Some useful Tools

[jhb171achill]

Is Liver Fluke what you get if you drink scotch instead of Jamesons? Or Murphys instead of Guinness? Or if you listen to "Wagon Wheel" or "Wonderwall" instead of music?

[Weshty]

Or if you listen to "Wagon Wheel" or "Wonderwall" instead of music?

 

I'll take Wonderwall before that horse faced screeching harpie Florence, or Rihanna for that matter.

[Broithe]

I'll take Wonderwall before that horse faced screeching harpie Florence, or Rihanna for that matter.

On Juke Box Jury they used to just say "Oi'll give it foive"...

[murrayec]

Hi All

 

Here are a few shots of the first test of the applicator on some scrap MDF- sawdust flock with 2mm static grass and 6mm static grass tufts, and a few rocks for flavour....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The unit works great, though the dispenser head is a bit large- if a smaller container was used there would be more control. But very happy with the results and will work with it as is..

 

Eoin

[Dave]

Looks great Eoin, any pics of the static grass generator?

[Dave]

Found the pics a few pages back! Doh!

[closetmodeller]

That all looks very realistic. Well done. The "marshland" is very effective.

[murrayec]

Hi

 

This mornings project was to make the smaller applicator, I found a 170ml pill jar with a screw on lid (medical buzz again!) which works with the 40mm pipe. The outlet is 40mm and will give more accurate placement of grass around objects on a layout. I also recessed the switch a bit and used flush counter-sunk screws to insulate the fingers a bit better from zaps when switching the unit on n off.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eoin

Edited September 10, 2016 by murrayec

[Dave]

Excellent Eoin! Great for small spaces

[murrayec]

Here are a few shots of a soldering clamp and support board, made from 9mm MDF with a hardwood upstand and 90 deg fence. Threaded inserts are used for screwing down the clamps and an arrangement of clamping bits I use is shown, I use a strip of frying sheet to stop the parts sticking to the MDF, as you can see the MDF gets scorched- hardwood would be a better material. The unit is sacrificial, so holes can be drilled for a new clamping arrangement

 

 

 

 

Eoin

[murrayec]

Hi

 

Picked up this nice set of tweezers from Baseboard Dave last week, a variety of handles n points- very fine points, and a nice price to.....

 

 

 

Eoin

[Broithe]

Hi

 

Picked up this nice set of tweezers from Baseboard Dave last week, a variety of handles n points- very fine points, and a nice price to.....

 

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Eoin

Nice.

 

I keep a set of these in the car first aid box - marvellous for extracting splinters, thorns, etc. - you can even "follow down the hole" and pull it out by the end.

 

[Horsetan]

....you can even "follow down the hole" and pull it out by the end.

 

 

I feel a little unwell after reading that....

[Broithe]

I feel a little unwell after reading that....

 

I did a sod of a hawthorn hedge today - I've just got the last thorn out - it was a particularly difficult one and needed some extra access via a Swann Morton scalpel.

 

But, I did wait until you'd finished your tea.

[murrayec]

Chassis Painting Jig

 

When painting large chassis the usual option is to paint one side, wait for it to dry, and then turn it over and paint the other. I would like to paint the whole in one go- saves time and gets a better all covering coat in the one go....

 

So I made this- a chassis mounting & turning jig

 

19mm plywood base, 19mm MDF uprights- one fixed and the other adjustable, two 10mm dia aluminium rods with threaded holes- for attaching aluminium brackets from the chassis to. The MDF is drilled to a snug fit on the rods and actually holds the chassis in any position, there is a M4 pinch bolt in a threaded insert on one of the MDF uprights if needed. The brass knurled rotating knobs and brass rod stops are not fully required to make it work, but it makes a better jig and finishes it nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eoin

[Glenderg]

Boffintastic!

 

Even more impressive that you didn't get a single bit of paint on the timberwork

[murrayec]

Hi Glenderg

 

I did get paint on it tonight,

 

 

 

its excellent, one can manipulate the chassis on the jig or move the whole lot for those hard to reach spots! Even stand it up vertically, should have made one of these ages ago...

 

Eoin

[Mike 84C]

Eoin, that is brilliant and I feel a copy coming on! You really should market it as every airbrush owner needs one

[closetmodeller]

A really beautiful piece of work. just the standard one expects from a man who builds tools preparatory to the main task.

[Junctionmad]

Forget the jig , the chassis is lovely

[Colin R]

just in case anyone needed one Lidi's are sell hot glue guns not sure if they are selling them everywhere but just to give you guys the heads up.

 

Colin 

[murrayec]

Vernier Callipers.

This I find the best dial calliper to use on plastic models- Marks Models usually have these in stock. It's a €10.00 dial calliper with a shortened beam- to fit in ones pocket, and a tapped in M2 screw to lock the free leg to the beam to hold a measurement. The plastic ones are user friendly to models as the metal ones are quite sharp on the edges and I found they mark models very easily where one does not want a mark! Dials are better than batteries for the obvious reason.

