Depends on the grade of brass. Hard brass is a pain in the ass with its splinter like swarf. Soft annealed bar like Tom had is a real treat. Polished high rake inserts like the CCGT in the video will make nice chips in soft brass and even hard drawn brass if using light feeds. They can grab if the lathe is a bit light duty or loose but it's worth it for the good finishes. BTW when was round brass invented? I have never seen it! How could you possibly turn it without the hex profile to give you extra drive in the 3 and 6 jaw chucks? I'm calling BS on this new fandangled round brass stock!
And then the guy working with you grabs it out of the HHS drawer and grinds it into a parting tool without asking.... Nice work Tom. Love a good form tool.
A project i've considered to go along with the mini granite surface plates is teeny-tiny surface plate tools, a surface gauge, a little height gauge, that sort of thing. I think they'd also go great with these castings
I saw those castings on ebay, pretty cool. I sent the person making them a message asking about slightly bigger sizes, because if I can get them just a bit bigger they'd actually be a useful size for my shop. Good video Tom
Now what I want to see is after you scrape the surface plate flat just what are going to scrape using the plate for the reference surface. Or is this going to be used for the reference for a smaller surface plate
In calligraphy, that curve is called the line of universal beauty. It is kind of interesting to see it as a revolved shape. It is also interesting to see how hand friendly that shape is. Right up there with the oddity of the meter and yard being so similar in length.
The lady of the house might use that brass paper coming off the knob for pressing into her work. Well if someone got the etching press done. Would be nice to see more videos on that project. Great videos TNX
I’ve made my own version of a circular form tool by turning the profile in a piece of drill rod and then grinding away a cutting edge. Although it worked, I would love to know your take on this method as I was not totally satisfied with mine. Love your videos Tom.
I liked that demonstration, Tom. Thank you. In a future video, given that one of the restrictions is tool size, could you perhaps turn a handle (or form), using two or three different profiles to achieve the finished item? I'm sure the set-up (to 0 on the cross slide) for each tool would be interesting... (Four-way tool post with multiple cutters, or several different 'quick-change' tool holders?)
For parts that require a form tool that is longer than ideal, could you super glue two pieces of HSS together, grind them and them separate them and cut the part in two ops?
Hi I have a question for you. What is single point diamond turning and what is it used for? Please give us a tip or two. I've been watching lots of videos and no body explain it. Thanks
Tom, have you ever done any form tools for working aluminum by hand? I am making some aluminum mouse pads out of aluminum and am wondering about an efficient and consistent way to round the edges over. I was considering using a small round over bit in a router, but the roller sits to low being only 1/8" thick material. Was thinking a form tool to drag down the edges by hand would work.
Nice, thanks. Not sure I'd have the rigidity for it....but I guess I'll find out if/when I need the technique. At 1:40 I had to wander off to see if my cat was trying to get in. You got a shop cat there? How does it get on with the swarf?! Mine's curious but I won't let him into the shop for fear my lax and infrequent sweeping will lead to foot injury.
You got up and left in the middle of a Ox Tool vid because you "thought" your cat "might" be "trying" to get in?....... If that's the case I would suggest you knit your cat some booties to wear in your shop to prevent any kitty boo-boos.... Seriously though, I'm pretty sure Tom is a dog guy like me. I have a cat for one reason and one reason only, to kill my arch nemesis the shop rat. If he couldn't pounce thru a pile razors to catch a junebug (because haven't seen a mouse since he showed up), I don't think I could make it thru the embarrassment of waiting in the checkout line to buy cat food.
maybe you could get rid of the chatter in wide form tools by milling a narrow slot parallel to the cutting edge on the bottom of the tool thereby allowing the tool to flex out of the way rather than jam into the work?
Tom! I have a problem that occurs every time I walk into the machine shop. No matter how careful I am, I always end up bringing machine chips back into the house. The carpet snags them and they get onto my shirt and pants, then in the wash, and in all my clothing. Any tips to avoid this? How do you keep clean? Thanks!
