My third grandson turns two in two weeks, so it is past time to make something for him. "The Home Shop Machinist" came through in the most recent issue with a simple toy, a block of wood with various types of screws and the tools to turn them. I had a few misgivings on how the tool functions with the screws coming completely out of the block. Even though large washers were glued in place to avoid choking, I was worried about them being lost or more likely, thrown.
My plan began with a 4 1/2" X 12" block of wood. Not having such a scrap available, two pieces of hard maple were glued edge to edge. One board was slightly thicker than the other. The clamps were removed and both planing and sanding were used to even up the two boards, too much of both for my taste. The resulting board is about 3/4" thick.
One board was longer than the other and had its ends sawed off square with the table saw. The shorter board's ends were cut off at a 45° angle. Two slots will be milled in this board one on the long side and one on the shorter side.
The first slot is too long to be milled in one setup, so most of the slot was milled using the setup below. The board was supported on one inch blocks of brass and strap clamps held the ends in place. The front edge of the board was aligned with the front edge of the milling table. A central 3/8" wide slot was milled 3/8" from the back edge of the setup. This was progressively milled to 1/4" depth and then widened in both directions by 1/8". This 5/8" slot, a bit undersized, was widened until the 5/8" wide piece of 1/4" steel fit smoothly.
The board was reclamped and one slot end was lengthened by about 1". The same was done on the opposite end. Each setup took longer than the milling. A second slot was cut on the opposite side of the board to accomodate a second bar. A chisel was used to square up the ends. (The legs were cut from two rocking chair scraps and can be seen in the first photo.)
Morning saw the inserts being cut to length for the slots. Without a piece of steel long enough two were cut to fit, the first 7 1/4" and the second 2 3/4". The short slot got a brass insert cut and milled to length and then to width as it began at 3/4". The photo shows the not quite complete inserts, the small steel insert still needs to be squared up and trimmed to length.
A trip to Menards to purchase some screws and tools for turning the various screws was in order prior to drilling and tapping holes. The photo below shows the ten planned twisty things at the top of the paper along with a few alternates lying below. Beginning from the left is a knurled knob that will be glued to a screw, a phillips head machine screw, a brass slotted machine screw, a toilet bolt, wing nut, carriage bolt, hex head cap screw, thumb screw, eyebolt, and socket head cap screw. Two stubby screwdrivers were purchased as well as an inexpensive set of hex keys. Too bad the set does not have a key large enough to fit the SHCS purchased! Two tools will need to be made, a wrench and now a hex key.
The screws will not be removable. Most will utilize either a nylon lock nut or a glued nut on the bottom end once the table has been assembled. The wing nut will need a stop on the top of its screw or potentially just damaged threads.
Thinking through the order of events for the next few processes, the following order was settled on. Holes need to be drilled in the steel and brass inserts for both the screwy things and the mounting screws. The mounting screws holes will be drilled and screws installed first. Drilling and tapping the working holes will come next along with transferring them to the slot bottom. In this way the wood can be drilled accurately for through holes.
The marked inserts were held in the milling vise and drilled: center drill, #18 drill for a through hole, and deeply countersunk. The holes were transferred, 11/64" punch, to the table and the table was drilled with a 7/64" drill. The threads were installed in the table holes with a #8 steel wood screw using a cordless drill after using a brass screw failed. This maple is hard!! With wax on the threads, the screws were installed with the inserts to check fit.
The legs were the next order of business. Originally I thought legs that were 1 5/8" deep would be sufficient, but on more thought realized that these legs needed to be at the back of the bench, so the screws moving up and down in the front would not be obstructed. This leaves the front of the bench unsupported and primed for tipping, so extensions were added to my planned legs. Maple scraps from the rocking chair arm supports were utilized.
The first leg work was adding the extensions to the legs. To this end the extensions were drilled 1" deep with a 3/8" drill to pass the screw heads, #10 X 1 1/2". The through hole was drilled. The holes were then transferred to the leg, while maintaining careful alignment. The legs were drilled and threaded with screws. The photo below shows the assembled legs.
The bench was then drilled to attach the legs. First, 3/8" holes were drilled 1/4" deep. Through holes were then drilled. With the bench held on the legs the holes were transferred for one screw in each leg. These holes were threaded with a screw and then the bench was screwed to the legs, one screw each. The second hole was transferred and the screw installation process was repeated. Two photos show the attached legs. It only rocks a little, haha.
The inserts were marked out for drilling, with the marks centered between sides and at appropriate distances from the ends. Three drills were pulled out, tapping drills for the three different sized holes. All holes were first center drilled and then drilled with the appropriate tap drill, followed by tapping, either 1/4"-20, 5/16"-18, or 3/8"-16. The drilled and tapped brass insert is seen below.
