Tapping threads straight can sometimes be a challenge. A lathe, drill press, or a lot of practice help the process — or you could use a tool like Big Gator Tools’ V-Tap Guide. A series of graduated holes in the V-Tap Guide keep the tap aligned perpendicular to the surface.

Big Gator Tools makes the V-Tap Guide from nickel alloyed steel, heat treats it, grinds the bottom flat, and chrome plates it. They also cut a V-groove into the bottom, which both gives the tool its name and allows you tap perpendicular holes on corners and round stock in addition to flat surfaces.

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Will lasers make wigglers obsolete? There’s a case to be made that you can set up your mill faster and with less fuss with a tool like the pictured laser edge/center finder. Move the laser beam to the edge of the workpiece and zero your scale. You can just as easily locate the mill over scribed lines or center-punch divots by aligning the laser dot over them.

The finder is accurate to 0.001″ and the dot size is adjustable with a polarizing attachment. The finder uses SR44 batteries that last for over three hours of continuous operation; of course you’ll probably only turn on the finder for short sessions, so the batteries should last a while.

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I made a replacement sight elevator for an air rifle the other day. It required me to undercut a groove in a tiny piece of plastic (1/4″x1/4″x1/2″). I found that I had some micro keyseat cutters (marked “Richards”) and gave them a try. Normally keyseat cutters are used to cut semicircular woodruff keyseats but they work okay for tee slotting and other slotting jobs. (more…)

Conveniently located in the Toolmonger Flickr pool, this image shows the coarse, deep ridges found on Vixen files. Like Bridgeports, they’re named for the most common (though apparently now-defunct) manufacturer. Vixen files are ideal for soft metals, and they do their job better than the usual bastard file. While most files are designed for material removal from hard metals, Vixens use relatively dull, widely-spaced teeth which deburr soft metals beautifully and can manage oddball materials like fiberglass. The teeth are wide enough to make clogging nearly impossible.

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Strange things can make a Toolmonger’s heart beat faster, and one of them is high-quality aluminum work: fine metal carefully sheared, bent, and welded with the precision of a Swiss watch. One of the most common places you’ll find such work is on custom radiators, which require some really superb work from skilled fabricators. Beaders like the one above are one of their tools of the trade, used to put a raised bump a short distance in from the edge of a tube to aid hose retention. With some cooling and induction systems running pressures upwards of 30psi, this bead is a critical feature, preventing hose clamps from sliding right off even if they’re properly tensioned.

If you’re working on a garage project that uses fluid-carrying aluminum tube frequently, you can probably justify the rather steep $150 price tag Graham Tool, Inc. slaps onto their beader. Fabricators and professionals should have an easier time with the sticker.

Large Tube Beading Tool [Graham Tool, Inc.]

Eagle Tool Company’s sheet metal installation tool lets you pre-drill holes and drive hex head metal screws without changing bits. They build a hex driver socket into the tip of a sliding barrel, so when the barrel is locked in the forward position you can drive screws and when you twist the barrel and slide it back you can drill.

Eagle Tools hardens the hex drive socket to make it durable and they claim the tool’s quick change shank fits most quick change drivers, which means the shank must be 1/4″ hex. When you break the drill bit, you can buy a kit that comes with three replacement drill bits, an Allen wrench, and three replacement set screws.

Eagle sells installation tools both for 1/4″ and 5/16″hex head screws. I can’t find either tool for sale anywhere on the web and they don’t list retail pricing on the site, but I can confirm I saw the 1/4″ driver on sale at Menards for a little more than $10.

Sheet Metal Installation Tool [Eagle Tool Company]

If you want to know how the welding supply industry is reacting to the cordless market, take a gander at the Trek 180 battery-powered MIG Welder. It’s awesomeness in a 52-lb. box.

We’re not saying this is meant to replace a larger shop model, and neither is Hobart. What the Trek 180 is designed to do is take care of small jobs when you are away from anything resembling civilization. The rig can run off its own 120 amp 17VDC battery or from an 115V power outlet with a 20 percent duty cycle.