Keep separate clothes (and a washing machine) for the shop, so change when going there. Or if the carpet is the magical chip maget, then the obvious answer is to get a carpet in the workshop entrance to catch them all :D
He’s alive! I thought mrs ox fed you through the etching press. Hey Tom, here in oz, Wilton was never sold, until a couple months ago, a few 150 mm swivel vises appeared at my local tool specialist. (Not saying which haha) these are new design or the more common type swivel bases not the pipe type design that you have. They are a cast steel, but I’d like to know if the new Wilton stuff is any good. He’s got them pretty cheap, 160 orstraylian kopeks. Cheap for a vise, but is it a stonking good buy?
Tom, U should build a line of custom chopper/ bobber controls. U make em nice custom comfortable/ high quality handles and lever actions THAT WAS A FRIK’n KOOL VIDEO.. good work
I never suspected that there was a standard form for machine tool handles, but I found the specs for three different sized handles in a 1945 edition of Mechanic's Vest Pocket Reference Book, by Wolfe and Phelps, Page 192. Lengths of the three handle sizes are 2.70, 3.60, and 4.30 inches, not including threaded posts. The three posts sizes and threads are 3/8-16, 1/2-13, and 5/8-11. Handle shape is specified as the radii of two arcs, plus the distance from the handle end to the major diameter and minor diameter. If anybody wants a copy, PM me and I will try to enlarge and scan the page, or something, to pass it on.
Extreme violence on home gamer machines, voodoo magic on those big boy lathes... The rest of us can at least resort to template follower setups for this kind of work...
I have never in all my years seen brass curl and chip like that. Then again I've never taken a 3/4" DOC in it. Cool project!
C’mon, ToT, 24 isn’t THAT many years.
It was 24 years of turning brass hex stock into smaller round stock, though. That was until round brass was invented of course.
The Dark Ages.
Hey I'm a Maker - aka "BC", or Before Carbide
Depends on the grade of brass. Hard brass is a pain in the ass with its splinter like swarf. Soft annealed bar like Tom had is a real treat. Polished high rake inserts like the CCGT in the video will make nice chips in soft brass and even hard drawn brass if using light feeds. They can grab if the lathe is a bit light duty or loose but it's worth it for the good finishes.
BTW when was round brass invented? I have never seen it! How could you possibly turn it without the hex profile to give you extra drive in the 3 and 6 jaw chucks? I'm calling BS on this new fandangled round brass stock!
This Old Tony recommended I stop by. How could I refuse (*waves down at Tony*). Looking forward to watching some of your longer ones!
And then the guy working with you grabs it out of the HHS drawer and grinds it into a parting tool without asking....
Nice work Tom. Love a good form tool.
That project shaped up quite well.
Impressive work with the form tool. Keep up the great work!!
So what’s the secret to getting such a perfect tool grind? That form tool looked perfect and probably had the right amount of relief too.
I use this process when I fab parts for model ships. Fast, accurate and finish turns out great! Cool segment Tom...
Nicely done Tom! looking forward to seeing it scraped.
ATB, Robin
You should do one project on it before it gets shelved. On the bright side, a surface plate the size of your palm won't use much bluing :-)
Moore scraped,for esthetics.😂😊
A project i've considered to go along with the mini granite surface plates is teeny-tiny surface plate tools, a surface gauge, a little height gauge, that sort of thing. I think they'd also go great with these castings
Nice! The truth behind polishing one's knob. Thanks for the video.
Diresta collects miniature tools. That surface plate would go very well with his collection.
I learn something every time I watch an OX tool video.
Such a cute little tool! I am proud to have one of those little plates myself. :-)
That turned out great .
Wonderful to get an OxTools fix. You just about had me detoxed.
I saw those castings on ebay, pretty cool. I sent the person making them a message asking about slightly bigger sizes, because if I can get them just a bit bigger they'd actually be a useful size for my shop. Good video Tom
Fun little project. Enjoyed.
two great videos in a Row! Really great to see you making stuff !
Thats great Tom, jewelery manufacture. I knew it would involve a file somewhere along the process.
Excellent as always Tom, Thank You Matt C.
Love the Nikcole holder and inserts use them every day, .039 radius is a groove to start a thread
Nice! Surprised you didn't start with the round end towards the tailstock.
It's always interesting to see how people order their operations.
Mini tool handles, leave it to you to think of something like that! Nice job!
