3 Shopbuilt Brass Tools
One of my great weaknesses is brass. Another is shop made tools. I like the look of brass, especially when it has aged. I must have a steam punk side that is trying to come out. I made these 3 tools out of brass. The square and the Fibonacci gauge can certainly be made of wood, but the gauge is so esoteric it just seemed like it would be better in brass. The square I made partly as an experiment, partly because I needed a small square and begrudge the $8 or more it would cost in steel. The last tool is a small right angle screwdriver which I made to tighten a screw in my daughter's cuckoo clock. (I since discovered that one of my long computer screwdrivers reaches even better.)
The long arm of the gauge is 12 inches. The screwdriver elbow to elbow is 2-3/4 inches and the square is only 2 inches.
[Above] I have been thinking of making this square for a while, just because I thought it would be cool to have. When I recently went to re-set up my band saw from scratch I realized I had no good way to check if the table was 90 degrees to the blade. That put the project on the front burner. I made it from 1/16th inch thick brass bar 1/2 inch wide. The 'handle' is soldered together, but the blade is glued in because my torch ran out of gas.
[EDIT] 9 August 2015: I lost track of this square for a while because I rarely use it. I found it this morning and checked it against my try square. It's still square! Somehow I expected it to go out of square.
[Above] I needed a small right angle screwdriver so grabbed some 1/8 inch brass rod and bent the ends. Then I ground the blade, one 90 degrees to the other with my grinder. It works, but a better solution was to use a long thin computer screwdriver, accessing the screw through one of the chain holes
[Above] After watching Steve Ramsey's video years ago on making a Fibonacci gauge, I knew that one day I would make one. I just used 1/16Ă—1/2 inch brass bar instead of wood. I looked on Google and located something like an Instructible that showed all the required parts to scale along with the locations for the holes. I sized it on my computer to use 1 foot long brass stock, printed it out and glued the paper pieces to my stock. I didn't buy brass rivets, but tried making my own. My rivets work, but they are rather crude. I put a screw and wing nut at the main pivot so that I can lock the gauge if I need to. So far I don't think I've used this gauge for its intended purpose. It hangs on my cabinet waiting.
One of my great weaknesses is brass. Another is shop made tools. I like the look of brass, especially when it has aged. I must have a steam punk side that is trying to come out. I made these 3 tools out of brass. The square and the Fibonacci gauge can certainly be made of wood, but the gauge is so esoteric it just seemed like it would be better in brass. The square I made partly as an experiment, partly because I needed a small square and begrudge the $8 or more it would cost in steel. The last tool is a small right angle screwdriver which I made to tighten a screw in my daughter's cuckoo clock. (I since discovered that one of my long computer screwdrivers reaches even better.)
The long arm of the gauge is 12 inches. The screwdriver elbow to elbow is 2-3/4 inches and the square is only 2 inches.
[Above] I have been thinking of making this square for a while, just because I thought it would be cool to have. When I recently went to re-set up my band saw from scratch I realized I had no good way to check if the table was 90 degrees to the blade. That put the project on the front burner. I made it from 1/16th inch thick brass bar 1/2 inch wide. The 'handle' is soldered together, but the blade is glued in because my torch ran out of gas.
[EDIT] 9 August 2015: I lost track of this square for a while because I rarely use it. I found it this morning and checked it against my try square. It's still square! Somehow I expected it to go out of square.
[Above] I needed a small right angle screwdriver so grabbed some 1/8 inch brass rod and bent the ends. Then I ground the blade, one 90 degrees to the other with my grinder. It works, but a better solution was to use a long thin computer screwdriver, accessing the screw through one of the chain holes
[Above] After watching Steve Ramsey's video years ago on making a Fibonacci gauge, I knew that one day I would make one. I just used 1/16Ă—1/2 inch brass bar instead of wood. I looked on Google and located something like an Instructible that showed all the required parts to scale along with the locations for the holes. I sized it on my computer to use 1 foot long brass stock, printed it out and glued the paper pieces to my stock. I didn't buy brass rivets, but tried making my own. My rivets work, but they are rather crude. I put a screw and wing nut at the main pivot so that I can lock the gauge if I need to. So far I don't think I've used this gauge for its intended purpose. It hangs on my cabinet waiting.