Half of a Great Idea

- [Brandon] Gears.

(gears popping)

One of the fundamentals in machining

that I've somehow managed to completely avoid

in over two years in this shop.

It's not that I'm afraid of them,

I've just never had a need for them, I guess.

So I'm a bit of a noob on the topic.

I mean, I've used them,

and I even know some engineering jargon,

but I've never made one.

Seems like a simple enough problem to solve.

But gear cutters are expensive.

And there's another problem.

I like making tools more than not tools.

So I'm gonna be making a tool

to make gear cutters to make gears.

I'm gonna make the Eureka.

(bright gentle guitar music)

Okay. - I think that's nice framing.

- I don't know, you tell me.

I can't see it.

- [Partner] I said I think it's nice framing.

- Oh, okay. (laughing)

- I am making the Eureka tool. - Eureka!

(Brandon laughing)

- I need to make some gears.

- [Partner] Why?

- Because...

(Both laughing)

Because gears are like one of the last things,

basic things, I haven't done.

I need to make gear cutters.

- Gear cutters? - Right.

- [Partner] But I thought we were making gears.

- You need gear cutters to make gears.

- [Partner] An actual thing?

- This is not a gear cutter,

but it's similar to a gear cutter

and there's all these teeth, right?

And so the idea is that you would spin this

and you could cut each tooth one at a time around a gear.

It's called involute geometry.

- Involute. - Involute.

- Not invalid? - Not invalid.

- [Partner] Is there any reason that

the thing that makes gears happens to look like a gear?

- It's not quite the chicken and the egg.

It's more like, like the chicken feed

and then the chicken and then the egg.

(partner laughing)

So what I'm making is the Eureka tool,

which is a form-relieving tool, to cut gears.

This whole thing, all it does is cut the relief

on the back of the gear cutters.

Are you impressed?

- So impressed. - You look so impressed.

- [Partner] Okay, so we're gonna make a tool

that does something cool,

and while it's doing something cool it looks cool.

And I have the...

I should flip to the right page.

So I didn't have to design it.

- [Partner] Didn't you wanna design this?

- Not this one.

There are other things I wanna design,

but I like that this one is already designed

so that I don't have to design it.

I don't think I can get it all done in this video.

I wouldn't wanna get to the end of making this build

and then not have time to actually make the gears.

No, to make gear cutters, 'cause...

So, here's the deal.

I gotta make this tool, which is very complicated,

and then I gotta make a cutting tool

to make gear cutting tools.

Once I make the gear cutters, I can make gears, maybe.

There's still a maybe in there. (laughing)

- [Partner] If you give a machinist a cookie?

- I don't know what that means, but I'll take the cookie.

I'm terrible with literature references and-

- [Partner] That's a kid's book, my love.

- Like I said, literature reference.

What book is it?

- [Partner] "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." (laughing)

- You're not gonna understand what this thing does

and how it's moving and what it's doing

until it's all together.

But there is sort of like a subassembly.

That subassembly will potentially

make some spinning and clicking noises.

So that's my goal is to at least have-

Okay, enough learning.

You can do that on your own time.

Let's actually make something.

First is a short round bit called the indexing sleeve.

A perfect use for this lengthy piece of 4140.

Not the most ideal setup for a short part,

but a little hell from the tail stock and we're good to go.

I also just didn't wanna spend forever

cutting this down on the band saw.

Not a ton of super interesting stuff happening here,

so here's a tip.

When turning a bunch of diameters and setups like this,

I like to zero the DRO, take a light pass,

and then measure that diameter.

Then get the tool out of the way

and run the cross slide in

until the DRO reads the same value and zero again.

Now, when I back out, the DRO is reading the true dimension,

making it so much easier to whip through all the diameters.

But that won't save you from vicious attacks

from the razor spaghetti.

Speaking of razors, I think I'm due for a new look.

Luckily I have Henson Shaving to help.

Unlike these murder noodles,

Henson Shaving makes razors designed to cut your hair,

but not you.

I'll get more injuries cleaning up the shop

than I will from this safety razor.

And despite what most people think,

safety razors are not harder to use or more dangerous

than the standard plastic multi-blade razors

you find at the grocery store.