Wait, aren't those little surface plates supposed to have 3 feet instead of 4?
Nice trick Tom, thank you for sharing.
I'm hoping to get my hands on a good grinder soon so that I can start practicing making tools like this.
Tom, your how-to videos are the best! Thanks for cranking out such great stuff.
Thanks for the castings info and the form tool tips, another great one T!
Tom you are the Master Of Machining
I have so much flat stock M2 HSS I couldn't possibly come up with enough form tools to make good use of all of it, but this will be a good start. 😊
cool handles Tom. Very nice work. I need some of your patience to grind tools like you do.
nice work tom you make it look so easy
Now what I want to see is after you scrape the surface plate flat just what are going to scrape using the plate for the reference surface. Or is this going to be used for the reference for a smaller surface plate
Very Cool, Thanks for sharing Tom!
Well done my friend! Those handles look great on there. Enjoy😁
AWESOME .. I love form tooling ..
Thought I was watching Clickspring for a second... ;) Nice work Tom.
Very impressed sir. Detail, patients.
In calligraphy, that curve is called the line of universal beauty. It is kind of interesting to see it as a revolved shape. It is also interesting to see how hand friendly that shape is. Right up there with the oddity of the meter and yard being so similar in length.
👍 nice work
figured you'd have done some sort of trick tracing on a manual lathe again. 😀 thanks
Can you or would you show how to make that handle to normal size? Would help me be able to make some missing handles on my lathe.
Thank you Tom. Is that a new to you piece of equipment in the background around twenty seconds in? MLS been calling huh.
Two good videos in a row! Nice work Tom :~)
What are you saying? The others are no good?
Denny is Toms brother-in-law.
The lady of the house might use that brass paper coming off the knob for pressing into her work. Well if someone got the etching press done. Would be nice to see more videos on that project. Great videos TNX
Nice video Tom
Could you tell the machining world how Skiving works ? I've seen videos and it still looks like geometric magic.
That's in the realm of CNC or fancy geared setups, isn't it? Mind boggling how the tool geometries work out...
I’ve made my own version of a circular form tool by turning the profile in a piece of drill rod and then grinding away a cutting edge. Although it worked, I would love to know your take on this method as I was not totally satisfied with mine. Love your videos Tom.
I liked that demonstration, Tom. Thank you.
In a future video, given that one of the restrictions is tool size, could you perhaps turn a handle (or form), using two or three different profiles to achieve the finished item?
I'm sure the set-up (to 0 on the cross slide) for each tool would be interesting...
(Four-way tool post with multiple cutters, or several different 'quick-change' tool holders?)
Would like to see that form tool made. Nice job!
Me too.
Abom and Tom both have HSS grinding videos, I believe Tom shows how to make a radius tool when he's making his Traveling Squareness comparitor.
Thanks for sharing. Neat-o little project.
Hi Tom,
You make it look sooo easy. :-)
Tom, did you have a link to that surface plate maker? Didn't find anything this scale in a couple of searches.
It's so cute!
ETCHING PRESS ROLLER --- HOLLOW HYDRAULIC SHAFT , MULTI-STAGE , FROM ADAM ?
ENDS TAPERED THREADS ?
For parts that require a form tool that is longer than ideal, could you super glue two pieces of HSS together, grind them and them separate them and cut the part in two ops?
If you could mix up a super glue that strong you would soon be a millionaire!
No need to superglue, just use couple of tool makers clamps to hold them together for the grinding operation.
Hi
I have a question for you.
What is single point diamond turning and what is it used for?
Please give us a tip or two. I've been watching lots of videos and no body explain it. Thanks
Tom, have you ever done any form tools for working aluminum by hand? I am making some aluminum mouse pads out of aluminum and am wondering about an efficient and consistent way to round the edges over. I was considering using a small round over bit in a router, but the roller sits to low being only 1/8" thick material. Was thinking a form tool to drag down the edges by hand would work.
Nice, thanks. Not sure I'd have the rigidity for it....but I guess I'll find out if/when I need the technique. At 1:40 I had to wander off to see if my cat was trying to get in. You got a shop cat there? How does it get on with the swarf?! Mine's curious but I won't let him into the shop for fear my lax and infrequent sweeping will lead to foot injury.
