Shop Made Tools

[The Feral Machinist]

Band saw hydraulic damper

Hi
I just posted this on the 4x6 bandsaw forum, but some of you guys and gals might be interested.

Got sick of breaking teeth of my blade when cutting thin stuff so added a hydraulic damper, and it works beautifully. Simply bought an ebay trailer brake master cylinder and mounted it at the back of the saw.



The saw's base is slotted angle (Dexion) but it is a bit flimsy, so a base of 50x50 RHS was used to support the cylinder. Note the guide to keep the cylinder's push rod horizontal and the 'extendable con rod', the damper only works when the con rod is fully closed, ie as the blade approaches horizontal.

The hose is squashed to control the speed that the saw drops, I'll make a prettier one of those one day when I need my clamp back! The clamp needs to be close to the cylinder.

The hose needs a one way valve in it, so I made a Bunsen valve, screwed a 6mm bolt into the hose to blank it off, then stabbed the hose with a box cutter. I knew there was a reason to study chemistry in the 60s. The hose is looped straight back into the reservoir.



Does it work? Look at the thickness of the metal and the size of the teeth on the blade, and I didn't loose any (more) teeth. I'd say that's a YES!



Hope someone else finds it useful. The quality of the workmanship fits my nom de plume.
Alan aka The Feral Machinist

[928gene928]

Shaper Slitting Saw

Paul,
I like your slitting saw tool. Does the lenght of the saw blade tend to hang up on the return stroke of the shaper because of the length of the cutter blade?

[Dr Stan]

Got sick of breaking teeth of my blade when cutting thin stuff so added a hydraulic damper, and it works beautifully. Simply bought an ebay trailer brake master cylinder and mounted it at the back of the saw.

No doubt you found a solution, but I have a couple of suggestions.

1) I was taught to cut angle iron in the horizontal bandsaw with the piece oriented in the shape of an upside down V in the vise.

2) Keep in mind the "three tooth rule". When sawing at least three teeth should be in contact with the workpiece. Any fewer than three will typically result in hanging up and breaking teeth.

[_Paul_]

Paul,
I like your slitting saw tool. Does the lenght of the saw blade tend to hang up on the return stroke of the shaper because of the length of the cutter blade?

You would think so but in practice it doesn't, however I do make the stroke a bit longer to make sure the clapper has both enough time to seat at the end of the return stroke and also to completely exit the work at the end of the cutting stroke.

Paul

[The Feral Machinist]

No doubt you found a solution, but I have a couple of suggestions.

1) I was taught to cut angle iron in the horizontal bandsaw with the piece oriented in the shape of an upside down V in the vise.

2) Keep in mind the "three tooth rule". When sawing at least three teeth should be in contact with the workpiece. Any fewer than three will typically result in hanging up and breaking teeth.

Dr Stan, thanks for the comments and I am very aware of those points. I should have pointed out that cutting the thin section vertically was just a test, thanks for adding that to the discussion. However, when things are not ideal, you really find out how well your machine works and the damper controlled the saw under the worst possible conditions I could find - and it worked well.

Cheers
Alan

[mars-red]

Cannon pinion puller

I recently made a tiny puller for watch work (specifically, pulling cannon pinions). The drawback to the simple design is that one would need to be made for each diameter pinion within maybe 5 thousandths of an inch, but the advantage of the simple design is that making them as needed is not a big deal.

These are the finished parts, before heat treating - the body and screw were made from O1 drill rod, and the pin was the shank of an old drill bit:


This is the completed tool after the parts were heat treated and assembled:


And here are a couple of pictures showing its use:

[Dan Dubeau]

Thanks for the compliment and yes it uses standard hacksaw blades, I normally use the unworn ends of old blades unless I snap a new one then I use that.

It was quite a bit shinier but the casehardening stuff I use tends to leave a bit of a dull finish/pattern.

Cheers

Paul

Nice tool. One could probably use old bandsaw blades too. Might be able to get a bit bigger depth of cut from the wider blade, and most junk blades still have a short section of good teeth.

[agturner]

Good idea. I will make one to mount on the lathe tool post to cut slots longitudinally on work mounted in the lathe. For some tasks it would be accurate enough and much quicker than setting up in the mill and using a slitting saw.

[jhe.1973]

Bushing machine for clock & instrument repair

Hi Everyone,

This is a different kind of tool gloat – the results of my entering 2 tools I made in the 2012 craft competition of the National Watch and Clock Collectors Association’s (NAWCC) National Convention in Pasadena, CA.

