You can make "reverse" files for your die filer machine. It is easy if you dont mind losing a bit of length. Use a blowtorch to heat the end of the file to anneal it (so it is no longer brittle) then just grind that new "handle end" to a round shape or whatever shape fits your machine mount. Then mount the file upside down. Obviously you can cut off the original handle end. 👍
We sometimes use the same method as Joe in CNC machines to make hexes in implant screws, except in CNC it's easier to use a one cornered tool and index between corners. It's considered a form of skive broaching. Great intro, btw.
Holding a rotary broach that way without a specially made tilted holder for the tail stock was a nice idea. I have been thinking about a rotary broach but thought it was too much work for something I would use so seldom but a chuck in the regular tool holder can be used for so much more.
You can drill holes slightly outside the shape of a square hole so that it will accept a square plug, and get a more fatigue-resistant structure for it.
If you put isopropanol onto your file, it will be much easier to file aluminum. It prevents the clogging of the file and the finish is so much better. Equally well, I never drill a hole into aluminum without using isopropanol on the drill bit. The hole quality is like night and day.
I subscribed a while back and continue to watch your videos. This has become my favorite channel, and after watching your shop tour, I am amazed what you are able to do in such a small space! I really hope you continue making these videos. You are an inspiration!
I mount my files ‘upside down’, glued into a tube which fits the holder on the die filer. If you put the tube in the lathe Chuck, and the file in the tailstock, you can get them pretty true. Apart from then being downward cutting, the other benefit is that you can fit a handle onto them so you don’t poke your eye out 👍🏻
FYI - HSS lathe tooling works well enough for cutting square holes in a sliding style cutting setup like you used in your quill, and they will generally work with the grind they come with straight out of the box.
I can barely afford good "normal" drill bits let alone these fancy square drill bits! I've got drawers full of cheap drill bits which prefer burning through the work instead of actually cutting anything! Now I am told I can't even use the for broaching tools?...Why have I saved all these dull drill bits for? I really enjoyed the intro, made me smile! Keep up the good work!
Finally! I know I'm not crazy. I saw a video of the Colt factory making 1911's. They were using a "filing machine" to make the cut out on the back of the grip, the area where the spring housing is held. If I recall the machine also lifted the file up a little on the non cut stroke.
love the off screen supersonic hacksaw use... I am a heat it up and wack a square punch in to it person but I like these methods....except filing I hate filing because its really hard to get decent files here. thanks for sharing
I personally use round bits in an ever decreasing size remove material approaching the corners, right down to a few angstroms in diameter. Strictly speaking the resulting hole isn't perfectly square, but it's pretty close. Admittedly it does take a while.
Since you made that die filer, you could always make a die filer where the motor is on top and the file cuts down into a hole in the table, it would kind of look like a band saw lol.
When I was an apprentice, we all had to make a hacksaw frame each. Part of the design involved filling a 1/4” square hole to a rather tight tolerance - through 1/2” thick steel.
Excellent!!! O.K., Machinist of 40+ years here in the Jobbing shop, and an Owner. Silver Steel, must be water hardening drill rod in this case. Tempering at 220 degrees... Celsius? ( I am American, Fahrenheit here where 220 would do nothing but boil water ) I have a rotary broach system, but never understood if id cammed to a small degree, but you just broke the truth to me, set at minor angle out of alignment. I now wonder, 1 degree, 2?... 3?? Awesome. Thanks a lot!!!! Mark
Making a blind hole is much more difficult, especially if only one is required. Many years ago I built a tool that required a 3/8" square hole 3/8" deep to fit a socket set handle to operate the device. A fixed handle was out-of-the-question as it would have interfered with machining operations. I laid out the square hole and drilled 1/16" holes at the 4 corners, tangent with the sides of the square. Then drilled out the middle of the square with a 23/64" dia. drill. Hand work using needle files did the rest. Did not take that long to do this part of the job. Nowadays I would EDM that hole with my shop-built machine.
You could also make the tool in two parts, one with the square hole as a through hole and then the other half, either a transition to round socket or whatever and just line up the holes and weld them together. Might not work for every application, but should be a useful solution for some parts.
I have made many cutting tools with 'silver steel' (drill rod, to me), and all I did was heat it to yellow and quench it in oil. Sufficient tempering seems to take place during the cooling process. If I was making a drill, or similar cutting tool, I chucked the tool in a drill press and heated it while rotating before lowering it into an oil can, so it would not warp.
A refractory brick makes a nice bed for heating up small parts when heat treating. Two or three make a little chamber to contain the torch heat even better.
