Does anyone have a fast DIY solution for single point thread tools.

[shamanj]

I made this on the lathe out of necessity. (Double angle 3 flute cutter for metric thread - Done some metric threads with it.)

Also was going to see how many people give me shit about it.
Does it work? Yes. magically.
Was it a bitch to make. Absolutely.

How did I cut the flutes? Dremel with mini abrasive disc.

Anyone make their own form tools like this out of necessity? This one was made out of a high tensile steel bolt. i tried to make another out of HSS earlier today, but I put a bit too much force on the turning tool and bent it,
yelled some obscenities, blamed the cat then came here. "Effing cat... always the cats fault... grumble..."

Be interested to see who else has made their own CNC tool for use in a pinch?

 

[Dupa3872]

I have made a few forming tools from oil hard both turning and milling form tools but haven't done it in a long time. I run a job shop and don't have time to mess around. That said it's good to know how so in a pinch you can get something done. No shit from me just a big pat on the back for having the brains, balls and the desire to learn and do things yourself.

Well done

Ron

 

[timvercoe]

I am certainly impressed, runs along certain thoughts I have had for making specialty tools that do more than one operation at a time. Certainly didn't think it was original idea, wondered why others don't make more of their own tooling. I sure understand the time factor. Well done.

Tim

 

[NAST555]

Also was going to see how many people give me shit about it.
Does it work? Yes. magically.
Was it a bitch to make. Absolutely.

If it needs to get done and you make something to get it done properly then only narrow minded people will give you shit about it in my opinion. Good job

Yeah I have made all sorts of specials. Boring bars to suit off the shelf inserts are my biggest space waster... the box is nearly full! Some people will look at my boxes of "junk" and will not appreciate that I needed to get something done so I just got stuck in and made whatever was needed and more often than not they are used on more than one job when something else comes in with a odd sized bore or a weird angle back chamfer.

 

[BR3]

Be interested to see who else has made their own CNC tool for use in a pinch?

Umm......Everybody that does this for a living...

 

[shamanj]

Umm......Everybody that does this for a living...

And thats why I'm interested to see some of the amazing, good ideas that some of you all have.
-----------------------
I'm sure that someone will run into a problem that someone else has already put time and effort into. I can only imagine some of the weird, wonderful and effective things you guys have made.
Fantastic.

Is there anything in particular your fond of that you'd like to share?

 

[cncdawg]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

 

[BR3]

And thats why I'm interested to see some of the amazing, good ideas that some of you all have.
-----------------------

Is there anything in particular your fond of that you'd like to share?

I haven't really taken many pictures of that stuff. Got a few of cool/interesting setups though.

 

[Krutch]

Damn cats! Won't hunt mice when ya need 'em to. Or they have a contract with the mice to ignore each other. Or worse yet, have an agreement share food & housing!

Been a while since I had the need to make special tooling. Modify some, yes.

 

[dsergison]

http://www.maritool.com/images/Carbide-Single-Pitch-Thread-Mill-Med-1_200.jpg
https://www.google.com/search?q=thr...q=single+point+thread+mills&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

this is a common catalog item. buy a few different sizes. sheesh.

 

[shamanj]

I intended to purchase some from maritool (I know he lurks this forum) but i needed something that day. Anyway I was happily surprised. Didn't think it would work. Had some fun with it. Wanted to share, see what other people get up to
Geeze louise :P

 

[HuFlungDung]

I've used lathe style boring bars as thread mills. Seem to cut ok, so far as I could tell, and if I buggered the insert, it could be replaced and the path rerun to clean it up.

 

[SeymourDumore]

Be interested to see who else has made their own CNC tool for use in a pinch?

Never mind their own and never mind in a pinch!

How'bout modifying a $500+ insert drill by turning down the shank, milling a pocket and screwing on a SNMG insert for one-shot chamfering a
1.375 dia hole somewhere 3.5" deep?

Or, taking a brand spanking new 1.25" top notch boring bar, cut the head @ a 45deg angle and weld it back up to create an internal undercut tool
just because noone in this freaking planet makes an internal undercut grooving tool that has more than 2" reach in depth!


Oh no my friend, you should not get any flack for anything you do that gets you by!
At least not from any of us!

 

[shamanj]

How'bout modifying a $500+ insert drill by turning down the shank, milling a pocket and screwing on a SNMG insert for one-shot chamfering a
1.375 dia hole somewhere 3.5" deep?

