As is the case with Dan's other videos, I (notwithstanding decades of shop experience), I learn something from this one too. But Dan didn't cover the basics that students and home-shop beginners (and even those with some experience) need to know:- 1. Work should ALWAYS be clamped. It's quicker, and therefore very tempting, to hold work by hand, but this leads to poorer quality and is a safety hazard; 2. Use the right speed for the work material, drill size, and drill type (HSS, TiN, etc). It isn't critical, but I have noticed beginners and even those who have had some trade training often use a quite wrong speed. Too high can ruin the drill and/or work; too low uses up too much time and leads to a poor finish; Any good engineering handbook will tell you how to choose the right speed. 3. When you buy HSS drills, they are set up for mild steel. If you are going to drill brass, they must be reground with zero rake, or it will grab. (Dan did cover this in an earlier video). For some types of brass and small holes, you can get away with old worn drills. To drill aluminium sheet or plate, HSS drills ground for mild steel will tend to make pentagonal holes instead of round holes. You should regrind them for aluminium. To explain how would make this comment far too long, but if you dig around, you'll find out. 4. When drilling sheet metal, a lot of problems (non round holes, large burrs) are solved by using a backing plate of some scrap material. 5. Dan suggests using an automatic centre pop followed by a traditional hammer-driven centre punch. If you are going to use a hammer driven punch you might as well dispense with the automatic punch. Auto punches tend to bounce around and cause inaccuracy. 6. Reamers are very expensive. Usually you want to ream a hole to get either a good finish or a precise diameter. A poor man's reamer is an ordinary drill! First (after the pilot hole as Dan showed), drill with a drill bit 0.1 mm under the final size. Then drill again with the final size. 7. With most common materials, cutting fluid isn't essential (though you should ALWAY ensure the bit doesn't get too hot). However, with stainless steel, it's critically important. There's lots of proprietry cutting fluids on the market. I have complete success just squirting with CRC often enough to keep the hole wet. And CRC has a multitude of uses. 8. Any time a drill begins to go blunt, don't persevere, don't buy another drill, regrind the one you have. It should only need a touch. 9. There's lots of drill grinding devices and grinder attachments on the market, and home machinist/model engineer publications often describe them. Don't bother with them. Learn to regrind drills by eye holding them in vice-grips.(Irwin or equivalent). It's not hard - you'll soon acquire the knack. 10. For drilling aluminium, buy a quality set of HSS drill bits in 0.1 mm increments. (or if you must be silly and avoid metric, but a set of number drills (0 to 60) and letter drills. A quality set will last a lifetime. I'm still using a P&N (a once common Australian made brand) set I bought 50 years ago. Don't buy those cheap and nasty Chinese drills you see in retail hardware stores. 11. Keep your drills in their box and give them an occasional squirt of CRC. Even if your workshop is a draughty cold shed, they'll never go rusty.
Regarding comments from PMX-Tek: 1. The calipers tips are ground at a sharp angle for ease of scribing, as seen in close-up shots. 2. The chisel is ground especially for deburring, as explained in video. 3. Pulsed laser welder does not require inert gas, just try it and compare bond strength. Only CW (continuous) laser welder require gas. 4. The videos are intended for people who do not have machining/welding skills, as clearly explained in first video of series. I'm a great fan of welding myself, but it needs training. I agree that some of the methods are a bit unorthodox, but please try them before you make up your mind. Everything shown was used for many years with good results.
Using a cheap digital caliper you’ll find they last quite a long time for doing layout before needing replacement and the speed is great. Saving your precision ( i.e. expensive) calipers for precision work.
Faster pays for many new calibers! Using a caliber is really quick with acceptable accuracy. For example: Assume you save 10 seconds each time you use a caliber versus some other way of scribing. Let's further assume you need to scribe about 20 lines (that is at least nineteen hole locations) each day during a prototype building. You work about 1/3 of your time, or 80 days, on prototypes per year. The total time you save is is about 4 hours. If your shop rate (unburdened) is $30, you can buy one really nice Mitutoyo caliber every year. And, at the usage described above the caliber will last much more than a year.
