A Compact Metric Drill Index

[RJSakowski]

Very interesting project, are you completely done with it now? I mean is there something else you're planning to add to it, like labels for the smaller drill sizes? or turning it to a carousel? just thinking out loud.

No need for a carousel as the stand is quite compact. In fact, it is easily and reliably moved by just grasping the cluster of larger drills. Placing the larger drills in the center rather than all the drills on a single circle makes it a very stable stand as well as compact.

As to labeling, I wondered what I could do in that regard. Certainly, the CNC was/is capable of engraving the sizes. The inner circle is fairly tight and it would be hard to read any size. As for now, I will probably just verify the size with a caliper. If that becomes too annoying, O will take appropriate action.

 

[ConValSam]

Very nice solution. Couple of questions about working with the material:

Is the plastic melting stinky?

Is it something better done outside or with an exhaust fan nearby?

Did you have to super clean the lids to avoid contamination?

TIA

 

[RJSakowski]

Our filters are made from Polypro . Every time we purge the dies we end up with 50 to 60 lbs of it in 2' x 1.5' x6" deep stainless tubs . Our lines have 5 dies each , so we have tons of the stuff every night . Right before I went out on sick leave , I made up a split mold for a plastic chain sawing wedge . They worked pretty good for a cheap free thing . What are some other things that can be molded ?

Just a simple mold . G job .

Since I now have 87 cans of mold release , I need a mold ! :grin: Not having a need for one I had to think up something that I use often . Only thing I came up with is felling wedges for the tree work lately . I whipped out a fast cheapy split cavity mold in a hour but didn't have to purge any...

www.hobby-machinist.com

That's a great project. In all the years that I have been cutting wood, I never bothered with felling wedges but there were times when I wish that I had them. There are a lot of things that can be molded with a simple open mold. Aside from PP, HDPE, and possibly PS are material candidates. I have been saving PS scrap from discarded equipment for years now, awaiting some project. Certainly a better use that going to landfill.

In a former business that I was part of, we made molded polypropylene components for a product we sold. We only used virgin material so any scrap was just disposed of. Another company that I worked for made slabs of epoxy composite material for calibrating therapeutic x-ray machines and had some rather stringent requirements on thickness, flatness, and uniformity, etc. This resulted in a fairly high percentage of scrap that was just binned. It would be a nice candidate for this project except for the fact that it contains powdered limestone which plays havoc with HSS cutting tools. Had I a set of carbide drills, that would have been my choice of materials. But then, I would have to make another index for them.

Another possible material candidate is ubiquitous Bondo. A fairly simple process to make a slug of it for a project and cheaper than epoxy. Polester resin used in fiberglassing would be another possibility. Additives like wood flour of grinding dust could modify the mechanical properties. Both are considerably less expensive than epoxy resin.

 

[mmcmdl]

RJ can answer per what he made .

As far as melting Poly , there is no odor . We blow it thru dies anywhere from 450-600 degrees . We do have exhaust fans , more to take the heat out of the rooms . They are all kept below 60 degrees per our processes . We have very large silos full of different size pellets from Exxon and Amoco as well as many others that come in 1000 lb totes . I may be sensitized to the smell if RJ has a different opinion .

 

[RJSakowski]

Very nice solution. Couple of questions about working with the material:

Is the plastic melting stinky?

Is it something better done outside or with an exhaust fan nearby?

Did you have to super clean the lids to avoid contamination?

TIA

Yes there were fumes coming from the melt process. Originally, I was melting at 600ºC which resulted in fumes. I dialed it back to 390ºC which reduced the fumes. When I finished, and went upstairs, I noticed a haze. Opening the windows for a few minutes cleared it out. If I had a melt pot or an oven rather than a hot air gun, I probably could have lowered the temperature further. Doing it again, I would probably move hte operation outdoors.

The lids were quite clean to start with. I rejected one that had some foreign material on it. Other than that, I did no other cleaning. I wasn't making rocket parts, just looking for a hunk of plastic.

 

[mmcmdl]

As a cautionary note , this stuff flashes . We've had 4 major fires over the last 4 years at the plant . These were due to operator negligence . Our last was a very very expensive F up . The dies purged from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning , the op left for the weekend and forgot to shut the line down . The poly purged , and purged , and purged until it was 4 ft high and hit the band heaters . Burned up the entire room , the extruders , pumps , cabinets and of course flooded the entire half of the plant . The fire department was the only ones that could shut off the sprinkler system per county regs .

 

[RJSakowski]

Polypropylene is very much like candle wax in that respect. Once ignited, it burns very hot. I definitely would avoid any open flames when dealing with it. Aside from that though. I routinely weld it with a soldering iron and have never had an incident.

 

[mmcmdl]

Polypropylene is very much like candle wax in that respect. Once ignited, it burns very hot. I definitely would avoid any open flames when dealing with it. Aside from that though. I routinely weld it with a soldering iron and have never had an incident.

Did you end up with a solid chunk without porosity in your slug RJ ? I'm curious . The wedges ended up being porous due the extruders just dumping into the mold and not under any pressure . It would be cool to make up a few cheap arse molds and be able to dump the heated plastic right into them , or put the mold onto a hotplate and melt it . Hm ..................you have me thinking .

 

[woodchucker]

Did you end up with a solid chunk without porosity in your slug RJ ? I'm curious . The wedges ended up being porous due the extruders just dumping into the mold and not under any pressure . It would be cool to make up a few cheap arse molds and be able to dump the heated plastic right into them , or put the mold onto a hotplate and melt it . Hm ..................you have me thinking .

I have a hotplate. That way I can take it outside to the garage and melt it without stinking up the house.

Now, you have me curious. I was thinking of saving plastic bottle caps as well, since they might be a good candidate for the meltdown.... Just need a food grinder, to chop the plastics up into shreds... a food processor... gotta see what the wife has that she isn't using

 

[mmcmdl]

Uh oh ..........................see what RJ started ?

I have to visit work today anyway , I'll pick up a bag of this stuff and do a little experiment tonight .