Hi guys,
I remember when I first proposed this forum to Sasha and the admin that I thought it would be a nice place to keep the 3M's of its scope apart from the modding forum itself and a place for those working with machining and materials to share ideas and information. The forum has really taken off and there are so many CPF members who have been introduced to the subject and gotten into the smell of cutting fluid as well as so many new members coming on board who are expert in these fields that it certainly has become a great place!! :bow: :thumbsup:
This forum is about DIY but at levels of complexity and specialties that go well beyond the scope of the local hardware and tool store.
In the shop, we often need a tool or material handling system that is not readily available or something we know about. With our own ingenuity and needs coupled with what is on hand, we find solutions.
I think it might be cool and useful if we can share some of these solutions and ideas with each other.
I'll start with a few ideas I have come up with that have served me well and some may have merit for some of you.
I find that organization is always a requirement and temporary storage of some of the components, especially if you are working with multiples, can be a challenge in itself. I have identified two storage trays that have served me quite well and they stack nicely. One is the plastic lid from the Costco plastic jars of nuts. The other is the rectangular sushi trays that the sushi at the grocery comes in. Of course the commercial size egg crates are a must but I don't know where you can get them. I have a whole bunch of them because I used to get brass parts from a shop in NY and they used them exclusively for packing the parts in shipment.
Since I assemble my own light engines and I need lead wires for input as well as output from the converters, I need a bunch of lead wires all cut to similar length. This can be tedious when you want to have a hundred or two of one color on hand. I found that I could put my lathe on its slowest RPM and wind the wire on a rod or tube of appropriate diameter. While the wire is still wrapped and wound tight on the bar (Think of the thread on a fishing rod), I take a strip of tape down the length of the bar that holds the tape in place. I take a sharp razor and cut a line along the z axis through the tape and wire. This leaves me with a whole bunch of "C" shaped sections of wire all the same length and ready to serve as lead wires.
A lot of my bench tools have vacuum inputs and if I am going to do any extensive cutting or sanding/ grinding, I am willing to take the time to hook up the vacuum to the tool. I find myself at times using the flexible shaft or a hand file a lot and the dust from them is also something nice to catch from the get go. One of my vacuum attachments has a taper to a reduced and rectangular input. The kind for sucking out of cracks and such. I drilled a hole through it, perpendicular to the air flow so that I could put a #10 screw through it. On the edge of my work bench close to where I sit at it, I drilled a hole into the wood and I can mount the vacuum nozzle to the edge of the bench. I have a formed piece of screen that can slip over the front and serve as a grate in case the parts I am working on are tiny and could pass through the vacuum. (how many unwanted items have you sucked away in your vacuum!
)
A final entry here is on dental tools. If you don't have a set of dental pics and chisels and other things that they use (heaven knows what for) you are missing out on some cool stuff!! Same goes for the jewelery trade.
So what shop tricks, tips and tools have you happened upon?
I remember when I first proposed this forum to Sasha and the admin that I thought it would be a nice place to keep the 3M's of its scope apart from the modding forum itself and a place for those working with machining and materials to share ideas and information. The forum has really taken off and there are so many CPF members who have been introduced to the subject and gotten into the smell of cutting fluid as well as so many new members coming on board who are expert in these fields that it certainly has become a great place!! :bow: :thumbsup:
This forum is about DIY but at levels of complexity and specialties that go well beyond the scope of the local hardware and tool store.
In the shop, we often need a tool or material handling system that is not readily available or something we know about. With our own ingenuity and needs coupled with what is on hand, we find solutions.
I think it might be cool and useful if we can share some of these solutions and ideas with each other.
I'll start with a few ideas I have come up with that have served me well and some may have merit for some of you.
I find that organization is always a requirement and temporary storage of some of the components, especially if you are working with multiples, can be a challenge in itself. I have identified two storage trays that have served me quite well and they stack nicely. One is the plastic lid from the Costco plastic jars of nuts. The other is the rectangular sushi trays that the sushi at the grocery comes in. Of course the commercial size egg crates are a must but I don't know where you can get them. I have a whole bunch of them because I used to get brass parts from a shop in NY and they used them exclusively for packing the parts in shipment.
Since I assemble my own light engines and I need lead wires for input as well as output from the converters, I need a bunch of lead wires all cut to similar length. This can be tedious when you want to have a hundred or two of one color on hand. I found that I could put my lathe on its slowest RPM and wind the wire on a rod or tube of appropriate diameter. While the wire is still wrapped and wound tight on the bar (Think of the thread on a fishing rod), I take a strip of tape down the length of the bar that holds the tape in place. I take a sharp razor and cut a line along the z axis through the tape and wire. This leaves me with a whole bunch of "C" shaped sections of wire all the same length and ready to serve as lead wires.
A lot of my bench tools have vacuum inputs and if I am going to do any extensive cutting or sanding/ grinding, I am willing to take the time to hook up the vacuum to the tool. I find myself at times using the flexible shaft or a hand file a lot and the dust from them is also something nice to catch from the get go. One of my vacuum attachments has a taper to a reduced and rectangular input. The kind for sucking out of cracks and such. I drilled a hole through it, perpendicular to the air flow so that I could put a #10 screw through it. On the edge of my work bench close to where I sit at it, I drilled a hole into the wood and I can mount the vacuum nozzle to the edge of the bench. I have a formed piece of screen that can slip over the front and serve as a grate in case the parts I am working on are tiny and could pass through the vacuum. (how many unwanted items have you sucked away in your vacuum!
)A final entry here is on dental tools. If you don't have a set of dental pics and chisels and other things that they use (heaven knows what for) you are missing out on some cool stuff!! Same goes for the jewelery trade.
So what shop tricks, tips and tools have you happened upon?