Holes were transferred from the insert to the tabletop. The wood was drilled with the appropriate size of through drill, 1/32" oversize in each case. A few holes were not perfectly centered and the screws when installed bound up. These holes in the wood were filed with a round file to eliminate the binding. The photos below show the drilled tabletop, the assembled table and the workbench with most screws in place.
A host of smaller jobs need to be completed prior to the finish work, polishing the metal, sanding, staining, and painting on a top coat of poly. The screwdrivers need storage holes. They also need some way of tying them to the workbench. A wrench needs to be made to fit the hex head screw. The wrench needs a storage slot. The knurled nut needs to be attached to a length of screw. I am also considering slotting the leg extensions at least on the outside. Finally, the extensions need to be glued to the legs, the legs to the table, and the inserts into their slots.
The knurled knob was drilled through with a 5/16" drill and then tapped 3/8"-16. A carriage bolt was cut off with a hack saw, while held in a lathe chuck. The end was filed and chamfered. The knurled knob threaded onto the carriage bolt is shown below. After installation the knob will be glued to the bolt and the knob's setscrew will be tightened.
The hex head screw is 0.485" across the flats give or take. A 1/2" wrench should fit the bill. The sides of the hexagon are 0.30". A 1/2" hole will be drilled and two flats created by opening the hole to the end. A hole in the distal end will be used to tie the wrench to the workbench.
This morning's focus was on the wrench for the hex head screw. The head is a bit less than 0.5", so that was the targeted size of the wrench. A scrap of aluminum was located that had been used for engraving practice, many years ago. The scrap was too wide and too long. Milling off the edges was followed by sawing off one end leaving a 11/16" X 3" rectangle. The aluminum was marked out for two holes, one to fit the hex head screw and the other for attaching it to the workbench.
The attachment hole was center drilled and drilled with a #1 drill. The larger hole at the opposite end was center drilled, drilled up to 13/64" and then opened with a 1/2" end mill. The hole was slotted with the same end mill. The photo below shows the part after completing the large hole.
The sides of the nascent wrench were milled about 1/16" to narrow the handle, seen below. Filing produced a crude wrench shown in the second photo below. Sanding from 150 to 600 grit produced the finished wrench shown in the third photo.
Screwdriver mods took only a few minutes. The drill press was the first machine considered, but when trying to align a punch with the center of the slightly domed screwdriver handle and the punch slipping all over the place, the lathe came to mind. The phillips screwdriver was held in the three jaw chuck and center drilled. It was drilled with a #29 drill, my best guess for a drill to match the eye screws located in my storage shelves. The screw with significant effort was forced into the hole, a good thing as I don't want the grandson removing it. The four jaw chuck was used for the slotted screwdriver as its shaft has a square cross section. It was quickly centered by eye. Drilling and eye screw installation proceeded as quickly as the phillips.
The needed allen wrench is 5/16". I have two, but use both as one is in the basement closet shop and the other in the garage shop. One will be made. The simple plan is to mill the hex on one end of a scrap of steel, put a hole for attachment to the workbench in the opposite end, and near this hole drill a cross hole for a handle. I planned to use the hexagonal indexing attachment made for the Sherline three jaw chuck, but the 1/2" steel sticks out too far and there is no good way to rigidify (sic) it.
Two indexing attachments were made seven years ago and work well, but have always had one common problem, no through hole. Consequently, working on long stock is tricky, the attachment is held in the milling vise leaving the chuck and its held part hanging out. It is past time to fix this issue, so a side project is in order.
Happy birthday to me! Don't enjoy getting old and dealing with its associated problems, but it is much better than the alternative. Haha!!
The aluminum square indexing attachment had already been drilled just shy of 1/2". It was aligned in the four jaw chuck and reamed with a 1/2" reamer. The hex version was then aligned in the four jaw chuck. Had never used a four jaw on hex stock, but all went well. It was also aligned to within 0.0005". (The alignment in both cases was performed on the bit of round stock remaining just beyond the threads.) The steel was center drilled, drilled up to 31/64" with a lot of cutting fluid, and reamed to 1/2". The steel chosen for the home made hex key, probably 1/2" drill rod, was what I like to call a pop fit. With the steel in the hole, the back end is sealed against my palm. The other hand quickly pulls the steel from the hole resulting in a nice pop.
Unfortunately, the above work had to be done in the 80 plus degree garage. After working 45 minutes I was overheated and exhausted. The current heat wave is supposed to end in a few days and only get up to 80° during the day, a welcome improvement.
The first photo below shows the setup with the improved hexagonal indexing block. The faces were cut 0.094" deep into the 1/2" steel round. The second photo shows the completed six faces of the hex tool. The screw did not fit, so the corners were filed to ~1/32" flats. It still did not fit. Measurements of the distance across flats showed 0.315", 0.312" and 0.310". Two flats were recut so all three were at 0.310". The screw fit nicely, seen in the third photo. A bit of work with a file removed burrs and sharp edges.
