michael mott

Beautiful workmanship Javier. It is also great to catch a glimpse of the collection behind in their individual cases. Michael

I picked up my new slotting saw and arbor yesterday I like the way it cuts. I also prefer using the lathe for making the slots rather than the mill The worm on the quill is a bit worn and the very fine depth adjustment is still able to be done but is much more fiddly that on the lathe when making multiple increments for slots on the lathe I just need to index the carriage along the bed. All the same issues really but easier to deal with on my lathe. Ah the joys of backlash on old machines (50 years) Nice clean cuts these are .057" which is the thickest width on the 2 inch diameter saw with 110 teeth Michael

Well Gary not according to some learned members of this site. From a logical perspective though having the moisture, dust , able to fall out via gravity makes much sense to me. There are some "known knowns; there are things we know we know" about brass. "We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know" about brass. Sorry Carl I couldn't resist. Michael

Nice clean work, the hull has very graceful lines especially the sheer. michael

Hello Kris perhaps a library book on fretwork what type of scroll saw are you using? Pictures please. michael

Hi Keith what sizes and what brand are you using, the ones I looked at on the net that are 1" or 1 1/2 inch diam were $100 -200 which is beyond my budget. Michael

Thanks for the link Eberhard, I will likely make a holder similar to the one shown for some future works, there is some other very interesting parts to that link as well. I made a really quick crude fly cutter from a spare Allen key, ground the width to .064" and set the brass up in a toolholder with the Castelo backing 'all pretty jury rigged. The speed of the lathe is not quite as high as the mill and it being only a single cutter the slots are not quite as crisp as the slotting saws, I ordered one today will be here tomorrow. After a bit of fettling it actually cleaned up quite well and assembled OK. so proof of concept works. I do have a small boring bar that will take small 1/8 square HSS tool steel but it is set up with a BSW (55degree angle not 60) cutter for boring a new back-plate for my C5 collet chuck for my Myford the first back-plate was beautifully threaded 1.25 x 8TPI (even if I say so myself) however it should have been 1.25 x 12TPI...... don't ask! so that is why I used the Allen key fly-cutter.

Oh Thank you Eberhard, I had forgotten that option, which I will try first. Michael

Geert, I am happy that I was helpful. Michael

As a person who uses a jewelers saw a lot Eberhard is correct in that the support needs to be flat. When cutting very thin sheet that needs to be curved it also helps to glue it to some thicker substrate like 1 mm ply (model aircraft supplies) even styrene sheet works in a pinch. Michael

Nice work Gary innovative solution on the rivet detail. Michael

Thanks for the information Vaddoc, I looked at your video. It is my personal preference to use precise tools where I can. Abrasive cut off discs and sanding discs are dispensable items as such that they wear away as they cut by abrasion much like a grinding wheel does only because they are thin they wear away much faster plus they eject those same particles as they revolve at high speed. A slotting saw is high speed steel and is ground to precise thicknesses with 90 degree square edges at the cutting face and for the most part remain at the same distance from the center of the axis of rotation through the extent of the operation and beyond. The only equivalent I can think of that I am sure you can relate to is the line drawn with a 4b pencil that starts with a sharp point at the beginning end of a 36 inch line and is a wider width at the end of the line than at the beginning of it, verses a rapideograph pen that remains the same for the entire length. I am biased of course, I have a Dremel that spends most of its time in the drawer, as it has been supplanted by different tools. the last time I used it was to cut rail in situ on the garden railway. Michael

Hi Vaddoc, I use epoxy for some applications but I cannot see using it on the Yellow cedar for any reasons, The issues I had were caused by trying to shortcut the building process of cabinet work in miniature. The yellow cedar is indeed a beautiful wood for model work the one drawback is that it is soft and marks easily. That said I will be using it for other model cabinet work but will use it in the same way that I worked the hard maple. I finished the first set of hinges, which were laboriously slow to make. After reading Dan's comment about how he made his hinges, I am guessing that they are smaller than mine I thought about building a miniature saw but decided against that for now and did an experiment with my slitting saw on the mill The saw I used is only 1 3/4 in diameter and 1/32 inch thick so in order to get 1/4 inch tabs I had to make double cuts. I used some .010" annealed brass for the hinge body but used .028" brass wire instead of the soft Iron that Dan used. I think that .008" brass might be better. I folded a length of about 1 1/8th inch to form the long piece then set it up in the grinding vice with a piece of Castelo as a backing to support the brass while the cutter was fed into the brass. tomorrow I am going top purchase a slitting saw that is .064" and 2 1/4 inch in diameter this will allow for a longer piece to be slotted because I will have better clearance, and wont have to double cut it will make the indexing that much easier. After removing the strip from the vice I cut two pieces and to my surprise the fitted together without any fettling so this will be the method going forward. The ten thou is a bit too thick though so I will use the 8 thou brass shim. Michael

Yes Dan thank you. I think I am going to have to sort out a miniature table saw. Michael

Beautiful work Dan, I remember when you did that, your hinges look really great! in the picture with the hinges on the coin it appears that the metal that was inside the pin sections is still there, how did you cut the slots? it was some time ago and I cannot remember your sequence. Michael