Shop Made Tools

[Stu]

John, what's the story with the rotary lamp mount in the background?

Stu

[John Stevenson]

John, what's the story with the rotary lamp mount in the background?

Stu

??

Two lamps fitted to the bridgy, one just behind the shield, and one to the left.
Far left light is actually on a drilling machine behind the Bridgy.

Big lump with the chuck on on the far left of the Bridgy bed is a 6" Hoffman dividing head driven by a stepper motor and controlled by a division master.

It lives there unless I need the full real estate of the bed, handy for splines and keyways in shafts.

[lbhsbz]

First project on my big boy mill. I've never used a rotary table before, nor had I ever done any real milling on steel.

This is a hub service tool set for an old racecar a buddy of mine bought. These are made from 4140 and will be heat treated. Not perfect, but hey....you get what you pay for....which in this case, isn't much.

[Stu]

??

Two lamps fitted to the bridgy, one just behind the shield, and one to the left.
Far left light is actually on a drilling machine behind the Bridgy.

Big lump with the chuck on on the far left of the Bridgy bed is a 6" Hoffman dividing head driven by a stepper motor and controlled by a division master.

It lives there unless I need the full real estate of the bed, handy for splines and keyways in shafts.

Sorry, I see it now, the one lamp seems to be mounted to the chuck, Now I see it's just the chuck key and not a mount.

stu

[davidwdyer]

First project on my big boy mill. I've never used a rotary table before, nor had I ever done any real milling on steel.

This is a hub service tool set for an old racecar a buddy of mine bought. These are made from 4140 and will be heat treated. Not perfect, but hey....you get what you pay for....which in this case, isn't much.

Hey, that looks like a nice project and a lot of work. How long did it take you?

[lbhsbz]

Took about 3 hours per piece. The millwork was quick, but my lathe is a piece of junk and I don't think I had the right inserts to deal with this stuff, so the turning and boring took forever.

[shoprat]

hub tools

lbhsbz you got no reason to feel bad about that job!nice work!
shoprat

[jkilroy]

Those four pieces are a lot of work, a *real shop* (as in not home or hobby shop) quote on those four items would be north of a grand no doubt.

[bborr01]

Makeshift Keyway Broaching

I needed to put a keyway into a sprocket that had a blind hole in it. (not a through hole)

Sure couldn't broach it.

I asked a couple of jouneymen that I was working with and one of them suggested this.

A tool bit of the right size silver soldered to a piece of cold rolled angled at about 1/2 or 1 degree.

If you make one, be sure to clamp the round rod in a v block and indicate the tool bit to make sure they are parallel.

If you don't have access to keyway broaches, this can get the job done even if it is'nt a blind hole. Make sure to use cutting oil.

I wouldn't want to go much wider than 1/4 inch in a B'port though. I suppose in a pinch you could use a smaller one and move it back and forth to widen the keyway.

We had a slotting machine that was basically a vertical shaper that worked on the same principal. I slotted keyways for cold forming machines that were an inch wide. I always stood off to the side when running it. That machine made me a little nervous to run. Out of a hundred or so people in our tool room, I only ever saw a few run it.

BTW, thanks again to everyone for your contributions to this thread.

Brian

[gary hart]

Bender inspired by Lane showing his.
From the supply depot (junk pile) found a large 7 & half inch OD ball bearing and a 7/8” thick steel disk. Bent some ¼” by 1 and half flat bar to wrap around bearing using shop built Hosfield bender. Outer race will be the moveable part and the inner race will be bolted to top disk and clamped in vise.



Using CAD program drew out layout for ½” holes for ½” dowel pins, printed out and taped to plate for drilling out and reaming holes on drill press. Holes layed out so each one is .25" larger radius then previous row and .25" clearance space between holes.



Drilled and tapped rim with 3/8-16 holes for stops. Used incremental method of dividing. Drill hole, insert spare drill bit in hole and rotate work until it comes to stop. Determined distance between holes by "thal looks about right" method.



Bender mounted in vise. I know messy bench

[Deja Vu]

That's cool!

[Bob Pastor]

lathe spider

Hi Brian,

That lathe spider is a pretty neat idea. It sure beats using parrallels.

Thanks for a great time saving idea.



Bob Pastor

[Frank Ford]

Pretty much from the day I got my Kurt vise, I've used only the little three-pronged speed handle I got from Enco. It's faster by far than the regular handle, it stays on the vise, and I can crank it just as hard if I use two hands.

When I needed to crank the vise quickly and move the jaw a fair distance, I'd simply twirl the handle by sticking a finger against one of the rods up close to the center. But, my arthritis is bad enough these days that it's starting to hurt too much when I do that, so this morning I decided to fix the problem. I made up a little speed knob, reminiscent of the speed knob on Dad's 1954 Buick Roadmaster:



Works better and faster than the ol' forefinger, too.

[bborr01]

Pretty much from the day I got my Kurt vise, I've used only the little three-pronged speed handle I got from Enco. It's faster by far than the regular handle, it stays on the vise, and I can crank it just as hard if I use two hands.

When I needed to crank the vise quickly and move the jaw a fair distance, I'd simply twirl the handle by sticking a finger against one of the rods up close to the center. But, my arthritis is bad enough these days that it's starting to hurt too much when I do that, so this morning I decided to fix the problem. I made up a little speed knob, reminiscent of the speed knob on Dad's 1954 Buick Roadmaster:



Works better and faster than the ol' forefinger, too.

Frank,

Pretty cool idea there. I have a speed handle like that but that is the first time I have seen one with a knob.

My list of winter projects is getting pretty long.

Brian

[photomankc]

I can't remember what magazine this was out of but I was intrigued by the Modular Dividing Head I saw and got into making it. I made a few changes to suit my taste and the first arbor I made is going to be used to mount a Taig 3 or 4 jaw chuck. Unlike the author I have things that will need it. I wish the threads came out cleaner. Took a while to make the little brass lock levers but I like them better than the plan's hex head bolts.

DTI showed 0.0004" of runout. Considering that this was my first item made on the 4 jaw trying to dial in I was very happy with that.





Not complete yet but very close.