Lyle, to help less filing or notching, use a small endmill to cut away most of the vee. You will then only need to clean up the bottom of the vee and the sides with the file. If you had a broken square file, put that in the Bridgeport quill and use it as a broach.
Thanks Mr. Pete. One word of caution for anyone who is going to make this. When you drill and tap your hole make sure you don't drill to far. I made this mistake on the first one I made. Needless to say it is in the scrap pile.
For hand filing, set layout lines on both sides of the work. Then approach the work from both sides, taking only a few passes from each side, keeping the file at a slight angle up or away from the opposite side. Once each side is brought down to a hair above the line, then start filing 'flat' between front and back. Clear as mud? Getting the initial notch started is the tricky part. Great video Mr. Pete!
You could drill the smallest hole you dare in the point, then plunge a slightly larger end mill, then a slightly larger one, etc moving towards the big end of the slot as you go until you had the basic shape, then finish with a file?
I was going to comment the same. You could go straight to the line from one side, then flip and do the other, no need to keep flipping back and forth. That is usually my approach in woodworking, though I have not done this a lot in metal yet. Also if you use a 3 sided file you can focus on only one side at a time, which is much easier than doing both at once.
Peter Sellers (a woodworker with a great RU-vid channel) showed a wonderful tip for making accurate rips (lengthways cuts with a handsaw) in wood. He lays out his line on both sides of the workpiece and clamps it vertically in a vise, tipped away from him at an angle. He then cuts horizontally following the layout line on the near side until the teeth of the saw just approach the far side of the workpiece. Then he flips the workpiece and tilts it away again. Now he can cut again, following the layout line on THIS side while letting the first cut guide the saw on the new far side. Repeat until the cut is finished. The saw is never cutting where you can't see it, so your cut is accurate on both sides (and everywhere in between). For this (tap wrench) project, do the layout for the notch on both sides. (You would need to flatten both sides before beginning filing for this method.) Put the part in the vice with the upper end tilted away from you and file towards the layout line while being assured that you will not file beyond the layout line on the hidden, far side of the work. Then turn the other side towards you, tilt it away, and file closer to the layout line on this side. Repeat this while tipping the workpiece less and less with each iteration. You will end up with a straight notch that accurately meets the layout lines on both sides.
Within the last month, I'm sure I've accumulated a good 15 hours of watching. Thank you for that. A true Renaissance man. Lots of guys video their work, sped up, with music, so on. You provide knowledge of operations, obscure tools, and a focus on safety procedures/ all around tips. Just outstanding sir. Thank you much
As replacement for the hard to find 12-28 thread tap. A metric 5mm x 0.8 tap is common enough. It's about 32 tpi and is 0.197" diameter to the the #12's 0.216.
Did you have the die filer when you made these videos? Of course most of your viewers would not have a die filer, myself included, but if you stir up enough interest, you could sell plans or even castings kits.
I’ve seen people cut key ways on the lathe using a boring bar. I imagine you could make a quick broach and use your lathe to manually cut the shape if you don’t have a shaper. You just need a good sharp tool and a lot of patience.
A clearance hole before the thread is also nice because it prevents the thread from being damaged in the odd case that the outer circumference of the hole should get dinged somehow.
I have a 12-28 tap, but no die. I suppose I could single point thread it, but like you I just used a 12-24 instead. I bought a kings ransom in taps and dies from a tool & die shop that closed it's doors. They had(now I have) every imaginable tap and die size and some sizes you can't imagine. For instance, I have a 1/2-13, 1/2-14 and 1/2-15 taps. I've never heard of the 14 and 15 but I have 'em. I am guessing they had them custom made for some specific job.
Great video! I really liked the shaper footage. Too bad it didn't work out for the tap wrench. I kinda enjoy all the "I woulda done it this way" or "You shoulda done it that way" comments! Funny, I don't see them taking the time and sharing the years and years of knowledge you posses with the rest of us in the form of their own videos. Out here in the country, we call them "Monday Morning Quarterbacks". heh, heh! Keep up the excellent work, sir! You are very much appreciated!
One of the neat things about Mr. Pete's teaching skills is that he varies the way he does setup and procedures. So he does it one way in one video, another the next time he does something similar, and often yet another later on. So we get to see/learn different approaches and that there are many good ways to do the job. And a side bonus of that is when someone drones "why didn't you XYZ?" Mr. Pete can reply "I did, in video #765."