I made this bushing machine over 35 years ago. I was learning clock repair from a repairman & there were so many things I didn't like about his store bought machine. Right away I wanted something heavier & deep enough for some of the large hall clock chiming movements that I had seen.

This shot was from last December when I was repairing a chime clock I have. I was replacing a few worn holes with bronze bushings:



This is mostly built from O1 ground tool steel that I used as purchased. The column is Stressproof steel that my brother-in-law gave to me. It was leftover from a job his shop had run. The spindle runs in a hardened drill bushing so it can be replaced if it ever wears out - as if that's going to happen.

This machine has a 7.4 inch deep throat so I can just about reach to the center of a 15 inch wide plate. While making it I realized I could make the slide way for the clamps as one piece that swivels around the lower anvil. This assembly is tightened with the knurled nut from below. This allows a plate of infinite length - if I should ever run into an infinitely long plate.

I also made the clamps to swivel on their base and overlap at the center so I can hold short & irregular pieces if necessary. I just used some hardware store key stock for the clamps.

Because I didn't care to have lock nuts under the slide way for the clamps, I have flanged studs that come up to the knurled nuts just below the clamps. This keeps my hands right around the same level as the plate I am centering. I feel that this is more comfortable and goes quicker than having to reach under to lock the clamps down.

While I was at it I copied all the commercial cutters in HS steel starting with hardened drill blanks and grinding them to size. I don't think they will ever wear out.

I actually made two of these machines, giving the other to my clock repair friend that I had learned the craft from.

He was happy.

I set aside three weeks to get this bushing machine and a depth tool ready for the competition. Then the spout on the upper plastic tank of my car’s radiator snapped off just after getting on the Interstate.

There went one week before I got it up and running again. I had to make a special hole saw to machine out one of the spark plug wires that would not budge …………… but that’s another story elsewhere on this forum!

So even though I scaled back plans of how I was going to display the tools I was REALLY busy trying to make it. Even thought of dropping out!

Entering the bushing machine was an afterthought and when I started taking a close/critical look at it I didn’t know if I had enough time to ‘clean’ it up ‘cuz my surface grinder hadn’t been hooked back up since a floor plan change.

It had some light surface rust and in a few places, where there was steel to steel it was rather deep.

Notice the column was just turned, not ground. Here is a detail showing how the column and arms are located. Also the base has been finished here:



More in next post…………..

[jhe.1973]

I started finishing the top arm using a cast iron fixture plate as a lapping plate w/150 grit grinding powder and oil. Then went to 240 grit emery cloth followed by 500 grit wet/dry finishing paper;





After two days, this was the finish on the top arm:



The reflection is the security door to my shop and is about 10 feet from this upper arm.

More in next post…………..

[jhe.1973]

Then I hooked up my grinder but I still had to finish lap everything ‘cuz my grinder has a bad coupling driving the spindle so the finish isn’t as good as could be.

I’m showing this ‘cuz I have said elsewhere on this forum that a person doesn’t need fancy tools for everything.

This detail shows how the gussets for the arms are doweled to help prevent flex:



When assembling everything, I made brass shims for between the top and bottom surfaces of the guide bar so the clamps will not create rust rings again if the machine isn’t used for a prolonged time.



The only time this area rusted was back East where the humidity was a lot higher, but I figured why chance it again?

Here is a detail of the finished column as it meets the lower arm:



Here is a photo I took for the show to illustrate how easily this machine accommodates a big hall clock plate. This is from a Winterhalder 9-tube retirement project of mine. The standard 8 day movement is for a size comparison.



More in next post…………..

[jhe.1973]

Drum roll please......

Ta Da!

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Very nice tool, great photos and an informative write up. Well done Jim.

[Guido]

It seems the board goes through about 42 1/2 days before the question of who makes a good drill bit sharpener pops up. Then multiple negative posts send me back to my grindstone.

Question: For better or worse, can anyone aim me off into machineland for drawings of any kind, written/drawn up with the idea of a homeshop homemade drill bit sharpener, of any reknown????

--G

[_Paul_]

It seems the board goes through about 42 1/2 days before the question of who makes a good drill bit sharpener pops up. Then multiple negative posts send me back to my grindstone.

Question: For better or worse, can anyone aim me off into machineland for drawings of any kind, written/drawn up with the idea of a homeshop homemade drill bit sharpener, of any reknown????

--G

I have a shop bought version of the Potts type of drill sharpener which I use with a belt sander cost about £15 UKP works very well but does take a bit of practice.
If you want to make something similar Hemingways in the UK do this, I'm sure Ive seen homeshop varieties of it somewhere.