I know at the end you mentioned there are many other ways, but a push broach with a press is a convenient way to make square holes. The Joe Pi method is really cool. Can that do blind holes as well?
Here in Turtle Creek / Wilmerding Pennsylvania, USA.there was a company that made square and hexagonal drill bits. It was on Airbrake Ave. This was the home base for George Westinghouse. My math / geometry teacher had one and demonstrated it on a bar of soap. He was teaching something called a loci of points. The way the bit worked was there was a square jig, A block of metal that already had a square hole in it that the bit went into to guide it. With each revolution of the bit, the cutting edge would take off more along the square profile. At first it only cut along the edge, then it would hit the corner and the path would go along the next side of the square. If you ever saw the Spirograph toy it was a wee bit like that.
Start off with some wood, use the metal to make a bridge, frets, and strings, and build a fender strat. Right there are even more ways to make them even MORE metal 😁🤘
@4:06 -- You should add some air assist to this. There's a lot of build-up of chips in your file, and getting that out of the file during each stroke would probably help it function faster.
As a blacksmith i make square holes quite often, we just hot punch the holes which is quite fast and easy to do. However i understand its not always the best approach for the job since the accuracy can be tricky.
For your die filer it should be possible to grind the tip cylindrical to fit the receiver and allow down filing with a bit of loss of stroke but I think it can be managed.
You have a nice collection of machines in your workshop., but most people would not have all the tools that you have, so the old filing the round hole to make it square is about all that most people can do.
For your average DIYer the best method is your first method. A square drill bit. As heavy machinary is not required. The issue with the square drill bits is they are very hard to come by. I have been to multiple hardware stores and looked all over the internet and cant manage to find any. So custom made square bits are they way to go.
There's one method you didn't cover that was very common about fifty years ago, and it's similar to the square punch cutter you made. It's just a stepped broach that is forced through the material, each step cutting a little more material.
i´ve learned manual metal working for a half year and it is not as good as your hand work😅 Always no i only learn on CNC Machines, but it´s good to learn how it´s made manual or on conventionall machines
I have no idea how this ended up in my feed. I don't need to make square holes. I don't need to make any other holes either. But I still watched the full video. It was quite entertaining, although this algortithm is creeping me out a bit. ;)
Ihv seen a square hole in a solid granite stone measuring about 8ft by 12ft with a thickness of 4ft. The square hole is 2ftby2ft. The stone is part of a sculpture in a temple built about 500years ago in South India. There's also a granite chain measuring about 1ft in thickness for about 10ft in length, hanging over 20ft height.
There are screw-driven square hole punches that punch 1 mm sheet steel. Prob can handle 2 mm Alu sheets. For a thicker part >>> stack and glue multiple 2 mm alu sheets together.
I will add two ,ore methodes, First a proper 4 sided broach tool for the size of square you need, they are priced at $300 to $1000 depending on thre size And? a simple square file but used as a BROAH .. this works surprisingly well and very cost effective ... just push the file though a pre drilled with a Arbour Press etc.
I have also had good luck hammering square HSS bits through round holes in aluminum...obviously you have to protect yourself from the hss chipping/ exploding...but with some simple preparation it works rather quickly
Getting better all the time. Q: the part made at 7:20 is not the same part shown at 7:40 and onward. Its hard to see but I don't see much relief on the second one. Why the change? Using the quill that way is a very old dodge used to emulate the powered or hand shaper/slotters of old, at lease 150 years old, not a new thing. Glad you warned about over stressing the quill drive.
Nice cuts! Bet those guys in the chinese mint mints their coins(sand casting) the other way around a dozen centuries ago. Oddly, it was performed as such so it was much easier to work on those round coins.
There are broaches with several sets of teeth with increasing width, so you just push it through a round hole and they make the finished square hole in one go. It's a matter of a few seconds.
Just shape the opposite end of that file so it fits in the chalk and then it will cut on the downstroke or tack, weld a rod to the other end and go for it
Thank you, it was interesting and informative with high production values. How did you determine when the silver steel became non-magnetic? The obvious of bringing a permanent magnet near it, or some other method?
@@mmm365 The whole point is you don't need to measure the temperature, you just get it to the point that a magnet won't attract it. This is the same point that the internal structure of the metal changes to make it hard. It will be a red heat to get it to this point.
For a moment thought I was watching this old tony channel haha
yeah lol
I wish.
I got the same vibe. TOT has been MIA for a while. I hope he's okay. I miss his humour.
