Surpise Tooling

[MrWhoopee]

I was trying to make a tool height gage (for quickly setting tools to center height) for my SB Heavy 10L yesterday. I found a suitable base, an old, hardend and ground top-jaw from an unknown chuck (I have 2 of the 3). Then I went looking for a piece of 3/4 x 1 about 6 inches long to bolt to the base. I have a bunch of odd pieces of tool steel that Fred gave me along with the lathe and mill. In that I found just what I was looking for, 2 pieces of 3/4 x 1 x 6. I took one and cleaned it up a little. It had saw cut ends and ground finish, like tool steel flats. It needed to have the end squared and tapped 1/2-13. Assuming it was probably D-2, I decided it would be better to try this in the lathe, so I put on the 4-jaw and indicated the part in. I started facing it with a CCMT insert, which was working, but pounding hard enough to make the the compound jump noticeably. I switched to the 100 deg. corner of a CNMG 432, which was much better but still pounded hard even at .010 DOC. After facing, it was time to drill the pilot hole for tapping. I couldn't even make a mark on the end with the 1/4" stub drill I had chosen. I tried a center drill, same thing. That's when the light came on. I pulled it out of the chuck and tried filing a corner. Nothing, the file just slid right off. What I had found was a pair of shop made 3/4 x 1 hardened and ground parallels!

 

[bhigdog]

The gage is far from a precision tool or one that needs to be hardened. Make it easy on yourself and use whatever suitable low carbon steel you have on hand. Truth be known aluminum would do the job.................Bob

 

[MrWhoopee]

The gage is far from a precision tool or one that needs to be hardened. Make it easy on yourself and use whatever suitable low carbon steel you have on hand. Truth be known aluminum would do the job.................Bob

I did, I found another suitable mild steel bracket already assembled. Put it in the mill and cut a slot with the top edge at the proper dimension. Done.

 

[MrWhoopee]

More surprise tooling. While making my gasket cutter, I needed to locate, drill & tap some 4-40 holes on the end of the 1x1x6 aluminum part. The choices were clamping to the side of the table or clamping to an angle bracket on top of the table. Being lazy, the second choice seemed more appealing, so I started looking thru the stuff that Fred gave me along with the mill & lathe. I found this:



Inspecting it with my precision square (clearly marked "Inspection use only") it looked to be more than good enough for the purpose, face and sides square to the base. It is small enough to fit in the vise, which eliminated the tedious job of clamping to the table and indicating. It is liberally sprinkled with holes, so I added a couple more large enough for tie-down bolts for future use.

Returning to the tooling cabinet yesterday, I discovered this in the back:



It's about 7x7x4 and quite massive. Not hardened, but ground all over. It too passed "inspection". I'm going to make a handle for it, like the smaller one, to make it harder to drop on the floor. It already has holes for tie-down bolts, but needs some tapped holes on the sides for edge plates.

There's nothing better than found tooling.

 

[middle.road]

More surprise tooling. While making my gasket cutter, I needed to locate, drill & tap some 4-40 holes on the end of the 1x1x6 aluminum part. The choices were clamping to the side of the table or clamping to an angle bracket on top of the table. Being lazy, the second choice seemed more appealing, so I started looking thru the stuff that Fred gave me along with the mill & lathe. I found this:

View attachment 308646

Inspecting it with my precision square (clearly marked "Inspection use only") it looked to be more than good enough for the purpose, face and sides square to the base. It is small enough to fit in the vise, which eliminated the tedious job of clamping to the table and indicating. It is liberally sprinkled with holes, so I added a couple more large enough for tie-down bolts for future use.

Returning to the tooling cabinet yesterday, I discovered this in the back:

View attachment 308647

It's about 7x7x4 and quite massive. Not hardened, but ground all over. It too passed "inspection". I'm going to make a handle for it, like the smaller one, to make it harder to drop on the floor. It already has holes for tie-down bolts, but needs some tapped holes on the sides for edge plates.

There's nothing better than found tooling.

hmmmm, kinda like Christmas?

 

[Dabbler]

My lathe height gauges are all aluminum rod 1" diameter. No magnets, no threads, just a length. Works very well!