# The failed attempt thread!



## Armourer

Well, it seems everyone here posts pics of nicely finished projects and rarely do you see failed attempts. So I thought I would break that to encourage people to post their failed attempts to help others learn. Well this project failed from the get go, for those who don't know or recognize this, its a tool holder its for a shaper. I bought my shaper without the tool holder, and after some searching to buy one it lead me to make one instead, as there hard to come by and pricey. In all honesty this is my second attempt at making it. My first one failed miserably, most people weld 1" round stock to a piece of 3/8X7/8 flat, then drill and mill the round out. Sounds easy right? Well attempt number 1 failed when I went to go weld mine together. I hadn't used my welder in 7 months, so naturally the battery for my auto dim helmet was dead. Great, got to love living in  a remote location as no one was open near me to buy the special battery. So no welding. So I went inside defeated, or so I thought till I got thinking I had a nice chunk of 1"X2" hot rolled bar sitting in the garage. So back to the shop to try attempt #2. I machined this one out of a solid bar stock, cut the radius on the bottom with my mill (first time cutting outside radius on mill) Looked good to me. Next part was to cut the slots in the head to accept the 1/4" tool bit. No problem, took out my rotary table a cheap 4" china made thing. Put the round into the 3 jaw chuck on it, centered the hole in it. Cut my first slot straight down the shank. Turned out good, then went to go cut the two 45 in it. Now this is were it went sideways on me. As you can see in the last pic my set up was off and the two 45 weren't lined up perfectly (look at the little "triangles" on the top aren't equal). Now at this point there is usually slots cut at 90, two at 45 and one at 180. Well seeing as my setup somehow got messed up I wasn't able to cut the last 180 slot. 








Where did it go wrong you ask? Well I think theres two things I messed up on. First of all when I cut the outside radius I never cut it to a full circle. If you look at the pics you can see it looks flat on the side and bottom of the round. I didn't want to make it perfectly round as I didn't want to remove too much material from the outer diameter. The second thing that went wrong was as soon as I put my rotary table on my mill, I never centred the chuck on the rotary table. I completely forgot to as I thought it was already done. I am positive I did it last time I used it but guess not! Well I learned a few things, so the next one will be perfect when I do one. This one will work fine for the time being. Next one will be much better! So go ahead and add to this post your failed attempts! We all do it, as much as I hate to say it....


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## brino

@Armourer ,

I am glad that you are not hesitant to post failures.
As you noted we all do it!

I think I learn more from the failures than the wins.
......and I do a lot of learning that way!

-brino


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## thomas s

brino got it right you learn something from every mistake.


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## kb58

No, sorry, you're the only one to ever have a failure...

I've failed several times making a 5/8-12 square thread nut. It's been annoying enough that I've stepped back to reconsider and maybe pout a little.


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## Almega

Still a beginner and building my first hit & miss engine it has taken me 4 tries to finally get a crank shaft I am happy with. I don't consider those first three to be total failures because of the lessons learned. Number two is actually a good crank but I miscalculated on the stroke and made it twice what it was supposed to be. Now I am learning to make a connecting rod and am on number one right now. Fingers crossed and going slow.


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## rwm

A foot note to the OPs first post: Many disposable batteries can be recharged to get more life out of them. Most of the silver oxide and lithiums work. You need to supply them with a voltage slightly higher than their rating. Do this carefully, in a fireproof area, especially for the lithiums. Do not leave unattended and monitor the battery temp with your finger. Explosion is a rare possibility. I do not suggest this as standard practice but works for emergencies when you don't have a new battery on hand. (welding helmet) I have recharged my car key fob battery and had it last for a month.
Robert


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## Bi11Hudson

As a rule, the day I don't make a mistake is the day I will be looking at grass from the brown side. Mistakes are for learning. The only people that don't make mistakes are the people that don't do anything. The mark of a good machinist is that he is able to conceal those mistakes. Interesting thread, let's keep it going. "Blunders to avoid" is a good thread too, but I think reserved for more dangerous or bloody errors.

.


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## mmcmdl

The journey starts with the first step . I'll keep it short .


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## matthewsx

How much storage space do we have on the new server


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## markba633csi

"Looking at grass from the brown side"  got to remember that one- thanks Bill


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## Technical Ted

What gets my goat is when something doesn't turn out the way I wanted and I can't figure out what went wrong!!!  But, usually it's just a stupid mistake. The older I get, the more I seem to make. Oh well, like I say, I'll never complain about getting older!

