by Phil Kerner | Jan 14, 2016 | Benchwork, Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room
One of my main responsibilites at work is to just "fix" things when nobody else knows what to do. Case-in-point: here's a few hundred parts that have just one feature slightly out of tolerance. The slot in the above photo has a tolerance of .315 / .316" wide, and it...
by Phil Kerner | Sep 14, 2014 | Benchwork, Members Only: The Tool Room, Molds and Dies
This came up in the Forum a while back, and I thought that I'd share it here in case you missed it. One of our members - who works at a molding facility - submitted several photos of these clear parts with scratches / scuffs on them when they are ejected from the...
by Phil Kerner | Jul 5, 2014 | Benchwork, Members Only: The Tool Room
The other day, I was assembling a fixture with several blind slip-fit dowel pin holes. I haven't run into this problem in several years, but it was downright uncanny how the pins wouldn't stay in the holes because the air pressure underneath them would pop them right...
by Phil Kerner | Mar 22, 2014 | Benchwork, Inspection, Members Only: The Tool Room, Set-Ups, Shortcuts and Time Savers
Back in my apprenticeship days, I fell in love with all of the cool stuff that we got to use every day: dial indicators, grinding vises, gauge blocks, v-blocks, wheel dressers and micrometers. As the years go by, I'm a little bit surprised by how many tools I not only...
by Phil Kerner | Mar 22, 2014 | Benchwork, Members Only: The Tool Room
I received an email a few days ago from a member requesting a "deburring class" for newbies...not a very "sexy" subject but it got me thinking: A part isn't truly "finished" until it's been completely deburred. Hard to believe, but I spent 40 minutes on this...
by Phil Kerner | May 31, 2012 | Benchwork, Inspection, Members Only: The Tool Room, The Basics - Measuring, Locating, and Checking Your Work
There used to be a day when gauge blocks were simply way too expensive to own your own set. Now - with Ebay and overseas manufacturers supplying them - they are pretty affordable for any machinist or tool and die maker to own their own set. In this video, I explain...
