KMG Clone Project Photo Summary

K

Ken Kelley

Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
106
When I began building my KMG clone, I found pictures of other people's projects to be very helpful so I am posting a photo summary of my build from start to finish. I owe thanks to Mike Clerc for providing the drawings and his help along the way through answering my questions about them. Thanks to Rob Frink, too, for making component parts available to builders. I don't feel so bad about plagerizing his design after spending several hundred dollars ordering parts from him. I'm new to Photobucket so be kind.



http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/alphairon/KMG Clone 1/

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/alphairon/KMG Clone 2/

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/alphairon/KMG Clone 3/

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/alphairon/KMG Clone 4/

Ken
 
Question - with the parts to build it running "several hundred dollars," couldn't you just have bought one? Just wondering.

Your machine does look great. I'm definetely going to be saving up for either a Bader or a KMG.

Charles
 
Very nice Ken!! I really enjoy that type of one-off manual machining. I rarely get to do that as I rely so much on CNC now.

Charles, sometimes, it's not the destination...but the journey itself that makes the whole trip worthwhile. For guys that love to build stuff in the shop...it's not uncommon to spend more doing it yourself than if you just bought it already done. ...but then you didn't do it yourself. These photos seem to tell the story that Ken enjoyed the project. I certainly enjoyed the photos..thanks for posting them.

Sincerely,
Rob
 
NICE!!!

I can see it definitely would have been MUCH EASIER to buy one... but like Rob said, you get a lot of satisfaction from something like that.

That's the nicest clone I've seen for sure.

I like your lock-downs for the platen, very cool stuff.

Thanks for sharing.
 
rfrink said:
Very nice Ken!! I really enjoy that type of one-off manual machining. I rarely get to do that as I rely so much on CNC now.

Charles, sometimes, it's not the destination...but the journey itself that makes the whole trip worthwhile. For guys that love to build stuff in the shop...it's not uncommon to spend more doing it yourself than if you just bought it already done. ...but then you didn't do it yourself. These photos seem to tell the story that Ken enjoyed the project. I certainly enjoyed the photos..thanks for posting them.

Sincerely,
Rob
Click to expand...

Now I can see that point. It's the reason we make knives when we could just as easily, and in some instances, much cheaper, buy one.

Was just curious if there was a mechanical reason, i.e. something you didn't like about the KMG that you were changing as you built your clone.

Thanks for sharing. I envy those who are able to build these things.

Charles
 
Thanks for the kind words. I enjoy the challenge of building tools so the idea of saving money wasn't uppermost in my mind. I had a lot of fun working on this thing so it really amounted to a couple of months of occupational therapy time. Nothing relaxes me more than spending time in the shop playing with my toys. It functions far better than I ever imagined and I can already tell that my bench grinder is destined to become a dedicated buffing station with a hard felt wheel on one side and loose muslin buff on the other. And, as usual, I left something out...the tension arm support assembly. I think I spent more time on this gadget making it sure it was just right than I did on any other portion of the machine. Here 'tis:

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/alphairon/KMG Clone 5/

Manual machining is my only option since I haven't caught the CNC bug yet. I did manage to keep my Taig lathe and mill pretty busy. Worked them both pretty hard and at and beyond the limits of their respective capabilities.

Ken
 
wow great job sounds like you have a real talent for making tools. I look forward to seeing your knives.
 
pretty cool stuff...nice work.


If it were me, though...I would've solved the "handle-in-front-of-the-idler-offset" problem as well.

Could've dropped the handle closer to the "lock" and had better access to the offset - which I would have replace with a large diameter knob (3-4").


But, the machining is excellent - awesome!
 
of work, Ken! One fine craftsman!

Nick: I really like that quote. I'll have to store that one away.

Thanks Ken for the post!

Dana
 
That a very nicely done project, Ken!

I am heartened to see the testament to the amount of work one can get out of the Taig equipment, too. This will help folks understand they are serious miniature machine tools and not toys.

Very nice grinder. I'm sure you're justifiably thrilled with the results. :)
 
Wow! I am VERY impressed with your work. More pics of that shop would be greatly appreciated too, if you don't mind. Looks awesome!
 
Fiddleback said:
Wow! I am VERY impressed with your work. More pics of that shop would be greatly appreciated too, if you don't mind. Looks awesome!
Click to expand...

