Steel Tube bender

There are guys who have made limited production plastic dies using 3D printed parts sandwiched between steel plates. I am 100% sure I can make aluminum "cores" to sandwich between steel plates to do the same job much stronger in a fraction of the time of 3D printing. 6061 would probably last well enough for atleast a few dozen bends, and 7075 would probably last long enough for hundreds if not thousands of bends. I have both on the shelf, but the 7075 WAS planned for "other" projects.

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I tested the compression strength of oak to 2000 PSI the weaker way when designing joist hangers. At 2000 compression was becoming slightly noticeable as a step at the edge. 2000# is the steel hanger rating, the expected load is around 500. The end grain is hard enough to make a decent shapeable anvil for hammering sheet steel. Around here pallets are made mostly from red oak of lower than lumber grade.

I made custom (steel) bender dies, I think by rotating the blank against a fly cutter set to the tube diameter. I cut wooden wedges by angling the fence on my 4x6 horizontal bandsaw and using a 6/10 blade. For a bending die the wedge angle needn't be exact, you could glue up two oversized halves and saw across the diameters.

I made custom (steel) bender dies, I think by rotating the blank against a fly cutter set to the tube diameter.

---------------------- No, that die was cut with an end mill to fit 1/2" OD tubing. An endmill cuts faster, a fly cutter or boring head could make the light finish cut. I mill with the end instead of the side flutes so I can regrind it without changing the diameter.

Oak isn't a bad idea, but I'd have to go get some. I have lots of aluminum. As an alternative I do have some Mesquite logs I've been saving, but currently no way to mill it into boards.

-------------------------- No scrap pallets?

I bought this to see if it would be better than the simpler guide I was using to slab big logs to 21" width.

Its disadvantage is having to reposition the guide plank after each board, the slabs took only one cut per side. Having the slab cuts vertical made it easy to set the opposing side guides to cut parallel. The Alaskan mill needs a guide (ladder) only for the first cut, the rest key off the previous one. It's been useful to be able to cut boards and beams to any thickness, not just purchased sizes.

For slabbing clamp parts under the bar restrict capacity due to the shallow angle. I was able to drill through the bar sprocket pivot center with a carbide glass drill bit, to have only a countersunk screw head on the bottom side.

I used the normal firewood chain. Ripping chain is said to cut smoother but slower.

I asked a neighbor for help and told him all he had to do was sit on a stool and move a 2000 Lb log with one finger. That was easy with the log hanging above the sawmill track. He centered one end, I the other and then lowered it.

Pallets I get are all kinds of wood. Mostly some sort of white wood, but not always. A freind of mine that used to work for Foxworth Galbraith Lumber Company in the yard and driving delivery truck said he saw pallets come in made from all kinds of stuff. Even near cabinet grade cherry and walnut. I told him he should just buy them all at the pallet return rate and stock up on them for his retirement gig. He was a fair wood worker, and his dad was a master furniture restorer.

I've thought about a chainsaw mill a couple times, but that would require me to rebuild yet another small engine carb every time I needed it. LOL. I get by with an electric chainsaw and some big 8.0ah batteries for the few trees I have to trim every other year, and I never have to rebuild its carburetor. The cordless doesn't have the gront for milling hard dry mesquite. Maybe if I did it while it was still green, but no. I don't think so. Most of it I chunk up into pieces short enough to go in the grill and leave it out back to dry for steak night.

... and those batteries fit my other cordless power tools when I need some grunt on an angle grinder or a cordless circular saw.

Pallets I get are all kinds of wood. Mostly some sort of white wood, but not always.

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Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) can be nearly as hard and strong as oak though not all is, check with a knife point or fingernail. It is hard enough to suggest pre-drilling screw holes to thread root diameter. Usually it's pressure treated and may still be damp. I've seen and bought it as regular dried lumber but not recently. Small pieces (wedges) can be microwaved dry, a bowl turner showed me how well that works as he prefers to turn the wood green and soft. I use PT outdoors and don't bother.

I buy the warped pieces cheap as "cull". Sometimes it dries straight, otherwise it becomes 4' diagonal corner braces for sheds. The longest pieces, 12' and 16', tie down corrugated roofing.

... and those batteries fit my other cordless power tools when I need some grunt on an angle grinder or a cordless circular saw.

-- Bob La Londe CNC Molds N Stuff

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That's an area I haven't and maybe should look into further. I still use a DeWalt NiCad drill converted to NiMH, otherwise corded or gas. Do you have a suggestion of a cheaper-than-Milwaukee brand that won't soon become obsolete? I loved Milwaukee when the company was paying, they outlasted 10 of anyone else's for building steel machinery, but have only their corded

"Converted" means a different charger, the original NiCad one peaked at higher voltage than is recommended for NiMH and wasn't on the list approved for both.

I don't have any cordless tools that are not out powered by their corded or gas powered counter parts. A lot of cordless is handier or faster for a single hole or cut than dragging out a cord, and winding up the cord when I am done. That being said, when I was contracting I tended to prefer Milwaukee for drills. Both cordless and corded.

