Projects In Metal, LLC Free Metalworking Projects, Plans, Tips, and Tricks for the Amateur Machinist

This is one of those concepts that I thought I had a handle on until I dug a bit deeper. I was taught to set the compound (or top slide for those of you across the pond) to 29.5° when cutting a 60° thread. My understanding was that this would allow for you to advance the threading tool at a ... Read More »

Here’s a quick tip to bring in the new year. A novel way to remove a stripped or stubborn machine screw using a vise. The idea is simple, a stripped screw tends to lead to problems with the screwdriver “camming out”. To prevent this, pinch the screw and the screwdriver (or in this case, the screwdriver bit or “blade”) between ... Read More »

Quick Change Tool Posts (QCTP’s) are great, but once you own one you tend to start accumulating all sorts of tool holders. The problem is these holders can be bulky and take up a lot of drawer space, if they fit in a drawer at all (mine don’t fit in my Kennedy tool box as they are just a smidge ... Read More »

My first modification after buying my G0602 was to add a Quick Change Tool Post. QCTP’s have many advantages, including quick and easy tool changes, consistant tool height setting, and safety (sharp tools sticking out in 4 directions from a standard 4-way tool post can be a painful way to learn a lesson!). Anyway, adding a QCTP to the G0602 ... Read More »

In the following two videos Barry Young walks you through the process of sharpening your twist drills by hand. There are a few other videos on the web showing this process, but none (at least none that I’ve found) show multiple angles and describe the process in as much detail as these videos do. This is our first major video tutorial project ... Read More »