OK, here's a few shots of the inside of the shop and a sampling of some of the things I like to make. I have a variety of woodworking tools I've accumulated over the years. I've dragged most of them around the world at least a couple of times during my 25-year USAF career. Built the shop about 4 years ago when we moved to KY so I'm finally able to put them all together in one place. The pictures don't show a Hegner scroll saw I picked up about 10 years ago. Also bought a Jet Mini Wood Lathe at a Woodcraft store in Charleston last fall. Neat machine! I put the sandblasting cabinet together a few months back while I was refinishing a couple of pistols. I used it to sandblast the KMG clone and give it that nice, frosted finish. I originally intended to just knock the scale off the hot-rolled steel supports but it turned out so nice I blasted the whole thing. The welding machine is a Miller Trailblazer 301G. I didn't take any pictures of my blacksmithing equipment but I have a fully equipped blacksmithing shop in there as well. Built my own forge while taking some welding courses about 10 years ago.

Fitzo is absolutely right about the Taig mill and lathe. They are bullet proof tools capable of extremely accurate work. The brass rod in one shot is turned down from 1/4" to almost invisible. If my bit had been a little sharper I could have kept going a little smaller. The Taig's are engineered tough too. You'll stop the motor before you break anything.

The toys are stuff I made for my grandkids. I make antique hand tool reproductions so that accounts for the spokeshave and the dovetail block plane. Building a steel and brass dovetail plane is a real test of your skill with files.

I spend many happy hours in this shop puttering to my heart's content. Everybody needs one to stay sane! Here's the pictures:

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/alphairon/Shop/
 
WOW!!!! Awesome Ken. Your interests are much like my own. I did a lot of shop fiddling before coming around to my boyhood love... knives. Hopefully I'll develope some skill with them. Before knives I did furniture, and do some machining at work. And metal spinning. Have you done any metal spinning on your wood lathe. DO some. Its amazing to watch the transformation, and easy as hell. Curved sheet metal parts anyone???

Here are somepics of my shop. (Oh so envious of your space!! Mine is stuffed into my garage.)


And some pics of some furniture projects too. Sorry if I derailed your thread...

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Fiddleback said:
WOW!!!! Awesome Ken. Your interests are much like my own. I did a lot of shop fiddling before coming around to my boyhood love... knives. Hopefully I'll develope some skill with them. Before knives I did furniture, and do some machining at work. And metal spinning. Have you done any metal spinning on your wood lathe. DO some. Its amazing to watch the transformation, and easy as hell. Curved sheet metal parts anyone???

Here are somepics of my shop. (Oh so envious of your space!! Mine is stuffed into my garage.)


And some pics of some furniture projects too. Sorry if I derailed your thread...

attachment.php


attachment.php
Click to expand...

Nick Carter has some metal spinning pictures on his Taig site. Looks like fun! I like your machines but none of your furniture pics showed up unless I overlooked something. I bought most of my shop tools back when I was a poor USAF Captain. Had both kids going to CU at Boulder at the same time so I was lucky to afford the Sears Craftsman jointer, drill press, radial saw, and table saw. As you can probably tell, I gravitate toward DeWalt. And sometimes...I just make my own.

The pictures of the shop were taken a year or so ago. I don't dare show what it looks like now after investing my time and energy into building this project rather than cleaning up after myself. Right now it looks like somebody set off a metal shaving bomb. I need to clean it up REAL bad! I'll do that the first rainy day we have, whenever that might be. My shop time is going to be severly restricted starting first thing in the morning when 50 tons of gravel and channel rock show up. I'll be using that and then some to stabilize a bank behind the house and patch a few places in my driveway. Country living out in the woods is SO relaxing...if you know what I mean.

Ken
 
Nice shop, Ken. I envy all that room. The woodlathe, spokeshave and motor mounts are very nice! Grandkids have a couple heirloom toys now, too!

I like the indicator holders and hope you won't mind that I am going to pirate the thought.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Mike, anything one Taig owner does more or less automatically defaults to any other who sees it and likes it, so run with it. I made them out of 1/4" x 1" aluminum bar because that was the nearest thing to me when I needed to make them. The one on the bottom is just an open U shape which fits around the column. I threaded a 1/4-20 hole in the side holding the indicator and used a socket head screw to clamp it in place. It comes in real handy when I'm lining up the vise. I use the other one for just about everything else. I take the indicators off before I run the machine though to keep vibration from crashing the jewels in my old Brown & Sharp.

K
 
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