Seems Tony has been playing with the time machine again.
Same here, is this
the new old tony🤔😅
You can make "reverse" files for your die filer machine. It is easy if you dont mind losing a bit of length.
Use a blowtorch to heat the end of the file to anneal it (so it is no longer brittle) then just grind that new "handle end" to a round shape or whatever shape fits your machine mount. Then mount the file upside down. Obviously you can cut off the original handle end. 👍
I was thinking something similar. Logic ;)
We sometimes use the same method as Joe in CNC machines to make hexes in implant screws, except in CNC it's easier to use a one cornered tool and index between corners. It's considered a form of skive broaching. Great intro, btw.
Holding a rotary broach that way without a specially made tilted holder for the tail stock was a nice idea. I have been thinking about a rotary broach but thought it was too much work for something I would use so seldom but a chuck in the regular tool holder can be used for so much more.
You can drill holes slightly outside the shape of a square hole so that it will accept a square plug, and get a more fatigue-resistant structure for it.
Best part about machining (at least for me) is that there is so much I don't know and so many people to show me stuff. Thanks for the video.
Love the home made square bit at the start - funny! Great informative video. Thank you.
If you put isopropanol onto your file, it will be much easier to file aluminum. It prevents the clogging of the file and the finish is so much better.
Equally well, I never drill a hole into aluminum without using isopropanol on the drill bit. The hole quality is like night and day.
will give that a try
I will try that also
It's almost 02h00, could not sleep and so turned on UA-cam. This was the perfect video for the hour. Great skills!
There are nice cast iron kits for die filers available in several places online. Def worth looking into for anyone who has a need for one.
I subscribed a while back and continue to watch your videos. This has become my favorite channel, and after watching your shop tour, I am amazed what you are able to do in such a small space! I really hope you continue making these videos. You are an inspiration!
I mount my files ‘upside down’, glued into a tube which fits the holder on the die filer. If you put the tube in the lathe Chuck, and the file in the tailstock, you can get them pretty true. Apart from then being downward cutting, the other benefit is that you can fit a handle onto them so you don’t poke your eye out 👍🏻
FYI - HSS lathe tooling works well enough for cutting square holes in a sliding style cutting setup like you used in your quill, and they will generally work with the grind they come with straight out of the box.
Yeah it does work, but I found that the edge doesn't hold up as well compared to silver steel
@@artisanmakes Do you mean 1.2210 steel?
I can barely afford good "normal" drill bits let alone these fancy square drill bits!
I've got drawers full of cheap drill bits which prefer burning through the work instead of actually cutting anything!
Now I am told I can't even use the for broaching tools?...Why have I saved all these dull drill bits for?
I really enjoyed the intro, made me smile!
Keep up the good work!
Finally! I know I'm not crazy. I saw a video of the Colt factory making 1911's. They were using a "filing machine" to make the cut out on the back of the grip, the area where the spring housing is held. If I recall the machine also lifted the file up a little on the non cut stroke.
Would it be a shaping machine? A tool being driven to scrape a groove then free to lift up on the back stroke?
Great video. For thin materials I use a hydraulic punch with square die.
love the off screen supersonic hacksaw use... I am a heat it up and wack a square punch in to it person but I like these methods....except filing I hate filing because its really hard to get decent files here. thanks for sharing
I think that square drill bit will be a game changer once it’s released
Why start with a round drill bit when your looking for a square hole. Just use a sqare dril bit. Its so simple, but everyone wants to make a video.
@@kevinschulmeister2054 it’s the 1st thing I’ll buy
I personally use round bits in an ever decreasing size remove material approaching the corners, right down to a few angstroms in diameter. Strictly speaking the resulting hole isn't perfectly square, but it's pretty close. Admittedly it does take a while.
That was fantastic information, thanks.
Good watch , something cool about making a perfect square hole in steel.
Yes that Joe Pie has some really good knowledge both old and new school.
Since you made that die filer, you could always make a die filer where the motor is on top and the file cuts down into a hole in the table, it would kind of look like a band saw lol.
When I was an apprentice, we all had to make a hacksaw frame each. Part of the design involved filling a 1/4” square hole to a rather tight tolerance - through 1/2” thick steel.
Excellent video. Thanks for taking the time to do this
Excellent!!!
O.K., Machinist of 40+ years here in the Jobbing shop, and an Owner.
Silver Steel, must be water hardening drill rod in this case.
Tempering at 220 degrees...
Celsius? ( I am American, Fahrenheit here where 220 would do nothing but boil water )
I have a rotary broach system, but never understood if id cammed to a small degree, but you just broke the truth to me, set at minor angle out of alignment.
