A Few Small Things

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Ole Joe Clark

Ole Joe Clark

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I love old things, including some not so old. Here are a few things from my Tool (memory) Box. All of the machined parts are from before 1975, when I moved from the shop to the office.
Most are rather small, ranging from a .007 diameter drill bit and a 1/32" Allen wrench to the 1/2" Starrett micrometer. I machined all of the small parts, not the ring with the bearings attached. Other things include a rosewood guitar bridge, a Jimmy Carter Zippo lighter that belonged to my deceased younger Brother. I bought the Service Prayer Book for .50 cents.
The Kids will probably throw all this away when I'm gone.

I hope you will look, maybe they will bring back some good memories for you.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
 

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A few more photos

More photos.
 

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Ole Joe Clark said:
I love old things, including some not so old. Here are a few things from my Tool (memory) Box. All of the machined parts are from before 1975, when I moved from the shop to the office.
Most are rather small, ranging from a .007 diameter drill bit and a 1/32" Allen wrench to the 1/2" Starrett micrometer. I machined all of the small parts, not the ring with the bearings attached. Other things include a rosewood guitar bridge, a Jimmy Carter Zippo lighter that belonged to my deceased younger Brother. I bought the Service Prayer Book for .50 cents.
The Kids will probably throw all this away when I'm gone.

I hope you will look, maybe they will bring back some good memories for you.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
Click to expand...

Nice,-- going to send this to my son. He is a CNC programmer, and foreman of 10 men and a few rather expensive machines.

He got his first experiences with mikes and calipers with me way back when, he was a pre teen when he first helped me reload.:D
 
Joe, 45 years ago, I spent summer vacations trying to learn to turn the correct handle on a Bridgeport mill. Nothing fancy and NOT Nearly to the degree of the items you featured.
 
I couldn't help but wonder what kind of material you were using a .007 drill in? Then I saw you were drilling vent holes in wine corks. :D

Can't remember if it was the Japs or the Germans that proudly sent the U.S. the worlds smallest drill bit.
We sent it back with a lengthwise hole thru it!

Ain't nothing more stubborn than an old precision machinist.
 
Saturday October 22, 1977

old bear said:
Joe, 45 years ago, I spent summer vacations trying to learn to turn the correct handle on a Bridgeport mill. Nothing fancy and NOT Nearly to the degree of the items you featured.
Click to expand...

It was my first day on the job in a machine shop where the only requirement was: Every Saturday, All day, at more than double minimum wage for a warm body.

I was a student at University of Wisconsin in mechanical engineering. My wife called and said I had to take her to the hospital, she was having the baby about 1:30 PM.

Sarah was born about 7:30 pm. My boss was the third phone call. Now she is coming up on her 40th birthday.
 
misswired said:
I couldn't help but wonder what kind of material you were using a .007 drill in? Then I saw you were drilling vent holes in wine corks. :D

The cork is to prevent loosing the drills I can't see. :-) I was drilling free machining yellow brass (FMYB). I think the blanks were .750 long, I drilled a .020 diameter hole 5/8" deep from the "back side" then turned the part around and drilled the .007 diameter the rest of the way through. There was a .010 turned diameter about .020 long that the .007 was drilled through. They were used in a device similar to a seismograph for recording vibrations.
I was using a Levin jeweler's lathe.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
Click to expand...
 
Small miniature Drills used in a hand held pin vise are excellent to clean out debris from orifices used in torches, gas applications, to drill holes in circuit boards for miniature components, and can also be used anywhere small inconspicuous holes need to be drilled.

I have several sets of Number Drills # 60 to #80 which measures from 0.040" to 0.0135". I do not use them regularly but I have used them a few times per year for one thing or another. The smaller ones must be used in a pin vise or they'll break instantly.

When I break one I just don't get one replacement, but I buy them by the package as they are extremely fragile and don't last too long.
 
I wasn't cleaning out holes, I was drilling them. You can't get enough RPM's to properly drill .007 dia holes unless both drill and the work is rotating. I was using a drilling attachment that allowed me to rotate both with the drill centered properly. I had to centerdrill the work so the drill would start on center and not break.
 
Just between you and I, how many .oo7 drills did you break? :D
I've machined a lot of beryllium that will ruin a machinist from cutting any other metal...It's the easiest, softest machining metal ever. Of course now we are paying the price from berylliosis disease.
Working in aerospace and defense I've machined all sorts of exotic metals; titanium, depleted uranium, Inconel and the list goes on and on....
Projects like the Shuttle, Hubble and my favorite the prototype F22 target acquisition laser sight housings mounted under each wing.
The F22 prototypes (2 pieces) were scrapped and recast 5 times before the contract company asks:"Don't yall have anyone that can machine these parts?"
Ole Misswired then got the call and delivered.
A proud Stellar performance for sure :):cool:
 
misswired said:
Just between you and I, how many .oo7 drills did you break? :D

You must remember I did this back in or before 1975, (last century), so I haven't a clue how many I broke. I did break a lot of them in the beginning. I didn't know how to deep hole drill the .020 dia x 5/8" deep hole, much less the .007 dia. I do remember that the cycle time for the .020 dia. hole was about 20 minutes in the beginning, and at the end it was down to 20-30 seconds per hole. I developed the method and tweaked it as I ran them, then a guy that ran them after me improved it even more.

