with the head of the bolt on top rather than recessed. It was easier that way ...
I used 12 mm square and 16 mm square MS bar: it was to hand.

One difference though: I found that the ends of the cap-head bolts at the ends of the clamps made ring marks on the bed, so I put the end bolts in upside down. That puts the smooth bolt head on the bed, and there are no marks made any more.

Another difference is that in many cases I used M6 threaded rod and wing-nuts instead of cap-head bolts for the hold-down. That gives me a huge range of adjustment without having to continuously change the bolt lengths. In those cases I also use M6 threaded rod for the rear-end bolt, but with a little brass cap on the end to protect the bed. You can buy the brass caps on ebay.

Cheers
Roger

[rcaffin]

have a way to mount the plate vertically in either orientation.

I have one good commercial angle plate. I mounted it on the bed of the CNC mill.
Then I took a bit of well-aged 100x100x6 mm MS angle and clamped it to the angle plate, upside down.
Then I surfaced the top face. That relied on the other face of course, so I flipped the angle and repeated on the other face.
Then I added a few mounting holes and slots on both faces, including ones for the T-Slots.
Finally, I did very light grind on both faces (microns), still using my original commercial angle plate for support.

Now I have several fairly good secondary angle plates which are good enough for most situations.

Cheers
Roger

[Tim Clarke]

[QUOTE=BCRider;n1928422]Nice job there Tim. I saw that on one of his videos too and thought that there's been a couple of times where I could have used a plate along the same lines for small parts.

Super job on the long finger clamps. I don't recall those of Joe's video. His were a little shorter, no? Your adaptation?

The clamps were some leftover parts from a parallel clamp project. I'll make shorter clamps as needed.

[Bruno Mueller]

With my lathe (Taiwan 9 x 20 Lathe) I can cut metric and inch threads. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cut module threads with the supplied change gears. However, with the formula 22 : 7 it is possible to get close to this.
I can neither fit a 22 tooth gear, nor a 7 tooth gear. one must then just expand.
I have expanded the number of teeth with 4. This gives a combination of 88 : 28. The gear with 28 teeth was included with my machine. I only had to make a gear with 88 teeth.
From a waste piece, a truck transmission shaft blank was cut a disc and made from it the gear. Another possibility is to combine a gear with 73 teeth and a gear with 31 or 29 teeth in combination with my Norton gearbox.
These gears were also made from the same material.
All gears have module 1 teeth.

[Dave C]

With my lathe (Taiwan 9 x 20 Lathe) I can cut metric and inch threads. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cut module threads with the supplied change gears. However, with the formula 22 : 7 it is possible to get close to this.
I can neither fit a 22 tooth gear, nor a 7 tooth gear. one must then just expand.
I have expanded the number of teeth with 4. This gives a combination of 88 : 28. The gear with 28 teeth was included with my machine. I only had to make a gear with 88 teeth.
From a waste piece, a truck transmission shaft blank was cut a disc and made from it the gear. Another possibility is to combine a gear with 73 teeth and a gear with 31 or 29 teeth in combination with my Norton gearbox.
These gears were also made from the same material.
All gears have module 1 teeth.

German innovation at work. Good job Bruno

[The Metal Butcher]

I'm cross-posting this here because this is seriously one of the best tools I've made, at least in terms of input to output benefit.

I made this Friday while I was busy dropping micrometers, a tailstock chuck adapter for some upcoming tube work. Pretty simple, just a 1.5"-8 thread to mirror the one on the Rockwell, and a center hole on the other end. Two options for removing it, a pin spanner or 2" wrench. Threads came out a little tight, but it goes in. I did it all except face it off on the Sidney lathe as I'm a masochist who likes a challenge. That and it's really fun to thread on. Finish cuts might as well be rolling a die as far as how much it takes haha. Does peel off 0.2" quite nicely though. I used carbide for my threads this time and got less tearing on the 1018/A36 or whatever. Always hard to get a good finish on.





I still plan to make a proper one with a bearing someday, but this is a good stopgap I could make in 1/2 a day.

I'm not even sure if I want to make a proper one anymore. This one worked so good I might be set. Highly recommended for anyone that does long, > spindle bore work.

[ezduzit]

TMB--I see how that would come in handy. What I have used is a small (4"?) chuck that is bearing mounted to a MT2 stub shaft that fits the tailstock.

[The Metal Butcher]

Ez,

I was thinking about something like that but I'm not sure I absolutely need it anymore. I may still make one someday, but that is far more involved for marginal gain. This also works with every 1.5-8" chuck I have.