grsjax

I have a number of very small endmills with 1/8" shafts that work well as micro drills.  You need to ensure that you have the type of endmill that can do a plunge cut.  Not that expensive.

Sitting in a turkey induced haze looking at a piece of mdf on my workbench and started thinking what it could be used for other than as a building board.  My local HomeDepot has 1/8" MDF sheets and I was thinking it might be a good material for building forms.  Couldn't find any references to it use for forms but thought I would put it out here for comment.

I have an old wooden machinist chest I picked up on eBay for under $50 and it even had a couple of old tools in it when it arrived.  No brand name on it but I have been told it was common for apprentists to make their own chests back in the day.  Works very well for small tools.

A trick I learned to keep the tools from rusting (aside from keeping them clean and oiled) is to line the drawers with the paper that comes wrapped around bearings and cutting bits.  I believe it absorbs stuff like sulfides and other corrosive stuff in the air.  I don't know what it is made from but it works well and I got a large lot for about $15 off of ebay.

Depending on what they need to be used for.....you can take some thin gauge wire and fold it in half around a drill bit the correct diameter.  Then twist the two tail ends together many times which will tighten up the eye and make a screw-like pin.   Slip it off the bit when you are done.  The screw like tail will really hold when glued into a pre-drilled hole.  There will not be any chance you could easily remove it.  If you use stell wire you can get really thin stuff and make eyebolts with crazy small eyes.  No monkeying around with pliers needed.

 

Chuck

Hi

Just a small mod this this method.  When you twist the tails use a small piece of tubing just large enough to insert the ends of the wire in.  Insert the tails into the tube and hold the ends with pliers.  Turn the drill or whatever you are using to form the eye.  This results in a very tight twist.

I have both the plastic and metal gauges.  The metal one is a bit harder to use as the individual wires can be stiff and tend to bend if you put to much pressure on them.  However it gives a better result for fine work.  The plastic one is a breeze to use but is coarser than the metal one so can only be used for larger stuff.

 

 

My wood book calls this wood 'melia azedarach'.

 

Melia azedarach, commonly known by many names, including white cedar,chinaberry tree, bead-tree, Cape lilac syringa berrytree, Persian lilac,and Indian lilac, is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, that is native to Indomalaya and Australasia. The genus Melia includes four other species, occurring from southeast Asia to northern Australia. They are all deciduous or semi-evergreen trees.

 

The wood is of medium density, and ranges in color from light brown to dark red. In appearance it is readily confused with the unrelated Burmese Teak.  The fruit and leaves are toxic to humans, but the wood seems to be neutral. 

(The above is from wikipedia-Duff)

 

So, since this wood is so rare outside of Southeast Asia and rare even there, it is likely no one on this forum has used it for model ship building.  Give it go and let us know-how it glues, how good paint sticks to it or what finish you use, it's bending properties, if it spits easily. 

 

Duff

 

Hi Duff

I think the species we have here is a different wood.  It has an edible fruit (very good eating if prepared right).  I think the scientific name is Artocarpus altilis.

I took a chance and bought some lumber off of eBay.  Lucked out and was very satisfied with the result.  The seller was "Curlyloggerfrancis".  He cuts wood from salvage trees and his inventory depends on what he can get this way.  I purchased maple, walnut and cherry from him and was very pleased with what I got.  Nice people to deal with and they sell a quality product.

Living in Hawaii I run across some interesting wood that isn't usually available elsewhere.  While reading an article on tropical woods I ran across a reference to Breadfruit wood being used for building and carving in the south Pacific islands.  I asked around and a friend that is a wood turner told me he had a piece in his shop that he had had for 20 years or so and never got around to using.  Said I could have it if I wanted it.  Wood is light colored and has a fine grain.  Before I started cutting it up I thought I would ask here if anyone has any experiance with it for model building.  Don't want to end up throwing it away because I screwed up the milling or something or worse using it to build a model and then have it fail in some way.

Not exactly wood but it does come from a tree.  Saw some small carvings made from Ivory Nut at the flea market.  The carvings had very sharp edges.  Has anyone used this for carving parts?  Any information on how durable it is?

Hi John

Thanks for the info.  The wood is hard to come by so I thought I would grab some pieces while they were available.  Good to know it is nice stuff just to have around.  If I can figure out how to do it I will post a picture of the wood.  I can only get offcuts of the wood the owner has left over.

I will try.  Not very good with this digital photo thing.

Sugi Pine is the national tree of Japan.  I live in Hawaii where the trees have been planted and can get some small pieces of this wood.  It is very dark.  Has anyone used it for model building? 

Hi

The model is 1/16th scale so the nails would be about 24ga or there abouts I think. 

Just checked back with Modelexpo and they now have them on their end of the month sale list for 2.5 cents each.  Much more reasonable price and I went ahead and ordered what I need.  These nails are 1/2" long and the shank is between .02 and .03" in size so they should be about right.

Just a question for the forum members.  Does anyone know where to obtain photo etched nails and roves?  Modelexpo has them but the cost is very high and it takes them a month to send them out.  I can make them but would rather spend my time building.