When actual aerospace engineers are doing the designing,

you get a CNC machine razor

made to space station level tolerances, literally.

Before Henson got into making razors,

they made stuff like the ISS and the Mars Rover.

So the AL 13 has features

that you won't find on any other competitor,

like the wide open channels that just don't clog up,

or the unique locating pins that better position the blades

so you can be sure it doesn't reach out and poke you,

or the handle that threads against a Nitronic 60 bushing

to give a smooth and repeatable stopping point.

And of course, the cutting edge of the blade

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So you and whoever kisses your mug every day

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So skip the plastic, the proprietary cartridges,

the packaging, and the shipping costs

of monthly savings subscriptions.

Henson Shaving is here for you

with the best and last razor you'll ever have to buy.

Thanks to Henson Shaving for sponsoring this video

and providing you, my viewers, 100 free blade refills

if you use the code INHERITANCE

at hensonshaving.com/inheritance

or click the link in my description.

Now, I think you know what's coming next.

- You ready? - Mm.

- No way.

- [Partner] Wow. (laughing)

Hi.

Actually looks really good on you.

I really like it.

- Supposed to be the Tarzan's dad.

Problem is I don't have enough thickness to fill it out,

so I just look like a- - You have enough thickness

in other regions to fill anything out, though.

- I feel like the guy from, what's that movie?

That show, "Blackbird."

- The serial killer? - The serial killer

in "Blackbird."

I kept just kinda like ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee.

- [Partner] That's a nice chamfer.

(Brandon laughing)

That really doesn't...

Why doesn't that offend me?

I feel like should- - It's 'cause-

- Offend me more. - Miss Victoria mommy

over there likes (indistinct).

- You will never watch "Pride and Prejudice" with me ever?

- No.

So you like it? - I do.

- It's gettin' hot in here, oof.

I figured this one you would either,

you would love it or you would be disgusted by it.

- [Partner] It's following the trend line

of I like more facial hair as opposed to less.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that response.

There might be another hot date in the cards for me.

Until then, let's get back to work.

Unless you have a well-seasoned dicrometer,

you probably can't tell these diameters aren't finished.

I've left everything about 20 thou larger

for some finishing passes I'll get to shortly.

I've got some work to do on the other end.

So back in the four jaw to true it up

and then facing this down to its final length.

(machine whirring)

Now everyone knows a good indexing sleeve has a hole in it.

And as you can see, this one's missing its beauty mark.

So that's next.

(machine whirring)

And I'm afraid it gets a little boring here for a second.

(machine whirring)

Still awake?

Good.

As a reward, let's do something more interesting.

With all the metal I just removed from the inside,

things are likely warped

and now the outside is no longer true to the inside.

And you can bet your buttered bench vise I want it to be.

So we're gonna hold this between centers for the final cuts.

I'll mount the first center in the chuck

and take a pass to true it up.

(machine whirring)

Then I can pop my sleeve between it and the live center

and squeeze the begeez out of it.

Emphasis on the begeez.

Friction is all that's gonna

keep this part spinning with the lathe,

so this needs to be tight.

(machine whirring)

One last turning op is a thread on this end,

but I've got myself a little pickle here.

That ain't gonna fit.

And while these words are enough to raise

the self-esteem of even the smallest gherkin,

it doesn't help me.

So, let's fix that.

(machine whirring)

That oughta do it.

Now these threads should be a cinch to cut.

(machine whirring)

(skull quacking)

Ah, dammit.

I guess I wasn't heavy enough with the begeez.

I shouldn't be able to turn the part by hand like this.

Maybe it came loose

or the contact point with the center wore out a bit.

Whatever the case, there's no way this can be

the first donation to the new box of shame.

So I'll give this a gronk and another go.

(machine whirring)

I didn't get very deep before that little hiccup,

but I'm still gonna try and pick up

where those threads left off anyway.

I can get this pretty close

by engaging the thread feed without anything spinning,

then adjust the cross feeding compound slide

until things are lined back up.

This new set of cuts should remove that little booboo

like nothing ever happened.

(machine whirring)

That's how that was supposed to go.

And even after starting at a slightly smaller diameter,

I'm able to hit the right thread dimension,

which just leaves one final job on the lathe.

