Misplaced Dreams

[Doofy]

I ordered a set of the Blair Rotabroach cutters since I can't justify a MagDrill for 2 or 3 holes. I just hope the metal isn't to hardened after welding the wallowed holes shut. I did order an additional set of 3) 3/4" cutters because I'm sure I will probably break one while learning the technique. I've watched every video I could find about Rotabroach use.

On a different note, I was sweating about removing a 3/4" Grade 8 bolt that was damaged but a cutoff wheel on the die grinder went thru it like butter. I was impressed.

 

[dragoneggs]

You're never too old to learn anything if it interests you. Maybe too old to make a living at it, but never to old to learn.

:thumbsup::thumbsup: And I look at it as you are 'making a living' and a happy one. Maybe just not putting food on the table with it.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah! Keeps the brain alive. I really enjoy learning new things. 6 years ago I had a forced career change. My shifts got changed, and I was home all day. So I learned to cook. I don't mean pancakes or rice, either. I mean real meals. I really enjoyed that. The wife did, too, because dinner was on the table when she got home from work. Happy wife happy life. :thumbsup:

I'm building a 24x24 garage addition. I've not done framing or flat concrete to this extent in the past. So I read, read, read, watched lots of videos, etc... and jumped in. I'm satisfied with the progress. I learned the flat work with my kids and wife. We all learned. I framed it up on my own and lifted the first 12' wide wall section and placed it with my little PT425. It was so easy, I skipped the machine and my wife and I did the remaining 12' wall sections by hand. She was even surprised how easy it was. All we have left is to put shingles on the ridge vent (today), then wrap the walls with house wrap, and put on siding, fascia and soffit (siding is backorders to mid October ).

I figured if my dad built his own house, I could build my own garage. Was talking to one of my sisters about that, telling her I was up on the roof, sore as heck from the labor of throwing 4x8 sheets of 5/8" OSB up there from the ground, wondering how my dad did it. She reminded me that dad was 38 when he built his house.... "You'll be 60 in a couple months....." OH. :laughing:

 

[Smokeydog]

I ordered a set of the Blair Rotabroach cutters since I can't justify a MagDrill for 2 or 3 holes. I just hope the metal isn't to hardened after welding the wallowed holes shut. I did order an additional set of 3) 3/4" cutters because I'm sure I will probably break one while learning the technique. I've watched every video I could find about Rotabroach use.

On a different note, I was sweating about removing a 3/4" Grade 8 bolt that was damaged but a cutoff wheel on the die grinder went thru it like butter. I was impressed.

Holes filled in by welding or plasma cut have harden edges. If you can heat the area to a dull red and cool helps anneal the metal. Securing the work piece and cutting slow speed helps. Most people drill too fast. Long curls means your pressure and speed is right.

Done more broaching keyways than rotabroaching holes.

For large worn holes where I could use a bigger fastener, bolt or pin and sometimes offset. Equipment that I have to drill freehand. Use a hole saw with drill or pneumatic impact wrench. First cut a template guide from scrap 1/4” plate for your size hole. Clamp or tack weld the template to your equipment. The template guides the holesaw without a center drill. Can even overlap an existing hole. With impact extensions, universal joint, wobble extension to be able to drill frames where a drill would not fit. Very forgiving way to cut large holes thru thick frame members. Liberal use of cutting lube.

 

[Doofy]

Holes filled in by welding or plasma cut have harden edges. If you can heat the area to a dull red and cool helps anneal the metal. Securing the work piece and cutting slow speed helps. Most people drill too fast. Long curls means your pressure and speed is right.

Done more broaching keyways than rotabroaching holes.

For large worn holes where I could use a bigger fastener, bolt or pin and sometimes offset. Equipment that I have to drill freehand. Use a hole saw with drill or pneumatic impact wrench. First cut a template guide from scrap 1/4” plate for your size hole. Clamp or tack weld the template to your equipment. The template guides the holesaw without a center drill. Can even overlap an existing hole. With impact extensions, universal joint, wobble extension to be able to drill frames where a drill would not fit. Very forgiving way to cut large holes thru thick frame members. Liberal use of cutting lube.

Thanks for the tips and new ideas. Knowledge beats Trial & Error every time.

 

[strantor]

Go poke around at hobby-machininst.com, you'll find that the vast majority of people there are retirees who got bored in retirement and picked up machining as a hobby. Some of them are making money at it, but mostly it's just for fun. And it IS fun. I have two lathes (one little 9"x36" that works and a big girl 18"x80" unstarted restoration project) and a CNC mill that is nearly fully restored. Working with these tools is very gratifying. IMO even more gratifying than welding, bending. If you're telling yourself you're too old to get started, well you know yourself better than I know you, but it smells like a cop-out from here.

