Die filer

[rolland]

I have been wanting a die filer for small parts I get involved in making from time to time. I found http://www.martinmodel.com and ordered the casting set he has listed. I have not worked with cast iron prior to this so it was an adventure for sure. It turned out pretty nice altho I did make some changes by adding bronze bushings rather than the iron to steel it calls for. The drawings are good and show all that is needed but I had to do a bunch of different setups to get all the parts machined. Now I need to order files and I am all set.

[dp]

Seems like that lower bush could use a felt to keep the particles out of the bearing. That's a nice size filer and the castings are pretty clean.

[Seastar]

That's very good looking.
How long did it take to machine?
What sort of motor and drive belt are you going to use?
Bill

[Marty Feldman]

Gary's castings, and patterns, are firstrate. Nice job with it. The competition to your filer is Andy Lofquist's (MLA), which is perhaps a bit better designwise, the mechanism being in an oil bath. A useful addition is a holddown foot of some kind for the top of the table. You can make the 3" files.

[rolland]

I will use a 1/4 horse motor and try a flat belt in keeping with the antique design of the filer. if not back to a 'v' belt. I worked on it a week or so in my spare time "I am retired" so I had to work it in. I am really impressed with the quality of the castings no voids or hard spots. I was going to try Andy's filer http://statecollegecentral.com/metallathe/MLA-18.html but I don't really use one that much. I was wondering about a hold down foot or guide but not sure what will come of that.
I need to obtain some files round, flat and triangle but again as this project is new not sure what to use. or what to make them from. If anyone has an idea I am open, guess if I can get samples I can go from there.
This project was kind of a "hey I could use something like that" moment and grew from there.

[Baz]

They stopped making the small files about ten years ago. Irritating people keep coming on forums and saying every boot sale has boxes of a dozen for peanuts. Be nice if someone would make some again to support the hobyists getting or making a filer. The machine that made them before is probably in a factory corner somewhere.

[ttok]

Guys - You can still get parallel machine files 8" long here:

http://www.victornet.com/report/File...hine/1302.html

[J Tiers]

. Irritating people keep coming on forums and saying every boot sale has boxes of a dozen for peanuts.

That's where mine come from!

[randyjaco]

I built the MLA-18 several years ago. It was a fun build and is an excellent tool. I would recommend that you pick up one of those HF router speed controllers. I find the ability to control the speed helps out quite a bit.

Randy

[lazlo]

Guys - You can still get parallel machine files 8" long here:

http://www.victornet.com/report/File...hine/1302.html

It's funny too, because die filer files are one of those items that goes for crazy money on Ebay. I'm pretty sure you could make good money buying those die files on Victor and reselling them on Ebay.

[Jaakko Fagerlund]

What sort of RPM is suggested for a die filer?

[Black Forest]

I know a die filer must file things but would you all give me some examples of what you would use one for or why you would chose that tool to do something? I have never been in a tool and die shop. The tool looks interesting and in my head I can think of several applications that they might be useful for but I would like to learn what they are really used for or what only can be achieved with a die filer.

[WJHartson]

I have a Milwaukee die filer that uses 8" files. I bought a couple of each of the files from Victor, they are NOS files and very nice but limited in type and size. Here is a link to another place that sells parallel files, http://www.warrensvillefile.com/inde...27d89d76792f44
They have a better assortment of files but are more expensive, a lot more expensive. I was told that they are made in India, the only place in the world that still makes files for the die filers. The files work okay but are not the same quality of the ones you get from Victor.

Forest, I make dies for shaping sheet metal in a reciprocating machine. I use the die filer to get the clearances correct and make sure the detail of the dies are sharp. Before the die filer I did this with a hand file. Saves time. My die filer has stroke and speed control, really nice features. If I had CNC or EDM I could make the dies with that.

[Dunc]

Harold Hall had a construction article for a filing machine in past issues of Model Engineers' Workshop. The contents are now available on his website http://www.homews.co.uk/page475.html. He describes a method of adapting ordinary files (making them cut on the downstroke) to the machine at http://www.homews.co.uk/page497.html

[Baz]

Thanks for the warrensville link. They even seem to have an UK agent so might be worth investigating. The 8 inch files are rather too big for the benchtop machines like the 'Butterfly' and equivalent.