Tools I would like to have

I have one it's called a welder

Neil, I am left handed, I know that you are joking re the left hand screwdriver but left handed screws (woodscrews) would make life easier for left handed people. When a screw is tight I find that using my left hand is far more difficult than using my right hand. It appears to be that the muscles that you use when twisting your wrist 'outwards' are stronger than the muscles used for twisting 'inwards'. I have learned to cope with stupid right handed scissors but I am grateful for electric screwdrivers.

Edited By norman valentine on 24/10/2016 17:18:26

Have you found any wooden wire for that yet? :D

By coincidence Aldi are currently offering a hacksaw with three blades, one of which is specifically for wood and has reciprocating teeth to cut in both directions. Never seen hacksaw blade like that before but I thought what a good idea it was for a metal workshop since there is often a requirement to cut wooden bits a pieces to aid the work etc.

Regarding the tap wrench thing. Not quite model engineering but I have a Draper T handled wrench that I use for work. Trying to thread an awkward piece one day I removed the T handle and filed six flats onto the end of the body. Now the T handle still fits and works but I also have the option of using a 13mm socket and any of the pieces from my socket sets and it also works with my 13mm flex head ratchet spanner for the really awkward places (with due care not to break taps). I guess the same trick would work with smaller tap wrenches as well - you would just need to work out what size of socket would match the resulting hex.

There is also the RAF* solution for the same problem - grip the shank of the tap in a vice and hammer a suitable size nut onto the square shank and then use a spanner or socket to turn the tap.

* RAF = Rough As F**K

Martin

Edited By Martin Cargill on 24/10/2016 19:41:30

Is this sort of 'putting-back' tool still available? The advert is from the 1947 Newnes Engineer's Reference Book, where it's made clear that the tool can be used to reclaim both worn and over-machined parts.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 24/10/2016 20:11:40

Wood welding is possible - google Tregarne wood welder !!!!.

Its a radio frequency device (a sort of hand held microwave) that dries PVA glue rather quickly. Trying to achieve a rather tricky angled joint in a cabinet a few years ago we were using one of these. One of the shop foremen helping us actually suggested using the wood welder without the glue - he really thought it was welding wood!

Martin

Check out Adam Booth (abom79) on Youtube. He uses 'metallisation' all the time for building up worn shafts. The equipment he uses looks like an oxy acetylene torch which is fed with metal powder that melts in the flame and is sprayed onto the worn metal. Looks quite simple to do and very effective.

John

He uses 'metallisation'

They use that kind of system to make carbide tooling, it's called sintering I believe, but the temperatures can be very high sometimes

Powder metallurgy has been around years. On paper it looks good but in practice it's rubbish.

I get loads of shafts in that have been metal sprayed, some of the time it doesn't stick properly but the main problem is it's a powder and is always a powder all the heat does it bond it and not weld it to the parent metal.

If applied to say a large bearing surface on a shaft and there is anything like depth the action of running hammers the new surface out and you get a loose bearing and a dumbell on either side of the bearing.

This is a classic example on some stainless pump shafts. Bearing size is 40mm to give an idea of scale.

The threads / rings underneath are to give more surface area and grip to the metal spraying but as you can see it doesn't work.

Another disadvantage is when this powder is machined off it's highly toxic and you need very good breathing gear, not a simple mask or you will spend two day gasping .

Personally I love metal spraying, it earns me some serious coin, making good these cock ups.

**LINK**

We once had team that looked at metal spraying beryllium. Unsuccessful, it incorporated a lot of oxide.

Rod

I might have guessed it was too good to be true! I do such a lot of "over-machining"...

Dave

For repairing by weld build-up [albeit on a smaller scale than JS] ... I would 'like to have' a machine like that used by Geoffrey Walker: **LINK**

http://www.geoffreywalkerclocks.co.uk/microwelding/microwelding.shtml

MichaelG.

.

Edit: Just noticed that the link to Lampert, on Geoff's page, is dead ... try this:

http://www.lampert.info/en/home

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 24/10/2016 21:52:08

John''s being a little imprecise about powder metallurgy. I bow to his experience of sprayed powders but pressed and sintered powder is a very important technique for the manufacture of components, not least for tungsten carbide tools.

**LINK**

Rod

I need a press for pressing off the axles from loco wheels. I have 3 jobs that need such a press. A slotted bed is required.

And of course a much better all singing and dancing bigger lathe!

Cheers,

Julian

No Rod you are being very correct, I should have said for the repair of parts. Sintering as you say is done at high temperature and pressure. Although powder spraying uses heat it's nothing like the met=lting point of the parent metal and there is no pressure involved at all.

Years ago we used to get scrap lorries in from a local company called Stanton Bonna, they use to have large steel works and blast furnaces in the past. At this time they were experimenting with sintered products and one of the products were small gears for Ford. I'm guessing by the size they were motor drive gears for seats, heating systems etc as they were quite small and fine, probably 24 / 30 DP or around that size and 3mm or so thick.

They had been pressed in a die and presumably the next stage was heat treat or the heat treat if done whilst pressing hadn't been carried out. You could hold a gear in one hand and flick a tooth off with the finger of the other hand. More than likely that's why they were in a scrap lorry

You can find a 12-point socket to fit the square on the end of the drawbar and use it with either a long bar or a ratchet (which I find easier).

Hi, Junior hacksaw blades for wood **LINK**

I agree with John about powder spraying metal repair systems to be useless. In a past employment back in the 70's we had a demo by a rep, looked good, machined up well and all seemed sound, but put back into service and it didn't last very long and the gear soon got slung into a box somewhere and forgotten about for years until it was binned during a shop clear out.

Regards Nick.

Sounds scarily like a microwave with no door! Although the calim it's 27 MH so plays havoc with RC and CB, no doubt