As Bill said, the better you get at being a machinist, the better you get at adjusting things so you can still use the work piece rather than scrapping it. When on the job making something to a print this can't typically be done. But, in the home shop making something for yourself gives you much more freedom to make "adjustments". 

That tool holder the OP made will work just fine the way it is..... that shaper will never know the difference.

Ted


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## KevinM

I was told that a good machinist can fix their screw-ups.


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## Flyinfool

KevinM said:


> I was told that a good machinist can fix their screw-ups.



but I cut it off 3 more times and it was still to short.


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## Shootymacshootface

If you can remove metal, you gotta be able to put some back sometimes. 
Every machinist needs a welder!

Something went from my lathe, right into the scrap bucket last night!


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## 7milesup

My whole life is a learning experience then....

I have said that the grass is always greener on the other side until you get to the other side and find all the cow pies scattered around.


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## finsruskw

​


Shootymacshootface said:


> Something went from my lathe, right into the scrap bucket last night!




That reminds me, I have to empty my scrap bucket soon while I can still pick it up!!


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## aliva

After years of laying sod, and it not growing, I found the problem, Green Side Up.


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## francist

I don’t usually keep my fails around but this one I have mainly because it makes me laugh at myself every time I look at it. As you can see it’s pretty obvious what it is, right? It’s a steak turner for turning your meat on the barbecue. Or is it?...






It was one of my first “measured” projects at the forge, and by measured I mean something with a specific structure as opposed to just beating on something to see what happens. Anyhow, it’s not complicated but it it a bit of an exercise in keeping track of which bend or curve to make where and in what direction and order. Anyone who sews will immediately recognize this as well, and my mom would come up some real dillies sometimes with hilarious results.



Here’s the second attempt, much closer to what I was after. Hopefully you can notice the difference...





-frank


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## Nutfarmer

I tell my help the only person who does not make a mistake is the person who never does any thing.


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## Tinkertoy1941

My mentor was an old toolmaker trained in London England in the 1920'S & his comment after a few of my  mistakes was "You can not consider yourself a toolmaker until you can get your self out of the trouble that you got yourself into and finish the project with out scrapping it"!!

That was a hard lesson that took me some time to earn! That was 60 years ago and I still learn a new lesson on a regular schedule.


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## epanzella

Before I got my mill I was tapping a barrel block for a scope mount and had to TIG the hole shut twice before I got it right!


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## Dhal22

I thought I was wrong once.   But I was mistaken...............


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## dbb-the-bruce

A gear dish, or maybe a dish gear. This one amuses me.
So I made this 3" gear out of 1/6 brass and had a hard time getting it mounted square on a small pinion shaft. I figured that if I made it thicker - give it a bit of a hub, it would be easier to mount and then true it up. I decided to silver solder a second piece to the center. Then back on the lathe to turn the hub and true the faces.

Weird thing happened - every time I took a light cut it would cut near the center but not all the way out. I kept at it until I finally realized what was going on.





So, duh! It was dishing every time I removed material in the center. When I soldered the hub on, the big gear was cooler on the outside and as both cooled down I built a bunch of stress in. I did try to relax it after the screw-up by putting it in a heat treat oven but it stayed dished.

If I try something like this again, I'll use the oven to get it up to solder temp with both pieces at an even and consistent temperature.


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## Boswell

dbb-the-bruce said:


> If I try something like this again, I'll use the over to get it up to solder temp with both pieces at an even and consistent temperature.



Something I saw on Clickspring Youtube channel would be to glue the gear to a solid backing plate with superglue. Make your cuts and then heat to release the glue. Chris uses this technique often.


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## dbb-the-bruce

Boswell said:


> Something I saw on Clickspring Youtube channel would be to glue the gear to a solid backing plate with superglue. Make your cuts and then heat to release the glue. Chris uses this technique often.


Yeah, that's how I turn the gear blanks and cut the teeth. In this case I really needed a hub for the gear and though I could solder one on - not so much! I ended up turning a hub into a thicker blank. Next time I'd do a two piece thing and use green Loctite (essentially gluing it together).

Clickspring has a wealth of info and is a great to watch.


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## epanzella

Why is it that I keep using all these time savers that DON'T save time. If I need to put the vice on my mill for a non critical part I save time by just using a square instead of indicating it in. Today I was making a small square for those times when my machinist squares just won't fit. After cutting all sides twice and freaking out over a sliver of light peaking thru one corner I remembered my "time saver".


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