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DeWalt says their new 6-3/4″ metal-cutting circular saw can plow through up to 2″ conduit and pipe in a single pass. A stainless-steel shoe prevents rust and helps smoothly push chips away to keep them from tearing up your cutting surface, too. But is DeWalt’s 18V battery line enough to keep it running all day?

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Sure, you can use a calculator or even your head to find the circumference of a round duct by measuring its diameter, but with the Cooper Tool Tinner’s Circumference Rule all you need to measure is the diameter — the ruler will read the circumference.

The tempered medium-weight steel rule measures in inches by 1/16″ on the top edge and circumference inches by 1/8″ on the bottom edge. The black markings are easy to read, and on the reverse side Cooper has printed relevant formulas and tables for easy reference.

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Malco’s duct folding tool doesn’t look like much, but it allows you to evenly fold sheet metal for forming various duct parts. It’s simply two steel plates joined together at the center. You insert the sheet metal in the gap between the plates until you see it through the diamond site holes, then twist the tool to form the bend.

Malco sells five versions of the folding tool: 8″ and 12″ long folding tools that make 3/8″ and 1/2″ bends and 12″, 18″, and 24″ tools that make 3/8″ and 1″ bends. The longer the tool the more uniform the fold; the 24″ version can even be used as a mini brake for flashing and siding.

You can pick up one of these folding tools for between $10 and $15.

Folding Tool [Malco]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

While delving into some metal working sites I came across these cool-looking tools for forming sheet metal: forming stakes. The above catalog picture shows some of the many shaped heads that are available for creating different shapes.

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Why use a brass pin punch? Well, for one brass doesn’t spark, so if you ever need to drive out a pin in a flammable environment, you’d probably want one. Secondly, they are less likely to leave a mark on steel surfaces.

This brass pin punch set by Solid includes a 6″ center punch and pin punches sized 3/32″ x 4-1/4″, 1/8″ x 4-3/4″, 5/32″ x 5″, 3/16″ x 5-1/4″ and 1/4″ x 5-3/4″.  It runs about $26 shipped.

Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Fein added an interesting feature to some of the angle grinders in their WS 14 line; they replaced the switch with four touch pads — two in the front and two in the rear.

You start the grinder by touching one of the font pads and one of the rear pads. The grinder will continue to operate as long as you touch one of the four pads and will slow to a stop when you release it. Just so you don’t accidentally start it, you can lock the grinder off.

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While the name of M-Power’s Tri-Scribe may be from one of those we-like-hyphens-too-much marketing sessions, this seems to be a pretty clever little tool. I stumbled across it while browsing drafting implements and it’s an innovation I wish I’d had on hand in the past.

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I’ve never — knock on wood — had the “fun” of trying to repair stripped threads in a key mechanical component, but I’ve seen various options. It seems that the two main contenders for thread inserts are Heli-Coil® and TIME-SERT®, but I don’t know which one works better for which applications and materials. TIME-SERT® requires drilling, counterboring, and tapping before installing the insert. A typical TIME-SERT kit, with all the required tools and several inserts, costs around $74. Heli-Coil preparation needs drilling and tapping before installing the insert. A Heli-Coil kit, with a tap, the installation tool, and several inserts, will be about $27.

So, all you Toolmongers out there with experience in this area, what’s your favorite? Are there alternatives?

Time-Sert [Manufacturer's Site]
Time-Sert Street Pricing [Google Products]
Time-Sert Via Amazon [What’s This?]
HeliCoil [Manufacturer's Site]
Helicoil Street Pricing [Google Products]
Helicoil Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Though silver solder is designed mainly for bonding its namesake, it’s useful for just about any metal. The stuff ships in thin sheets which are designed to be cut into small pieces (pallions, for the picky), so you can pre-place exactly as much as you need in precisely the right location. The process is similar to brazing, but is less likely to damage fine or thin metals. A careful user can fuse two 0.025 in. copper wires end-to-end. The end result is also much cleaner than lead- or tin-soldered joints, and with proper technique, stronger as well.

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The metal shaper is a derivative of the planer, which is ultimately a machine meant to replace a human with a chisel forming metal. I use an Atlas shaper. I don’t use it all that often but for jobs such as removing mill scale from a large piece of Hot Rolled steel, the shaper will do it without ruining a good end mill and it produces a great surface finish.

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