INHERITANCE MACHINING

Despite my best efforts to make my next machine shop project “simple”, I just couldn’t help myself but include ALL the features. As a result this one required a bit more engineering design than usual. So I decided to make a dedicated drafting video (i.e. without computer aided design software). I’ll walk through my personal design process starting with the pencil sketch. Then roughing out the assembly drawing. And finally putting together the technical drawing (blueprint) for each part. Along the way I’ll talk about the drafting tools (drafting machine, mechanical pencil, etc), techniques (pencil rolling, line types, etc) and view styles (section view, detail view, etc) I use. Enjoy!

A while back I spent the better part of a week in the machine shop making a universal fixture plate. It was something I thought would see a lot of use. But since finishing it, it hasn’t left its home in the cabinet. Not even once! But I think I know why… for a fixture plate to be useful one needs a variety of clamping tools to hold material to it. And as it stands, I only have one style of clamp ready to go. So that’s my challenge this week. To make a set of hold down clamps. While I’m at it, I might as well add some unique features to make them a bit more useful. And of course I can’t resist the urge to make them a bit stylish!

Being an engineer I have a knack for finding problems where they don’t exist, and coming up with over-designed solutions. Combine that with being a wanna-be toolmaker and things can get out of hand real fast. But in the case of this project I think I may have stumbled upon something actually useful! On a metal lathe there are a few tricks of the trade for setting the cutting tool heights. Like referencing a tailstock center, or the centerpoint of a faced piece of material. But these aren’t exactly precise methods. A common (and extremely simple) approach to this problem is to machine a reference bar whose length is the exact distance between the spindle centerline and the way surface. Then setting this on the ways near the cutting tool to set the height. While all of these work just fine as far as resulting in a good finish, I still see room for something a little more elegant. So in this video I’ll be putting together a lathe tool that I’m not sure exists. And maybe for good reason!

Growing up with my grandparents I was always intrigued by the mysterious wooden clock in their attic. It was in pieces so I wasn’t sure exactly what it looked like but I could tell it was an open design skeleton clock where you could see the gears and escapement. So naturally my gearhead self was fascinated. The legend behind the clock was that it was bought as a clock kit for my great-grandfather in the ‘80s. He was able to get it all together, but he passed away before he could get it fully running. So for 30 years it sat in that attic. It wasn’t until 3 years ago that I could try my hand at it, but being neither a clockmaker or horologist, I didn’t have much luck getting it to move longer than a couple minutes. But today I aim to change that!

Over the past year I’ve taken on many machining and engineering projects so I’ve definitely spent a lot of time with these machine tools; becoming familiar with both their capabilities and their limitations. In this video I’ll be tackling some of the latter. Specifically on the metal lathe. I have a whole list of improvements I’d like to make so I’ll just be starting with the things that bug me the most and going from there. And as always I’ll be taking the “do it yourself” approach to all these upgrades, from engineering design to precision machining. Enjoy!

If you want something done right, sometimes you have to do it yourself. In this project I’ll be engineering and machining an improved slitting saw arbor to replace the bargain barrel piece of junk I bought a while back. Which should be a pretty simple project honestly… but of course I’m incapable of keeping things simple. I’ll include a standard R8 taper making it compatible with my mill’s spindle. But the other end will be a little more interesting. It’s designed such that it can adapter to a wide range of slitting saw blades with different sized holes. Do I have blades with different sized holes? No… but I might one day. Anyway, this does present somewhat of a challenge to keep several assembled parts as concentric as possible. So some precision machining is in order. Including some turning on the mill, as well as my first foray into trepanning. Like I said… I’m incapable of keeping things simple.

Welcome back to the machine shop! For over a year I’ve suffered through using a camera tripod to film all of these videos, and I’ve finally reached my breaking point. So for this build I’m making an articulating arm for mounting my DSLR camera. And better yet, I’m suspending it from a ceiling gantry that spans my entire shop. The balance arm will be similar to those used with desk lamps, only much larger and much more robust. And the arm will be mounted to a 2 axis gantry system made up of unistrut channel and unistrut trolleys. This is a perfect little engineering and machining project that not only results in something cool, but is a serious improvement to day to day life!

Welcome back to my manual machine shop. In this build I’ll be making a spring loaded universal tap follower. This is a super useful tapping guide that keeps your tap and tap wrench straight when thread tapping. I’ll start at the drafting table putting together a detailed pencil drawing of the parts. And while it’s not nearly as over engineered of a design as I normally do, there are some features that were far more challenging than I anticipated. And the box of shame claims several victims… Despite that I got to spend some quality time at the metal lathe, my favorite machine. And after several videos without one, had an excuse to knock out a good side project.

Welcome back to my manual machine shop for the finale of the knurling tool build. I’m building this mechanical project from the somewhat famous Hemingway Kit (not sponsored) that is modeled after the old “Marlco” design. While last time there was a lot of mill work on the rotary table, this time there is still a lot of mill work, but with the collet block instead. Plus lots of quality time on the metal lathe. And maybe a visit or two to the box of shame. In other words, a well rounded project. In the end I make it through with a nice replica of a vintage tool capable of making both straight knurls and diamond knurls.

Welcome back to my manual machine shop. In this video series I’ll be making a much improved knurling tool from my current bump knurler setup. Rather than engineer this one from scratch I’m starting with the sensitive knurling tool kit from Hemingway Kits (not sponsored). The kit is based on the somewhat renowned vintage “Marlco” design and has a lot of advantages and nice features. This first video will focus on the arm assembly and I’ll be making heavy use of the mill and the rotary table. And of course a fair bit of lathe work with some unique setups will be needed as well so you know I’m excited for that!