There are a few machining steps coming up for the Jan Ridders Glass Cylinder engine that require larger pieces to be machined than will fit int he milling vise. A usual solution is a T Slot table to bolt onto … Continue reading
Category Archives: Taig
Cutting metal always works better when you apply cutting fluid (except cast iron, which you cut dry). It lubricates as well as cools the cutting tool. Serious machining usually uses flood coolant, which is very messy. A better solution for … Continue reading
Really, really almost done for now with my ‘must make’ tool list. My DW wanted to avoid looking at dark brass marks on my fingers at dinner. Since I will be turning knobs a lot while making my engine, it … Continue reading
Nearing the end of the Must-Do list prior to starting the Jan Ridders engine. Several years ago I bought a lovely 30mm boring head from Chronos in the UK. I had adapted it to the Unimat and kept it after … Continue reading
A dividing plate is very useful for things such as drilling holes 120° apart, milling hex flats, etc. By coincidence I had 2 hard drives fail in the past month, they had been running 7/24 for >6 years. A few … Continue reading
Now that I have a taste for using Forstner bits, and have a tidy supply of hardwood it is time to provide a safe home for my end mills. When I bought my tool chest/rolling cabinet, the owner kindly provided … Continue reading
ER16 collets are a precision item and deserve to be treated gently. I had some left over hardwood trim from something we didn’t like. A bit of doodling, some marking out and drill 10 holes with a 5/8” Forstner bit. … Continue reading
The fly cutter is a wonderful tool for creating a flat surface. It covers a larger area than a milling cutter and doesn’t leave rows of cut marks. Taig supplies blank arbors to fit the headstock for $3.20 (Lee Valley), … Continue reading
Having a ER16 collet chuck at last, I made a list of tooling to build. One of my recent purchases were a 1” and 2” screwless machinist vises from Shars Tools. The 2” vise is conveniently just a bit narrower … Continue reading
Not having a milling machine, I needed to find a way to predictably create flats, squares and hex shapes on shafts etc. An excellent article led me to my version of a solution, based on the materials and tools available. … Continue reading