Don't worry about losing interest in it and chasing other dreams either. I'm the same way. Being able to run a lathe & mill, once you can do it, is like being able to drive a car. It just keeps coming up, no matter what you get yourself into. You want to get into electronics? Well you can mill PCBs; no need for the nasty etching process or paying the Chinese. I could list more examples but I don't see the need. It's a useful skill, period.

I have a Hougen magnetic rotabroach in excellent condition with extensive set of metric & imperial annular cutters. I got it for an amazing deal and don't use it very often. I fell on hard times a while back and tried to sell it, no dice. I got zero interest in it posted on online marketplaces. I only got a single phone call, and only after I had lowered the price to $250 (half what I paid for it) and they were trying to talk me down even further. I took it to at least 6 different pawn shops and they consistently refused to make me ANY offer. They just didn't want it, period. They didn't think they could sell it. I was baffled. Still am. My best guess is that the people who are in the market for these things are large businesses who don't check craigslist before buying; they cut a PO to the nearest distributor and get one delivered; there just isn't enough joe blows out there looking to buy them used. I say all that to say this: if you can find someone trying to sell one, don't be shy to offer 25% of the asking price. It will probably be the best offer they get, and they may just accept the offer. (And no, I'm no longer looking to sell mine; I'm glad to have gotten thru that rocky patch keeping my magdrill)

 

[Doofy]

hobby-machinist.com looks to be very interesting and they have a forum for beginners. So much to learn, so little time.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a friend that is pushing 90. For fun, about 10 years ago, he taught himself how to build 3D printers. He's on #3 or 4 now. Having a blast.

 

[strantor]

I have a friend that is pushing 90. For fun, about 10 years ago, he taught himself how to build 3D printers. He's on #3 or 4 now. Having a blast.

3D printing is what got me into machining. I suppose i went about it a bit backwards, as I imagine most people arrive at 3D printing after having exhausted their interests in manual machining.

I bought a kit back in 2009/2010 that was "almost complete" 3D printer kit, sold to me by some college kid who was putting them together in his apartment. Most of the parts were 3D printed themselves. The kit was complete enough to get you to a point where you could print the rest of what was needed to finish the whole enchilada.

I started printing parts and was very excited with it for a time, until it became obvious that 3D printed parts weren't going to be sufficient for what I wanted to do. 3D printed parts (at least those made by the filament extrusion process as was available to hobbyists at the time) have a "grain" like wood. They can be very strong in one or two axes only. Care must be taken to print the part where it will be strong in the axes you need it to be strong in. If you need it strong in all 3 axes, well you'll have to mill that out of a solid piece of stock.

That's when I started looking for a CNC mill. Prohibitively expensive. I settled for a manual lathe, as I had determined that would at least enable me to do some of what I wanted. I searched for years for an affordable CNC and eventually found one. It was in rough shape but I've almost got it going now.

 

[ultrarunner]

Having worked in a Tool and Die out of college and leaving on good terms... I was hired for Space Shuttle Contract and was on the shop floor the day of Challenger Disaster.

Leaving on good terms the owner let me keep my toolbox and bench at the ready and I was pretty much free to come and go paying only for materials used... it was a very sweet deal that I was carefull not to abuse and came in very handy when the Hospital was building a new wing back in 1995... the custom siesmic brackets for the Operating Room lights was one delay after another... and expensive...

Went to the CEO and said I could fab these over the weekend AND install in the 4 rooms if I could have Friday off... after explaining having a full machine shop to do my work it was a go...

Sadest day was when it burned to the ground with my tools too... the aluminum covers on the Bridgeport Mills melted... the gantry crane looked like tangled spaghetti... the concrete walls acted like a blast furnace once the row of shop windows blew out... 65 years gone in hours... 5 alarm fire.

Fire started in the mezzanine Engineering office... and spread to the roof... once the roof caught it was all over for the 1950 structure.

 

[MossRoad]

Geeze that's a tragedy.

 

[GeneV]

I recently had an epiphany and that I missed the boat for a very interesting career. The skills and aptitude of a Machinist that is good at his craft is truly amazing. What they can machine out of a chunk of metal is art.

Our one and only local Machine Shop will soon be gone due to the ageing owner and I doubt if there is anyone else in the area that has the knowledge and skills to take over.

I'm to old to learn that trade but I am thinking about purchasing a Magnetic Drill so I can at least use annular cutters to drill holes in some of my heavy steel projects. No way to convert my puny benchtop drill press to use these cutters either. Twist drills are from the stone age compared to what an annular cutter can do. I so enjoy dreaming.

First off, about mag drills, I like this idea:

Now let me tell you something else, you could totally do machining. Will you be a hack machinist? Probably. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not! If you have the space, get yourself a knee mill and lathe (not a mini lathe, get a 14"x40", something like that). Don't be afraid of getting some chinese bs from enco or grizzly, who cares? For your purposes, it will be perfectly fine. Life is short, do what strikes your fancy while you still have air in your lungs.

 

[GeneV]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: And I look at it as you are 'making a living' and a happy one. Maybe just not putting food on the table with it.

Word!

 

[Doofy]

Success without spending a ton of money. I bought a small set of Rotabroach hole saws and they worked great. Drilled several 3/4" holes in 1/2" steel after welding the wallowed out holes closed. The secret is to use cutting oil and to keep the cuttings out of the hole while drilling. First hole was using the drill press to get the hang of it and then used a cordless drill. Every time progress slowed, I would blow out the chips with the air gun. Took maybe 1 to 2 minutes to drill clean, perfect holes. Very impressed.

 

[metalbender]

Have a set to 1 1/2. Used sparingly on projects requiring more precision. Good stuff to have.

 

[Doofy]

Have a set to 1 1/2. Used sparingly on projects requiring more precision. Good stuff to have.

Agreed. I will probably never use twist drill bits again except for the small ones.

 

[BukitCase]

Doofy, I'm glad you had success; I feel the same way, between the small rotobroachs and the big mag drill (and my "drilling station") 1/4" is about the biggest twist drill I use any more.

A couple weeks ago I added a pipe adapter for the big mag drill - couple 2" long pieces of 4" angle, welded onto a leftover 3/4"x3" x10" long piece of flat bar, it self-clamps onto any pipe from 3/4" up to at least 4". Did it for a specific job but it worked so well I'll probably even PAINT it :laughing:

Took a couple pics on my phone, but getting 'em into the 'puter tends to be a PITA. Still, if anybody wants 'em just ask, I'll give it a shot... Steve

 

[Doofy]

I wish I would have known about Rotabroachs and Mag Drills and Annular Cutters years ago during my working years. They would have sure saved a lot of time and effort. I'll bet I have at least 50 pounds of assorted twist drills and hole saws in various stages of sharpness.

 

[ruffdog]

Doofy...Being a machinist in a big shop has its trade offs too. I started out running Boring Bars from 3" up to 9" and one was a large traveling column G&L with a 22' index table and 300" of travel. It also had large floor plates for big parts! The heaviest part I machined was a 80 ton casting. I then went into CNC and ran a KT Moduline machining center with 2 pallet stations, 50 tool capacity with probe attachment. Later I moved into a shop that I was able to complete jobs by welding, heat treat, machining, grinding, etc. from start to finish.

It is factory work and normally there were no windows to even get a glance of the outdoors. Then there are the cutting fluids like coolants and oils seeping into you body everyday. Then the noise...either you protect your hearing, or you lose it. Depending what your job is, the pressure of being "in tolerance" can be great. Most times I was supported by very good tool cribs so I had good tooling. Not all shops have that, especially today. Then there is always a chance of injuries, like cuts, squashed body parts, lung issues, vision loss, and death.

It was a very satisfying career having to calculate everything using your math skills and creating a finished product. Too bad good life long companies are disappearing.

 

[Doofy]

Doofy...Being a machinist in a big shop has its trade offs too. I started out running Boring Bars from 3" up to 9" and one was a large traveling column G&L with a 22' index table and 300" of travel. It also had large floor plates for big parts! The heaviest part I machined was a 80 ton casting. I then went into CNC and ran a KT Moduline machining center with 2 pallet stations, 50 tool capacity with probe attachment. Later I moved into a shop that I was able to complete jobs by welding, heat treat, machining, grinding, etc. from start to finish.

It is factory work and normally there were no windows to even get a glance of the outdoors. Then there are the cutting fluids like coolants and oils seeping into you body everyday. Then the noise...either you protect your hearing, or you lose it. Depending what your job is, the pressure of being "in tolerance" can be great. Most times I was supported by very good tool cribs so I had good tooling. Not all shops have that, especially today. Then there is always a chance of injuries, like cuts, squashed body parts, lung issues, vision loss, and death.

It was a very satisfying career having to calculate everything using your math skills and creating a finished product. Too bad good life long companies are disappearing.

I envy your skills and knowledge but the stuffy factory setting would have not been for me. I enjoy the great outdoors, fresh air and the beauty of nature to much to stay locked in a windowless building. I am certainly glad you survived that.