Member postings for bugbear6502

I was waiting for delivery of a box of mixed roll pins.

Waited and waited. Went to eBay to check my order, and chase the seller.

Yep - still in my Watch list.

They arrived today; for anyone following along, I can confirm that they're certainly harder than my fuel line, but still eminently soft enough to file, so I won't need to follow up my musings on gas-hob annealing.

BugBear

In case anybody else is looking for materials, I can say that the fuel line is probable just mild steel,is super-annealed, with an OD of 6mm and ID around 3.7mm.

BugBear

How interesting - thank you.

BugBear

Fuel line turns out to be really well annealed so you can bend it;

I have made a prototype hole saw; a friend gave me some scrap engine fuel line, which turns out
to be well annealed (so you can bend it) steel. Easy to file.

The OD is 5.5mm, I don't know the ID.

I filed 5 teeth around the circumference, with each tooth face on a radius.

On trial, the problem (shared with the commercial versions?) is that you have a saw with no means of removing the sawdust, so you have to keep withdrawing the bit to brush dust off the bit, and to (try to) blow out the hole.

So I returned to my teeth filing, and with the tube raised high in the vice, used a 45 degree slope to make a VERY large gullet on each tooth for the dust to go in. The dust still has no means of actual escape, but the teeth hold more now. This seems to work OK.

BugBear

PS Macro photography makes your filing look awful!

Edited By bugbear6502 on 01/04/2016 17:14:34

Yes, those are the larger (see Stewmac) commercial product. They're also in the USA, and I'm in sunny Norfolk.

I have a box of cheap (£3.99 for 120) roll pins coming, and a friend just came into work with a couple of feet of scrap stainless steel aircraft fuel line.

BugBear

I'd never heard of it!

BugBear

I have neither a Dremel nor a (running) lathe.

On another forum it was reported that a brass tube is (just...) hard enough to take teeth that will cut wood. They won't last very long, but brass tube is (of course) extremely easy to get hold of.

Alternatively, if roll pins are hardened to an extent that a file won't touch them, can try to anneal them on my gas hob.

BugBear

Both the screws I have to remove broke off inside the hole

BugBear

You have both posted an excellent route to making a superb tool "properly".

But antique restorers just get a piece of tube, file some rough teeth, and "have at it". Even brass will work, or at least work well enough for single shot use.

I was considering recycling the telescopic aerial from an old radio (chrome plated brass).

I'm trying to find, not so much raw material, as "blanks", as close to the finished item as possible, with roll pins the current best contender.

BugBear

To remove small, broken screws from wood, there's an ingenious gadget called a screw extractor.

No, not the always breaking, never working "easy out", but a miniature hole saw, which removes a small cylinder of wood with the screw inside it.

Here's a pricy commercial version, with very good pictures and a video showing the use.

http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Bits/Guitar_Screw_Rescue_Kit.html

I would like to make my own - filing saw teeth ain't rocket science.

The main requirements are that the extractor-saw is big enough to go over the screw stub, but no bigger, and that the interior diameter of the plug-cutter matches the external diameter of the extractor saw. It may be possible to tweak the sizes a little by setting the teeth a little.

For larger screws, a material source recommended is a second hand stepped golf-club shaft, which gives a range of sizes!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD6ibqWpVCM

But I'm dealing with very small woodscrews on a guitar (#3 x 3/8".

I have seen people recommending roll pins as suitable - nice steel, available in many sizes.

http://www.drapertools.com/product/63943/120-Piece-Roll-Pin-Assortment

(Chinese sets off ebay are much cheaper...)

But my "dream" material would have thinner walls.

Can anyone put their lateral thinking cap on and suggest something?

BugBear

This recently finished on eBay.

link

To my eye, it's a simple Flexispeed lathe used as a "casting kit" to make a watch maker's lathe.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/flexy/

Look at the bearings and collets...

BugBear

Edited By David Clark 1 on 04/11/2013 17:35:01

http://www.tracytools.com/index.php?route=product/product&keyword=spark&product_id=629

Spark plug appears to be M14 x 1.25, not the Simat's M14 x 1.5

BugBear

Yes - I cut my programming teeth on a Pet 2001.

BugBear

That's a shame - car boots are littered with old electric sewing machine for little money.

BugBear

I already have "The Amateur's workshop" (Ian Bradley) and "The Amateur's Lathe" (Sparey), along with several older books, and a few years worth of 1930's and 1950's MEs.

Should I (still) add the book you recommend?

BugBear

That would be VERY much appreciated.

The info pack from [email protected] is £35 which is more than I paid for the lathe!

BugBear

No pictures, didn't happen:

   BugBear

Edited By bugbear6502 on 09/04/2013 09:38:47

I've read about model/small engineering, but never owned a lathe.

At a local sale I picked up a "Simat 101" lathe (30.00 GBP which I think is cheap).

[url]http://www.lathes.co.uk/flexy/[/url]

(search down).

Mine doesn't have the countershaft shown, but is otherwise "spot on" to that picture.
In particular, I only have the faceplate, no chuck. I have measured, and the spindle is m14x1.5mm. It appears my chances of finding a cheap chuck for my lathe are slim.

I would welcome advice (or probably links) on:

* fitting a motor or treadle
* finding a chuck OR how to "get stuff done" using faceplates and centres.

BugBear