Hobbyhorse
Western Thunderer
After quite a few really interesting posts on Giles workshop thread recently about producing various Hex bits, I thought it'll be interesting to continue on a similar theme with some of my tools and jig that have made a difference with my model making over the years.
Having the ability to make one off bits quickly is very satisfying, so these are my efforts so far
Mine started quite a few years ago with my first scratch build commission for a Stirling Single that required lots of different size nuts and bolts, so below is the first tool. It's based around a large Hex bar with a reasonably accurate chuck mounted into it. Each face of the Hex bar was ground finished in relationship with a small bar mounted in the chuck, giving a run out of around 1 thou on all 6 faces.
The plate that the Hex fits into has an adjustable table with the top surface hardened, and shims below to a adjust its height. Using small files held flat across the table the Hex is cut easily.
Although the Hex bar version worked well I wanted something more accurate that fitted onto the milling machine to cut the parts.
So starting with a large lump of cast iron this was machined flat on all faces, bored to accept a Myford noise piece adapter.
The adapter also needed boring to fit the Myford collets, which made it really useful as chucks could also be fitted.
On the back of the adapter on of the Myford gears was fitted to give the various divisions needed. A simple locking was fitted to the adapter and gear wheel.
Cutting the Hex is normally done on the milling machine, also as it's collet mounted it's easy to move to the other machines that have collet chuck for other processes to be done, it's extremely accurate which is my most used tool when doing basic division work.
The next tool I wanted something a bit more universal that was collet based again and could be used on the small servo drill and the milling machines, that could also be mounted vertical and horizontal, and importantly have more division capacity.
On a visit to Tony Reynolds we got talking about the dividend heads, and he produced a drawing for one based on the servo drill, that was perfect and with a few tweaks fitted my requirements. This one is fitted with BCA collets. It's been useful when making things like safety valves with the multiple holes required and cutting the dummy fixing bolts and nuts.
Well these are my efforts so far which I must admit becomes very addictive when making things, I've got a few ideas for another tool which is coming together.
Simon
Having the ability to make one off bits quickly is very satisfying, so these are my efforts so far
Mine started quite a few years ago with my first scratch build commission for a Stirling Single that required lots of different size nuts and bolts, so below is the first tool. It's based around a large Hex bar with a reasonably accurate chuck mounted into it. Each face of the Hex bar was ground finished in relationship with a small bar mounted in the chuck, giving a run out of around 1 thou on all 6 faces.
The plate that the Hex fits into has an adjustable table with the top surface hardened, and shims below to a adjust its height. Using small files held flat across the table the Hex is cut easily.
Although the Hex bar version worked well I wanted something more accurate that fitted onto the milling machine to cut the parts.
So starting with a large lump of cast iron this was machined flat on all faces, bored to accept a Myford noise piece adapter.
The adapter also needed boring to fit the Myford collets, which made it really useful as chucks could also be fitted.
On the back of the adapter on of the Myford gears was fitted to give the various divisions needed. A simple locking was fitted to the adapter and gear wheel.
Cutting the Hex is normally done on the milling machine, also as it's collet mounted it's easy to move to the other machines that have collet chuck for other processes to be done, it's extremely accurate which is my most used tool when doing basic division work.
The next tool I wanted something a bit more universal that was collet based again and could be used on the small servo drill and the milling machines, that could also be mounted vertical and horizontal, and importantly have more division capacity.
On a visit to Tony Reynolds we got talking about the dividend heads, and he produced a drawing for one based on the servo drill, that was perfect and with a few tweaks fitted my requirements. This one is fitted with BCA collets. It's been useful when making things like safety valves with the multiple holes required and cutting the dummy fixing bolts and nuts.
Well these are my efforts so far which I must admit becomes very addictive when making things, I've got a few ideas for another tool which is coming together.
Simon
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