Purchasing monkey tools......thoughts???

[John B]

No access to a lathe. I did a candle holder today that had four tennons. I made a quicky 1/4-inch monkey tool out of 3/4-inch round mild steel. I managed to get the hole drilled pretty square. Drilled the larger chamfer on the inside of the monkey tool, and used the sander to dress it up. Due to the work I have done on the band saw and the work that I did on the drill press to get both of them on square, it worked ok. I think I might have put in too large of a chamfer though, and as I didn't add a chamfer on my drilled mortise holes, the tenon shoulders aren't sitting very tight against the mortise holes.

Having got one right, maybe I'll try to make some more. I'm a super-glued tight wad so I don't cherish the idea of purchasing monkey tools.

No access to a lathe most unfortunately. Also no access to a torch, so my tennons have to be heated, and fully set in one heat.

Hi Dave, Don't you have a vice to hold your work on your drill table?

Even with a hand held drill you should have no problems drilling two holes that cross in a piece of bar.

And whenever you drill a hole, always remove the sharp edge as a matter of good practice, and then when you come to put two drilled pieces together as when rivetting or bolting, the materials will sit flush on each other, if you don't then you will not get a good bedded fit when rivetted or bolted.

It is also advisable to break sharp corners when your finished items are to be painted to reduce rapid paint wear on the sharp corners.

[FieryFurnace]

I don't have a vise on the drill table. I use vise-grips the hold things while I'm drilling, and whenever possible I drill before cutting out small pieces.

I might actually fair better with a hand drill. I've had LOTS of practice with hand drills. A lot more than with the press.

I think I might try another one of the candle holders today, making some slight changes to the monkey tool I made, and also being sure to remove the sharp corners in the drilled holes. Maybe I'll get a better fit.

[John B]

You could get a large block of steel and drill a clearance hole (just above the size of stock you are using for your monkey tool) through it on your drill press,

Then cross drill and tap for a bolt,

You can then mark out the centre of the blank for the monkey tool, place it in the hole through the block, secure with the bolt (weld on a pair of wings or crossbar then you won't need a spanner, and drill the required size and depth you want, this should ensure the axis is at 90 degrees to the ends provided your table is set level which is easily checked and your tool blank has been sawn off square (ish)

If the block is large enough you could incorporate various sizes.

For the cross hole in the tool, If you are drilling round bar on the circumference, and you don't have a V block fabricate one up from a piece of angle welded to a plate, saves a lot of aggravation trying to locate on a tangent/radius point

If I remember correctly the term "Monkay" was originally attributed to a French description, but I don't think it was the inventor's name, you can also use them as rivet sets.