The Shed - Tools

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.

How to repair a thread

2 November 2022

Damaged and pulled threads can be an annoying inconvenience, especially a stripped spark plug thread. They can also be expensive if the equipment you are working on is vital or difficult to replace. But there are now systems with which you can repair even completely destroyed threads quickly and at a reasonable cost, so saving time and money.
Existing undamaged threads can also be significantly strengthened using these types of repair systems.

Which air compressor?

21 October 2022

Selecting the correct air compressor for a particular job should be a relatively painless exercise. The right choice will provide you with a useful machine that can last for many years, provided you maintain it well.
But far too often, choosing a compressor can come down to a random weighing-up of price, cosmetic appearance, or misinformation about the compressor’s specification. In fact, the most important thing to consider is the air consumption of any tool to be used with the compressor.
The saying, “You wouldn’t buy a Mini to tow a boat,” holds true. If the compressor is too small for the job, either the tool won’t work or the tool will work below an acceptable level

Video of a restored 1910 Atlas power hammer

18 October 2022

One of our favourite sheddies here at the magazine is Rudi Buchanan Strewe whose engineering shed we featured in issue 102. When we visited Rudi, he was restoring a 1910 Atlas power hammer. Here it is, restored, and up and running as good as new.

Milling Part 3, cutting, clogging, and cleaning

5 October 2022

Once your component is securely clamped (see “Showing restraint” Part 2, www.the-shed.nz), ensure the cutting tool is held correctly in its chuck or collet holder, keeping tool overhang or stick-out to a minimum. Being rigid and stable applies as much to tooling as it does to the workpiece. Drill chucks are NOT designed to take side loads induced by milling and are exclusively for drills. Milling cutters should be held in a collet chuck or other suitable holder.

No more bad vibrations

29 September 2022

Enjoy smooth, flawless performance with the wide range of anti-vibration mounts from Hi-Q Components. Manufactured from rubber and zinc-plated steel, the quality range includes male and female threaded mounts in a variety of metric thread sizes, from M4 to M16. The female and male anti-vibration mount sizes…

Milling – showing restraint

27 September 2022

In Part One of this series on the milling machine we put the milling machine in the workshop and had it levelled. Before you use the machine, it is important to check the alignment of the spindle. Then comes understanding the importance of preparing the workpiece. Work to be milled or drilled on the milling machine has to be set up so that it does not move during the job. This is one of the most important things you can do if you don’t want an important component or workpiece to end up as scrap because it moved.

Time for a milling machine?

21 September 2022

In a typical home engineering workshop progression, you buy a bench vise, some hand tools, and possibly a bench grinder. After you buy a small pillar drill then comes a big leap — buying a centre lathe.
Along the way you acquire more small tooling, drills, turning tools, etc. You make many useful items and produce a fair bit of scrap.
But then you find the lovely pieces you are turning out on your lathe require other features, especially holes more accurately positioned than you can mark out and drill on your pillar drill. As good as you have become with a file, that flat section needed on the shaft really needs to be machined. And how are you going to make a slot for that keyway?

Welding with LPG

16 August 2022

Long before MIG welders or fancy plasmas came onto the scene, the art of welding, cutting, and brazing was to work with gas. The hire or exchange cylinders used by sheddies invariably were oxy/acetylene as this was one of the most common processes for welding, cutting, or brazing.
But there is an alternative–liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and oxygen. This combination can be used for heating, bending, brazing, soldering, silver soldering, and flame gouging to name just a few applications.

As tough as steel

13 July 2022

The chemistry of steel determines why and how it should be tempered.
The potential hardness of a steel is determined by its carbon content. Adding small amounts of other elements to the mix can produce enormous improvements in strength, toughness, and
resistance to rust and the response of the steel to heat treatment.
Steels referred to as alloy steels have additional elements such as chromium, nickel, vanadium,
cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, and tungsten included.

element14 – your global technology leader

27 June 2022

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Specialising in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance, and repair, element14 draws on years of experience to support its broad customer base. Offering a tailor-made pathway to a range of services and products for everyone from hobbyists to engineers, maintenance engineers, and buyers, it has a track record of working with both leading brands and start-ups to develop new products.

Assorted nuts

2 June 2022

For our purposes, a nut is an internally threaded part which is rotated or screwed onto an externally threaded part such as a screw, bolt or stud. If you can pick it up in your hand and put it onto an externally threaded item and tighten it, it is a nut. There will be some exceptions to this which will become apparent.

Hexagon head bolt or cheese head screw?

16 May 2022

There are so many types and kinds of bolts and screws that when you ask for the one you need, it is best if you understand the characteristics of the particular fastener. Then you can ask exactly for what you want. These characteristics are:
* Head type;
* Size;
* Thread form;
* Tensile strength;
* Finish.

How to steam bend wood

5 May 2022

This project to make a stool was developed as a way of introducing students to a number of basic
wood-bending and shaping techniques, whilst also giving experience in several useful applications of the router.
The stool consists of two legs in the form of continuous steam-bent hoops or arches, which are housed into matching radiused slots at either end of a curved seat. The legs are stiffened by the addition of smaller arches that fit between them and the centre underside of the seat. For the purposes of this article, I am going to focus on the steam-bending aspect involving the legs as that is the technique that woodworkers seem the most reluctant to try.

Tools