Using the mill as a shaper was a great idea, reminded me of the way you used the lathe to scribe the graduations in the Logan dials you made. You know, someone out there has very little awesomeness, because obviously Mr. Pete got served up an extra helping! :)
I sure hope you get "extra credit" from You Tube for me watching this twice. YUP, way too much woodworking today and I fell asleep watching this. Not because it was boring! I woke up when the shaper segment was just finishing and I thought the video had changed but then backed it up and found my place and watched to see why you were punching holes in flat steel. Now why does a woodworker watch metal work? Before I watched you videos I had no concept of parallels, gage block, or the precision you machinists have. I have incorporated all of these in my woodworking. In fact today I use some brass gage blocks that woodworkers use (no not as precise as yours) to align two pieces of ash that will become the base for a customers "old rugged cross". Aligning wood with wood glue between the pieces is not easy because of the slip. So I used my gage blocks and kept it from sliding as I pressure glued the pieces. So long comment but love your videos. I will try episode 3 and 4 when I am wide awake, grin....
mrpete222 I know you don't think someone is going to make something like this but I DID 😁. I don't have a milling machine and making that V notch using my lathe was a nightmare. I made the little holder for the 3/16hss cutter and mounted it in my lathe chuck, I don't have a milling attachment for my lathe so I used a 1/2" quick change tool holder for holding my work during milling and notching, working that carriage back and forth about 50 thousand times slowly putting the V in, I used the tail stock with a chuck in it opened up all the way to help push the piece over the hss when it would hang. All I have left to do is drill and thread for the locking screw now and it's done. If I had taken the time it took to make this tool and used it working my regular job I could have bought 10 of the Starrett's but that isn't the point of doing this now is it? Small projects like this have allowed me to hone my skills some and learn to work around obstacles. I am about half way done with my belt grinder build also, waiting to get in a vertical slide so I can have the ability to mill larger things on my lathe and I will finish that also. Thank you for all the time you put in on these projects and videoing them to help others learn how to do things or teach them tricks to make it easier.
Thank you for a great comment. Yes that one little V notch Is actually a difficult thing to machine. I’m glad you stuck with it, and had great satisfaction from it
This is a really awesome project, I really wish I had access to the machines needed to make this.. I would love to have a small tap wrench, I often tap locks and other projects with M4-0.7 or 6-32 and the wrench included in my kit is pretty crappy..
As well, I find the tone of the commentary to be 100% correct for a shop teach. Sure takes me back. I can hear it now, " NO NO NO, WHAT THE H.,L ARE YOU DOING"
That 'shaper' attachment for the Bridgeport is in fact, a slotter. Slotters are vertical, Shapers are horizontal. Sorry to be nit-picking. As always MrPete, your videos are brilliant to watch and I may in fact get the college students to make this project :)
hello, hope you're having a great day ,,looks like you're having some fun with your new finds,,) great work by the way, just wanted to say thank you again for everything Mr.Pete ,,,your time, and knowledge are worth more than words can even describe,,. I'm stocking up on some much-needed gained wisdom,. I'm just taking a lil breather before I get back out in the shop.
It seems that all of the uncommon traps and dies are dedicated to gunsmithing! You won't find a 1/4-20 on a firearm anywhere.. I've got a huge investment in taps and they're all unusual.
rob elder You could hold a square file using a similar set up as Mr. Pete and file the shape out. You would just use the mill z axis to move the file up and down. Probably hard on the files teeth on the back stroke but it should work.
You can use the same process in the lathe, it's slow but works. I've made many square holes and key slots that way. Set up is a pain, but you use the equipment you have when necessary......Russ
Would love to see more of that shaper tool holder. What angle is the bit holder at relative to the tool body held in the clapper? I would like to build a similar holder (Armstrong #47's seem to be made of gold these days).
mscdirect.com has 12 24 and 28 taps and dies another great one. I watch your videos for both the projects and the techniques. I may not make the project but the techniques are transferable to anything thank you.
This is still a spectacular effort Pete. I bought one of these off of Amazon and it's just beautiful! What a great little tool. Greetings from Arizona.
ya it all made sense. good editing, small pull saws coping saw blades sometimes if you can put those scribe marks on both sides saw down to shy of the line on both sides make a cut move over a blade width or two cut to the line again move over a blade width or two cut down to the line again and so on the saw cuts reduce the needed tool pressure (pressure you put on the file and increase the speed of progress) and act as a cut guide that broach in this case is good solution skill with bench tools is worth having great video thanks for all the effort cant wait to see the blueing
There is always more than one way to skin a cat. I'm thinking you could have used your test piece as a backer plate to support the little tap handle on the shaper.
Nice project and methods for making the hole. Hopefully I didn't miss it in the video, but did you also relieve the sides of the tool bit you used to form the hole?
I never had the opportunity to do shop class at school (no such thing existed where I grew up in rural Australia) and having come to the hobby in my 40's I needed a teacher. Mr Pete you are who I should have had as a teacher when I was in school! Thank you so much for these incredible videos. I have hundreds left to watch, but I love them all, and eagerly await my chance to head back to the shed to work on another project you've inspired me to try.
Amazing of you to go through all the work & effort to produce these instructional videos allowing us to peek over your shoulder. Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge with us. For the life of me I cannot understand the Thumbs Down given, not sure what people are expecting.
As I get ready to go back to work, I can't always watch every second of the videos, but I'm listening to them, rather as I would listen to old radio programs. It makes me see pictures in my mind. I marvel that I can walk around my house, dealing with "life," while at the same time, hearing the rhythms and pulsations of your shop equipment, sounding as if it were in the next room, and I can see it all happening, without seeing anything at all.
With the power to my mini mill turned off, and the work mounted in the vice, I use the quill to draw a needle file mounted in the chuck, up and down, slowly advancing the x axis to produce the required hole.