Found Dan Gilbert today, watched a few brilliant videos, looked him up. What a man, what a career! Electrical engineering degree did not train those hands nor give his fantastic understanding of tools. English as second or third language incredibly precise and vivid. Words fail me - Wow!
Dan is showing some fundamental shop skills that are deeply embedded in the tradition of Journeymen machinists. Dan is a legitimate polymath; a person could learn much by paying attention to how he manages workflow and his attention to detail. He understands, _really understands,_ how to drill a hole in metal as well as how to incubate and manage a high technology enterprise. Engineering technology in general has a fair amount of scholarly documentation. This type of shop level wisdom is not well documented; and so it is golden.
These videos are great! I have take a few years of community college machining and I am enjoying them so much. The skill and knowledge are just oozing out on these videos.
Wow. I'm enjoying your series of videos. Thanks for the excellent instruction. Let's hope American kids get excited in learning how to build things. We need more Entrepreneurs in this country.
Dan, Thank you very much for your time and fantastic videos. Could you elaborate on the laser attachment for your milling machine? I have been thinking of something like that but I think your design is simple, accurate and inexpensive. All my criteria in one...
Hi Dan, Thank you for taking the time to make these wonderful videos. I am also interested in the laser attachment for your milling machine. The link in your comments above appears to not be working. Would you mind sending an updated link?
I wouldn't use it for boring steel, but for a light cut in aluminum, I never had a problem. Your point is still valid, I should have used the milling vise.
you can use the milling vice... You can do whatever you like :) Sorry for being critical. I take great joy in what you do. It's wonderful to watch you work. Criticism is unnecessary and I share what you have taught with my students every day. Thanks :)
Thank you Dan. I started an automation company a few years ago. This year I bought a CNC and a small Omax water jet. Your videos are full of very clever tips. When I’m ready for 3D metal printing I’ll consider yours first.
Agree that the single parts (each half of the housing) would be shorter to machine by splitting the housing near the middle, however, if you made a single deep housing with a 2D lid then the longer machining time of the deeper housing would likely be offset by the then very simple lid, which can now also be potentially water cut. It is likely sensitive to how deep the housing needs to be and if the difference between 2 halves and a single deep section means specialised tooling or not. Thanks for the videos, learning a lot.
Hi Dan, Another great video on machining. How accurate is your Jet mill, in regards to locking the table and how much inaccuracies are incurred, during the locking process? I find my Bridgeport mill moves by a few thousands whenever I lock the table. in both axises.
I would guess the Jet mill is the same, certainly not better. I only use the Jet for "quick and dirty" small jobs. My milling machine is a Makino KE55, which is a wonderful CNC/manual mill, but like all great machines they stopped making it.
For large holes drill first with a drill of about half the diameter. To better size a hole drill with a drill about 0.2mm smaller, than ream or drill to final size. Most re-sharpened drills will drill about 0.1mm oversize, therefore 0.2mm rather than 0.1mm smaller.
9:46 "reamers are tapered" There seems to be some confusion here. As far as I know, only hand reamers have a starting taper which would make them unsuitable for reaming blind holes. Ordinary straight flute chucking reamers should be fine for reaming blind holes.
As is the case with Dan's other videos, I (notwithstanding decades of shop experience), I learn something from this one too. But Dan didn't cover the basics that students and home-shop beginners (and even those with some experience) need to know:-
1. Work should ALWAYS be clamped. It's quicker, and therefore very tempting, to hold work by hand, but this leads to poorer quality and is a safety hazard;
2. Use the right speed for the work material, drill size, and drill type (HSS, TiN, etc). It isn't critical, but I have noticed beginners and even those who have had some trade training often use a quite wrong speed. Too high can ruin the drill and/or work; too low uses up too much time and leads to a poor finish; Any good engineering handbook will tell you how to choose the right speed.