I now wonder, 1 degree, 2?... 3??
Awesome.
Thanks a lot!!!!
Mark
Pretty neat having Chris as a neighbor!
Fine education. Fine editing and acting.
9:55 this method is my favorite since the concept of "pressing metal away"-and at such a relatively slow speed!-is cool as heck.
EDM, including wirecut EDM, is also an option. Along with plain broaching of holes.
Making a blind hole is much more difficult, especially if only one is required.
Many years ago I built a tool that required a 3/8" square hole 3/8" deep to fit a socket set handle to operate the device. A fixed handle was out-of-the-question as it would have interfered with machining operations.
I laid out the square hole and drilled 1/16" holes at the 4 corners, tangent with the sides of the square. Then drilled out the middle of the square with a 23/64" dia. drill.
Hand work using needle files did the rest. Did not take that long to do this part of the job.
Nowadays I would EDM that hole with my shop-built machine.
You could also make the tool in two parts, one with the square hole as a through hole and then the other half, either a transition to round socket or whatever and just line up the holes and weld them together. Might not work for every application, but should be a useful solution for some parts.
Very good! I made one turning tool by my self to turn square holes. Here it var som other good examples too.
This is such an awesome video. Making that cutter from an old end mill was great in an of itself.
Thank you....
that was so good, learning is joy.
I have made many cutting tools with 'silver steel' (drill rod, to me), and all I did was heat it to yellow and quench it in oil. Sufficient tempering seems to take place during the cooling process. If I was making a drill, or similar cutting tool, I chucked the tool in a drill press and heated it while rotating before lowering it into an oil can, so it would not warp.
I love the Die Filer......Lovely machine
Bardzo świetny jest ten pomysł na kwadratową dziurę pozdrawiam twórcę tego filmiku 👍👍👍👍
Nice video, @7:36, precise square, thanks :)
I learned a few good things today
A refractory brick makes a nice bed for heating up small parts when heat treating. Two or three make a little chamber to contain the torch heat even better.
Hilarious intro. And you mentioned Chris from Clickspring, so I gotta subscribe!!
I know at the end you mentioned there are many other ways, but a push broach with a press is a convenient way to make square holes.
The Joe Pi method is really cool. Can that do blind holes as well?
Yeah I don't see why not
Thank's for the video😀
Very informative, particularly the broach tool and heat treatment detail.
We also used an EDM die sinker with graphite blanks or an EDM wire with .031 wire.
I enjoyed it very much
Here in Turtle Creek / Wilmerding Pennsylvania, USA.there was a company that made square and hexagonal drill bits. It was on Airbrake Ave. This was the home base for George Westinghouse. My math / geometry teacher had one and demonstrated it on a bar of soap. He was teaching something called a loci of points. The way the bit worked was there was a square jig, A block of metal that already had a square hole in it that the bit went into to guide it. With each revolution of the bit, the cutting edge would take off more along the square profile. At first it only cut along the edge, then it would hit the corner and the path would go along the next side of the square. If you ever saw the Spirograph toy it was a wee bit like that.
Method ❌️
Technique ✅️
Start off with some wood, use the metal to make a bridge, frets, and strings, and build a fender strat. Right there are even more ways to make them even MORE metal 😁🤘
Easy to do with a cnc, you use a triangle endmill and create a non cycloid mouvement by synchronizing the rotation and mouvements
@4:06 -- You should add some air assist to this. There's a lot of build-up of chips in your file, and getting that out of the file during each stroke would probably help it function faster.
Thanks for the video
As a blacksmith i make square holes quite often, we just hot punch the holes which is quite fast and easy to do. However i understand its not always the best approach for the job since the accuracy can be tricky.
Gday, great examples, I made a rotary broach and for making hex’s it’s brilliant, cheers
For your die filer it should be possible to grind the tip cylindrical to fit the receiver and allow down filing with a bit of loss of stroke but I think it can be managed.
i appreciate the this old tony style intro haha
@0:48 the square Drillbit! Applause, applause, applause😂😂😂
You have a nice collection of machines in your workshop., but most people would not have all the tools that you have, so the old filing the round hole to make it square is about all that most people can do.
Nice satire! I was not expecting that very funny. First time I felt compelled to comment.
A superbe video, thank you very much !
For your average DIYer the best method is your first method. A square drill bit. As heavy machinary is not required. The issue with the square drill bits is they are very hard to come by. I have been to multiple hardware stores and looked all over the internet and cant manage to find any. So custom made square bits are they way to go.
