Shop and Tools: Tips and Tricks

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

That's about the worst tip in this thread so far.

One it isn't a tip, it is a statement
Two take a joke
Three, the floor needs swept, get back to work
Four

 

[clodhopper]

Pretty easy to pick out those with an OCD streak....

 

[posford]

a clean shop and a productive shop are not the same place

I spend half my time working on my jeep build, and half my time working on my "shop".

I mean he did say that he spends half his time working on shop instead of the Jeep, so you could count that as not being productive

 

[2020AT4]

Wait, so it's not supposed to so tight it deforms the mandrel?

The only thing that needs to be that tight is a solid carbide burr.

Carbide is super smooth and will slip out if not retard strength tight.

 

[2020AT4]

And after a ton of time and money, this is what it looks like today.

Your "unorganized" shop is cleaner than my garage after I clean it up.

 

[Wisconsinite]

I mean he did say that he spends half his time working on shop instead of the Jeep, so you could count that as not being productive

It depends on what the end goal is. My end goal is to get the jeep done when it gets done, and build my skills, toolings, and knowledge along the way. I have damn near 15 hours sitting at this table with a mag drill and a tap drilling and tapping 143 holes in 1" 6061 and 3/8 mild steel. Now I have a badass fixture table. To me that is productive, but not jeep productive.

And really, my to do list is getting pretty short:

 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Made a setup for a vertically oriented vise a while back, has been real handy for drilling stuff and pressing u joints.

 

[Pt_Ranger_v8]

I like that post vise

 

[gt1guy]

I may be preaching to the choir, but it's a trick I learned the hard way.

Hole saws in thin sheet metal.

Many times the centering bit seems to wander around leaving a not so perfect looking hole. Or at least on that needs a lot of dressing.

What I do now is drill the pilot hole, then replace the drill bit with a piece of 1/4" round stock.

Round stock doesn't open up the pilot hole and holes come out much cleaner.

 

[bdkw1]

The only thing that needs to be that tight is a solid carbide burr.

Carbide is super smooth and will slip out if not retard strength tight.

Every burr I have seen has a brazed to HSS shank.

 

[[486]]

I may be preaching to the choir, but it's a trick I learned the hard way.

Hole saws in thin sheet metal.

Many times the centering bit seems to wander around leaving a not so perfect looking hole. Or at least on that needs a lot of dressing.

What I do now is drill the pilot hole, then replace the drill bit with a piece of 1/4" round stock.

Round stock doesn't open up the pilot hole and holes come out much cleaner.

take a piece of 1/4" masonite and holesaw it, then clamp it to the sheetmetal as an external guide for the holesaw

Every burr I have seen has a brazed to HSS shank.

look at the smaller ones that the head is shank size or smaller

 

[bdkw1]

look at the smaller ones that the head is shank size or smaller

The few smaller ones I have are just HSS. I just ported a TTR125 head for a buddy and had to break out the fucking dremel tool to get around the guides. Smallest head I have ever done. Smallest I usually use is 3/8".

 

[[486]]

I dunno what to say, several of mine are solid carbide
including some with long ass 4" or so shanks on them

 

[2020AT4]

Every burr I have seen has a brazed to HSS shank.

Then you haven’t seen that many.

A lot of the better brands of 1/4” shaped bits are solid, bigger/cheaper stuff will vary.

 

[grumpy356]

I dunno what to say, several of mine are solid carbide
including some with long ass 4" or so shanks on them

I always thought a rotary file was HSS and a bur was solid carbide 🤷

 

[bdkw1]

Then you haven’t seen that many.

A lot of the better brands of 1/4” shaped bits are solid, bigger/cheaper stuff will vary.

What I usually deal with. And I have gone through many of them, just not the small ones.

 

[IowaOffRoad]

a clean shop and a productive shop are not the same place

That's about the worst tip in this thread so far.

I think it all depends on the operator. I've seen some very slick operations that seem to get nothing done but beer drank and bull's shit inside them. I've seen shops that looked like an auto wrecker dumped the shit they didn't want in them turn out good, fast work. I've seen the opposite happen just as often. I grew up around repair shops and machine shops. Some people are organized, some aren't, some are lazy, some aren't. In my experience it's hard to draw a through line. I don't know that there's a moral to this story at all. I will say I prefer to work in a clean, well organized, well lit shop. I will also say that mine is only occasionally that, but I'd like to think that if it was my full time day job vs. side hustle/hobby shop I would make the time to make it nicer.

I know from a manufacturing perspective, at least in the industries I've been around, a spotless, well organized place is a sign of boredom from lack of work or trying to impress dignitaries. If I was a local/regional politician with my backround and was given one of these tours, I'd be asking if they were getting ready to fold up when I walked through. "Where's the mill scale? The turnings that bounced out of the dumpster on the way to the main hopper outside? Where's the random empty pallet from off-loading a bunch of hardware in a hurry to install in the product? Where's the random empty cardboard box that missed the trash can getting a 'hot' order out the door?" I would have many thoughts walking through a well-groomed facility that claimed to be putting out large amounts of product.

