Miniature Adjustable Square

[Switch & Lever]

Hello again fellow hobby machinists!

Upon request by LJP in my other thread (Kant Twist Clamp) I decided to post the video I mad detailing how to make your own adjustable miniature square. It was inspired by Starrett's line of adjustable squares (http://www.starrett.com/metrology/p...ision-Hand-Tools/Squares/Special-Squares/14MA), but since I wasn't about to pay a hundred dollars for one I decided to try my hand at making my own. The end result may not be perfect, but I am very happy with what I managed to achieve.

[video=youtube;FUfV3qK6WGo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUfV3qK6WGo[/video]

I realized, upon watching it again, that it's not quite as descriptive as the videos I'm starting to make today. Hopefully most of you could fill in the descriptional gaps here and there by yourself, otherwise please do ask and I'll be sure to answer.

Enjoy!

 

[melsdad]

Very well done! Love the video. Can you tell (show) us more about your machines in your shop?

 

[churchjw]

Thanks for these post they are very inspiring. I have been sending them to my students to help motivate them. The videos are very well done and the final product is wonderful. I did have some questions about the second part of the square project. You did a video of etching the scale on the square. I have tried almost your exact process with the spray paint and then lasering off the part you want etched. I had 2 problems with mine you may be able to help with since yours turned out so well. First problem it took 10 or more passes to completely clean the paint off the work. I am using a 50w Epilog legend EX. I tried different settings if I got to slow or to much power it would bubble the paint and the paint would get all gooey. So question one what settings are you using on your laser? Question 2 what kind of paint and have you found any differences in different kinds of paint? I used black Krylon spray paint. Question 3 what surface prep did you use before painting?

The other issue I had was the electro etching tended to pull the paint off. I think I was using to high a voltage. What were your volt and amp settings for the etching?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Barnesrickw]

Gonna go make one. Great little project.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[markknx]

Thanks for the vids. If a picture is worth a thousand words then video is worth millions!

 

[Switch & Lever]

melsdad, sure thing. I'm not there right now so I can't get all the models out of my mind. We have three metal lathes, the one I'm using most in my videos is a Colchester 2000. The other two is a Storebro and a small Schaublin lathe, which I like a lot for smaller work.

Three milling machines, again one Storebro which doesn't see much use, one Abene and the one that I use constantly is an Aciera F3.

Add to that a metal bandsaw, MIG and TIG welder, belt sanders and such and we're a pretty well tooled up metal workshop. About half of the machines has DROs as well, which obviously makes life a lot easier.

The wood working machinery I don't know so much about brands, I use them a fair deal, but I don't think they're anything special. Probably some domestic Swedish brand. That's pretty much it. If you go to my YouTube channel page you can see a bit of an overview of the metal workshop part of the workshop in the header image.

Cheers!

churchjw, that's interesting that you've had such problems with it. I'm using a LaserPro Mercury 40w machine, and if I remember correctly the power was set at the highest in the settings and speed about 3/4 of maximum, and it cleaned off no problem on first pass. For the tape in the failed example it took a couple of passes to get it all off.

I'm wondering if the binder in the Krylon paint is perhaps some sort of acrylic or similar which are prone to melting rather than vaporizing. I don't know. The paint I was using was really nothing special, a general black topcoat paint. Check it out here: http://www.hagmans.se/gb/Products/Spray/Hagmans/11426 I've used other similar paints as well, but mainly I guess they're aimed for automotive applications. As for the paint lifting I honestly do not know why. Are you sure the paint is entirely dry before you laser and electroetch it? That's the only thing I could think of, or that it may be water based and starts to loosen either because of exposure to the water or bad adhesion to the metal. Make sure you degrease it thoroughly with a solvent, I use regular paint thinner for that, works great.

In terms of power while etching I just cranked up the power supply as high as it would go. It ended up being around 2 amps and fluctuating between 10-20 V during the etching process.

I'm glad you like the videos, and it's truly humbling that you choose to share them with your students. Thank you ever so much!

Barnesrickw & markk​, thank you, much appreciated!