Woody's Workshop - Page 23 of 57 - Keeping the Grey Matter active

June 15, 2021

3D printed multiple punch holding tool using Fusion 360 Parameters

Using Fusion 360 Parameter Functions on this useful tool

I was pointed to this punch holder idea by a friend. It was shown on HomeMadeTools.net and conceived by Andy Foale.

Here is the link to the original post : –

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/multiple-hand-stamp-helping-hand-65882

I thought it might be practical to make it as a 3D printed device and with a bit of guesswork came up with a first pass design in Fusion 360. This was based on my set of punches which are 6.4mm square (1/4″) and 58mm long. The design printed in PLA without any problems and the finished punch holder worked fine. It uses one of my printed knobs as mentioned in another post.

3D printed punch holder per Andy Foales — Fusion 360 pictorial view of the finished punch holder

The success led to requests from others who liked the 3D print concept but had different size punches so needed the design tweaked to suit.

This looked like a good excuse to re-familiarise myself with Fusion 360s Parameter functions. In short these allow you to program interrelated dimensions in a design through a series of basic algebraic functions. The end result is a design that is fully flexible on the size of the punches to be used and the number of punches that might be judged needed as the maximum ‘word’ length.

The Fusion file is here in a ZIP file

punch holder v5

The Fusion file includes the holder, the clamping bar and the knob body. You will need a short length of M6 threaded rod and a M6 nut to finish the knob. The file is configured to 6mm punches, 63mm long but you can edit using Parameters function under Modify. Clearly once you have the Fusion file you could run also run a CAM program and CNC cut the punch holder.

I am afraid this is a Fusion 360 file only. If you aren’t a Fusion user (why not ??) and you want a STEP file creating to your punch sizes then email me and I can run it for you.

As stated in the original article, the kerning of the letters is defined by the punch cross section.

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June 15, 2021June 15, 2021

Home made knobs without knurling

I always used to make customised knobs in metal which had a knurled body with a piece of studding screwed and Loctited in place. It was good knurling practice and they looked fine until 3D printing came along.

I now have a variety of ‘styles’ for knob bodies modelled in Fusion 360. These have a hexagonal profile recess together with either a threaded hole or clearance hole modelled into them. A nut is Loctited onto the thread and then the thread with the nut in place SuperGlued into the 3D printed body.

As usual I’m all for an easy (a.k.a. lazy) way of doing things …. here is a Fusion image.

Fusion modelled image of a 3D printed knob

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June 6, 2021

3D printed Myford QCTP dial gauge holder

I bought three Kafer dial gauges in an EBay job lot with a view to making a dual gauge holder as per Clough42’s design.

After some thought I realised that a single holder would suffice by just flipping the orientation of the dial gauge in the holder. Rather than machining the holder I opted to 3D print as this would be sufficiently robust when gripped in the QCTP of the Myford.

Here is the Fusion image and a picture of the finished holder in place. The gauge is gripped in place by two nylon screws. A M5 cap head screw acts as the height adjuster in the QCTP.

dial gauge holder for Myford QCTP — Fusion 360 model of the dial gauge holder to mount in the Myford QCTP

Dial gauge holder mounted in the Myford QCTP — The dial gauge holder mounted in the Myford

The threaded holes are all M5 and 3D modelled in the print. They just need a run through with a tap to clean then up.

The following link has a ZIP file containing the Fusion file and STEP file along with the dimensioning sketch for the QCTP geometry.

Single dial gauge mount ZIP file

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May 29, 2021June 7, 2021

Jerky Mouse Effects with 3D Connexion SpaceMouse and CadMouse used together

Quite some time ago I posted about the fact that I had bought a package deal of the wireless 3D Connexion SpaceMouse and CadMouse devices. Since then I have come to cherish the SpaceMouse and would be lost without it. It makes modelling in Fusion 360 an amazing experience.

Since using this combination I had been experiencing an irritation with the CadMouse lagging and twitchy/jerky in its action. This is not always present every time I use the combination of these two devices but you could guarantee it would raise its head when I was in a rush to finish a design. There has never been a similar issue with the SpaceMouse. I had searched the forums and tried adjusting various graphic parameters but to no consistent result.

The two devices when bought as a package share the same USB wireless dongle. Clearly the pair would be timesharing this data link so I thought this might be a data bandwidth issue. I transferred the dongle to a high speed USB port (the ones with the blue insert). I can’t say this helped or at least there did not seem to be a correlated improvement with this move.

Of late I have switched the CadMouse off completely and reverted to my Logitech M705 wireless mouse with its associated USB dongle. Fingers crossed this seems to have solved the problem. The Logitech behaves well and is responsive to my mouse movements and there is no impact on the SpaceMouse when working on its own into its USB dongle.

Time will tell.

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May 25, 2021May 25, 2021

3D printed Dremel based TIG Tungsten Grinder

Are you a Dipper also ?

Not being the most proficient TIG welder I sometimes dip the tungsten in the weld pool and contaminate it. This means a re-grind of the tip. I don’t have a dedicated grinding wheel so the grinding process has the potential to fundamentally contaminate the tungsten from the wheel while re-grinding. This got me thinking whether I could use my Dremel with a dedicated grinding wheel that would be reserved just for tungsten grinding.

I decided that my design would be based around my most used two tungsten diameter sizes (1/16” and 1/8”) and I would aim for 15°, 30° and 60° inclusive grinding angles.

I have always been nervous about tungsten dust and even more so knowing that some tungsten materials are radioactive so my design would enclose the grinding process and a viewing window would let me see what was going on.

The design is not ideal because the recommendation for grinding tungsten is to have the grinding striations running in line back down the cone of the point and not around the point. The final result depends on the speed of the Dremel and the speed of rotation of the tungsten being ground.

Fusion 360 image of the tungsten grinder assembly showing the grinding wheel for reference

Finished view of the Dremel based TIG tungsten grinder

Downward view of a tungsten TIG rod in position on the grinding wheel

Read the full write up on this project as a PDF download

Tungsten Grinder using a Dremel

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