tools, materials & knowledge for model makers
Perhaps less about machining pewter buttons and more about holding them so we could. The pewter buttons have been cast in an open one-sided sand mold. The stars on the front face are the important face to keep. The open casting means the thicknesses are variable. The big issue was there was no easy way … Read more
Some time ago I made a simple bolt down milling plate with M4 fixing points and itself bolted to the table with M6 CSK bolts. The aim being to give me a board that would allow me to mount small items and where I could drill through and waste the board over time. The milling … Read more
Very simple work holding with a sacrificial nut and bolt. When silver soldering you don’t want your best engineers clamps in the path of a blow torch. Also, you don’t want the thermal mass of a large clamp. I often have this problem and resort to a piece of wire that wraps around and is … Read more
The Watchmakers Finger Plate, I’ve seen a few of these on different websites, Instagram, Pinterest and I thought I would make one as they look useful for clamping workpieces. I started with a piece of 1/4″ thick mild steel, 3″ wide and roughly 2.75″ long – an offcut from something. You can see that I’ve … Read more
The Angle Plate from Warco was another buy from my trip to the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition. A small cast iron angle plate. Nominal: 3″ x 2.5″ x 2″ Measured: 75.4mm x 63.5mm x 50.5mm The slots are 8mm wide. I just checked the accuracy of the angle with a square and there is no … Read more
With any milling machine a set of clamps is a must first buy, a clamping kit has a selection of T-nuts, bars and studs. My clamping set is screwed to the wall behind the milling machine. Keeps the workbench clear and easy to access. This is one of the generic cheap 52 piece sets from … Read more
Using a V-block to clamp the piston of my rotary engine to drill the gudgeon pin hole. As there were 5 pistons (5 Cylinder Rotary Engine) to drill exactly the same I set up the V-block and clamped it to the milling table. The V-block clamp is quite large and would have hit the chuck so … Read more
I was at the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition and looking for a heavy vice for my milling machine (Amadeal XJ12-300). There are a lot of cheap vices around and you can find them starting at around £50 for a 3″ swivel vice. However, the cheaper vices have a very rough action. This Soba vice is … Read more
