Made a corner radius fixture today
- Thread starter Ian
- Start date
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've seen some tapping heads on You Tube. Amazing! Also wicked expensive, but what a gift in a production shop!
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Figured as much, but asked anyway.
For 12 years, or so, I heated the 4500 using a goose-neck lamp, 100 Watt bulb, and a heavy aluminum foil tent. When my son-in-law first got into bullet casting he was using my 4500 but thought my heating setup was primitive, so he bought me a Lyman cartridge heater.
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
While I've only used my tapping heads in the home shop maybe 3 times in 20+ years. Like a lot of machinist tools they're like a fire extinguisher; not worth a damn 'til you have a fire, but when you need it, nothing else will do.
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Ian
Notorious member
I have watched several of Abom79's videos where he's using his big tap driver unit. Definitely a saver when doing something like cleaning the threads on two pallets of tie rod ends. His will do up to 2" as I recall. Us home gamers trade time for money every way we can. I was even trying to figure out a way to make my own radius fixture without a rotary table since for aluminum I think I could control it with hand pressure like a ball attachment for a lathe, but rotary tables are good for lots of things and for $70 delivered for this offshore unit I needed one anyway.
Another thing I had thought about, which would actually have been easier, is to make a radius cutter out of O-1 tool steel on the lathe, cut the flutes with the mill, harden the cutting edges, and hone it sharp. What stopped me was to make it I'd have to grind a radius tool for the lathe, and then I could only do one size. In retrospect that would have been faster.
Another thing I had thought about, which would actually have been easier, is to make a radius cutter out of O-1 tool steel on the lathe, cut the flutes with the mill, harden the cutting edges, and hone it sharp. What stopped me was to make it I'd have to grind a radius tool for the lathe, and then I could only do one size. In retrospect that would have been faster.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Theres a kid on YT, I think his channel is "Make Everything". He's down NYC way. He runs a couple different tapping heads. Amazing tools, at least to me. Abom is into way bigger stuff and is also in the "amazing" category for me. "Cutting Edge Engineering" out of Australia is another outfit that does the impossible on a regular basis. YT has made me aware of tools and processes I didn't even know existed.
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Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
That worked out nicely. I have a tool in my basement that I think every shop should have. Actually, there are two tools I believe every shop should have if you own no other stationary power tools. You need a floor mounted drill press, but a benchtop will suffice if it must. And you need a benchtop belt sander. All the intricate shapes that would require rotary tables, special cutters and etc., can often be done on a decent benchtop belt sander. All the radii I put on things I've made have almost always been done on that sander. I pick the radius I want, scribe the radius on the piece and then sand to the line. Granted, the sander must have a solid table that is square to the belt platform and be adjustable for angle to the belt as well. But if you have a steady hand and can follow a line, you can make some really nice stuff with a saw, some files and a belt sander.
All the radii on this sight base (for my Win Low Wall and High Wall) were made on my benchtop belt sander.
All the radii on this sight base (for my Win Low Wall and High Wall) were made on my benchtop belt sander.