 

[Wisconsinite]

My father had a messy shop. Could never find anything, and every tool you needed was missing. It drove me bonkers. I vowed not to be like that and have a clean shop. My little shop is personal, and I spend a metric shit ton of time in there and want it clean. I have also found that when something has a designated "home", putting tools away and cleaning up in general goes much faster. I don't sit down and watch TV very often, instead I have it on in the back ground and mess around with things in the shop, and admittedly, some of the things I do are really necessary.

Exhibit A:

I bought a Harbor Freight jack a while ago, and needed to build an extension. I made these, then tried my hand at cold bluing. After a few test pieces, I achieved an acceptable finish. Time will tell how it hold up.

 

[Twankie]

My father had a messy shop. Could never find anything, and every tool you needed was missing. I have also found that when something has a designated "home", putting tools away and cleaning up in general goes much faster.

My shop is messy/cluttered but I know where everything is. I don’t understand the 10mm socket memes. I have 7 or 8 metric socket sets and they are all full.

Just like you said if everything has a place it’s easy to make sure nothing is missing and everything gets put back in its place.

Put tools back or at least do an inventory of them before you drive off after working on a project too. This one has been difficult for friends to grasp in the past.

 

[TTMotorsports]

My shop to the outsider looks very disorganized but I know where everything is and all the tools are even if I used them I remember when/where I used them and left them.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I'll take well lit over well organized any day.

 

[posford]

I'll take well lit over well organized any day.

I have neither one of those things going for me at the moment, and I agree

 

[2020AT4]

What I usually deal with. And I have gone through many of them, just not the small ones.

Usually when you get to that size where the cutter is larger than the shaft they will be exclusively a HSS shank with a braised on cutter.

That is just economics as it would cost 5x the price to grind down the shaft out of solid carbide before even starting to cut flutes in the cutter head.

I have a few like that double and single cut that are @15-20 each.

I also have a full carbide double cut like that that was $140+ that the engine ear bought because we could have it same day.

Wasn’t his money, but it is now my tool.

 

[2020AT4]

Ok, time for another Protip!

If an engine ear comes to you with a job that requires you to drill and tap 8 blind 10-32 holes 3/4” deep in a copper bar because he doesn’t want to wait for a brass bar to be delivered...

First start by lighting a large fire, preferably 10 skids or larger, let that burn a bit.

Next, bring this god awful Metal to the correct size and shape and drill the holes where indicated, chamfering the edges to get a nice clean thread start.

Next have the engineer hold the part near the raging fire you built by telling him it needs to be, let’s say 300 degrees kelvin, and if he wants to know what that is in people numbers (Engineers are not people.) to do the math in his head while preheating the part.

Now, while he’s eyes are rolling around in his head and his tongue is poking in and out...

KICK HIM AND HIS BULLSHIT JOB INTO THE FUCKING FIRE!

Now when they eventually fill his position hopefully the next guy will simply order the correct material from the start and you can actually do the job he needs done.

Cause it ain’t going to take any longer than tapping those tiny threads into that reddish bubblegum acting bullshit.

 

[posford]

bullshit

Take your bitching elsewhere nutsack, this isn't GCC

 

[2020AT4]

Take your bitching elsewhere nutsack, this isn't GCC

Eat my taint.

 

[665.0coupe]

Ok, time for another Protip!

If an engine ear comes to you with a job that requires you to drill and tap 8 blind 10-32 holes 3/4” deep in a copper bar because he doesn’t want to wait for a brass bar to be delivered...

First start by lighting a large fire, preferably 10 skids or larger, let that burn a bit.

Next, bring this god awful Metal to the correct size and shape and drill the holes where indicated, chamfering the edges to get a nice clean thread start.

Next have the engineer hold the part near the raging fire you built by telling him it needs to be, let’s say 300 degrees kelvin, and if he wants to know what that is in people numbers (Engineers are not people.) to do the math in his head while preheating the part.

Now, while he’s eyes are rolling around in his head and his tongue is poking in and out...

KICK HIM AND HIS BULLSHIT JOB INTO THE FUCKING FIRE!

Now when they eventually fill his position hopefully the next guy will simply order the correct material from the start and you can actually do the job he needs done.

Cause it ain’t going to take any longer than tapping those tiny threads into that reddish bubblegum acting bullshit.

Sounds like the engineer needs to find a better machinist.

 

[2020AT4]

Sounds like the engineer needs to find a better machinist.

Machinist? Is that supposed to be an insult?

Post your copper tapping tips.

I’ll wait.

 

[665.0coupe]

Machinist? Is that supposed to be an insult?

Post your copper tapping tips.

I’ll wait.

Well, about 2 minutes of google searching says that form tapping is better for copper than cutting threads.

Where I work, that kind of work would be done in the machine shop, by machinists. That's why I assumed your gender er I mean profession

 

[arse_sidewards]

Machinist? Is that supposed to be an insult?

Post your copper tapping tips.

I’ll wait.

Oil and patience.

It's a soft metal. It taps like butter. You just have to go painfully slow to keep it from grabbing and tearing.