The chamfers, of course.

(machine whirring)

Turned out all right, despite the blunder.

Let's finish this up on the mill.

There are 12 equally spaced notches around the outside.

Perfect job for the rotary table and chuck.

But that's a whole bunch of setup that I'm not keen to do.

So I'm gonna keep this simple

and just use the collet block.

The notches have a convenient 60-degree angle,

so a dovetail cutter is the obvious choice,

and positioning is just a matter

of getting touches on the top inside perimeters,

then lettin' her rip,

and rotating the collet block between passes.

(machine whirring)

Now you might be thinking to yourself,

won't that only make six notches?

And you would be right.

So after the first six,

I'll change how I'm clamping the block.

Then lather, rinse, and repeat.

(machine whirring)

Lastly are a pair of wrench flats,

then a final spotface that will make sense soon.

Top notch work, wouldn't you say?

Nice.

Next up are some fastening bits,

which I'm gonna make outta bronze

for no other reason than it's pretty.

This hunk already has a hole poked in it,

so that will save me from poking my own.

(machine whirring)

This first piece is just a ring.

So after facing, turning, and boring,

I'll pop some chamfers on here and part this off.

(machine whirring)

The ring isn't finished,

but I wanna go ahead and whip up the nut while I'm here.

(machine whirring)

Most nuts are threaded, and this one is no exception.

So after some chamfering, I'll switch to the thread cutter

to make some clearance at the back of this bore.

Then cut the thread to a perfect match

with the indexing sleeve.

Nailed it.

Or should I say screw...

Oh, that's why we don't say that.

Okay, anyway.

After parting this off, I'm left with two rings

that I somehow need to hold to finish up the other sides.

Luckily, I have this exquisite specimen

of high purity polymeric fixturing medium,

perfect for a quick and dirty mandrel.

(machine whirring)

I've gotten used to the razor spaghetti,

but these chaos noodles,

well, they're somethin' else.

(machine whirring)

After equal parts cutting and detangling,

the first ring presses onto the mandrel,

and then it's a simple matter of finishing the other side.

(machine whirring)

The trick now is getting this off of here.

Easy enough with a boring bar

to remove almost all the material,

and then a hammer.

After a slight modification to the mandrel,

the nut is a similar deal.

Back on the mill,

the nut gets its second most useful features,

some wrench flats.

Then a set screw hole is popped in the ring.

All right, that's two fancy bronze parts whipped up.

Let's fit them together.

The spotface I added earlier

is for a set screw that goes here.

And if you weren't aware,

if you leave candy in the shop for long enough,

it becomes hardware.

I'm gonna go ahead and say the bronze was a good choice.

Next, I'll work on the so-called anchor plate.

And looky here, the perfect piece of stock

already squared up and milled to size.

How convenient?

I guess this means we can jump right into the fun stuff.

After locating the part,

I'll spot drill a few hole locations

that really just won't make any sense until later.

So this first one is a threaded hole for a pivoty wivoty,

then a reamed hole for a pokey pudoky.

A slot is milled for the slighty glidey.

And this last hole,

that even my girthiest drill can't satisfy.

So I'll bring this guy in to settle the bore.

(machine whirring)

After a little sketchery with the boring head insert,

I can also pop some chamfers on this big guy.

Then, of course, everything else

gets this treatment as well.

(machine whirring)

Looking pretty sharp or not sharp actually.

I guess that was the point.

Okay, I'm done.

Despite my complaints before,

I can't avoid the rotary table

for this next round of operations.

And yes, I really did move this thing twice

just to get this sequence.

I am gonna start with the big honkin' radius

around this bore.

And to get it centered up, I'll use the coaxial indicator

like I did to locate the table.

Then gronk the begeez out of the clamp

so this sucker doesn't try to run away.

Now I just slapped this on here,

so there's no chance it's actually square to anything,

but it's easy enough to tram with the indicator

by rotating the table

and resetting the zeros on the perimeter scale

and the hand wheel dial.

One last thing, the book drawings

don't give much in the way of angles.

So I whipped up my own CAD drawing

to get what I needed to know.

