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Grahame Collins
31st Dec 2007, 09:44 AM
Giday everybody,

In an earlier post I noticed New Lou had mentioned trammels as part of his tool kit.
Trammels aren't handy until you really need them to make large circles and mark out,and check diagonal dimensions.

If one has ever purchased these items you will know they can run between $70 to $100.
Being skint much of the time I opted to make my own.

All that needed is
A 50mm section of 50 x 25 x 3wt RHS
2 M10 x 30 bolts and nuts and washers
A 50mm x 3.2mm hardened concrete nail
A bit of 6mm round

A hacksaw, welder and drill press helps.

Maybe you can talk about some simple hand tool you have made. Made from metal for use in wood or metal work work,it matters not! Clamps, jigs,guides anything!
Grahame

Tiger
1st Jan 2008, 07:04 PM
Good one Grahame. Haven't had to make too many of my own tools for metalwork unlike with woodwork where I'm constantly making jigs but will file this one away for future reference.

yogie
2nd Jan 2008, 12:10 PM
Iwould have to say my welders pole, couldnt live with out it. Its got old clamps welded to it, bits of angle, you name it.:D

Woodlee
3rd Jan 2008, 01:16 AM
Grahame ,
These are some of the things I've made over the years
Tool makers clamps ,vice , welding jig ,pullers for different jobs ,G clamps ,dovetail marking templates,and an anvil.
Plenty of other stuff as well , some of it stashed away in tool boxes and some of it recycled for other projects.

Kev

scooter
3rd Jan 2008, 01:25 AM
Thanks for posting, Kev, be interested to see any other pics you dig up. :)


Cheers.............Sean

Woodlee
3rd Jan 2008, 12:00 PM
Thanks for posting, Kev, be interested to see any other pics you dig up. :)


Cheers.............Sean



Sean ,
I must admit ,that the toolmakers clamps and small G clamp and vice were made by myself during my apprenticeship training ,where I had access to a lot of nice machinery .
The welding jig , was made at home when I was constructing benches for my shed.
The red G clamp is one of a set of three which I made when I was working night shift work as a maintenance fitter.
The big three legged puller was also made at this time .I have since robbed the screw from it for some thing else.

All this stuff above has been carted all over the country over the years when moving around .

The small round puller was made to remove fly wheels from different outboard motors and the two bar pullers ,one I think (small) is a steering wheel puller for my old hilux.
The other I cant remember what it was for.

The anvil was made in the Katherine Power Station work shop from a piece of rail iron from the original Darwin to Birdum line .

The dovetail markers were made at home in my workshop ,these were just a trial , I plan to make one from brass and Ironwood.

Kev.

Grahame Collins
3rd Jan 2008, 12:28 PM
Briiliant stuff Kev,

Thanks for your contributions .
I don,t know if anyone has noticed it, but I seem to have a bit of a thing going about making our own stuff.

I taught Metalfab at the DIT in my first years as a TAFE teacher as still have a place in my heart for up there.Where is Birdum ? I don't think I have heard of it.

Do they still run the Territorian lottery? Even if it was only small prize of $100,000 besides lotto, the tickets themselves were worth the purchase price alone.

We still have a photo montage made up from the tickets we purchased while there,to remind ourselves of our time there.

Thanks
Grahame

MrFixIt
3rd Jan 2008, 12:45 PM
Grahame ,
These are some of the things I've made over the years
Tool makers clamps ,vice , welding jig ,pullers for different jobs ,G clamps ,dovetail marking templates,and an anvil.
Plenty of other stuff as well , some of it stashed away in tool boxes and some of it recycled for other projects.

Kev

I love that little anvil :2tsup: :2tsup: I think I have a piece of track somewhere.... now where did I put it......

Woodlee
3rd Jan 2008, 04:39 PM
Briiliant stuff Kev,

Thanks for your contributions .
I don,t know if anyone has noticed it, but I seem to have a bit of a thing going about making our own stuff.

I taught Metalfab at the DIT in my first years as a TAFE teacher as still have a place in my heart for up there.Where is Birdum ? I don't think I have heard of it.

Do they still run the Territorian lottery? Even if it was only small prize of $100,000 besides lotto, the tickets themselves were worth the purchase price alone.

