Metalworking Hunttalkers!

[np307]

If this has been touched on, excuse me.

But the conviction in this statement, tells me this should be #1 for you, not #4. Moot point yes, but clearly this is where your heart and mind is, and that alone is enough to warrant for it to always be stated first and foremost with that conviction, not fall be the wayside as a tertiary reason.

Good on you, and best of luck in your chosen endeavor.

Thanks. I wasn't necessarily trying to rank them in order of importance, but that's a good point.

 

[trackerbacker]

Thanks. I wasn't necessarily trying to rank them in order of importance, but that's a good point.

Hah I was trying to convey that I imagine it was arbitrary....but gave up and ran with what I had typed

 

[Goodfish]

I like to use Terry bits on a chucking spud drilling 301 and 321 stainless paired with a 20v battery drill.

I have used a ton of cobalt bits on it too, high speed stainless bits suck and hate using them.
What kind of stainless? 301 full hard drills better since it will move material out whereas when I drill 301 1/4 hard it wants to be "gummy" and push metal and make burs more than cut material out of the way.

Working on airplanes I have very tight tolerances on holes and usually start small with a #40 hole(3/32) and then use dual marginal drill bits to step up to a #30 hole(1/8) to create a cleaner hole, if they go to 3/16 then I use reamers for the close tolerance.

Reference #40 is 0.098" compared to 3/32 at 0.0938" and #30 is .1285" compared to 1/8 at .125"

The threaded 1/8 Terry bit

1/8" Short COBALT Threaded Drill Bit | Brown Aviation & Aircraft Tools

Chucking spud

2" "Chucking Spud" Drill Extension | Brown Aviation & Aircraft Tools

Dual marginal step bit

Piloted Double Margin Drills

Designed for close tolerance drilling in titanium, stainless, heat treated material and aluminum alloys. When the drill point penetrates enough for the second margin to contact the wall of the hole, the point is stabilized and true cylindrical geometry is established. Smooth accurate holes are...

www.panamericantool.com

Also have seen the machinist use started bits to poke holes, not what they are designed for but if it works it works.

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

Much appreciated! I have never heard of a Terry Bit. This is either 304 or 316 I will check. More stuff to try. Thanks!

 

[BenP]

Much appreciated! I have never heard of a Terry Bit. This is either 304 or 316 I will check. More stuff to try. Thanks!

Your welcome.
The Terry bit name I think is aviation specific. Most people would call them threaded cobalt bits, and there are carbide ones as well.

 

[np307]

Today we finally tied in the glycol lines that we ran in 4" megapress. I'm still not sure about it, thats a lot of faith to put in a pretty light gauge fitting with an o-ring. But it certainly went together way faster than even a team of welders 3 times our size could've done it.

Put in a new sugar pump on Tuesday, 15 sanitary welds in a day. We also have been running new product lines in a small condiment facility so I have my first coupons on file with a company (most of our customers don't ask for a weld test coupon). Still a bunch of work on the horizon, got a new guy who may be coming on full time and learning the sanitary side of stuff, he already has some tig experience and seems to be pretty capable. Tomorrow we had someone cancel so it's shop work unless somebody calls broken down. I'll probably be practicing my 3/4" sanitary welds to finally get certified.

 

[np307]

Went full janky welder mode this afternoon. Been wanting to build a stand for my reloading press, my boy played hard all morning so I knew I was going to get a long nap out of him, so I went into speed production mode. Very wide tolerances here, nothing needed to be straight or square. I only had 3 requirements: 1) the already assembled plywood base fits snugly 2) the stand isn't tippy 3) I can sit on a stool or stand to operate the press. I succeeded on all 3.

 

[np307]

Running wide open the last two days. Replaced steam lines to 3 heat exchangers on Wednesday, no telling how many hours of prefab we had and then it was a twelve hour day to get two of them running. The third one got finished today. I also had to go weld something I can't really show/talk about. It was 3" stitch welds and if you add all the stitch welds up it was 16'. All in a scissor lift over welding above my head.

 

[jmcd]

I've really enjoyed looking at the woodworking thread! I searched to see if we had done metal or not, didn't find anything. Post your work!

I'll start with a trout sculpture I did a few years ago as a commission piece. I haven't had time to do much artsy metal work since.

This is 20ga steel sheet, hand formed, with 2 stage urethane candy paint.

View attachment 256957View attachment 256958View attachment 256959

Don’t know how I missed this. Amazing work!

 

[Mallardsx2]

Making a big header for the sawmill shack. Scavenged this trailer frame. Plasma cutter and welder were getting a workout today. About ready to attach boards to the beam.

 

[np307]

Well, last week a big hurdle got thrown the company's way. My boss (the owner) broke his leg riding a dirt bike and is out of commission for 2 months. So that means I've been solo on a lot of stuff and the lead when the part time guys are around. Biggest thing I've been tackling is getting this guarding fabricated. It will all be covered in Lexan panels to keep people from sticking their hands in the machine while it's running. Plenty of other playes spinning too, hopefully wrapping up some of those projects soon. We got no drawings to follow for this, just minimum/maximum clearance specs and had to come up with the design. Pretty happy with it so far.

 

[Mallardsx2]

Got the header beam I welded together put up.

I’ll go back to the woodworker forum now…. lol

 

[np307]

Got the header beam I welded together put up.

I’ll go back to the woodworker forum now…. lol
View attachment 323256

That has more structural integrity than the thin wall tubing one plant wanted us to us to support a load-bearing wall that they cut down without supporting first.

 

[Mallardsx2]

It’s 27’ across there. I put in those gusset supports just as sone extra support. So far, I’m happy.

Hope to put steel on the roof next week, then I’ll spray everything again with used motor oil.

 

[np307]

It’s 27’ across there. I put in those gusset supports just as sone extra support. So far, I’m happy.

Hope to put steel on the roof next week, then I’ll spray everything again with used motor oil.

Yeah I think you'll be good to go. They wanted to span 17' with 4x3 1/8th wall tubing.

 

[BenP]

Kids are rough on their toys. Had to replace the center reel arm on one of the Draper headers for them.

 

[np307]

Today's mega urgent super important project that the plant wants done yesterday: a ceiling cover. Went and measured yesterday and came up with a design (I guess this is the year of developing my technical drawing skills) and building it today.