Notes on Hand Tools

Minimal Tools for a Bicycle Shop

Essential:

• drill
• angle grinder
• die grinder or palm router
• bench grinder

Optional:

• impact wrench
• jigsaw (or key hole saw for cat doors)

Woodworking:

List from DIYForKnuckleheads on YouTube

• circular saw 7.25"
• orbital sander
• mitre saw
• palm router Reddit Honest Carpenter

My starter choices

My starter choices, full details

TIG, MIG or Stick for a beginner in his garage? reddit

• Stick SMAW = Shielded Metal Arc Welding (consumable electrode)
• Tig GTAW = Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (non consumable electrode with external filler)
• Mig GMAW = Gas Metal Arc Welding (consumable electrode filler metal)

The consensus seems to be that MIG is easier, like using a hot glue gun, and that if you are only going to weld once in a while without gaining experience, this is what you use. Stick (SMAW) welding is what you choose if you are going to practice a lot to master welding. TIG makes the nicest welds but requires skill, set up time, and expense.

There is also gas welding (oxy acetylene), which doesn't require an electric current. The acetylene is expensive. “Nothing is a better teacher of the welding process, what the puddle should look like and how to manipulate it, than learning to Gas Weld. You'll end-up being a better weldor with every process.”

MIG Welding Basics For Beginners, TimWelds on YouTube

Will the future CNC machine be a robot workstation that can use any tool needed? Currently, the main CNC machines are:

• mills
• lathes
• routers
• grinders
• 3D printers

Survey to support this conclusion

A mill or lathe must be huge in order to have the rigidity needed to work on steel, but for softer metals and wood, hobby mills and lathes are sufficient. See: Small CNC mill that can cut steel, redditWhat's the biggest factor(s) preventing steel cutting on a CNC router, reddit.

You can circumvent the requirement for rigidity on a smaller machine by making thinner cutting passes, which may wear a tool unevenly as it doesn't use it's full height.

There are plenty of affordable benchtop milling machines, and maybe milling tables to which I could attach a router as the motor, plus a variable speed controller. A milling machine can also do some lathe turning with an adapter.

So a mill and a 3D printer are probably the long term choices for me.

Attachments reduce the need for dedicated specialized machines. For example, a rotary tool attachment for an angle grinder or a drill guide for a drill instead of a drill press. There are many that are covered in the videos below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_driver

An impact wrench is nice to free up nuts and bolts quickly, and is less likely to break a frozen bolt than a breaker bar. The opposite for tightening: an impact wrench can break stuff.

I can get by without an impact driver. My drill has a setting to slip after certain torque, so I can use it instead, but mostly, I'd rather use hand tools for fastening. I have always pre-drilled holes for screws. Slow and tedious, but quality.

Most cordless drills have about 50 ft*lbs of torque popularmechanics.com. The strongest impact drivers are 220-350 ft*lbs protoolsreview.com.

An impact driver will be easier to handle at the same torque as a drill because because less twisting is applied to your wrist.

Sufficient torque for most jobs depends on who you ask. For large nuts and bolts in automotive work, a 600 ft*lbs 3/8“ Milwaukee mid-torque impact wrench is enough: reddit. 400Nm is enough: overclocker.co.uk.

It's easy to break stuff if you aren't careful, even with a 300Nm impact wrench: overclockers.co.uk.

Impact screwdriver has max of 200 ft*lbs

Although you can just do with a small angle grinder and never need anything else, this video shows the superiority of a plasma cutter. Plasma cutters can only be used on conductive material.

These have a lot of overlap in utility, being high rpm tools. The dremel (aka rotary tool) or small die grinder such as a Milwaukee M12 serve for detail work. Palm routers are more bulky but aren't unwieldy with a diameter of 6.5cm.

Between a dremel or a die grinder, a die grinder is more robust having a quarter inch axle instead of 1/8” diy-fixit on YouTube. See also reddit.

Perhaps the best choice if you can only have one tool is the palm router. Palm/trim routers come with a base to run along a workpiece. Some also include a plunge base. Palm routers like the Makita have a lot of attachments available for added versatility. With nothing attached, they are like a stubby die grinder. Also, a palm router like the Makita comes with an adapter for a 3/8“ collet for added stiffness and heat dissipation.

A 115mm angle grinder is bulky by comparison, but the 90 angle makes it unique to the others. The angle grinder seems to be a cornerstone for many users.

There is a rotary tool attachment for the angle grinder, with a 6mm adjustable chuck. This affords both power and a small tool in hand. The RPM of an angle grinder is less than a dremel, but the specifications for a drmel RPM are without load. Since a dremel doesn't have much power, actual RPM during usage can be much slower depending on load. See RPM table below.

Between a mill and a drill press, definitely a mill: garagejournal.com

But a mill is more cumbersome to set up for use as a drill press: Does a Milling machine double as a drill Press? reddit. "IMPOSSIBLE!" Milling Machine from a Drill Press, AvE on YouTube. Still need a drill press if have mill? practicalmachinist.com

I can probably skip a drill press and instead use a drill guide for the hand drill, as a means to reduce space requirements.

A router has too many differences to a drill. You can't jig a hand drill for use as a router. See: https://stusshed.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/can-a-drill-press-be-used-as-a-router/

So depending on the job 1) RPM requirement 2) vertical or horizontal load on the spindle bearings… the appropriate tool is attached to a custom made CNC machine, assuming making a custom CNC is the chosen investment.

From a tooling manufacturer: CNC mill vs router - Why you should pick each and why you need both, tormach.com. Tormach states the mill is more rigid than a router, allowing work on harder materials like steel. The mill has limited workspace in order to maintain rigidity. The mill uses lower speed, higher torque than a router.

Can a router motor be slowed down to the speed of a mill? Not sure about DC, but an AC motor has a flat torque curve:

Any Brushless Routers Out There? carbide3D.com

So if choosing only one tool, a router or die grinder with an AC motor, plus a $15 variable speed controller would give the full range of speed and load flexibility for both milling and routing.

Instead of a CNC router, the hobbyist could make due with a handheld “palm router”, or a die grinder with an attached guide.

Instead of a CNC milling machine, the hobbyist could make due with a hand drill attached to a drill guide.

In either case, the tool is moved by the user freehand or with guides along the workpiece.

You can 3D print a router guide for a die grinder: Die Grinder to Fixed Base Router Mod with Depth Adjustment, Shop 1LC on YouTube. At mig-welding.co.uk, many use palm routers as die grinders by taking off the guide.

At woodworkingforums.com, many use die grinders on custom CNC machines.

Beginning the Machine Shop Journey with a DIY CNC, Bryan on hackaday.com

Selecting the right components

While you can place some parts in a motor driven chuck of your choice, it's difficult to get the full utility of a lathe. Important aspects of a lathe are:

• Lots of mass for rigidity
• Precision dials for movement

According to the following video, a hobbyist 7×14 lathe will not be rigid enough to work on steel. Acceptable for softer material like wood, aluminum, brass, etc.

According to the following video, you can work on steel by making many fine passes to reduce the stress on the machine.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF), is the most widely used type of 3D printing at the consumer level. FDM vs. SLA: Compare Filament and Resin 3D Printers, formlabs.com

Is a 3D printer worth it?

Practically all 3D printers work fine on Linux: Best 3D Printer for Linux, reddit.com.