I used the Harbor Freight Bauer cordless for a while, but a year or so ago I gave all my Bauer stuff to my son and started using my dad's DeWalt cordless stuff. Its decent, but its not inexpensive either. A sort of secret weapon with DeWalt is there are battery adapters to use the older DeWalt 18V stuff with their current 20V line batteries. As a result for very little I now have five DeWalt cordless drills. I've also got a couple older DeWalt saws with adapters to run the current 20V batteries.

No matter what, good batteries are expensive. I think I spent around $700 for 4 8ah DeWalt 10V batteries. Yes, the 8ah make a difference. They CAN delivery more current with less voltage drop. I brought this up when Richard was talking about cordless for one of his mining applications. Higher capacity batteries can deliver more power in the same time period.

DeWalt (and probably also other platforms) offers a truly high power battery platform. The batteries for those can deliver 20V for the regular tools and 60V for the high power tools. I don't have any, and yes they make a 20/60 chainsaw too. I just don't cut enough to make it worth the cost, and if I did I'd probably go gas. You don't have to clean carbs on small gas engines if you use them all the time.

All my battery tools are DeWalt ... most are the older 18V and I've found reasonably priced aftermarket batteries for them . Most of these were gifts from a neighbor that got them in an auction lot . The "shop drill" is a 20V that I picked up at a yard sale , found a couple of aftermarket batteries for it also .

I don't have any cordless tools that are not out powered by their corded or gas powered counter parts. A lot of cordless is handier or faster for a single hole or cut than dragging out a cord, and winding up the cord when I am done. That being said, when I was contracting I tended to prefer Milwaukee for drills. Both cordless and corded.

------------------------ Thanks, I'll look into DeWalt 20V if I need something new.

I've found that I don't mind one corded tool on a job for the heavier work like deep 3/8" and 1/2" holes in steel or oak. For pilot holes etc cordless is handy, especially the pocket-sized 4V Ryobi. I keep all the tools nearby and off the ground on a roll-around cart that once lived in a semiconductor fab clean room.

I made the handrail on my deck and the top of a low driveway retaining wall as wide work platforms that are very convenient when working on the house or car, lawnmower or snow blower. A large tray that auto parts stores displayed cardboard oil cans on keeps drips from staining the decking.

I've worn out cordless tools. Some from abuse, others just got used so much they failed. The one thing that pissed me off with the older Milwaukee cordless was when I replaced worn out brushes they didn't ever seem to work as well. No reason not to. I don't think its DRM, but it could be. I just think something in the tool starts to fail when you are pushing the old brushes to their limit. I am am paying real money for a cordless tool I prefer to get the newer brushless motors. That doesn't mean I won't buy an older brushed tool if its good and dirt cheap or free, but I actually use my stuff a lot still.

Maybe third party batteries are better now, but I've had poor results with them int he past. I know (mostly) that a name brand battery meets its spec at least initially. Its like alarm batteries when I still had the alarmco. I tried all the cheaper brands, and finally just gave up on anything but Yuasa, because it was not my goal to charge customers for preventable service calls to replace batteries.

I guess Ryobi is better now, but I was given a brand new Ryobi set (6 tools in a box I think) many years ago, and the batteries were garbage. Nothing to piss you off more than climbing up in an attic with a battery fresh off the charger to cut a hole in some plywood and have it die without finishing the first cut. I have some corded Ryobi tools and they are like the lower end made for K-Mart Black & Decker used to be, okay, maybe not quite as good, but generally cheap and okay for a couple jobs or abusive applications. I have a Ryobi circular saw I just use for abrasive blades because it was cheap. I don't care if it melts or grinds itself to death. It almost paid for itself on the first cut.

(I still have a couple of those old made for K-Mart B&D drills I bought when I first started contracting, because I couldn't afford anything else. One beat up old 1/2inch drill is over 30 years old.)

It may all be moot. Turns out the dies are not the size advertised. the two smaller sizes claim to be 5 inch radius and the three larger sizes claim to be 7 inch radius. They don't say if that's IR (inside radius or CLR (center line radius). Turns out the IR of the 1-1/4 die is closer to 5-3/4 and the CLR is closer to 6-1/8. Probably close enough that I don't need to make a die. The larger die I checked is more like 8 than 7 also.

The dies all appear to be some sort of fairly tough cast aluminum, and they claim if you lube the dies they will last a long time. Makes sense. They are cast and rough machined. Lube would be necessary if only to over come friction.

That being said I do want some dies that didn't come with the set. I have a small box of A356 on the shelf maybe enough to cast one of them. I don't really want to make foundry work a big part of what I do and its a lot of work. I may just machine the other dies I want using sandwich techniques for strength.

All my replacement batteries are (I think) the Li-Ion type . They are not NiCads . Gotta have the right charger for these , mine swings both ways .

I still have my first electric drill - a "Portable Electric Tools"

I still have my first electric drill - a "Portable Electric Tools"

--------------------------- I found that carbon motor brushes have decent compressive but little tensile strength and replacements for old ones can be milled or filed down from available larger sizes by first beveling the off side and cutting inward from the near edge.

The carbon compound has a voltage range related to its resistivity and ability to block commutator circulating current without heating too much, brushes for 120V and 12V are different. I don't know if 12V and 24V vehicle brush compounds differ, some are rated for both.

The sparking can convert Silicone vapor into abrasive Silicon Carbide.