You got up and left in the middle of a Ox Tool vid because you "thought" your cat "might" be "trying" to get in?....... If that's the case I would suggest you knit your cat some booties to wear in your shop to prevent any kitty boo-boos.... Seriously though, I'm pretty sure Tom is a dog guy like me. I have a cat for one reason and one reason only, to kill my arch nemesis the shop rat. If he couldn't pounce thru a pile razors to catch a junebug (because haven't seen a mouse since he showed up), I don't think I could make it thru the embarrassment of waiting in the checkout line to buy cat food.
You have a lot of bearing noise in that lathe
Nice. Now I am waiting for you to make a mini Biax to scrape that plate in.
I think a carbide tool on a Diprofil would do well as a mini Biax
Hey Tom are you planning on getting back to the printing press?
maybe you could get rid of the chatter in wide form tools by milling a narrow slot parallel to the cutting edge on the bottom of the tool thereby allowing the tool to flex out of the way rather than jam into the work?
Good example!'thanks for sharing.
Awesome 👍
Sweet!
Jeh new oxtools video, thanks Tom
That was amazing :D
Tom! I have a problem that occurs every time I walk into the machine shop. No matter how careful I am, I always end up bringing machine chips back into the house. The carpet snags them and they get onto my shirt and pants, then in the wash, and in all my clothing. Any tips to avoid this? How do you keep clean? Thanks!
Keep separate clothes (and a washing machine) for the shop, so change when going there. Or if the carpet is the magical chip maget, then the obvious answer is to get a carpet in the workshop entrance to catch them all :D
He’s alive! I thought mrs ox fed you through the etching press.
Hey Tom, here in oz, Wilton was never sold, until a couple months ago, a few 150 mm swivel vises appeared at my local tool specialist. (Not saying which haha) these are new design or the more common type swivel bases not the pipe type design that you have. They are a cast steel, but I’d like to know if the new Wilton stuff is any good. He’s got them pretty cheap, 160 orstraylian kopeks. Cheap for a vise, but is it a stonking good buy?
so friggen cool
very nice ,,
Somewhere in there, something told me this was gonna end with some filing..... lol
Tom, only you could manage that cut without getting chatter!
I like your less than 10 minute videos.👍 I'll come back if you make more!☺️
I reckons that one was a bit young to be taken from its mother!
Very cool
You should have had Clickspring narrating this one... His terf... LOL
Tom,
U should build a line of custom chopper/ bobber controls.
U make em nice custom comfortable/ high quality handles and lever actions
THAT WAS A FRIK’n KOOL VIDEO.. good work
Since when do you make surface plates for doll houses? LOL, nice work. 😉
Did I miss the most interesting part?
Sculpting in metal.
That surface plate has one foot too many, like your squareness comparator ;-)
Hey that surface plate should have 3 ft not 4. It's going to twi...SMACK....OWWWW!
Sahi chacha
Arn't they cute!
I know.
I never suspected that there was a standard form for machine tool handles, but I found the specs for three different sized handles in a 1945 edition of Mechanic's Vest Pocket Reference Book, by Wolfe and Phelps, Page 192. Lengths of the three handle sizes are 2.70, 3.60, and 4.30 inches, not including threaded posts. The three posts sizes and threads are 3/8-16, 1/2-13, and 5/8-11. Handle shape is specified as the radii of two arcs, plus the distance from the handle end to the major diameter and minor diameter. If anybody wants a copy, PM me and I will try to enlarge and scan the page, or something, to pass it on.
I was expecting such violence... now I’m disappointed, haha. Just kidding. nice job
Extreme violence on home gamer machines, voodoo magic on those big boy lathes... The rest of us can at least resort to template follower setups for this kind of work...
Somehow about half way through that I had visions of some bad old Science F(r)iction movie about picking clones out in the pea vine field...
The samllest surface plate in the world... XD
Cute. If that word is allowed in the machine shop.
Anyone spot the design error in the casting ?
Rob B My guess would be the 4 feet in stead of the usual 3... Don’t think it will cause much distortion tho🤣
Poor man's CNC.