One point on this unit- I found the fingers are not perpendicular to the beam so as long as you know this and allow for it, its fine....

Eoin

 

[Broithe]

Blimey, 'they' are watching us, keep your heads down...

 

[murrayec]

Paint Tinlet, Jar, glue, and other things storage trays;-

In a small workshop like mine as the tins & jars mount up it gets rather difficult to store them and the worst is to access them if in boxes, inevitably the tin your looking for is at the bottom which means all the others have to come out first! These trays made in 3.2mm mdf make the job a breeze, cut to take all sizes, all I do is select the right tray, pop the lid & I'm off painting, the tin stays in the tray so nice and stable, cant be knocked over. Trays can be assigned the most used paints or by colour range, their stackable so handy to store away and I plan to make a container to store the stack.... thats for another day!

Eoin

[JasonB]

Very handy solution Eoin, as you say it's always the tin of paint your looking for that's buried at the bottom of the storage box.

[Broithe]

I'm liking the filing cabinet - the shallow-drawer ones are so handy for tool storage - much easier than rummaging around in toolboxes.

I have several, of various depths. I would be lost without them now.

You can arrange things systematically and it's easy to locate the right drawer and then find the item required. And you can reorder the drawers, if there are changes or additions to your 'system'. Drawers can be subdivided, if necessary, too.

Highly recommended.

 

There were people selling similar paint-storage arrangements via the model magazines in the 1980s - I have a punched steel one, where the shelves with 16 tinlets on each could be removed from a cabinet that holds four shelves.

[murrayec]

Hi Broithe

Yes filing cabinets are the one;-

Lidl A4 plastic filing cabinet for €10.00 built into a plywood frame on wheels, stores plastic sheet in drawers with slots on top for styrene section and scanner. Wheels in under the bench.

This one is again an A4 document storage unit used for tools and modelling stock, these are expensive to buy new but can be found second-hand at better rate.

This is Lidl again, deeper A4 drawers, is metal and is on wheels, comes in at around €40.00, I use it for tools and modelling stock also.

I worked out the size of the cabinet I will require if I put all the tins and glues in trays- 1m tall with 16 trays!

.....well 6 made another 10 to go!

Eoin

[warb]

Storage nest for styrene sheet which i eventually had to make as they were being stored in a drawer and could not find the one i was looking for.

[murrayec]

Another paint spraying jig.

A 'two axis rotational jig with interchangeable parts cradles';-

And turn it this way.....

And that way......

And the cradle dismounted for the next part to be loaded!

I've made four cradles of this type and a few more variations are on the drawing board yet to be cut out.

Eoin

 

[murrayec]

'What to do with broken or worn files & hacksaw blades'

 I don't break many files but when it happens I throw them into the scrap box- for the future! - and the future is now......

When setting up the cnc machine I had a few messy starts working out the system, ending up with a few sheets of metal not fully cut or the machine stopped half way through, lost it's settings and could not pick-up where it left off so a new sheet had to be done. I tried to cut the parts out with a scalpel and a Stanley knife but tough going!!

What's needed is some small chisels, so into the scrap box and out with a broken file (it's hardened steel so as long as its not overheated while grinding it will keep its hardness) two chisels were made from the one file- a big and a little;-

The set-up for grinding, it's what I use for sharpening the lathe & drill tools, a standard grey fine wheel is mounted with the Veritas table and its sliding fitting for sharpening screwdrivers and chisels.

Chisels made and honed time to test, done on a lump of lead from the fishing days- the lead gives support to the parts and allows the chisels through with minimum distortion to the parts.

As you can see in the shot above the parts are not fully cut out, it worked a breeze, just had to chisel around the parts and through the tabs. Below is a photo of the Walker coupler rod after been cut out without any distortion.

While you have your bench grinder out a broken hacksaw blade is ground into a 'Scrawker' a grove cutting tool for brass n styrene. A wooden handle will be fitted somewhere along the way but works great as is, I use a glove though.

Very useful tools.....

Eoin

 

[Colin R]

Hi Eoin

I have made up a number of scrappers to help clean up brass and plastic kits over the years from old hacksaw blades they last for ages.

Colin R

[PorkyP]

Broken or otherwise useless drill bits are a source of tool quality steel to make 'specials' out of, now I've got the small lathe I can use up some of the bits I've saved to make various cutters etc!

Eoin's holding jig things earlier in the thread look good too, I'll be making myself a couple based on those no doubt..

[flange lubricator]

currently available in Aldi at €6.99. 41 piece hand drill and bits 

https://www.aldi.ie/workzone-41-piece-hand-drill-set/p/800452370679402

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by flange lubricator

[Midland Man]

Quite tempting.....

[murrayec]

Scrawker Mod;- 3mm mdf handle epoxied to both sides of the blade- doesn't hurt the fingers any-more.

Eoin