Just having a break with some brownies and cold coffee. I have been busy-as out in the workshop and figured a post on tools and using them would be very helpful for everyone, newbie or tradesman. If you have a good workshop/tool tip, please post it for all of us. Unfortunately, some will be very difficult to describe, eg, how to sharpen a drill to cut properly.
1st tip.
Hacksaws, how to get your $'s worth out of them.

When you are cutting black mild steel (or any other hot rolled steel) with a hacksaw, it is very important to grind off all the black stuff on both sides (and edges) where the cut will be made. This black stuff is formed by the intense heat during manufacture. It is call Iron Oxide. If you strike the black steel with the corner or edge of a file you will get lots of sparks. These sparks are actually made by the file as it is being ground away by the Iron Oxide. The oxides of all metals are intensely hard, eg. Aluminium oxide is what is used to make grinding wheels with.
By grinding off the oxide from the steel surface, the (new) saw blade will last for many happy hours of sawing . A huge side benefit is that the "set" on the blade will also last much longer and you can then produce straight cuts along the line you scribed.
When cutting steel in the bench vice, make certain that the blade does not hit the vice jaws even for just one little stroke. The jaws are hard, very very hard and will instantly destroy the teeth and set on the blade, rendering it worse than useless. Use a lubricant (WD40 is good mixed with a drop of oil) on the blade when cutting to extend the blade life and also make it so much easier to drive the thing! Use high quality blades, dont use the el-cheapo carbon steel rubish, a Bi-metal HSS blade is about the best there is.

Joe and Kody

I have a big heavy stone masons maul. It looks like a sodding great block splitter but is designed/tempered to be hit with a bigger sledge hammer when splitting stone blocks. the scary bit is that one person holds the maul while a second person hits it.

You have to know what the hammer is designed for and have faith in the manufacturer doing it right.

Hey Cisco!
re masonary drills (tungsten carbide tipped). Do not waste your time hombre!
These drills can only be effectively sharpend using the silicone carbide (green) grinding wheels.
The time you spend attempting to grind appropriate rake and clearance etc. (and wear away an expensive grinding wheel) would be much more beneficial elsewhere.

When you need to drill stainless, spring or metals with similar properties, buy yourself a/some "Cobalt" drill bits.

They are a trifle more expensive than HSS, but work an absolute treat. Determined by the size of bit they can be run at similar rpm (better a smidgen slower) with oil/coolant as you would with HSS and mild steel.

Major H/ware chains and "proper" tool suppliers if not on shelf will be able to source and supply to you.

A masonry drill bit is only used as a last resort if drilling (hardened) spring steel. A cobalt drill will certainly work but run it slow. A perimeter speed of around 20 feet a minute or less would be about right. A cobalt drill is still ony a HSS drill with a percentage of cobalt added to give extra toughness and edge retaining properties.
To drill a hole in thin sheet metal, stainless steel, brass or whatever, the best way is to sharpen the drill to form a "swallow tail" on each cutting edge. This shape is the same as a drill sharpened for timber. It is very safe, even for shim brass (but I take no resposibility for you) when ground correctly. Thin sheet metal is material less than 0.032" thick and can be as thin as 0.005". How you hold this thin stuff is up to you.
Kody

I was welding the other steel insert into the second stub axle and thought I would share the technique with you all. Many a time, it's required to fill a hole and this presents a big problem for a "stick welder" who wants a perfect job. A perfect job is one where there are no slag inclusions within the deposited weld metal. As you all know, slag can be a real pain to keep out or got rid of. Try this method of filling a hole.
Set the job up so the hole to be filled is facing sideways. ie, the side to be welded is verticle. "What!", I hear you say, "Verticle?? I can't weld flat and you want verticle?" Yes, verticle. It is really very easy and you already have a great ally to help you. It's called Gravity! The problem of slag is fixed by using a rod that produces a "fluid" slag. This is a slag that will run into a hole (filling it) or will run out and away. The rod for this is the Satincraft 13. I used a 3.2mm dia. rod and set the amps to start at 95. Adjust this if needed. Start welding at the bottom of the hole and get a molten pool going. As you weld, the slag will run off and form the well known (but dreaded) "bunch of grapes". This is exactly what you want to happen. The deposited metal will flow into the weld pool and go exactly where you want it but the slag will go over the edge. There will also be a lot of the weld metal slide over the edge and build up as a mound of weld to be later removed. Don't worry about this. As the hole is filled, a shallow depression will/may be left at the top of the weld. Rotate the job to level, tap the slag away (there wont be much on the depression) and fill the last of the weld as needed. Let it cool, tap the slag off and finish the weld back to the contour required. This technique definitely works and produces a fabulous inclusion free weld that has full penetration into the parent metal. Have a go, it's really easy.

Kody

Perhaps the most difficult job to do in the home workshop is to sharpen a drill. I have been giving this a lot of thought as to how to share sharpening a drill with you all but it's so difficult to describe the process.
How many of you can actually sharpen a drill so that it cuts a true size hole? By "true" I mean it cuts within a couple of thou. of the stated diameter. Sharpening drills was the hardest procedure I ever had to teach when I was in the USA at the college I worked at. In direct contrast, when I worked at BP Oil as an instructor, any blunt/worn drill was tossed out and a new drill was handed out from the tool store regardless of size. It is very important, many a time, to drill an accuate sized hole. This can be for tapping a thread or having a dowel fit neatly in a piece of wood. There are drill sharpening "machines" available for home use but they tend to be expensive and are not all that easy to opperate. One of the things a machine cant do is sharpen a drill to drill shim steel or shim brass or even thick brass. Can you grind a drill so it cuts a sharp edged hole going into and comming out of a piece of wood?
So how many of you cant sharpen a drill and would like some info on how to do it? If enough people reply, I will try and explain how to do it properly.

Kody

I've got a bit sharpening tool that fits onto my drill which seems to do the job. I didn't realise there was such a science behind it, please tell us more!!

landyacht said...

yes please ,my supply of drills is getting low. I may have to go metric

Those shut down jobs are a great opportunity for replenishment of those and other pocketable items.

That subject being satisfactorily dealt with, and none of us able to afford and/or justify ownership of such a wonderful machine, we proceed to the "How to sharpen a drill" thread.