We still have a photo montage made up from the tickets we purchased while there,to remind ourselves of our time there.

Thanks
Grahame

Grahame ,

Unfortunately the Territory Lottery is defunct ,It was originally run by the Gaming Commission , but they decided to privatise it a few years ago , the company who took it on wasn't making enough money so they closed it down.Of course the cost of a ticket rose immediately when it was privatised.The company who took over the Lottery we marketing them all over the country and had permanent mail orders for them as well , I cant see how they couldnt turn a profit even if it was a small one ,I guess they were overcome by greed.

The sad part is that they made great gifts , cheap to buy and easy for overseas friends and relatives.and were unique as they were the largest lottery ticket on the planet.

They also had some very excellent photograhy as the back drop.

I have one of each ticket ,some I have two or three of as I would buy them from different places when I was travelling around for work.
Unfortunately I never did win a prize, though.

I was thinking about framing them ,but we don't have a wall big enough to hang them all .

(edit ) Sorry forgot to answer your question , Birdum was the end of the old rail line ,it was a small railway settlement just south of Larrimah , some of the old rail switch points and rail are still there but the cattle yards and buildings are long gone from the efforts of scroungers.It is marked on older maps ,but I dont think it is on newer ones.
Most people thought the line finished at Larrimah but it actually went a bit further south to Birdum
Good news is there is a rail museum at Larrimah which has a lot of stuff there from the old line.
When I was working for the Power & Water Authority we put one of the original Dorman engines back into what was the Larrimah Power house.The Larrimah Power House was closed when the Katherine /Larrimah power line was finshed and the engine was installed in the old Pine Creek power house,which is now also closed.

The best news is the little locomotive that ran on the Darwin /Birdum line has been returned to the Territory where it belongs ,it was taken to South Australia when the line closed and was on display at Victor Harbor for many years.I remember seeing it there when I was a child.


Kev.

Fossil
4th Jan 2008, 08:23 PM
Great thread Graham. :)

I like the stories too Kev. :)

Here is my little contribution. I make up all sorts off tools/jigs etc, almost on a daily basis, but out of all the tools that I have made in the past few years, these are my favorites, simply because they make tapping and die thread cutting such an easy and pleasurable experience.
I made up some special bolts and nuts for a machine last night, and the whole project took less than 1/2 hour, with the resultant mod to the machine, making life easier for me indefinitely. I love lathes, and I love making up special gizmos for, and with them. :U

Sorry for the crappy pics. I took them with my phone, as my camera is still out of service. I must get to fixing it soon. :rolleyes:

Woodlee
4th Jan 2008, 10:02 PM
Great thread Graham. :)

I like the stories too Kev. :)

Here is my little contribution. I make up all sorts off tools/jigs etc, almost on a daily basis, but out of all the tools that I have made in the past few years, these are my favorites, simply because they make tapping and die thread cutting such an easy and pleasurable experience.
I made up some special bolts and nuts for a machine last night, and the whole project took less than 1/2 hour, with the resultant mod to the machine, making life easier for me indefinitely. I love lathes, and I love making up special gizmos for, and with them. :U

Sorry for the crappy pics. I took them with my phone, as my camera is still out of service. I must get to fixing it soon. :rolleyes:


Foss ,

Thats one I have also made ....the die stock holder for the lathe, very use full tool.

I also made a miniature bender for bending photo etch parts for my model building hobby ,so I can bend up ammo boxes and stuff for the tanks I build.Then I needed a resistance soldering rig to solder the Photoetched bits and made one of those up ,using and old scope iron transformer and foot pedal switch .Then there is the spray booth and a vacuforming table for forming plastic parts ,,,,,,dont get alot of time for modelling any more ,since woodworking has taken over .My eyes are not what they were a few years ago , and using parts no bigger that fly sh*t has its challenges.

Some pics below ,
1 is the resitance solder rig
2 is the spray booth for airbrushing
3 unfinished model ,plastic kit but lots of brass Photoetch parts and an aluminium turned barrel ,all in 1/35 scale.

Kev.

Fossil
3rd Feb 2008, 10:03 AM
I made this tool up yesterday, as I had a job to CS 150 screws in to a finished article. I backed off the front face by 3 degrees, and it doesn't mar the finished timber at all. It can be adjusted to CS at any depth, so I find it quite versatile.