(machine whirring)

Now I can already hear the bajillion of you

screaming at the screen

that I shouldn't be climb milling like this.

And I know I know, but I have a reason.

If something is gonna move,

I wanted to move away from the cutter

rather than get pulled in and scrap the whole part.

Fortunately, the gronking I gave the clamps

made this a non-issue.

After swapping to a finishing mill for the final pass,

I'll pop some proper sexy chamfers on here

before changing setups.

Seriously, how are chamfered rounds so satisfying?

The next setup is for this long, skinny end,

so a gauge pin helps me locate the end of the slot.

Then some more naughty, naughty, bad, bad climb milling.

(machine whirring)

At this point, most of the rest of this is just decorative.

Actually, all of this rotary table work is decorative.

This piece was technically usable

right after making the holes in the slot.

But if you thought I was gonna stop there,

you certainly haven't been around here long enough

to know the lengths I'll go to to make a nice corner round.

No matter how small.

Only downside of more setups is more chances for mistakes.

Like this little guy that I somehow miscalculated.

So back to the first setup so I can take care of that.

(machine whirring)

This looks fantastic,

this side anyway.

I still have the whole other side to chamfer.

And despite my harping on earlier,

I'm not particularly thrilled

about doing all those setups again.

Thank goodness for die grinders.

Hey, I can be pragmatic, when it's convenient, for me.

Besides hard to even tell the difference.

Now there's one last feature on this part

that I almost forgot about,

a couple of 440 threaded holes in this side.

(machine whirring)

All right, that's most of

the big hairy pieces taken care of.

So now let's work on the little hairy paws.

Not those, this.

The ratchet paw.

And you wouldn't believe it.

Another perfectly sized piece of A2 tool steel for the job.

How fortuitous.

Let's dive right into the holes.

(machine whirring)

The paw itself actually only has one,

but I need three for this to all come together.

The other two will make sense

after I counterbore this one

with none other than, you guessed it, the boring head.

(machine whirring)

Now let's make this square less so.

Another job for the rotary table.

First is a straight cut at 20 degrees

that technically doesn't need to be made

on this rotary table,

but it conveniently uses the same setup

as the first rounding operation.

And of course, I put together another quick drawing

to fill in the missing angles from the book.

Next is a job for these two,

or well now it's one and a half holes.

I milled this one away slightly,

but it will still serve the purpose of locating the parts

so I can cut the outer radius.

(machine whirring)

Mm, somethin' ain't right.

If all my math checks out,

these two curves should have blended together perfectly.

Nothing like this piece of doo doo.

But I'm now noticing that this first curve we cut

doesn't even look remotely centered

on the hole that's around.

So it seems I either boned the setup or it boned me.

Whichever the case,

I know someone who appreciates a good bone.

Okay, let's try this again.

No frickin' way.

Another prepared piece of stock.

And this one even has the holes in it.

I probably should have looked a little harder the first time

and saved myself some work.

At any rate, it means I can more or less

pick up where I left off.

And this time we'll go heavier with the clamps

and lighter with the cuts.

(machine whirring)

That's how that's supposed to look.

The last arc is the inner one,

which means clamping spots are sparse, but manageable.

(machine whirring)

All right, after a look with the old grinder,

the ratchet paw is done.

So now for its mounting screw.

I wonder if...

Yeah, it was a long shot.

I guess I'll have to make this one.

Should be a lickety split job, though.

Since the ratchet paw still needs to be able to spin,

this is gonna be a shoulder screw.

So one diameter is for the head,

a smaller one for the shoulder,

and then the last is for the knees and toes.

No wait, wrong audience.

This is for the threads.

And once again, the Hemingway tools

sent to me by my friend Eric, come in clutch.

No, literally, this clutch die holder

is perfect for making the threads.

And then this rotary broach pops a nice hex hole

in the other end of the screw.

Bada bing.

Now this just goes in here and bada boom.

Looks like I got all the dimensions spot on, too,

since this is able to spin.

So now we're just one small component away

from some glorious clicking noises.

I'm gonna need a spring, which starts with this plate.

And while it's not the finished thing,

it's at least at the right thickness.

This gets two tiny mounting screw holes.

Then I can mill it mostly to size.