3. When you buy HSS drills, they are set up for mild steel. If you are going to drill brass, they must be reground with zero rake, or it will grab. (Dan did cover this in an earlier video). For some types of brass and small holes, you can get away with old worn drills. To drill aluminium sheet or plate, HSS drills ground for mild steel will tend to make pentagonal holes instead of round holes. You should regrind them for aluminium. To explain how would make this comment far too long, but if you dig around, you'll find out.
4. When drilling sheet metal, a lot of problems (non round holes, large burrs) are solved by using a backing plate of some scrap material.
5. Dan suggests using an automatic centre pop followed by a traditional hammer-driven centre punch. If you are going to use a hammer driven punch you might as well dispense with the automatic punch. Auto punches tend to bounce around and cause inaccuracy.
6. Reamers are very expensive. Usually you want to ream a hole to get either a good finish or a precise diameter. A poor man's reamer is an ordinary drill! First (after the pilot hole as Dan showed), drill with a drill bit 0.1 mm under the final size. Then drill again with the final size.
7. With most common materials, cutting fluid isn't essential (though you should ALWAY ensure the bit doesn't get too hot). However, with stainless steel, it's critically important. There's lots of proprietry cutting fluids on the market. I have complete success just squirting with CRC often enough to keep the hole wet. And CRC has a multitude of uses.
8. Any time a drill begins to go blunt, don't persevere, don't buy another drill, regrind the one you have. It should only need a touch.
9. There's lots of drill grinding devices and grinder attachments on the market, and home machinist/model engineer publications often describe them. Don't bother with them. Learn to regrind drills by eye holding them in vice-grips.(Irwin or equivalent). It's not hard - you'll soon acquire the knack.
10. For drilling aluminium, buy a quality set of HSS drill bits in 0.1 mm increments. (or if you must be silly and avoid metric, but a set of number drills (0 to 60) and letter drills. A quality set will last a lifetime. I'm still using a P&N (a once common Australian made brand) set I bought 50 years ago. Don't buy those cheap and nasty Chinese drills you see in retail hardware stores.
11. Keep your drills in their box and give them an occasional squirt of CRC. Even if your workshop is a draughty cold shed, they'll never go rusty.
Regarding comments from PMX-Tek:
1. The calipers tips are ground at a sharp angle for ease of scribing, as seen in close-up shots.
2. The chisel is ground especially for deburring, as explained in video.
3. Pulsed laser welder does not require inert gas, just try it and compare bond strength. Only CW (continuous) laser welder require gas.
4. The videos are intended for people who do not have machining/welding skills, as clearly explained in first video of series. I'm a great fan of welding myself, but it needs training.
I agree that some of the methods are a bit unorthodox, but please try them before you make up your mind. Everything shown was used for many years with good results.
Thank you Dan
Or the new one is the dovetail which can be milled away afterwards.
Using the tips of the Digital Caliper to scribe lines is definitely a NO NO. . . . . Bad Practice.
Using a cheap digital caliper you’ll find they last quite a long time for doing layout before needing replacement and the speed is great. Saving your precision ( i.e. expensive) calipers for precision work.
Faster pays for many new calibers! Using a caliber is really quick with acceptable accuracy. For example: Assume you save 10 seconds each time you use a caliber versus some other way of scribing. Let's further assume you need to scribe about 20 lines (that is at least nineteen hole locations) each day during a prototype building. You work about 1/3 of your time, or 80 days, on prototypes per year. The total time you save is is about 4 hours. If your shop rate (unburdened) is $30, you can buy one really nice Mitutoyo caliber every year. And, at the usage described above the caliber will last much more than a year.
Other than buying more calipers you can also get carbide tipped ones specific to this purpose.
