Handy Workshop Tools That we’d like to see

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

I was perusing an ARC tool catalogue (free with MEW) and spotted the left-hand digital caliper.

So thinking hat on; …………………… How hard would it be to manufacture a digital caliper with two displays, one on each face. So now we have an ambidextrous digital caliper able to be read from both sides.

Displays are cheap, the rest of the sensing mechanism is already in place, so why not? I reckon that they would sell pretty well too!

* Danny M *

btw, I have started this thread for sensible and practical ideas that may be implemented to be useful..so no anti-gravity machines etc, please be a good sport!

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

More thinking…….. Add digital height gauges and digital micrometers to the list of double sided readouts- they could be quite handy. Even a capability to invert a display could be useful.

* Danny M *

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

The digital height gauge would be good for me, I am right handed but my vernier height gauge is left handed, meaning that to read it you have to point the scriber at your face, needs handling with great care!

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

When I was making some rotary valves for the Nalon Vipers (see previous thread) I wondered about how to generate the fuel inlet cutout. The simplest thing I could come up with was a mill spindle mounted scriber. Think of a spring or pump centre, with far less axial movement, and as close to zero radial movement at the pointy end. The actual scriber was/is a piece of cheap (CTC) 5.00mm diameter HSS, with an approx 60 degree ground point, courtesy of a Dremel grinder mounted in the toolpost. The bores for the pointer, one at each end, were lapped/honed to give a nice smooth, play free movement. The overall length is about 100mm, there is a bush for the scriber at each end, as far apart as possible to reduce any error due to radial movement. The main body is a bit of that lovely ground steel rod extracted from a dead printer. I span the thing up to check that the point was concentric….it was, and marked the rotary valves. Then milled "to the line". Obviously too slow for production, but perfect for what I wanted!!

The Household Photographer is away on a field trip at the moment, otherwise I would attach some photos, after all a picture speaks a thousand words etc etc

cheers

Bill

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

A light-duty horizontal spindle adaptor that would work with benchtop vertical mills, clamping to the bottom of the head but not necessarily driven by it.

You obviously aren't going to achieve the sort of metal removal you get with a full size spindle, but it would open up things like cutting large diameter gears.

Damn – now I'm thinking of ways to do it… essentially just like a toolpost miller but fitted to a mill at 90 degrees to the existing spindle.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

Somewhere in a box I have a 90 degree and I think 30 degree drive for my Bridgeport mill. Neither have been used in the last 30 years but there for the day when needed.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Left and right handed height gauges.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

A digital dial indicator with readout on both sides would be handy to, for aligning pump couplings etc and for aligning the tailstock barrel with the headstock where the dial indicator is mounted on the spindle via stand etc and rotated through 360 degrees to check alignment. Commonly a small mirror is used to check the reading on the far side. Dual readout would be real handy for that.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

A matter transporter for storage or waste disposal.

regards Martin

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

As I have yet to find a small bandsaw that can easily cut sheet metal I'd like a tool (not a guillotine) that could make straight cuts in sheet metal up to 2mm as good or nearly as good as a guillotine without palaver. Pieces of wood/plastic and setups on milling machines I include as palaver. No nibblers please – I want straight edges.

Rik (ever optimistic!)

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

As a person who confesses to occasional errors, I'd like a putting-back-on tool for the lathe…….

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Mike (in this CNC age) surely it would simply be a "back button" on the lathe controller to just take you back to your previous work stage/state – like I can do on my CAD system. I'd be tempted by one of those – pay for itself real quick in my workshop…

Regards,

IanT

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Posted by Mike on 15/02/2017 10:11:02:

As a person who confesses to occasional errors, I'd like a putting-back-on tool for the lathe…….

If you have a mig welder then surely it's just a case of making a special toolholder to hold the mig torch

David.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

I may be stating the obvious, but whilst a digital caliper is very convenient, LH or RH, a standard micrometer is usable in either hand, even upside down…

Geoff

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