Broaching Experiment

This is a double-ended tool to see how well a plain broached end works.

It works great with the long insert bits. The magnets are incredibly strong in this one so the bits are held very well. I added some engraving and checkering to the logo file. I think this will be a nice tool to have on the bench.

Rotary Broaching !

Since I started building these tools I have wanted to play with a rotary broach. This is the best way to make "hexagonal holes". Traditionally you use a "push broach" - this is slow and, requires a LOT of force to basically push the hexagonal hole into the metal. The rotary broach works by "spinning" the hexagonal shape with a 1 degree "wobble" and then you push the wobbling bit into the metal causing the cutting action around the edges - it is VERY COOL. The current production of the SPDTool uses a Rotary Broach and these tools cost BIG bucks ($800 and up). Much to my amazement, Little Machine Shop started selling one for $99 ! I couldn't order it fast enough and it actually works ! This is going to open up a lot of options for my prototyping !

Back at It...

I spent last week working on a new tool, but decided to scrap it because it was looking too much like it was designed by committee. All was not lost because I made a lot of progress on machine setup to make future jobs easier. The contactor arrived on Friday and I installed it today, but the gorilla tape was still holding it together quite well.

I wanted to try some more engraving and got 25 aluminum tags to play with. I milled out the pattern in a chunk of aluminum and drilled and tapped a 6-32 hole so I can hold them down in a consistent position (middle of tag is 1" from XY=0). I may add some screws around the edges eventually, but these aluminum ones are not made to the best tolerance anyway, brass or stainless will probably be fine with just the one screw.
I wanted to try fitting text to a curve and added a little crosshatch for texture... I can easily get brass or stainless so if anyone needs any of these let me know !