Beginner Project Suggestions

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dampfmann
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Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by dampfmann »

Hello,

I am looking for plans for a beginner hammer project. I have seen the plans for the Paulding Hammer and it looks like a great project, but it only requires use of the lathe. I am looking for a hammer design that: 1) incorporates use of the lathe AND mill, and 2) does not require a 4-jaw chuck.

I am also open to suggestions for other beginner projects that include blueprints.

Thanks,

Marty
earlgo
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by earlgo »

Hi dampfmann:
This toolmaker clamp uses both your mill and lathe and the resulting tool is very handy to use. Make them in pairs though. This is the largest of the 3 sizes that I use, but this is the only one with complete drawings. The jaw angles are goofy but that is what was/is on the clamp I copied. Have fun.
Toolmaker clamp.pdf
(103.07 KiB) Downloaded 250 times
Everyone else who is interested can use these drawings, too.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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mklotz
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by mklotz »

I'm not sure if you need to join the forum to see these hammer plans; even if that's the case, it's a great forum and a copious source of plans for all manner of DIY stuff...

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/51- ... lets-84318
Last edited by mklotz on Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Regards, Marv

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http://www.myvirtualnetwork.com/mklotz
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rmac
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by rmac »

There are some interesting ideas here:

https://makeitfrommetal.com/13-practica ... beginners/

-- Russell Mac
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Harold_V
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by Harold_V »

Are you familiar with NUPLAFLEX hammers? If not, they are a round head (soft) hammer that uses insert tips. The tips are available in a large number of sizes, with three sizes, 1", 1½" and 2" diameter being quite useful for the home shop. The tips are made in various degrees of hardness, identified by their color, so the hammer can be tailored to one's personal needs. The tips mount by a central threaded stud and have a tapered portion on which the tip locates in the hammer head. If you'd care to see what they look like, please follow this link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nonmarring-Ham ... SwVgtgMotB

Making a head would be a very useful and easy first project for a newbie. I made one years ago, from a piece of brass (any metal can be used) and use the hammer to this day. My hammer has a wooden handle, so the slot in which the handle fits was created by milling. A round handle hole would not be as desirable, as it would allow the head to spin if it loosened on the handle.

I do NOT own Nupla stock. I am simply a more than satisfied user of their hammer tips.

H
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Bill Shields
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by Bill Shields »

I like those hammers also..
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
pete
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by pete »

To my eyes the best proportioned hammer drawings I've seen so far are the one's South Bend produced in there projects book. Lindsay Publications reprinted it, but it's also here, https://archive.org/details/machineshop ... latheworks There's at least one Amazon dreamer wanting $144 for the same thing. Beginner projects should be something you'd use in the shop almost all the time so you tend to do your best work. I still have a cold chisel I made back in high school that's certainly NOT my best work. :mrgreen: There a bit old school now given many own or will buy at some point a height gauge, but the scribing block and scale holder to use it within this book https://www.teepublishing.co.uk/books/i ... op-manual/ are worth the books price just for them. Plus there's some very decent tool projects and a hell of a lot of really good information that's ideal for a beginner as a bonus. And that scribing block and scale holder will tax your skills and your machine alignments for both the lathe and mill to produce good accurate items.

And a 4 jaw chuck is just a convenience, there's little that can't be set up and held on a lathe face plate you either buy or make that couldn't be done without a 4 jaw independent chuck. It's a bit easier and faster with the chuck, but there not an absolute necessity. And you obviously need to be a lot more careful the work is properly secured. When I ordered my last lathe I also bought two face plates as well as a 4 jaw chuck.
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rmac
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by rmac »

That South Bend book looks like a gem. I especially like the detailed list of steps for making each part. I've been making similar lists for my own parts whenever they are the least bit complicated. The process of making the list helps me to think through how I'm going to hold the work, how to avoid machining away features that are still needed for work holding and/or registration, and also how to minimize the number of setups for each part.

Someday I suppose all this will just come naturally, but for me, not yet.

-- Russell Mac
pete
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by pete »

Yeah I think it is Rmac, I had drawings for that hammer back in high school and made a start but ran out of time and got a fail mark because I made the total beginner error of misreading the tap drill chart and instead used a clearance drill size on the head. Very frustrating but a real good object lesson. That dumb mistake still bothers me today. But back then I never knew where that hammer drawing came from because being young and dumb I didn't bother paying attention to the drawings title block like we were taught to do. When I did order that reprint from Lindsay I was happily surprised to see the exact same hammer after all those years. So it's still on the 10,000 + roundtuit item list.

I also think that step list is a good idea, sometimes that bit of pre thinking can save those dumb mistakes or even some time like you said. I guess today the cnc programmers or CAD designers do all the pre planing and order of operations. I also learned after I had my own shop to be careful about laying my cutting tools out so I could keep track of where I was. Making the same idiot mistake I made in high school with a clearance drill is easy with smaller tapped holes just by grabbing the wrong drill on the bench and trying to go too fast and not paying enough attention. Even with a dro on my mill, if the part is complex it's helpful to already have the point to point calculations written down in order. A lot of my older books still have sizes in fractional inches, those are just about useless even working with the dials. Faster and easier to do the fractional conversions you don't already have memorized all at once and write them down imo. A real machinist could do all this in there head and from memory and know at a glance the order in which to do it I suppose. I wouldn't ever insult one thinking I'm anywhere close to being one. So those little crutches help. The most used tool in my shop is a large button large display calculator, unless it's 1+ 1 = 2 simple the calculator gets used. Even then I don't fully trust mine and have caught it lying a few times. I'm sure it wasn't the operator :-)
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rmac
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by rmac »

pete wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:33 am Faster and easier to do the fractional conversions you don't already have memorized all at once and write them down imo.
Oh, yeah. I don't have a DRO and the dials on both my mill and lathe are all 1/8" per turn. So I'm a dead man if I don't pre-convert all my coordinates to "turns + remainder" form before I start.

-- Russell Mac
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liveaboard
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by liveaboard »

I grew up in the US, with those weird fractions from the stone age still in use.
12 inches to the foot and three feet to the yard, a cubic yard is a random number of quarts, cups, ounces, gallons, pounds.

Then 40 years ago, I moved to metric country.
Work is SO much easier here. 1000mm = meter. Divide and conquer.
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Harold_V
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Re: Beginner Project Suggestions

Post by Harold_V »

liveaboard wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:35 am I grew up in the US, with those weird fractions from the stone age still in use.
12 inches to the foot and three feet to the yard, a cubic yard is a random number of quarts, cups, ounces, gallons, pounds.

Then 40 years ago, I moved to metric country.
Work is SO much easier here. 1000mm = meter. Divide and conquer.
A matter of what one is used to. I deal with Imperial measurements in stride, just as many do. And, thanks to my years of refining precious metals, I became somewhat familiar with the metric system. While I understand and appreciate the convenience of metric, I am perfectly comfortable in the world of Imperial measurements. They have served me perfectly well, and will continue to do so.

When I must work with metric dimensions, the first thing I do is convert to Imperial. That's how my head (and instruments) work. I keep the constant in my head----a mm equates to .03937".

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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