Simple WorkshopTips

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Using the 'Three Wire' method of accurately measuring threads used to drive me to exasperation until I learned (on a gunsmith's forum) that a dob of grease on the threads makes this task much easier.

It was on this forum (or in a MEW) that I learned the trick of using a bit of 'Blu Tack' or a piece of Plasticine to hold a pin for a simple but quite accurate wobbler for locating a centre pop hole under my mill prior to drilling a hole.

There must be many other such simple hints and tips out there, so how about sharing them around?

Regards * Danny M *

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Grind the tip of a centre drill down to about half its usual length to (mostly) prevent it snapping off in the job.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Depth of small holes – drop a suitable drill (shank first) into the hole – and then push down and tighten a 2" toolmakers clamp to it. Pull it out and measure it.

Having cut material close to a scribed line, place a toolmakers clamp (or one at each end) right on the line – then drop it in the vice and clamp up. Assuming the top of your vice jaws are parallel to the cutting action (and they should be) then this will quickly allow the piece to be trimmed to size for most purposes. Remove the clamp(s) before cutting….

Use the front curve of the grinding wheel to sharpen the cutting face of your tool – then hone this face. The concave shape obtained from the wheel will make honing not only easier but also very quick…it's also much safer practice to use the front of the wheel..

You can quickly put good 'squares' on the end of 1/8" regulator rods and similar parts by holding them in a square collet block and using a piece of short round stock approximately half the height of the block to roll/guide a file over the end of the rod. Very quick and simple to set up.

IanT

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Three of IanT's ideas are new to me, and the drill depth/clamp trick would have prevented the muddle I got into on Monday! I love this forum.

Thanks, Dave

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Posted by IanT on 04/04/2019 09:49:58:

Having cut material close to a scribed line, place a toolmakers clamp (or one at each end) right on the line – then drop it in the vice and clamp up. Assuming the top of your vice jaws are parallel to the cutting action (and they should be) then this will quickly allow the piece to be trimmed to size for most purposes. Remove the clamp(s) before cutting….

I really like this one Ian. It's going to come in handy when I am making model fuel tanks to a precise capacity for team racing purposes as I can adapt it for bending the flanges.

* Danny M *

[Alan Waddington 2Participant @alanwaddington2]

Don’t wear slippers when welding 👍

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

Posted by Alan Waddington 2 on 05/04/2019 00:38:32:

Don’t wear slippers when welding 👍

I only ever wear my safety thongs for welding !

You can use Blu tack to hold the wires as well , just set them up on the thread and pinch them between thumb and forefinger then with the other hand stab a glob of Blu tack on one end of the wires , plasicine also works as does the centre out of a fresh slice of bread rolled up into a ball just make sure you clean and oil the wires after as they will rust – don’t ask how i know this , i just do 😳

If you need a simple gauge to check the angle of the point of a drill bit you are grinding you can use two hex nuts clamped together flat to flat , this gives you a vee with 120deg inc angle – close enough to 118deg to get you by .

I found recently that the WD40 cans that come with the fold out nozzle / tube this cap will fit the old style cans if you drill out the hole in the actuator cap for the can push valve tube to match the larger one on the old style spray cap. when you push the new cap on it will spray a little but push down on the actuator button and it will click into place and stop spraying – i know you get a tube with the old style cans but it is not as long as the fold out one and always seems to fall out and get lost . Still experimenting with this stuff for a cutting fluid when parting off steel – so far I can’t fault it !

If you have an old ipad , iphone or android phone that still works don’t throw it out instead reset it or at least delete as many things off it as you can that you don’t want laying around or could get into the wrong hands and then download a few of the apps that are available for machining and engineering and keep this in the workshop as your little machinists calculator !

Cheap plastic magnifying devices ( magnifying glass) are a godsend if your eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be , i leave a few laying around for reading the markings on drill bits and taps and if you get the ones with a little light built in its even better !

I use magnets to hold the leather cover i use on my lathe bed when machining cast iron but i soon got tired of cleaning the magnets afterwards , i use some little ziplock bags and place the magnet inside , once I’m done i take the magnet out of the bag and the cast iron chips fall off the bag into the bin and a quick wipe cleans the bag for re use . I use a magnet in the handle of my chip brush to stick it to my lathe belt guard as well – works a treat !

[AdrianRParticipant @adrianr18614]

I only ever wear my safety thongs for welding !

That is an image I really dont want seared into my imagination.

In the UK thongs (flip flops) are not foot ware, imagine backless buggie smugglers

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

If you use a vertical slide for milling in the lathe, set it square to the bed by bringing the vice up to the front face of the chuck jaws before you tighten it. Saves a lot of clock-faffing.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

'Magnets' sparked a thought or two…

Lidl periodically sell magnetic strip 'Toolholders' that are about 18" long and not expensive. The first one I purchased was used as intended and screwed to the side of my bench and holds small hand tools that I don't mind getting slightly magnetised.

The second one (they are easy to sneak into the shopping cart!) was screwed under the shelf over my 'sitting' work bench and hold small jam-pots pinched from NT Cafes (my wife likes Cream Teas) that are popped underneath. They have things like Trefolex (cutting paste) in them – very handy when tapping at the bench.

