tool that you made

I thought this was going to be tools you've made from metal. Like prybars or something. In that category I have one I want to make. A curved hook for staple pulling (I have one and it's perfect except for it needs a longer handle and would be nice if it...) with a drift pin on the other side.. Any idea what steel and tempering I'd need on such tool?
 
I built my KMG clone...what's more important to my knifemaking that that? :)

DSCN0210_001.JPG


-d
 
I am making a kmg clone too, but i built a simple file jig! :)

What did you use for dies, V-6?

Kelly, once again that is one of the sexiest things i have ever seen :D
I have your build process bookmarked for reference, Its pretty handy


what angle did you machine the wheel crown at?
 
I bought my drive and tension/tracking wheel from Rob Frink because they were too big to make on my little Taig Microlathe II. I was able to machine the idler wheels for the platen assembly though so that saved me $80. The crown angles on the drive and tension/tracking wheels are about 7 degrees. Wish I could have made those too so I could have saved a few more bucks. Doggone wheels and the step pulleys were about the most expensive part of the project aside from the motor. It was a lot of fun to build. My next project is a helve hammer.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Deker is that a big wheel from Sunray?
Click to expand...

I'm actually building a KMG clonish machine (from Tracy Mickley's plans) this weekend(we'll see how far I actually get).

So I'm pretty curious if that is a Sunray wheel and what you think of it too.
If it is....How does it perform? How many hours on it so far, doing what kind of work. I'm going to buy the idler and drive wheels from Rob probably(no facilities to make my own, and no real cost savings even from sunray on those). But the contact wheels just cost so much, I'm wondering if you have had luck with a Sunray wheel. Even if it was only solid for a couple months it would help, ya know?

oh, and I'll post pics when I get something closer to a built rig.

Syn
 
I've built several tools to help me with forging and grinding.
1. These are an assortment of hardy tools, from left is a extended small bick, a smaller flat surface, a fuller tool, and a hot cutter, with my 130lb Peter Wright.

PICT2413.jpg


2. Here on the left is a stand for one of my anvils, a 100lb Peter Wright, to the right is the leg vise stand.

PICT2407.jpg


3. Here is my 25 ton H press.

Press.jpg


4.Here are a couple of gas fired blown forges that I use.

PICT2400.jpg


5. Last but not least is my MMG (Mighty Mouse Grinder :D). Obviously a copy of Rob Frink's machine but it's made from flat plate, and square tubing welded together, the wheels and platen mount were purchased from Rob.

MMG.jpg


All my large tools have to be "put away" at the end of a session as I'm a proud owner of a combination smithy/garage/general work shop. :eek: I built all the tables that the press, grinder and forges are mounted to with wheels
 
Well, my parents made one since I'm a complete tool. Does that count? ;-)

Cheers Rody
 
Built my disc grinder from a treadmill motor, got the reversing variable speed controller off eBay, though Roger Linger had to repair it for me. The disc is from Rob. All the structural parts are from a stripped mainframe computer - heat sinks and all. ;)

ShopDisk1.jpg


The table is just some industrial castoff. It's adjustable both angle and distance from the disc.

ShopDisk2.jpg


Not satisfied with 45 degrees because that's too obvious and I think too steep, I set my dovetailed bolsters to 35 degrees. Much easier once I made a little plastic doodad to keep it regular.

ShopDisk04.jpg


Too cheap to buy one, I made my own:

ShopScribe.jpg


This is one of the best things I ever thought of! Sure reduces the flinch factor when I'm stamping my mark. Adjustable so that I can use any normal-sized stamps for adding serial numbers or secret codes. The brass "anvil" is starting to get hollowed out though, going to have to replace that soon.

ShopStampguide1.jpg


ShopStampguide2.jpg


Nothing like the great projects above, but they've been very useful for me. Making tools and jigs is almost as much fun as making knives! But fewer people appreciate homemade tools, so thanks for a great thread.
 
synghyn said:
I'm actually building a KMG clonish machine (from Tracy Mickley's plans) this weekend(we'll see how far I actually get).

So I'm pretty curious if that is a Sunray wheel and what you think of it too.
If it is....How does it perform? How many hours on it so far, doing what kind of work. I'm going to buy the idler and drive wheels from Rob probably(no facilities to make my own, and no real cost savings even from sunray on those). But the contact wheels just cost so much, I'm wondering if you have had luck with a Sunray wheel. Even if it was only solid for a couple months it would help, ya know?

oh, and I'll post pics when I get something closer to a built rig.

Syn
Click to expand...

The Sunray wheels will work fine...with a few conditions. The wheel covering is cast polyurethane and will melt or soften fairly easily. I ordered a 6" wheel to experiment with and when it arrived it was out of round by a fair amount and the edges had some flashing on them as well as being higher than the center by quite a bit. I mounted the wheel on my KMG clone and used a 1/2" strip of an old belt to spin it while I attacked the surface with a wood rasp and coarse sandpaper on a block. Use the tracking wheel to move the strip out of the way while you work on an area. Sorta worked but it was easy to melt the plastic and cause a mess. What really worked was to mount the wheel on an 18" piece of drill rod then present the wheel at an angle to a 220 grit belt on the flat platen setup. The wheel spins against the belt and takes material off evenly from the circumference. You can control the speed of the spin by varying the angle of presentation. Harder to explain than it is to do. I tossed the wheel in the freezer for an hour or two first to firm up the polyurethane and made the job go a lot faster. Then every time it started getting warm I tossed it back in the freezer for awhile. After a bit I got the runout down to about .002.

You have to be careful about how aggressively you grind on the Sunray wheels. If you get carried away the belt will heat up and melt off some of the wheel surface. Makes a real mess on the rest of the wheels & will trash the belt. I only did this once and that's all it takes.

The bottom line is that the Sunray wheels will work. If you go that route specify a 70 durometer wheel as that seems to be the standard hardness for contact wheels. Keep in mind that they are really designed as casters. Better yet, get the Grizzly 10" wheel because it will stand up to more aggressive grinding. When you get rich selling knives you can buy all the expensive wheels you want.
 
Keith_H said:
I am making a kmg clone too, but i built a simple file jig! :)

What did you use for dies, V-6?

Kelly, once again that is one of the sexiest things i have ever seen :D
I have your build process bookmarked for reference, Its pretty handy


what angle did you machine the wheel crown at?
Click to expand...

Keith,

Here's a thread over at Bladesmith that you might get some info from http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=9334&st=0&start=0

Has a few items on the KMG clone build that weren't incuded in the other references.

K
 
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