EPIC...

Or, taking a brand spanking new 1.25" top notch boring bar, cut the head @ a 45deg angle and weld it back up to create an internal undercut tool
just because noone in this freaking planet makes an internal undercut grooving tool that has more than 2" reach in depth!

Double epic...
Sounds like something the market needs.

 

[Alberic]

I intended to purchase some from maritool (I know he lurks this forum) but i needed something that day. Anyway I was happily surprised. Didn't think it would work. Had some fun with it. Wanted to share, see what other people get up to
Geeze louise :P

You're going to hate me, but the guy in the next bay over is one of the best tool & cutter grinders in the South Bay. We've got all *sorts* of custom tooling, just because we can wander over there with a sketch and a dead endmill and get the weirdest stuff you've ever seen, right now. My personal favorite was the end mills ground with their tips inside out, for 'drilling' down onto the end of rodstock to put a tapered end on the rods.
Weirdest looking cutters you ever saw, but they worked wonderfully. We've got a bunch of custom profile mills, and other oddities that he's turned up when we needed them. Especially handy when running a Swiss lathe. I'm always short of tool stations, and being able to have custom 'multi' tools made up has saved my tail more than once.
(Just for the record, Dan Brady, Brady ToolTech, Santa Cruz.)

FWIW,
Brian

 

[jkruger]

I've ground a lot of custom tools as I'm sure all of us here have done too. When it comes to running small parts, my favorite is a manual turret lathe like a Leinen or similar. They take some time to get them set up right but when they run they can make a lot of money. My deburr guy can make me $300/hr sometimes on 20k plus runs... and he's stoned.

 

[Heavey Metal]

All tooling is made by somebody.

If you can make what you have do what you need done you are way ahead of the game.

 

[Bobw]

I've done the boring bar trick, in place of a theadmill a few times.. About the only positive thing I can say is that it
doesn't ACTUALLY take forever, it just seems like it... But it works in a pinch.

Here is a few.. Left to right. Needed a slot with a 2.5" radius or so that was over 1" deep. Nothing fancy, just an old school
5/8 boring bar that was broached for a piece of 1/4" HSS. Chopped her down, tossed her in a tool holder.. It was slow,
but it got the job done when there was no off the shelf tools that would work.

Second one, a 3/8" boring bar through a piece of 3/4" whatever... I had a 4" back counter bore to do on the far side of
a 2" bearing bore. Casting, so I couldn't get to the backside either.. Drop her in and spiral her up, worked a charm.

Third one, we had a bunch of spinning chucks to make, mostly funky profiles on the face, with dips and grooves...
Couldn't find the tool I actually wanted, so a brand spanking new VNMG stick holder was chopped and welded.
It worked far better than it looks..

Fourth one... Running a bunch of 3" OD .190 wall aluminum tubing... between 2 and 4 feet long... ID needed
to be 2.625 plus .020, minus nothing... Half the tubing showed up with a small ID... This is the reamer I came
up with, its some heat treated 17-4... Nose is piloted to follow the existing hole... Driven by 1/2" ratchet extensions.
Drive it in, pull the turret back, add another extension, rinse and repeat until the "reamer" fell out the backside of the
tube.

The bottom one. Way back in the day I needed a SHORT boring bar.. An old guy I worked with, who stops in
here once in a while, and taught me a TON of stuff showed me how to make a boring bar out of a piece of tool steel..
Never needed it again, but she sits in my box, as a "just in case" and because its pretty cool.

I've posted this before, but CNC tool modification and possibly abuse... Internal splines...

How to make a 40 something inch ring on a 40x20 machine, hillbilly style.
Who says those little Atlas lathes have no use in a real shop?

These are quick and dirty... We do a bunch of aluminum castings with back counterbores, and you can't
come in from the backside. Spade bits from the hardware store, grind them down, add some relief,
maybe a bushing, and off you go.

Another dirty one I've done... Ran out of 1/32 ball endmills one weekend... Went down to the hardware store and bought
a few tiny little round carbide burrs for a Dremel tool... They make decent little ball mills.

 

[shamanj]

Holy crap dude that atlas photo nearly made me spit my coffee all over my screen lol. That's so awesome!
I also love the spline cutter, I would love to broach internal splines on my hercus using the tailstock *ducks*

I'm right into grinding small corner radius on my HSS end mills atm, I need to make a jig to accomplish that accurately...