But the third one never actually got installed anywhere. It's currently still in it's hard plastic wrapper and clinging to the side of my filing cabinet. It gets used to sweep up the floor around my hand shaper (to pick up the bits that didn't drop into my apron). I just need to get one that works for brass chips now…

IanT

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by XD 351 on 05/04/2019 04:30:35:

I only ever wear my safety thongs for welding !

Too much information…

[IanTParticipant @iant]

PS I have thought about screwing it to a wooden strip and adding a handle to make a magnetic broom. But like so many things, I've not quite got around to it yet – and it really doesn't get in the way stuck to the cabinet. I guess it will depend on how long I can still get down to sweep up!

IanT

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'v got a couple of telephone magneto magnets on the end of a broom stick, first assembled to pick up nails after a roofing job at our museum at Homebush. Ian S C

[A SmithParticipant @asmith78105]

Magnets are great for collecting steel swarf -as mentioned above. Like many others, I put the magnet inside a plastic bag that can be turned inside out to remove the bits without them sticking to the magnet.

More of a health & safety thing – wear gloves when MIG welding, you can sunburn the back of your supporting hand if you don't – guess how I know!

Andy

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

Posted by A Smith on 05/04/2019 12:05:35:

More of a health & safety thing – wear gloves when MIG welding, you can sunburn the back of your supporting hand if you don't – guess how I know!

Andy

And don't wear V-neck T shirts when welding.

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

Posted by AdrianR on 05/04/2019 08:06:46:

I only ever wear my safety thongs for welding !

That is an image I really dont want seared into my imagination.

In the UK thongs (flip flops) are not foot ware, imagine backless buggie smugglers

Borat does welding !

I wonder which version (footware or clothing ) came first ?

On a more serious note i was once stick welding a broken car seat frame for a friend and i was starting to chip the slag off and the next thing i hear a crash followed by screaming – he had turned up in bare feet and was standing a few meters away , a piece of slag had landed between his toes and proceeded to burn its way into his foot !

With welding the ray burn ( same as sunburn only it burns deeper ) is only one concern as it also causes skin cancer so proper welding gloves , welding jacket ( leather type ) or heavy cotton overalls ( coveralls ) , trousers ( old pair of jeans are good ) and leather boots ( I wear steel cap boots ) never wear runners ( joggers ) as hot metal or slag will burn straight through them .

one tip with the jeans , coveralls or other trousers is if they are too long and you need to roll the legs up roll them up so excess is on the inside of the trouser leg so it doesn’t create a catch point for sparks and slag to fall into .

[ken king, King DesignParticipant @kenkingkingdesign]

To hold up drawings which I need to refer to in the workshop, I've screwed worn-out hacksaw blades to the front edges of shelves, using the convenient end holes, then use a couple of fridge magnets or similar. Ladyshave items include magnetic labels which work well too. Trust me on this.

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

Put a blob of red paint by the zero on the lathe crosslide dial, so easy to return it back without looking at the numbers when screwcutting.

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

woodworkers smocks with the pockets at the back don’t gather as much swarf when milling!

although leather aprons work well for MIG they don’t protect your upper arm just beyond the glove cuff. highly embarrassed by the resultant burn which I spotted when showering later!

Ian

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Ask at chemists for old tablet pots . Some are exactly the right size internally for magnets from speakers or old microwaves then attach a handle and you have a swarf retriever. If you make it so the magnet can slide in the container you can dump the swarf into the bin by retracting the magnet away from the end face by pulling up the handle. More complicated to describe than to make.

Ian

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

I made my swarf collectors by soldering a copper disc onto the end of some 15 mm copper pipe and carefully facing to thin it. ( Not always successfully! ) A telescopic stick magnet inside collects the swarf, and an O ring on the outside prevents the swarf following up the tube as the magnet is withdrawn over the bin.

My swarf is dumped into clean tins (ex Kitchen ) and when nearly full, the lid is replaced and the rim hammered down, before being put into the recycling bin.

Howard

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Sorting through some old G3 GTG photos earlier – and found these two (misfiled) images.

Long before I had my ER collets (and the previous Chinese 'standard' ones) – I purchased a couple of MT2 taper collets to hold milling cutters. With the arrival of something better they fell into disuse. However, I was doing something (long forgotten) that needed repeatable lengths setting up in the lathe chuck and I hadn't got around to making a chuck back-stop. I was pondering this problem when my eye caught one of my old MT collets on the shelf. A bit of swift drilling and tapping into some spare stock later – and I had the required back stop!

I keep meaning to make some more 'sophisticated' stops – ones that screw in & out and have different head diameters (etc) but I'm afraid I haven't done so thus far – although I did buy a MT1 collet recently (same holding diameter as the original one) so that I have the same facility on my small EW. That's it – a simple thing but it works quite well and can be improved if required.

Regards,

IanT

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

I just bought a pair of really cheap magnetic bases. I will remove the posts and attach plastic sheet to the magnets. I can place them where needed on the mill to keep hot swarf from flying everywhere.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

When screwcutting or even regular turning etc, use a whiteboard marker to mark the zero point on the dial and the desired full depth etc. Whiteboard marker wipes off with the rub of a finger so you don't end up with a cross slide dial full of multiple permanent marker lines.

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