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🕑 Added 2021-05-22 06:35:57 +0000 UTCOne of the many, many things occupying my time at the moment is yet another machine rebuild. This one is much smaller and simpler than most, though, and as it's not time-critical, I've only been working on it in those rare few spare moments.
Also, I've been trying to do this little build up as a video, rather than my usual photographic build-blog.
It's... not going well. :)
Besides being a total noob at staging, shooting and editing a video, my attention is being split by a dozen other, often more time-critical projects, so it's hard to concentrate on something like this.
That whining aside, this afternoon, I needed to make a tool to do a quick little job, and as it was a fairly simple and straightforward task, figured I'd make a video out of it.
The task at hand is removing what are known as "drive screws", or small rivets used to hold the data plates to a typical machine tool. They're basically nonremovable, with no way to grab or twist them.
A commonly-mentioned but not often seen trick is to grind down a set of pliers to be able to grab something like this flush- right at the plate surface. It doesn't always work, but it's a good tool to have in the ol' arsenal.
Despite working on a dozen of these machines over the years, I'd never gotten around to making one. 'Til today.
Hope you enjoy.
Doc.
Comments
Doc Nickel
In most cases, the rivets are hardened, and the drill tends to skitter off into the much softer iron. In other cases, the drill just removes the head and leaves the shank embedded- which even comparatively soft steel tends to divert the drill into the softer iron. No, they need to be removed properly. This tool is by no means the end-all be-all for that task, but it is useful.
Tiger in man's clothing
Wait, you make a hand tool for a job you can do with a pneumatic drill? At least is was a crappy brand of lineman's pliers.
Scott Malcomson
Didn't know you were still at it after all these years. Persistence like that deserves subscription!
Craig Davidson
A more robust version of luthiers’ fret removal nippers - which are usually ground from nail pillars (we’re pulling stuff from wood, not rivets, so a lighter construction works better)
The first half should have ended with "There has to be a better way!"
VitAnyaNaked
Cool video, and watching how you do your grinding is even relaxing to some extent) It's like some kind of hypnosis.
Doc Nickel
If all I wanted to do was remove the data plate, sure, I could have ground the head off. But the idea here is to remove the rivet entirely, so that the plate can be removed intact (though this particular one is badly worn) the part cleaned and repainted, and then the plate (or a replacement) reinstalled. I usually tap the old holes for a 2-56 or 4-40 screw, and use tiny button-head screws to reattach the plates.
Doc Nickel
I have at times used a chisel to try and pry a rivet out, Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Then again, these pliers won't always work either, it's just another tool in the arsenal.
Doc Nickel
The more machine tools I have in the shop, the less I like doing welding and grinding in there, which can get grit and abrasives on the precision slideways. So apart from TIG welding- which produces little smoke and no spatter- I now try and do my grinding outdoors.
Howie
I laughed heavily over the fact that you used tools that could have easily removed the rivet to make a custom tool to remove the rivet. Edit: for clarity, I should have mentioned that I realized why you were doing it, only that it was unintentionally humourous. Please forgive any misunderstanding that I may have caused.
I was surprised that you didn't try a chisel
webkilla
...that's a lot of your machines that look like they're outside. I thought it'd all be in a workshop
