Has anyone made their own machinist jacks?

[OrangeAlpine]

Made mine 55 years ago in High School vocational machine shop. Was not blackened and has not rusted. It went unused 30 to 40 years.

I used the Oxpho stuff on some parts and found it to be purely cosmetic. In fact, I think it accelerated the rust as the parts sat unused (but oiled) and rusted. My experience with rust mystifies me. With guns, I seem to have "rusty fingers". I touch a gun and it will rust. But rust does not seem to be a problem with unprotected tools.

Bill

 

[Ray C]

Havent' made my own jacks but if I do, I will use this to do the black oxide.
http://www.caswellplating.com/metal-finishing-solutions/black-oxide-kits.html

BTW: I use a lot of this caswell black oxide. It's A-OK stuff and I do believe meets mil-spec. The chemicals are not outwardly nasty and it's a cold process.

I also have their aluminum oxide process but, have put all the chemicals in storage. Leaving vats of sulphuric around causes surface rust on anything metal. When doing the process, temps are raised and the vapors are wafting through the air, depositing a nice layer H2SO4 on everything.

Ray

Hey Guys,

Have any one you MADE your own machinist jacks for use in your shop?

 

[darkzero]

Those are nice. I never thought to make my own & have been meaning to buy a couple. But now I think I will just try to make some now. Thanks for sharing!

 

[cathead]

View media item 94683
I made one out of metal from an old electric motor shaft and other scraps. I have used it twice so not often used
but handy if you need one for an adjustable support.

 

[RandyM]

Without getting fancy and in a pinch, I have used bolts, nuts, and coupling nuts as jacks. It is a really thrifty alternative.

 

[JimDawson]

Without getting fancy and in a pinch, I have used bolts, nuts, and coupling nuts as jacks. It is a really thrifty alternative.

Me too!

 

[Silverbullet]

YUPP use what you have. I made some with the split centers from some old pulleys a one inch nut welded and a one inch bolt . Made them forty years ago for use on the boring mill and an open sided planer. Also in vocational I made the starrett Jack set complete . Even case hardened it. Three years in the school shop we made lots of tools. Still have them all.

 

[682bear]

I made these years ago... not as nice as some of the others in this thread, but they work...

 

[ddickey]

The ball on top is tool steel I hardened. Made some mistakes on this project but it still works proper.

 

[ewkearns]

Absolutely! They don't need to be anything as elaborate as what is pictured, here. Face at least one end of a piece of stock and tap the end opposite the (a) machined surface. Finish by installing a square head bolt (cleaning up the head in the lathe may be required). You are done......