Shop Made Tools

[Peter N]

Here is a ball turner I made for my old Myford ML7, re-engineered from the original design by 'Holescreek' from the PM forum. Sold it as part of the tooling package when the Myford went last year, so I need to make another one for the Colchester.







Peter

[Evan]

Here is my version of a ball turner. Adjust the tool stickout to adjust the size. It swivels in the socket of the cross slide that the SB9 used to hold the top slide.

[doctor demo]

Here's one of my favourite and most accurate home conversions of a regular tool to make it more handy.



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I must of had the newer version of Yours John, it is made of an aluminum alloy so it's more user friendly However I broke the dro while using it with a cheater pipe on the handle I realy wish more thought would go into a product befor selling it, after breaking mine it is easy to see that the dro should be mounted nearer the adjustment nut .

Steve

[John Stevenson]

Evan, mine is genuine not photoshopped

Not to take anything away from Bob Wards post on the button Vee block but I use a tailstock mounted one I copied from an old article from somewhere so can't give proper credit.



Made from one of those import blank arbors.

Peter,
How about one of those universal radius turning attachments from Ketan at ARC ?
Not limited to any machine.



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[bborr01]

[QUOTE=Evan]Here are a couple:

Nothing is quite as handy as a real lead hammer. Made this a couple of years back, when the head gets to be too mashed up you just recast it.



I have also made a few hammers, but not lead ones.

I do plan on casting some brass hammers with my new to me foundry furnace.
I have made a waste motor oil burner for it that will reduce my fuel cost to zero. May make some lead ones too while I'm at it.

Below are a few examples of hammers I have made. The fancy one was made by a friend of mine and given to me as a gift. Stacked leather handle made from old belts. Stainless and brass construction. The head is loaded with steel shot to make it a dead blow hammer. I have always felt it was too pretty to use much though.

Brian

[Peter N]

Peter,
How about one of those universal radius turning attachments from Ketan at ARC ?
Not limited to any machine.
468a-94b6-2d9a8d68578b_600x193v2.jpg[/IMG]

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That would work just as well John, and it'll save the time to make one.
Thanks for the tip.

Peter

[The Artful Bodger]

Here's one of my favourite and most accurate home conversions of a regular tool to make it more handy.



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Thats sure nice work Sir John, when I did mine I also recut the thread so that I could use it with the new metric pipes.

[bborr01]

Yet Another Hammer

Here is a hammer for the milling machine drawbar.

Not something I made, but I found it very interesting none the less.

3/4 inch on one end and brass on the other to keep from flattening the end of the drawbar.

I believe the brand name on it is hammer rench.

Brian

[rmancini]

This is an old, worn stone from a Drill Doctor.
It’s mounted to an arbor and captured with a washer/ ¼-20 screw.
I use it to dress brazed carbide & HSS lathe tools.
Simple but effective.
Rich

[Black_Moons]

just to prove im not all talk lol


My own super quick and dirty lead drawbar hammer, cast over a 5/8" wrench.. using tinfoil as the mold.. used two lead fishing weights (big mistake) to pour it.. the second one took a long time to heat up to melting point so theres sorta a crack down the center of it.. its staying togethor though. Most of the tinfoil peeled off but some stuck to the lead lol. The hammer head makes a GREAT handle for the drawbar wrench part since I can sorta 'swing' on the hammer head part. And the open wrench prevents me ever forgetting the drawbar wrench, since it simpley will not stay on.
If anyone repeats this, id say its great, just make sure to use one large weight (heating it up with a torch and letting it freely drip into the mold works however! But preheating into a small pot and pouring it in likey works better)


ROBOARM! well not quite, but good for welding setup, can hold 10~lbs easily when not extended to far. Built long before I had a mill or lathe, just using a drill/drill press and welder! the balls for the joint are trailer hitch balls, and the 'cups' for the balls are just tubing that I cut 3/8" lengths off of and welded onto a peice of square tubing I cut into 2 lengths of C channel (Could'nt find C channel of the size I wanted so I made my own)



Little things! from left to right:
aluminum V blocks, one of my first mill projects, done entirely with side milling!
Shaft that goes 3/8" then 1/2" for the majority of the length, then to whatever diamiter was needed to fit my test dial indicator clamp. slap it in the mill in a 3/8" collet or 1/2" collet or drill chuck and I can tram the mill or locate holes/bores, etc.
Above that is a cool aluminum 'jaw' device I made, I grab it in my 4 jaw chuck (the ledge prevents it from receeding into the chuck without having to clamp down super hard)
the other one next to it has a similar face, and on the backside (showing) with a center hole drilled in it for sliping over my live center
Usage is to clamp a plate (In this jobs case, UHMW) beween the headstock and tailstock without marring the plate (ok it KINDA mars the plate if you take too deep of a cut and the plate stalls but the headstock keeps spining)
so that you can turn the OD of a plate. I used it to make some 1/2" thick UHMW drink coasters. :P
Next is yet another photo of my drawbar hammer. And then an aluminum test plug for the thread I needed to turn for my headstock, since I did'nt wanna ruin my workpeice trying to learn the exact dimentions of the thread I needed to turn.

[Black_Moons]

New uses for my old drill press. Great for cleaning small items with the wire wheel, like sissors/shears of debrie etc. the wire brush at a few hundred rpms is very forgiving if you slip and rub your finger against it. and very good at removing paint when cranked to a few 1000rpm. (just using it freehand, but holding the work insted of holding the drill)

[Frank Ford]

A hex collet for my little Rambold turret lathe:




Band saw tension gauge:



Radius Dresser for Sanford surface grinder:



A nearly-flush-cut R8 slitting saw arbor:

[Black_Moons]

What method did you use for the hex hole in the collet?

[ammcoman2]

Rotary Table

The R/T I have is a 6" Vertex. Soon ran out of room when trying to mount odd shapes on the table. The weight of an 8" unit put me off (especially in my advancing years).

So, what to do?



This is a 9" diameter Aluminum plate mounted to the existing machine. Made the top extra thick so I can skim it if the dings get to be too much of a problem.

Geoff

[Black_Moons]

Awsome table addon, iv seen plates added before but never a full 'rotary' top
Bet it makes a dandy handle to lift the rotary table too :P
I got the 8" and it really is just barly liftable by weaker humans like me. Kinda worry about droping it.. or pulling something.. And then droping it due to pain of pulling something. :P One day i'll add that mill winch..

Hmm, theres an idea, a bolt on 'handle' for the rotary table.