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 (alternative for a cat door is a keyhole saw)

Woodworking:

See DIYForKnuckleheads on YouTube

• circular saw 7.25"
• orbital sander
• mitre saw
• palm router

My starter choices

My starter choices, full details

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, lathe and a 3D printer are probably the long term choices for me. 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, reddit. However, you can circumvent the requirement for rigidity on a smaller machine by making thinner cutting passes.

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.

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.

An impact screwdriver (for use with a hammer) for those occasions where your impact wrench isn't enough? Nope! Klein impact screwdriver spec is max 200 ft * lbs. Craftsman also 200. Without a high power impact wrench, hammer and heat the bolt to hopefully loosen rust adhesion and then use a breaker bar.

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.

The dremel or die grinder are much smaller for detail work. Angle grinders are big and bulky. Both are useful.

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.

However, I'm going to first try using a flexible shaft rotary tool attachment for the angle grinder, with a 6mm adjustable chuck. Eventually if I need higher RPM I'll get a die grinder. Remember that the specifications for a rotary tool RPM are without load, and since a rotary tool doesn't have much power, actual RPM during usage will be much slower. See RPM table below.

I can probably skip a drill press and instead use a drill guide for the hand drill.

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

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/

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.

So depending on the job 1) RPM requirement 2) vertical or horizontal load on the spindle bearings… I connect a hand drill, angle grinder, or die grinder to a custom made CNC machine, assuming making a custom CNC is the chosen investment.

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

Instead of a 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 with adapter collets 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.