The short end had the .007, .010 or .013 dia holes in it. The .007 dia was drilled into a .010 turned diameter about 1/32" long. The Levin jeweler's lathe was a beautiful little machine, with a cross slide, indexing 6 hole turret, and a small hole drilling attachment. The drilling attachment had never been used until they brought drawings of the part and 3/16" diameter brass to the shop and said make these.

I wish I had photos of it.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
misswired said:
I couldn't help but wonder what kind of material you were using a .007 drill in? Then I saw you were drilling vent holes in wine corks. :D

Can't remember if it was the Japs or the Germans that proudly sent the U.S. the worlds smallest drill bit.
We sent it back with a lengthwise hole thru it!

Ain't nothing more stubborn than an old precision machinist.
Click to expand...

I worked for what was supposed to be the nations largest cutting tool company in the 1970's. The plant manager whom had been with the company for decades told that story, only the other way around. He said they sent their smallest drill to a competitor in Germany just to brag. It came back with a hole in it. The Japanese were yet to be players at the time.

I used to maintain the machines they used to cut the smaller blanks at the time, .011". My rebuilt tool heads were rarely good enough to cut the elevens, we saved a brand new one just for that size.
I have some neat old tools & other "stuff", but haven't picked a new photo host since the P.Bucket ransom.

Thanks for the pics!
 
Ole Joe Clark said:
I love old things, including some not so old. Here are a few things from my Tool (memory) Box. All of the machined parts are from before 1975, when I moved from the shop to the office.
Most are rather small, ranging from a .007 diameter drill bit and a 1/32" Allen wrench to the 1/2" Starrett micrometer. I machined all of the small parts, not the ring with the bearings attached. Other things include a rosewood guitar bridge, a Jimmy Carter Zippo lighter that belonged to my deceased younger Brother. I bought the Service Prayer Book for .50 cents.
The Kids will probably throw all this away when I'm gone.

I hope you will look, maybe they will bring back some good memories for you.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
Click to expand...

Thanks for the awesome karma. I'm in for the micrometer and the brass mallet.
 
gunzo said:
I worked for what was supposed to be the nations largest cutting tool company in the 1970's. The plant manager whom had been with the company for decades told that story, only the other way around. He said they sent their smallest drill to a competitor in Germany just to brag. It came back with a hole in it. The Japanese were yet to be players at the time.

I used to maintain the machines they used to cut the smaller blanks at the time, .011". My rebuilt tool heads were rarely good enough to cut the elevens, we saved a brand new one just for that size.
I have some neat old tools & other "stuff", but haven't picked a new photo host since the P.Bucket ransom.

Thanks for the pics!
Click to expand...
Now this is getting funny; per google (smallest drill bit story) the Swiss made the bit and the Japanese returned it with the thru hole.
I heard the tale in a small machining class, of course we Americans had to be the heroes to inspire our young minds to learn. :)
 
^this^
Never though about googling something like that. I heard it about 1974, & yes...my mind was pretty young at the time. Swallowed it hook line & sinker, nobody but the US could be the best, right.

The machines I maintained were Swiss BTW. Googles account make sense.


Ole Joe Clark, sorry for the thread drift.
 
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Regardless of drill bit size, hole size, or who did this or that? Ole Joe is the hands down winner in my book.
That's a great machine shop story and my hat is off to you Sir.
 
This is the only sticker I've ever put on my triple decker lean your shoulder into move it tool box.
The sticker is a real DOE security cleared sticker!
I scarfed it off a Q cleared machine.
Didn't stick it on until those machines were shipped out so nobody else would think to get one.
I've never seen this sticker on anyone's tool box...Period!
 

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Joe, your thread is too cool, just like the box and your memories inside. I had no idea there was something like a .007 drill bit.
 
wbraswell said:
Joe, your thread is too cool, just like the box and your memories inside. I had no idea there was something like a .007 drill bit.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind words. My box really is full of memories, every time I open a drawer and pick up a tool, a sales receipt, or an old fishing permit, Precious Memories come flooding back. Some are not pleasant, but almost all are.

Thanks again,

Leon

P.S. There are drills smaller than .007 diameter, but I've never used or even saw one.
 
misswired said:
Regardless of drill bit size, hole size, or who did this or that? Ole Joe is the hands down winner in my book.
That's a great machine shop story and my hat is off to you Sir.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind words.

Leon
 
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