Benches and Tools

[ped]

with a 3 jaw it takes a bit of buggering about to get it back true after you take it out so plan your steps and if possible do it all in one go
one thing to check is your tailstock is aligned with th head stock
one thing i do is try to do any tapping first then with a mandrel turn the out side concentric to the thread
once you get used to a 4 jaw it's not bad but tbh i very rarely fit ours as it weighs a ton and i don't often work on stuff that needs it,i do use it if i setup a collet holder 

[landroversforever]

If it’s a decent quality 3 jaw chuck you shouldn’t really have to worry too much about taking it out. It will be plenty repeatable for most stuff

[simonr]

16 hours ago, ped said:

i do use it if i setup a collet holder 

I use a collet chuck if I need to machine something to really high precision.

I have a 4 Jaw, but very rarely use it.

One of the most useful tools for holding on to unfortunate shapes has actually been a 3D Printer.

I had a job to bore a diagonal hole between two opposite corners of a cube.  It sounds easy - but when you come to figure out how to hold the cube, it's surprisingly difficult.

The solution was to print a sort of collet allowing it to be gripped in a 3 Jaw chuck - and it worked beautifully.  It became a carrier / heatsink for 6 hyper-bright LEDs.

 

[landroversforever]

26 minutes ago, simonr said:

I use a collet chuck if I need to machine something to really high precision.

I have a 4 Jaw, but very rarely use it.

One of the most useful tools for holding on to unfortunate shapes has actually been a 3D Printer.

I had a job to bore a diagonal hole between two opposite corners of a cube.  It sounds easy - but when you come to figure out how to hold the cube, it's surprisingly difficult.

The solution was to print a sort of collet allowing it to be gripped in a 3 Jaw chuck - and it worked beautifully.  It became a carrier / heatsink for 6 hyper-bright LEDs.

 

That’s a cool solution! I helped a mate make some dice valve caps once which needed a hole in the same place. That was a total arse to make a jig for on a manual machine. So much so that they were then held into the jig by hand for the drilling.

Edited August 27, 2023 by landroversforever
Typo!

[simonr]

OT - but in case you were wondering.  They were incorporated into a missile with a wire through the middle, fired with compressed air.  Used for 'wand strikes' in a jungle on Fantastic Beasts 3.  Everyone probably assumed they were CG - but rendering all the light reflecting off trees & leaves plus the shadows was too much.

[landroversforever]

That’s cool Si!

[B reg 90]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:35 PM, De Ranged said:

That indicator light is a good idea if its obvious, my answer because I have the compressor in a corner as far from me as possible (for clean air) was to run a 15amp extension lead to a plug next to the door and wire a switch so when I turn the lights on and off compressor is part of  the routine

If your interested a couple of extra channels "Make it Kustom" very good with teaching sheetmetal and "Mark Presling" retired teacher who does shed stuff both put out regular content 

And I already watch both those channels! My earlier point is reinforced!

[FridgeFreezer]

I buy super-cheap mains LED lights or those little plug-in night-lights and stick them on the socket/extension that's powering various tools, so if something's left on there's a light glowing when I turn off the workshop lights.

I also wire lights into my machine tools - lathe & mill & pillar drill got an LED bulb grafted in somewhere to see what I was doing and also it shows the machine is still "live".

[JohnnoK]

On 8/25/2023 at 6:56 PM, fmmv said:

+1 for that

+ one more!

[Anderzander]

I’m in one of those chains of jobs … 

to use the lathe I need to put a socket and a light in, before I do that I need to do some work on the roof, before I can do that I need to move a load of wood that’s stored against the roof, to move the wood I need to sort another garage out so I can put it in there, if I’m putting it in there then whilst the stuffs out I should really put the old stable mats in I got hold of …. 

Does it work like this for everybody ?! 
 

 

The mats were grim - so dirty and bacteria ridden that they were giving the horses bad feet …

however now I have that rather splendid steam cleaner … they’ve come up great. 

Very nice to have under foot and insulate things from the cold.

I’ve a couple more to go under the series one.  My god they are heavy though. 

 

[fmmv]

Not only mighty heavy, but awkward, slippery and bl**dy minded. They are good once down but its amazing what gets under them. Actually maybe its not.

[Anderzander]

On 8/23/2023 at 9:43 PM, FridgeFreezer said:

+1 for Blondihacks,

Ahh ha !! I’d watched some of those and then couldn’t find them 🙂

[Peaklander]

2 hours ago, Anderzander said:

Does it work like this for everybody ?! 

I heard about a chap who had a hole in his bucket.

[B reg 90]

6 hours ago, Anderzander said:

I’m in one of those chains of jobs … 

to use the lathe I need to put a socket and a light in, before I do that I need to do some work on the roof, before I can do that I need to move a load of wood that’s stored against the roof, to move the wood I need to sort another garage out so I can put it in there, if I’m putting it in there then whilst the stuffs out I should really put the old stable mats in I got hold of …. 

Does it work like this for everybody ?! 
 

 

The mats were grim - so dirty and bacteria ridden that they were giving the horses bad feet …

however now I have that rather splendid steam cleaner … they’ve come up great. 

Very nice to have under foot and insulate things from the cold.

I’ve a couple more to go under the series one.  My god they are heavy though. 

 

Nice looking canoe!

[Anderzander]

It is nice - 15’ Old Town Royalex one 😊

[elbekko]

17 hours ago, Anderzander said:

Does it work like this for everybody ?! 

Now add an unhealthy dose of ADD to that, and suddenly you're two weeks into rearranging the shelving in the shed, because you saw that something didn't quite fit where it was. And that socket will glare at you, uninstalled, for at least 3 months, until you finally put it in and think "why have I been putting this off?"

[FridgeFreezer]

Every time I go into the garage or shed I have to clear up the wreckage of the last project before I can start what I'm actually supposed to be doing

Also, this pretty much nails it I think:

 

[De Ranged]

Lol that was my Dads workshop, it used to frustrate the.... annoyance out of me. I tend to have things organised, hanging up so at a glance I can spot "that tool isn't there" especially usefull if I have mates over working on there stuff lol 

My problem with engineering is about the challange of creating, I love it, its why I tend to build bigger/more complicated than it needs to be. Catch is when you get to the 80-90% (sometimes alot sooner) mark.... I can see the end, I've proven to myself I can create the idea in my head, its now no longer exciting its drudging away to finish it lol.... while there are other problems/projects distracting me 
If I ever win lotto I'll hire an engineer as a finisher lol 

[geoffbeaumont]

On 9/2/2023 at 4:02 PM, Anderzander said:

Does it work like this for everybody ?! 

Oh, yes...

Got to clear out the shed (hopefully soon) so I can pull it down and rebuild it. Most of the contents are going to have to go in the garage, which is already full of things that should be in the shed, so that'll make it hard to get at everything I need to do the work. At some point I've got to do it the other way round to rebuild the garage, and that'll be even worse 😒

[JeffR]

I kind of operate on a semi-controlled chaos principle, stuff is all over the place, but....... I know what is what and where its at, most of the time.  If someone re-arranges stuff (like when a mate and my family did whilst I was ill ) my poor little brain explodes. Then I have a frenzy of tidying up, only to spend hours looking for stuff.

Chaos is king in my world