A number of possibilities were considered for putting a loop on the end of the hex tool, including threading and then bending a 1/8" round of brass, but the simplest won out. A purchased eye, just like the two installed in the screwdrivers, had its threads filed off. This left a 0.15" diameter, a bit small for an 8-36 thread. The shaft was threaded with a die anyway up onto the previously unthreaded part of the eye screw. Opposite the hex end of the tool the hex driver was centered drilled and drilled for an 8-36 tap. The hole was tapped about 1/4" deep. The eye screw fit nicely.
The finishing step for this hex driver is a cross hole for a tommy bar. A flat was milled approximately 1/2" from the eye screwed end. After locating the center of the rod it was center drilled and drilled with a #29, 0.128", drill. The hole ends were lightly chamfered. A 2" length of 1/8" brass rod was cut and its ends cleaned up. The photo below shows the near complete hex driver. The brass bar had its ends expanded with a ball peen hammer and the eye screw was glued into place with Loctite. (The eye screws were glued into the screwdriver handles with super glue.)
Now I am off to bake myself a cake! (Yes, I will share it with the wife.)
The cake, a cottage apple spice cake, was delicious, especially when topped with Talenti vanilla ice cream. But my birthday has passed and it is time to complete this birthday present for the grandson.
A few mods are needed on the workbench itself. This morning's goal is slotting the leg extensions, just extending the slots on the legs proper. An additional slot will be added to the left extension, storage for the wrench. The slots in the legs are 9/16" from the bottom, 3/4" wide and 3/8" deep. In order to get good alignment with the leg slots, the leg and extension will be kept attached, when put in the milling vise.
Slotting the extension had its challenges. The first photo shows the major blowout on the first extension. Shouldn't be difficult to repair, but a pain nonetheless. The second extension was cut with two precautions. A piece of oak was clamped to the extension and cutting the narrow side was done coming into the extension and toward the already existant dado.
The legs needed to flattened on the tops and bottoms as well as cut to the same length in order for the table to be level and not rock. The tops were cut first with both clamped to an angle plate, shown below. A fly cutter did a nice job of cutting and left a decent finish. The legs were then flipped over and the bottoms were cut along with the attached extension. Both were cut to the same height as determined by the DRO.
While the repair job glue was drying, holes for three tools were drilled. The phillips screwdriver hole was 1/4", 3/8" for the slotted, and 1/2" for the hex driver. The latter had to be opened a bit with some adroit drill jiggling. The photo below shows two of the tools mounted in their holes. (The slotted screwdriver is propped up for effect!)
The brass and steel inserts were removed from the table. The brass was sanded to 600 grit, while the steel inserts were sanded to 1000. I liked the look left by these grits, so stopped at this point. I considered a higher polish, but preferred the matte finish.
The repair did not take, so the mistake was turned into a feature. The corner was cut off, a nice miter, with a small saw. The same corner on the opposite leg was given identical treatment, shown below. The dado will be the storage slot for the wrench.
All surfaces of the table and two legs were sanded with 400 grit sandpaper, leaving a very smooth finish. Dust was blown off with the Turbo Fan. A stain used previously for a small table was chosen. It is a mixture of two stains. As there was little left in the bottle more was made up. One can opened readily, but the other was rusted shut. The lid had to be pried off with a pair of pliers, totally destroying the lid. Seven parts of the orange Dye Stain from General Finishes was mixed with four parts of the Medium Brown stain. This was painted on the table and legs with a brush, then any excess was wiped off. Sanding will be required as the stain raised the grain. The "never to be closed again" can of brown stain was transfered to a Mason jar.
The table and the two legs sitting on the same triangular scraps of wood were given a coat of shellac diluted 1:1 with ethanol. Succeeding coats were applied with about ten minutes between coats for a total of five coats. Meanwhile, the inserts were all given a coat of ProtectaClear varnish.
Finito! The dried shellac was covered with Johnson's paste wax and after drying, buffed. The inserts were glued in place. Care was taken to put glue only in the screw holes used for attaching and not in other screw holes. The extensions were glued to the legs and the legs to the table again with glue in the screw holes. Screwdrivers are included and we don't want the workbench taken apart. The various screws were put in place with locking nuts, either locknuts or Loctite thread locker. The screws for the strings attached to the tools were glued in place. Strings were tied to these screws and their opposite ends to the tools. Some kind of plastic string was used that readily melts with a soldering iron, making the knots permanent.
The first photo below shows the entire bench put together prior to gluing just to make sure all was in order. The second photo is after gluing the workbench together and gluing nuts onto the bottoms of the various screws. The final photo shows the tools tied and put away. (This workbench is a lot neater than mine!)
My thanks to Elinor Fyfe for her fine article in the most recent issue of "The Home Shop Machinist".