Found Dan Gilbert today, watched a few brilliant videos, looked him up. What a man, what a career! Electrical engineering degree did not train those hands nor give his fantastic understanding of tools. English as second or third language incredibly precise and vivid. Words fail me - Wow!
Dan is showing some fundamental shop skills that are deeply embedded in the tradition of Journeymen machinists. Dan is a legitimate polymath; a person could learn much by paying attention to how he manages workflow and his attention to detail. He understands, _really understands,_ how to drill a hole in metal as well as how to incubate and manage a high technology enterprise.
Engineering technology in general has a fair amount of scholarly documentation. This type of shop level wisdom is not well documented; and so it is golden.
These videos are great! I have take a few years of community college machining and I am enjoying them so much. The skill and knowledge are just oozing out on these videos.
Wow. I'm enjoying your series of videos. Thanks for the excellent instruction.
Let's hope American kids get excited in learning how to build things. We need more Entrepreneurs in this country.
Dan,
Thank you very much for your time and fantastic videos. Could you elaborate on the laser attachment for your milling machine? I have been thinking of something like that but I think your design is simple, accurate and inexpensive. All my criteria in one...
Baltasar Puig Full design here: drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByWaTeq__NX1eWtXQjIwWnU3V0E&usp=sharing
Much appreciated
The link seems to be down, is it possible that you could reupload it?
Hi Dan,
Thank you for taking the time to make these wonderful videos. I am also interested in the laser attachment for your milling machine. The link in your comments above appears to not be working. Would you mind sending an updated link?
Oh, I love the relief groove for self aligning precise pins.
Dan thanks for your videos mate!
Fantastic video - so many useful tips! Thank you.
10:30 talks about rigidity. Uses his drilling vice....
Man, I had to work hard to come up with even this tiny inconsistency. This guy rocks!
I wouldn't use it for boring steel, but for a light cut in aluminum, I never had a problem. Your point is still valid, I should have used the milling vise.
Milling with a drilling vise is a milling vice! :-)
you can use the milling vice...
You can do whatever you like :)
Sorry for being critical.
I take great joy in what you do. It's wonderful to watch you work. Criticism is unnecessary and I share what you have taught with my students every day.
Thanks :)
Thank you Dan. I started an automation company a few years ago. This year I bought a CNC and a small Omax water jet. Your videos are full of very clever tips. When I’m ready for 3D metal printing I’ll consider yours first.
You're videos are gold Dan. Thank you.
Agree that the single parts (each half of the housing) would be shorter to machine by splitting the housing near the middle, however, if you made a single deep housing with a 2D lid then the longer machining time of the deeper housing would likely be offset by the then very simple lid, which can now also be potentially water cut. It is likely sensitive to how deep the housing needs to be and if the difference between 2 halves and a single deep section means specialised tooling or not. Thanks for the videos, learning a lot.
Hi Dan,
Another great video on machining. How accurate is your Jet mill, in regards to locking the table and how much inaccuracies are incurred, during the locking process? I find my Bridgeport mill moves by a few thousands whenever I lock the table. in both axises.
I would guess the Jet mill is the same, certainly not better. I only use the Jet for "quick and dirty" small jobs. My milling machine is a Makino KE55, which is a wonderful CNC/manual mill, but like all great machines they stopped making it.
Thank you so much.
is there a rule of thumb as to the sizes of drill used when graduating up to a specific final size?
For large holes drill first with a drill of about half the diameter. To better size a hole drill with a drill about 0.2mm smaller, than ream or drill to final size. Most re-sharpened drills will drill about 0.1mm oversize, therefore 0.2mm rather than 0.1mm smaller.
thank you!
There is also a special tool for deburring holes from the other side. Blondihacks uses one frequently.
9:46 "reamers are tapered" There seems to be some confusion here. As far as I know, only hand reamers have a starting taper which would make them unsuitable for reaming blind holes. Ordinary straight flute chucking reamers should be fine for reaming blind holes.