The Shed - Tools

Versatile Hi-Q Toggle clamps

11 September 2024

Toggle Clamps
When it comes to clamping, lever-action toggle clamps offer excellent power from a quick and easy motion and they are simple to install for ready access. Toggle clamps have a multitude of uses in engineering, metal fabrication, and woodworking. Hi-Q Components stocks a wide range of high-quality Turkish-made Kukamet toggle clamps including horizontal and vertical actions, latching or push–pull configurations with different mounting options, and even pneumatic versions.

Ponoko—a cut above the rest

25 June 2024

While laser cutters are now practical for home-build projects, they are not something that everyone will want to run. They take up bench space, need care and feeding, get expensive in large calibres, and if you don’t use one that often you might well be better off letting a company like Wellington-based Ponoko cut things for you.
Ponoko stock a wide range of materials and are experienced with using their laser cutters on them. Handy, but scarcely unique given the number of engineering outfits that are out there that’ll do pretty much the same thing.

The right stuff – part one

18 April 2024

These tips are a random collection of thoughts that I have grouped under the classification of things that relate to working at a bench using hand tools, rather than using a lathe, mill or other machine tool. So if you have only a workbench with some hand tools in your shed, this is meant to be useful for you too.

Hi-Q Components has it all tied up with their range of ties

8 April 2024

If you’re looking for plastic cable ties and mounts, and cable management components, it’s hard to beat Hi-Q Components’ comprehensive range, which covers just about anything you’ll need for the job in hand.
Its selection of plastic fixings and fastenings includes standard strap-type cable ties, from 75mm x 2.4mm to 1500mm x 9mm; as a bonus, many sizes are available in weather-resistant black nylon for outdoor use. Hi-Q also has specialist ties covered, with stock including HVAC duct straps, heavy duty for hydraulic hoses, releasable, screw mount, marker, push mount, double loop mounting, hanking, and beaded ties. As well as cable ties, Hi-Q offers a great selection of cable tie mounts, such as quick and easy self-adhesive tie mounts, and push and lock clip mounts for through-hole panel mounting.

Make your own backyard forge

7 March 2024

This is one of the very basic forges for heating metal bars. There are many other types of forge out there and Youtube can show you how to build and use them. My forge was made of scrap steel from my workshop and the local recycling centre.
The forge essentially consists of a fireplace or “bowl” in firebricks which are held firmly together in a brace or strap. They sit on top of a steel plate. Another steel plate sits on top of the bricks, with a large square in it to allow access to the firebowl.
A small, round, high-grade steel grate with several holes in it sits at the bottom of the brick bowl. Below this fireplace, a vertical pipe-fitting is welded into the supporting steel plate. The bottom of the pipe is an ash trap, and the ash can be dropped out by opening a small trapdoor.

Size matters

1 March 2024

Over the years I have bought three universal sockets from second-hand tool dealers. Only one has a name and the manufacturer stamped on it, the American made “Ultra Socket”, while another is obviously a close copy of the “Gator-Grip” which is advertised on the internet.
I think the real appeal of these mechanical curiosities is that they can grip fasteners for which purpose-made sockets can’t readily be purchased, and the reason for that is that the system of sizing nuts and bolt heads has changed more than once over the past 50 years.

Hi-Q Toggle clamps

10 February 2024

Customising your plane blade

24 January 2024

In my previous article on sharpening a plane (“Sharpen up your plane blades,” The Shed magazine, Feb/Mar 2010 – also on this website) we worked on how to consistently produce a sharp, straight edge on our plane irons. Now that we have that skill in place it’s appropriate to look at how modifying that straight edge can allow us to achieve a range of differing results in our woodworking.
It is important to understand that what drives the modification of our cutting edges is what we want to achieve with them. Therefore after describing the shape of the plane blade, I’ve outlined four major tasks that we can achieve with the particular shapes our planes. Each requires progressive development of the edge “shape” so I recommend re-reading of the earlier article to get you on the starting blocks for this one.

Locking in efficiency and innovation

22 January 2024

In the world of furniture manufacturing, every detail matters. A new product revolutionising cabinet and furniture construction is the Peanut Connector. Available from Jacks, these unassuming yet highly effective furniture connectors are set to become an essential tool in the arsenal of modern cabinetmakers. Peanut connectors offer a host of advantages that speed up and simplify the assembly process, reduce material costs, improve the overall quality of cabinetry, and deliver a more contemporary slim-line look. Let’s explore these connectors and the numerous benefits they bring to the table.

Cutting threads by hand

17 November 2023

From time to time in the home workshop, you may need to make a new threaded hole for a bolt and create the threads on the bolt itself. It’s handy to know how to use the dies that are rotated onto a bolt blank to make these threads, and to know how to use the taps that create the threaded holes. This skill will be especially good for those interested in model engineering, go-karts or light engineering, but who have not been trained in the use of hand tools for making threads.
There are many different thread sizes. These are made to international standards. In all cases, the size of a thread eg, 6mm or ½ inch and so on, is determined by the diameter of the rod or bar on which it may be cut.

Make a model sheetmetal roller

26 July 2023

Isn’t it always the case—you are working away in the shed with the latest project and you need some equipment or tool that you don’t have? I needed to roll some metal for the model project that I am working on and I had recently lost my access to a metal-rolling machine. The best answer was to make my own sheet-metal roller. I quickly realised there were a lot more future projects needing a rolling machine.

Toggle clamps

26 July 2023

Firewood sawhorse

19 July 2023

I created this little project because I needed to cut firewood easily without someone to assist in holding the wood. Although not my own invention, it is an interpretation of pictures gleaned from the web and adapted to materials that you can buy easily in New Zealand timber yards. The whole project cost me $25 and took about an hour and a half to make. In anybody’s book that is value for money and time well spent.
It is essentially four crosses of timber braced to form a cradle for cutting your firewood.

Build your own smoothing plane

5 July 2023

Here is an outline for making a small steel and brass smoothing plane which looks similar in style and size to the common Stanley or Record No 3 size. There the similarities end.
The main differences are the blade is 5mm thick, it has a screw blade-adjuster but no back iron or chip-breaker. The screw-type cap is bronze and massive. The sole is 8mm thick and dovetailed to the 6mm thick brass sides. The knob is a refined version of the Stanley but the rear handle is a more radical departure. There is no frog. The blade is solidly bedded on a steel bridging piece which connects the sides to enhance rigidity and houses the swivelling adjuster mechanism, allowing for lateral adjustment of the blade.

Video of power tool racing in Belgium

9 June 2023

In late April, the city of Gent, Belgium, hosted the annual Gent Maker Fair (https://www.makerfairegent.be/nieuws), an exhibition dedicated to all the crazy inventions of makers in Belgium.
On the fair’s opening night of 30 April, the Belgian Power Tool Drag Racing Championship entertained the visitors in a one-off event.
Popular in many countries around the world, this is a spectacular race of electric ‘vehicles’ powered by 220VAC and built with one or two power tools such as drills, chainsaws, and any other kind of electric-powered hand tool. The only rule is that it must be a tool that can be used by hand.
In the next issue of The Shed, issue 110, I will give more detail on the challenge. If it sounds like your kind of fun, there is the option to participate in the 2024 event.

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