by Phil Kerner | Feb 15, 2013 | Inspection, Members Only: The Tool Room, Set-Ups
The other day, I was handed a rather large piece of aluminum that had already had most of the machining on it completed, except for the outside dimensions. I was tasked with squaring three of these up, with the trick being to hold the outside dimensions of the block...
by Phil Kerner | Feb 1, 2013 | Members Only: The Tool Room, Milling, Set-Ups
In a previous video, I showed you how I set up a part to drill some holes on the end of a part on a 12° angle. That method worked out fine for just a few parts, but now they want (30) more of them. Time to build a simple fixture so I won't have to use my protractor on...
by Phil Kerner | Feb 1, 2013 | Life Lessons, Members Only: The Tool Room, Milling, Set-Ups
I've been stewing on this one for a long time. Back in my mold-making days, the last thing that you wanted to be called was a "hack." It was considered to be a very low life-form, and was reserved for the guys who possessed absolutely no finesse. The reality is that...
by Phil Kerner | Feb 1, 2013 | Members Only: The Tool Room, Milling, Set-Ups, Shortcuts and Time Savers
The place I work at supplies these very cool - and expensive - parallels and vise jaws that lock together, so that your parallels stay in place when you're loading and unloading parts. In a future post, I'll explain what they are and how they work. Occasionally,...
by Phil Kerner | Jan 1, 2013 | Inspection, Members Only: The Tool Room, Set-Ups, The Basics - Measuring, Locating, and Checking Your Work
In this case study, I have been handed a part with a hole already bored into it, and need to mill an edge to a certain dimension in relation to the hole. As we have already learned, I would prefer to measure this part "as is" in the vise and NOT remove it. I've...
by Phil Kerner | Jan 1, 2013 | Members Only: The Tool Room, Milling, Set-Ups
In addition to the "stops" the the video above, here's one that I don't use a lot but is an absolute life-saver when you need a "stop" to get out of the way of your machining. Confused? You won't be after this video:
