AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

road and

9th April 1971, Page 69
9th April 1971
Page 69
Page 69, 9th April 1971 — road and
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

workshop by Handyman

Benchwise: tool tricks (3) drilling clamp for small work

IN MY EXPERIENCE, no garage machine toot is used more frequently than the bench drill. It's suitable for so many tasks—drilling, grinding, spinning valves for cleaning. Perhaps this is why the equipment that should go with it, a slotted table, machine vice, drill guards and the like, soon seems to get mislaid. So it is not surprising that sooner or later someone attempts to drill a small item without the right ancillary equipment and suffers injury.

Most likely the item has just been resting on any handy block of wood. Consequently, as the drill breaks through it grips the work and spins it, usually shooting the wood packing at the operator. Despite large notices on walls and printed Warnings on machines, it is still difficult for the man in charge to watch all activities for this kind of carelessness. After the usual cautions have been given much has to be left to the common sense of individuals.

Unable to be held However, many, many items in vehicle repair need broken studs removing, holes to be welded or brazed up and redrilled, etc. As not all of these can be held at the right angle or secured safely in the machine vice, in order to avoid damage or injury, they must be clamped in some fashion on the drill table.

For small work, such as seal housings, covers, flanges, brake rod ends, air chamber end caps, ctc, a set of useful clamps can be made in one go on any centre lathe, both quickly and cheaply. Once a small set has been made up, it is quite easy to set up for bigger versions that can hold a wide range of work on the heavier drilling machines.

Bench drill clamps In this instance, I am dealing with the type of clamp best suited for the bench drill that has a range up to lin. in diameter as it is in this category where damage is done, drills broken and finger ends split. The clamps I have in mind can be moved around the drill table without the need to remove nuts and washers, or to use a spanner below the table.

Most of the work can be done in the lathe and all four can be made from the same lathe operation', using a piece of liin. diameter cold-rolled-steel rod. Set the lfin. diameter rod in the four-jew Cluck—but off-centre to give a cam action when revolved.

Mark off the work piece to give four cam profiles at ;tin. width each and turn the actual shaft down to kin. diameter; the length of this shaft between cam shapes is lin. Now cut or part the work into four pieces, producing a cam and shaft in each case. Mark off kin. from the end of the shaft, and drill and tap +in. BSF through the diameter. Mark off and drill out a +in. BSF hole at a-in. from the edge of the cam opposite the shaft. The block or nut to go below is cut from kin. or +in. flat steel bar lin. long and at a width that will permit it to be slipped down through the table slots.

Safe rig Drill and tap this nut or block centrally to take the lin. BSF holding-down bolt. On completion, the device can be dropped through the table slots, the block lined up across the slot and tightened securely from above. This makes a safe and handy rig to deal with any job that will sit within the table slot limits; the fin. BSF tapping through the shaft provides an adjustable stop.

This device can be blown up to suit any size of drill table, but its real value is the safe working it guarantees for those smaller jobs that call for the use of a fine drill. One of the problems associated with the use of the smaller diameter drills working at high speeds is that of overheating, where in a second or so a binding drill is either broken or burnt to a blue colour and ruined.

Where these small jobs have to be tackled, for instance where two items are clamped together for a hole through both, it is necessary to ensure that ample oil or coolant is applied right down the drill flutes to the cutting face. A great aid in this is to obtain some small-bore soft rubber tube. A length of this tube should be pushed up the drill, with a gap left between the top and the chuck; the length of tube can be determined by the depth of hole to be bored.

The oil or coolant can now be fed into the top of the tube and it will follow down the drill flutes without being flung off before reaching the work area; this is a known drill-saver on fine jobs.

Tags

Organisations: US Federal Reserve

comments powered by Disqus