DVD: Toolmaking & Restoration 2927  (Discontinued)

Mini Machines 101 General Machinist Series

Toolmaking & Restoration by SwarfRat Enterprises, LLC.

This video delves into the art of restoring damaged parts, as well as how to design and fabricate special tools for our projects, whatever they may be.

Have you ever had a part with the threads so damaged that you can't put a die over them to clean them up? This video demonstrates with a 40-year-old oil pump shaft from a vintage Italian Aermacchi engine, where the shaft was so mushroomed on the end as to be worthless. Learn the technique to synchronize the lathe to the existing threads, enabling you to re-cut the damaged threads and save the part.

It shows you how to measure and lay out a complex bolt pattern from the same engine manually, and tricks for doing it with a CAD program.

Then the video shows how to use the layout to make a universal press and separator tool, as well as flywheel and armature pullers; tools that are no longer available, yet necessary to disassemble the motor. Along the way, it discusses material and design considerations for tooling in general.

For those of you who haven't yet cut threads with your mini lathe, this is a great introduction to the process.