Man, that is the most TOT intro I ever saw besides TOT 😅
There's one method you didn't cover that was very common about fifty years ago, and it's similar to the square punch cutter you made. It's just a stepped broach that is forced through the material, each step cutting a little more material.
For sure, I can't do it in my workshop since I don't have a press but it is definitely a good method
I have used the cnc quill to press the broach thru.
0:01 I'm already waiting for the simplest method : Buy a square bit
I was not disappointed
Let me know when those square drill bits are ready for mass production, I'll need quite a few of them for this bridge I just bought
Very interesting. Thank you.
really enjoy this one thanks
i´ve learned manual metal working for a half year and it is not as good as your hand work😅 Always no i only learn on CNC Machines, but it´s good to learn how it´s made manual or on conventionall machines
That's right... it goes into the square hole.
I have no idea how this ended up in my feed. I don't need to make square holes. I don't need to make any other holes either. But I still watched the full video. It was quite entertaining, although this algortithm is creeping me out a bit. ;)
Great work
Ihv seen a square hole in a solid granite stone measuring about 8ft by 12ft with a thickness of 4ft. The square hole is 2ftby2ft. The stone is part of a sculpture in a temple built about 500years ago in South India. There's also a granite chain measuring about 1ft in thickness for about 10ft in length, hanging over 20ft height.
great idea bro thanks
That's right! It goes in the square hole.
Mom: We have This Old Tony at home.
This Old Tony at home:
Dude. Shalom!
There are screw-driven square hole punches that punch 1 mm sheet steel. Prob can handle 2 mm Alu sheets. For a thicker part >>> stack and glue multiple 2 mm alu sheets together.
I will add two ,ore methodes, First a proper 4 sided broach tool for the size of square you need, they are priced at $300 to $1000 depending on thre size
And? a simple square file but used as a BROAH .. this works surprisingly well and very cost effective ... just push the file though a pre drilled with a Arbour Press etc.
thanks again.
That's right, it goes in the square hole!
Great video!
Thankyou
That’s right, it goes in the square hole!
I have also had good luck hammering square HSS bits through round holes in aluminum...obviously you have to protect yourself from the hss chipping/ exploding...but with some simple preparation it works rather quickly
Just found your channel.
Excellent info, clearly presented.
You have a new subscriber Sir!
Thanks for you also
Two thousand k’s? Just an afternoon’s drive, mate!
You need to make an arm for your die filer with two adjustable hold down fingers that straddle the file and keep the work from lifting.
Take the needle files, turn them around and grind a handle on the other end that fits into your die filer. Now you have a down cut file.
Getting better all the time. Q: the part made at 7:20 is not the same part shown at 7:40 and onward. Its hard to see but I don't see much relief on the second one. Why the change?
Using the quill that way is a very old dodge used to emulate the powered or hand shaper/slotters of old, at lease 150 years old, not a new thing. Glad you warned about over stressing the quill drive.
It's the same part but I had to do another pass, the first cut wasn't deep enough. Cheers
Nice cuts!
Bet those guys in the chinese mint mints their coins(sand casting) the other way around a dozen centuries ago.
Oddly, it was performed as such so it was much easier to work on those round coins.
you can use a sawzall to file the square aswell . i ground the end of a file to fit the sawzall chuck...
good movie for teaching with idea! I wish to have EDM to uese imprint square shape, especially dead end square hole need that.
The sixth method is Wire EDM ;) Although it also has some limitations like it has to be inside out.
All I heard in my head, "I goes in the square hole."😂
There are broaches with several sets of teeth with increasing width, so you just push it through a round hole and they make the finished square hole in one go. It's a matter of a few seconds.
These days I prefer pull broaches. But I didn’t have them when I made this
Metal shaper with file holding tool works well
Mate. I swear I seen one of those machines in a movie from the 1970s with funny music.
Just shape the opposite end of that file so it fits in the chalk and then it will cut on the downstroke or tack, weld a rod to the other end and go for it
Why did I watch this, just interested!
Thank you, it was interesting and informative with high production values. How did you determine when the silver steel became non-magnetic? The obvious of bringing a permanent magnet near it, or some other method?
@@mmm365 The whole point is you don't need to measure the temperature, you just get it to the point that a magnet won't attract it. This is the same point that the internal structure of the metal changes to make it hard. It will be a red heat to get it to this point.
@@ferrumignis Interesting: the video gives the impression the work piece is short of going red???
Thanks for video.
Pete
thx dude