I took a machine shop class at the College of Du Page this fall, I also took a machine shop class over the summer. Tonight was the last night of the class, and I was finishing my last project, which was a
filing jig. I already have one I bought, so I made mine a little different, I gave it a 30 degree angle instead of a 45 degree angle. The tool suppliers say they are good for holding pieces to saw. I think they are terrible for sawing, I just like them for filing, mostly I just use them for 90 degree angles. I don't use it very often, but when I need it I think its great. Like for filing all those rivet spacers on my teapot.
I only took a couple pictures of making it. This is a horizontal mill, I am cutting the grooves to hold wire or tubing. I am using that large cutter to cut the tiny grooves cause it was the only one that had the angle I wanted. Its 120 degrees, the smaller cutters were around 90 degrees or less.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyLO1egXQ0irnFNArkVUW7etA9ZYe3F77x9gkI7cYVmZmKoxhLsYlUvuK-nFTL2pPzPk4HSoeDKJ4pu9LQj1pcFd1NZb2g_ZZTVwjGGC8QbNrACBSjmeueNojDhBIAkhKjoDwpoXXDd5K/s320/1IMG_0796sm.jpg)
I am cutting the grooves on the middle piece of the tool. The side opposite the one I am cutting has the 30 degree angle, so I needed something to hold it at 90 degrees while I cut the flat side. That's why its in a smaller vise in the bigger vise.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTz9VNU8AHVnOOvd8SBRE4oqMvZhf_jF80EpFpP70aVLiA2905clIoCQbA1IJ8g3q45D0AW5dsQdbW7iTVMOeEbZqoZPM-qQE2v6fgr2UzmJE3mL6Xz9FQtoEVgBKUZJvlmM2j0wfF5r8/s320/2IMG_0799sm.jpg)
Mine is the one on the bottom. I still need to drill holes in it, harden and temper it, and grind it. The one I bought is on the top. Mine is made of 1/2" thick O-1 steel, the one I bought is about 1/4", or maybe a little thicker.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnahgeFSLaJK9zOaw6rFey0-vK9z-H0FIuN5PPSzn6GqEp0n4-K8rbBTBXiXNW5aetu3-M52eFVvsGSPlMoATZkp6tSx2umalu70zRf7GrWIWF74sXrb2uGbEeyP_KroNdzctw3kZnHYy/s320/3DSC08708sm.jpg)
This is after the holes have been drilled and it has been heat treated.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOznJTZGVQdyQ4JskHIoMd-GYvcDsjKeQBGMSVgpJbgIqeIJ_yBqs2GMDwUcinSik8ukvsXqy1ZELS51DSfGp39HfzLdxmZG7bc-lcobOrjys8bEEOG9LJNCbW7xoxJ61nyli2K70yjhcg/s320/4DSC08732sm.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKxjGcHTJum3qSHaZHWEfuH2YERisPS82qS3IhSfmCyBpvqBjFc2ggRzjov-KlZZcyRqIQgLzB9WZ7iVwuqGjoYnJj0p79lr-1FBRBFx69rBe7cIGHL2NgNlRBKxbgVRrBuMOscD6MeU2I/s320/5DSC08736sm.jpg)
This I after I made the rods to hold it together. The rods are 1/4" O-1 steel. At this step all that's left to do is grind it with the surface grinder and make some nuts to hold it together. I have been using normal nuts from a hardware store till I can make some nicer ones.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrptryxIdH8qZTJPiIq_xmpHuL0ozQcaZc95etR2fkpwFzkDCicODIgYWt6MEqlE2FTXgbKsjF8Cp2ctamHCEQn52aZ2MrPw95Zq0DZMOpPRFxSJ61yDVzzhdQFQ8OX8Tv4cDTVWTIzEZf/s320/6DSC08750sm.jpg)
Grinding is done. But there was a problem. After it was made nice and smooth and shiny from grinding I was able to see fine cracks all over. The most are on the top piece, the middle piece has a bunch, and there's a few on the bottom piece. I showed it to my two instructors, they didn't know why it happened. One of them was there when I did the heat treating, after hardening it, it wasn't more than maybe 5 minutes before it went in the oven for tempering. We looked at them under a microscope, they don't look deep, so I think it will be
ok. But I really don't like these cracks. They said maybe I could grind them out... but since we don't really know how deep they are maybe I would end up grinding all night. I didn't feel like grinding it more.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2jO0AQakjWWdIcyUvp8c06eXxkRD96wyDE9qlgaOkvOLmbvvZqdUOUjXa9i-Lc0CoWQsQRIjZyBLw_ZNfbvBDSI23YdTao81SG5xPonmjAGn8H921gmpzb3mD71iDTJhf4yCKtrAN6v_/s320/7DSC08751sm.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqc6VVaoNQTZew26IRFYC7JTolrAT4ps1DPWd5Uj1bmfxxjSY3SHD8aIfXimiAPNWIONKdT6nJ4COPqdRxgy6ota1KbvfI8mh3qj24qkouP9mvwv2ZtPvb2C8TX5x-RCI5SWILc5NzaT60/s320/8DSC08754sm.jpg)
Here are some photos of the cracks.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0vcj8N78YozAFzxApSHkbNY113thyBWRPjNudB8MaqnJHaypSjj1pGlnvZ8e09Y0xVn5lcEMO89WPSXLRT_Z8LkjUAUhxQb6Cd3jd6s09WZHCsCbAaV8wcmrw0YLRqcz0qJ6QE-4RDJY/s320/cracks1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gC_YFwjIWTC1yShKEgrN7So5YngjIAcX0x5PzTqpK0eTmvvq5rcOKQHb9QFFbA2GIaFJqS7HPbl0iOLFSMLj9B4sTDwDFYnlBJ8k8lXTIEFsAefT8fCheea18M1d4ZRLSDQRikuaua8U/s320/cracks+2.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDS-uK2uMlLFmrQ6Gd8_jx5Z49pOLnttwElAA1VqF-Qu7p6no2BZLppjIwv9fAhdIHY9GqH5x9JtaESZ_lUwx1QrBICBr0mC7zyh2ufD-MbwuBu7UgICUwTtXkjWsDduVnAuR7J4FJHLxE/s320/cracks+3.jpg)