Simple WorkshopTips

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

After you have knurled a job to nice sharp points, continue to spin the job in the lathe and lightly run a fine, single cut, flat file over the knurled area. This knocks the sharp points off.

That way, if the knurled handle slips through the grip of the user when in use it does not shred their skin like a rasp. But it still provides ample grip.

[fishy-steveParticipant @fishy-steve]

Posted by Hopper on 07/04/2019 02:10:46:

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.

I was shown a similar trick by an old turner many years ago. He always had a pencil tucked behind his right ear when screw cutting. He would advance the cross slide and mark the dial before every cut. This way he never lost track of his depth.

I've done the same thing when screw cutting ever since.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

35 mm film canisters used to be great for swarf catchers – pot magnet inside on a long bolt sticking through a hole in the lid. Aftrer a bit the canister falls apart. Once upon a time they were ubiquitous, but now in the days of digital cameras CF cards just aren't the same…

Garden centres sell plastic bags with greenhouse aluminium lap strips, that can be bent up into Z clips for glazing. They are 12 x 40 x 0.5 mm and very useful as packing, for example between a strap clamp and work, between chuck jaws and delicate work, etc. Reusable until they get too bent out of shape.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

The tubes that denture cleaning tablets come in are a handy storage source from holding scrollsaw blades to swarf collectors with magnets inside as well as keeping drill bits and the like in. The ones we get have a lid that has no printing on them so permanent markers can be used to identify the contents

We use the tablets to remove tea stains in cups

Edited By Derek Lane 2 on 07/04/2019 10:58:25

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Milton fluid works for tea stains.

The denture tablets also work overnight to remove lime scale etc in toilet bowls, and they leave a mint smell in the smallest room!

Good idea about the tubes, must ask grandad !

Ian

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

aIf you know anyone who is diabetic then the storage tubes for glucose test8ng strips are ideal for small screws etc. Some even have desiccant built into their lids.

A few menthol crystals in the workshop gives a really nice pong and clears the nose as well, not implying anything just saying….

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

When filing soft metals such as brass or aluminium, rub the side of a piece of chalk up and down the file to load the teeth with a layer of chalk dust. This helps stop filings getting stuck in the teeth and "pinning" or scratching the job. Makes it easier to clean the file with a file card (brush) too.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by fishy-steve on 07/04/2019 10:29:07:

Posted by Hopper on 07/04/2019 02:10:46:

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.

I was shown a similar trick by an old turner many years ago. He always had a pencil tucked behind his right ear when screw cutting. He would advance the cross slide and mark the dial before every cut. This way he never lost track of his depth.

I've done the same thing when screw cutting ever since.

For us blind people the whiteboard marker offers the temporariness of pencil but is easier to see.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

When setting a pair of dividers to size with a steel rule(r), don't set one leg on the end of the rule because the end can be worn. Lay the point of one leg in the engraved 1" mark (or 1cm) and then measure off from there and adjust the second leg until the point can be felt to "click" into the desired engraved line.

EG to set dividers to 1.5", one point on the 1" mark, the other on the 2.5" mark. Accurate setting within a few thou can be done this way.

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

In this video about the acute sharpening system from Eccentric Engineering Gary shows a simple trick to set up thin disks in a three jaw chuck , how many times i have stuffed around with parallels and the like and all i needed was a bigger disk 🤬. Look around the fifteen minute mark in the video .

**LINK**

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by XD 351 on 08/04/2019 07:54:32:

… Look around the fifteen minute mark in the video .

.

Excellent

But don't try it with small discs: Those chuck jaws can give you a nasty nip

MichaelG.

[AdrianRParticipant @adrianr18614]

One of the best things I ever bought were a pair of scruffs builders trousers. The built in knee pads and the flap pockets and tool lops are super useful. I use them all the time, from building to gardening. I would also recommend braces not a belt, much better for carrying a full load of tools.

Steel toe cap boots and trainers. Great for shifting heavy things e.g. plywood just stand it on your toes and walk it along. Also protects the toes when kneeling.

An old EPNS tea spoon kept in your pocket. From opening paint tins, scraping swarf out of awkward places to planting up seedlings.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Milton Fluid and probably the denture-tablets mentioned above are just very dilute, simple bleach (calcium hypochlorite)! Same as water-purifying tablets.

Magnets: my " Magnets, 'Fridge & gen. Purpose ", are from scrapped hard-drives, and are quite powerful.

The pumps that come with liquid soaps are very good for decanting small amounts of liquids from full 5l cans of the type designed to throw the liquid everywhere if simply tipped. (Those typically used for wood preservatives, etc.)

Scrapped IT equipment is a handy source of precision steel bars (in printers), circlips, thin-gauge sheet-steel, self-tapping screws….

For cleaning my Myford 7's chip tray, an old paint-brush with a child's toy plastic beach spade, short-handled, has proven ideal. A long-handled equivalent with a steel blade (that dates it!) is there for anything from rooting swarf out of corners, to planting small shrubs and clearing the visiting cats' offerings from the lawn – and yes I do clean it after the latter, by digging a patch of bare earth!

A small irritation, I found the bed under my Harrison's L5 head and tail stocks would fill with filthy swarf. I cut two simple covers longitudinally from off-cuts of ordinary (60mm?) plastic rainwater-pipe, to slide under the shears.

Extra protection for the armoured cables on the Machine-DRO read-out sets: the plug and the sensor won't go through ordinary flexible PVC electrical conduit, but the sensor does pass through a similar tubing about 30mm dia, made for caravan plumbing. It's surprising what useful materials come from unexpected places like caravan-site shops!

Old plastic bank or association-membership cards: cut off embossed areas, and the rest is useful shim material. Some at least are also a suitable thickness for a mid-gap range, non-magnetic feeler-gauge for setting the magnetic-sensor gap on the above-mentioned DRO.

Workshop calculator or similar, or your 'phone? Keep it clean in a polythene, e.g., freezer, bag.

Slide-way cover: The original cross-slide way cover from my second-hand Myford VMC mill having long departed hence, I have replaced it with one cut from surplus garden-pond liner. I don't know how long it will last but it's holding up so far. The upper clamping strip was lost too so I used a length of thin aluminium-alloy angle, which also creates a narrow shelf in which a few holes of various sizes hold small items like the drill-chuck key and wobbler.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

I buy small magnets from Ali Express in China and find uses for them all around the workshop. They are dirt cheap ,although they do take a while to get here.

[SomersetSimplexParticipant @somersetsimplex]

The magnets from an old computer hard drive are excellent for welding and very strong, and the disc is an excellent unbrakable workshop mirror.

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