Grahame Collins
3rd Feb 2008, 11:14 AM
Hi Fossil
Some very nice work and some original thinking there. It is an example some of my students could use in thinking out a simple solution to a problem.

Well done mate!
Grahame

Fossil
3rd Feb 2008, 01:40 PM
Thanks Graham. :)

Fossil
3rd Feb 2008, 04:47 PM
Here is another tool that I often use.

It doesn't look much, but is very handy, and most importantly, it is cheap to make.

It is a hunk of 1 1/4" mild steel from the scrap box with a piece of 1/4" round HSS for the boring bar.
My top slide is the older clamp down type as from the manufacturer. I like it over quick change jobbies, because I find it more versatile for specialised work, although I admit it is slower to set up.
Mount a centre drill in the chuck, with the steel held squarly and firmly in the top slide and drill pilot hole. Chuck up 1/4" drill bit and drill through. Drill and tap appropriate holes for whatever machine screws are laying around. With this method, boring bar is exactly centred. Grind bar down to exactly half of diameter so that it will end up at centre.

Beside the rough boring bar setup is a hunk of 1045 which
is hard as #!@%^!!!! This setup cuts it really well without any chattering, as long as moderate cuts are taken.
Anyway.. these are the sort of tools that I often make up. Cheap and easy, even if they don't look so good. :)

Woodlee
3rd Feb 2008, 07:13 PM
Here is another tool that I often use.

It doesn't look much, but is very handy, and most importantly, it is cheap to make.

It is a hunk of 1 1/4" mild steel from the scrap box with a piece of 1/4" round HSS for the boring bar.
My top slide is the older clamp down type as from the manufacturer. I like it over quick change jobbies, because I find it more versatile for specialised work, although I admit it is slower.
Mount a centre drill in the chuck, with the steel held squarly and firmly in the top slide and drill pilot hole. Chuck up 1/4" drill bit and drill through. Drill and tap appropriate holes for whatever machine screws are laying around. With this method, boring bar is exactly centred. Grind bar down to exactly half of diameter so that it will end up at centre.

Beside the rough boring bar setup is a hunk of 1045 which
is hard as #!@%^!!!! This setup cuts it really well without any chattering, as long as moderate cuts are taken.
Anyway.. these are the sort of tools that I often make up. Cheap and easy, even if they don't look so good. :)

Neat job Fossil .
Thinking outside the square as well.

Kev.

scooter
3rd Feb 2008, 08:48 PM
Lovverly work, Fossil :2tsup:

BobL
3rd Feb 2008, 10:49 PM
Yeah - good stuff Fossil.

I make lots of different hand tools, mallets, saws, planes, spokeshaves, jigs and rigs. Last year I made two chainsaw mills. The first one entirely by myself and takes up to a 24" blade. Using this mill generated a major interest in home milling so I then made another almost all ally mill to take up to a 52" blade. I did everything except for the ally welding which my BIL helped me with so I called the mill the BIL mill.

A complete WIP (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?p=529815#post529815) is here. A lot of planning went into it's construction and it's the one tool that I have made that works significantly better than I imagined it would and is an absolute joy to use. Unless you frequent the Milling forum you may not have seen this.

To support this activity I have made numerous other tools and jigs like this (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=57904), this (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=59940) and this (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=56835).

wheelinround
4th Feb 2008, 09:53 AM
Tool scribe post and clamp made in metal work at school

a special socket for a heavy vehicle sump plug either a CAT or Cummins made a few years ago

also made up a square sump socket for Bedford diff plugs always found the cast spanners broke.

Fossil
5th Feb 2008, 10:43 AM
Nice work Guys.

Bob, I had a look at the chainsaw mill thread. That looks great!

BobL
5th Feb 2008, 06:32 PM
Nice work Guys.

Bob, I had a look at the chainsaw mill thread. That looks great!

Thanks Fossil. I'd like to claim all the ideas as mine but as usual they are a hybrid of ideas across this and another serious Chainsaw/milling forums. The one thing I haven't seen before on any direct power head mounted CS mill is the ability to remove the chain without removing the Chainsaw from the mill. This is very useful when you change chains during a milling session.