Plans, projects and How-to's for Home Machinists and Other Makers
Rob
I like to use socket head cap screws. Rather than keeping an expensive assortment of different lengths on hand, I usually stock a smaller selection and just cut a longer screw down to the length I need. Frank Ford has a great idea for making that process easier. His step plate makes consistent length screws and it fixes any thread damage done by the hacksaw.
John Bentley made this beautiful half-scale vertical steam engine. He also did a great job of documenting most of the process on his construction page. I was surprised to see how he fabricated the rim for the 7½-inch diameter flywheel out of a 1½-inch diameter drive shaft salvaged from a boat.
There are lots of designs floating around for tap holders for lathes. This one uses an old drill chuck and looks easy to make. In addition to ensuring that a tap gets started straight, it can be used to drill holes with very small bits. By gripping the knurled body you can get a feel for how the drill bit is doing and control the torque so you don’t break it.
Model Engineers’ Utilities is a free, easy-to-use Windows program that has a very useful suite of calculators for machinists and engineers. There is too much to list here, but it includes one of the best cutting speed and feed calculator I’ve seen. It also includes thread cutting data, a spring designer, a unit converter, information for setting up tapers, a sine bar and gauge block calculator, sheet metal bending information and calculator, a gear cutting calculator, and much more.… Read the rest