I say mostly, because now I have

this little nubbins to clean up.

But just like the last small part,

work holding is a little tricky.

I can't use my normal parallels,

because they're the same thickness as the part

and I wouldn't be able to clamp them.

Luckily my late grandfather

foresaw this exact issue of mine

30 years ago when he bought these, wavy parallels.

A bit of an oxymoron,

but they're still parallel how they need to be

and will let me grab onto the thinnest of parts like this.

Pretty exciting to have just the right tool

right when you need it.

So exciting in fact that I forgot to record

milling away the nubbins.

So just enjoy the drilling of this teeny tiny hole.

(machine whirring)

All right, there it is, the spring.

What?

I mean it technically has a modulus of elasticity,

so it will do spring things,

but not at the order of magnitude I need.

Good thing I have some spring wire.

Okay, now it's a spring.

And after throwing a couple of screws

and this dowel pin in here,

we're ready to make some clicking noises.

(hammer banging)

(tool clicking)

- Oh.

(tool clicking)

Oh.

That is too good.

I know someone who will appreciate this as well.

- [Partner] Did you make something to show me?

- I made something.

It's show and tell time. - Show and tell time.

Okay. - You ready?

- [Partner] Our favorite time of the day.

- Okay. - Pretty.

- You're damn right it's pretty.

(tool clicking) - Oh.

- Uh-huh. (tool clicking)

- Oh. - Oh.

That's a proper ratchet, right?

- So you have a spring. - Yes.

- Very nice cutouts. - Yes.

- Approximately 12 of them. - They're notches.

- [Partner] Notches, two sets of wrench flats.

- Yes.

- Very nice. - Yes, very nice.

- Looks very good. - That's all I get?

- Wow! - Thank you.

- There you go. (both laughing)

You did it awesome.

- This is 50% of the way through the project.

(tool clicking) And...

Oh god.

(tool clicking)

Oh.

About this much more to make of different pieces.

Another ratcheting mechanism.

(partner gasping) So there's double ratchets.

- [Partner] Oh my gosh, we're gonna get

two clickety clicks?

- Yeah, it's gonna go chook chook chook chook chook chook.

No ball busting.

You got nothin' else?

What about this? - I hate it.

- You do hate it now? - Yes.

(both laughing)

It looks better when I cover up

the bottom half of your face.

(Brandon laughing)

- You bring out the pterodactyl in me.

- I think we're tired. - We are tired.

It's been been a long project.

- Not really. - Shut up.

- It's been a project but it has not been a-

- Shh, shh, you're interrupting.

(tool clicking) Oh.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, so it may not be a finished tool,

but I held up my end of the bargain.

It does the spinny and it does the clicky,

and it ended up looking pretty svelte in the end, too.

But I need it to do more than just look fancy

and make noises, albeit very satisfying noises.

Tools, after all, do jobs.

So stick around for part two of this build,

where if all goes well, I'll finish this bad boy,

make something with it,

and maybe even feel compelled to shout "Eureka!"

As always, thanks for watching, and see you next time.

(bright music)

Hi, sweetie.

Hi, Pookie Bear. - Ugh.

- Hi, pumpkin. - No.

Okay, so... (gasping)

I wanna see your curly Q's.

Please keep your pants on, though.

Those are a very nice color.

- A $5 chip,

'cause the bronze I used is really (censored) expensive.

(both laughing)

Well, I got this for you.

Will you come and get it?

- [Partner] You got it for me?

No, you pulled it out of the garbage for me.

I feel so special.

- Oh, I'm comin' all the way back here?

- [Partner] No, no, just a little bit.

Come forward.

- Well, when you say back that ass up...

I gotta... (mumbling)

- [Partner] This sounds like a very complicated thing

that's gonna require you to be in the shop

until 2 a.m. to complete.

- When's the last time I've been into the shop until 2 a.m.?

- 11 p.m. - So your answer to

when was the last time I've been in the shop until 2 p.m.,

your answer is 11 p.m.

- Boxy knows what I'm talkin' about.

- Technically, you were in the shop with me, so...

- And if I hadn't been, you would've been

in the shop until 2 a.m., so there.

- Yeah (mumbling) that's true.