Collet Tool, part 2

Made the SIFAM collet knob tool today! And it turned out quite nice, see the pictures below.

I don’t own a Proxxon or Dremel. Instead I used a normal 550Watt Metabo power drill at 2800 RPM. The maximum setting. Such tiny diamond coated grinder bits are usually run at about 20000 RPM, so this made progress a bit slow. For a one-off it’s okay.

Proxxon Micromot 28 240 diamond coated grind bit (1.8mm)

It’s a bit awkward to steer such slightly heavy machine for those small movements. To ease the grinding process, I’ve put the extra front handle in a horizontal position. Also used a bit of drill/cutting paste to improve cutting performance.

Tried to apply as little force as possible since such miniature bits aren’t made to be used under high loads, such as with normal HSS/Carbide milling or drill bits. Because it’s more a cylindrical steel shaft instead of a disk type tool, it probably is a bit sturdier.

The Metabo power drill with grind bit.

WARNING: Never try the other Dremel/Proxxon disk type bits in normal drill like this! Those will surely scatter instantly without making a cut at all. If you don’t trust my advise, at least wear eye protection when doing such stupid things.

Halfway the grinding.

In this picture it looks like I messed up the work-piece, but the cutting paste obscures the view of the actual shape.

And done, we now have a nice Collet Knob Tool!

Comments

ADR modules part 2, to recap or not?

Electrolytic capacitors have a wet dielectric which degrades with age and temperature. As a result the extremely thin oxide layers may become less isolating when stored over decades. Either the capacitor shorts or opens at some point, or just doesn't perform as good when it was new. Re-capping is the usual procedure to replace (all) electrolytic caps in restoring old audio equipment. The most common coupling capacitor value in these modules is 15uF / 40V. These smaller values might be replaceable with solid foil capacitors, though it largely depends on the space on the circuit board if this is possible and the cost involved. High-end audio nut cases (no relation to this blog) may spend top dollar/euro/yen on such things. Here it just has to be in line with the actual value of these units. So we will only use foil if the costs are limited. Otherwise just stick to cheap but good quality electrolytic caps. The likes of Nichicon, Panasonic, Vishay. Vishay bought a lot of the old Eur

ADR modules part 1

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Kruishout - Marking/Scratch Gauge

And Now for Something Completely Different: the kruishout (Dutch), or you might know it as a marking or scratch gauge. This is an essential measurement tool in woodworking! Note the sharp needle or point on the left side of the beam. This is used to scratch a line in the wood. This specific one was from my grandfather. He was a carpenter specialised in making ship interiors. Carpenters can own multiple of these gauges on a project, so they only need to set them to a specific size and have less work re-adjusting constantly. Some variations may even use the tip of a knifeblade to actually cut a deeper line, e.g. when the grain is too strong to make a proper straight line. Or to actually cut very even widths of veneer. The Japanese or Chinese variants seem to use the knife tips. I’m not so much into woodworking at the moment, but this surely is a keeper! It’s also fairly easy to make some of your own. If you know a special use of this tool other than most uses shown on youtube, please

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