Burners 101

[Mikey98118]

Self-Centering Drill Press Jig: $10 from Harbor Freight Tools (available in-store only); this is the quickest and easiest fixture for accurately drilling and threading multiple holes in pipe and tubing, but worthless for surface cutting, without additional parts used to trap tubes and pipes in place.

[pnut]

Thanks IDF&C. I just checked it out. I still have to open up the tool and see exactly what the problem is but it looks like there's a good chance the site will have either parts or a replacement motor for cheaper than a new tool if I have to replace it. Thanks.

Pnut

[Andrew LB]

On 2/17/2022 at 9:51 PM, pnut said:

Does anyone know a good source for brushes for a rotary tool motor? My rotary tool is producing visible sparks in the motor housing and not wanting to start without spinning the chuck. I'm going to disassemble it and blow it out and clean everything but I'm pretty sure it's the brushes that need replaced. 

For Dremel brushes, just call Dremel. They actually have people that answer the phone and were very helpful last time i needed brushes.

I should note that any rotary tool is going to have some visible sparks from the brushes rubbing on the commutator. It's just how brushed motors are. If the sparking is highly excessive, then its possible they could be shot.

Out of curiosity, would the "Frosty" posting in this thread be the same frosty credited with the "Frosty T" forge burner? Ive been looking at burner designs for a mini forge i'm making and i like the simplicity of that design. I wonder if anyone has scaled it down from 3/4" fittings to 1/2" for smaller applications that need more heat than my handheld propane torch can put out.

[ThomasPowers]

Yes it is; there is only 1 Frosty here, when they made him they broke the mold. (And beat the living stuffing out of that mold maker!)

And as I recall folks have gone even smaller than 1/2" if they keep the ratios correct.

searching I found 

 

[Andrew LB]

Excellent. I'm building this mini forge for knife making like every other yayhoo these days as well as shop tools that need re-hardening after turning tool steel into spring steel on more than a few occasions while sharpening. I decided to make mine out of a fire extinguisher that got used up when my neighbor set his garage on fire. Well... i thought it was used up.

Not so pro tip: Never trust a fire extinguisher gauge. Nothing came out when pulling the handle and the gauge said zero, but boy was that a surprise when i unscrewed the top and covered every square inch of my garage with retardant. Luckily the head was secured in a vise and i was turning the bottle and not vice versa. lol. Apparently retardant + water hardened and clogged up  the valve from releasing the remaining pressure.

Anyways, i lined it with Kaowool, making sure to wear a respirator, and i just finished three coats of satanite. I'll be doing more tomorrow and perhaps going to get the parts for a scaled down burner.

Question: Ill need a high flow propane regulator right? Not a regular BBQ one? Right now in Commiefornia most stores are out of the small bottles of propane, plus at $4.50 each, it's much smarter to just spend $13 and fill up a 5 gallon tank.  Ill take some photos of it tomorrow when i get a chance. Now i just gotta find a local place that sells 1095 or 1084. I think Combat Abrasives does in Anaheim.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[Mikey98118]

I grew up in Anaheim, but escaped half a century ago. Back in those days, Orange county was utterly conservative, and filled with ME FIRST people; doubt that's changed much. i went back for my mother's funeral a few years later. After a light turned green for me, I was nearly run down  in the crosswalk by a woman making an illegal right hand turn; she flipped me off and screamed at me while speeding away from the the scene of her embarrassment. Whach-ya think? Was it bad politics, or did she have a heart problem?

BTW, loved the story of the big extinguisher surprise; it did my heart good. Bet your heart is in the right place.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

19 hours ago, Andrew LB said:

 Never trust a fire extinguisher gauge. Nothing came out when pulling the handle and the gauge said zero

That is the reason my extinguisher guy recommended that I turn our extinguishers upside down and rap them with a rubber mallet several times, then right side up and another rapping. It keeps the retardant from packing.

[Frosty]

Nice to meet you Andrew. Yes, the T burner scales down or up nicely. Just stick to the same ratios as listed in the build directions on IFI. The jet follows the same size relation but I only know sort of specific mig tip sizes for 3 size burners. 1/2", 3/4" and 1"

A 0.023" or 0.025" mig contact tips work well in a 1/2" T.

When you start tuning give me a shout I check the forum  every day or so.

The retardant in extinguishers packs solid. I think there are enough angular particles they key together and pack like a rock. We almost lost a boat because we didn't know that. Happily other boaters came to our rescue, tossing us extinguishers and one BEAUTIFUL ski boat lifted it's prop and basted us with an awesome rooster tail. 

The guy in the patrol boat told us to roll the extinguisher 1/4 turn and rap it on the deck a couple times to break it loose. At his suggestion Dad did it to the one that failed us and bingo, working extinguisher. His advice was to ALWAYS rap a dry chemical extinguisher a couple times if we needed to use it.

I love your extinguisher story and am REALLY happy you weren't trying to put out a fire.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mikey98118]

Tube Cutting

 Cutting parts to length is most easily done with a cutoff saw (AKA chop saw), with a friction disc mounted; they start at about $140 and go right on up. On the other hand, surface cutting parts to length with a rotary tool or die grinder requires a proper cut line; this can be provided with an ink marker and paper rolled around the tube or pipe, instead of a pipe wrap. Then proceed to make the cut in the same manner recommended in the Surface Cutting section below.

    Or, you can mark a perfect cross line, at 90 degrees, with a cheap little pipe cutter; it can also be used to completely sever the parts. But for parting, you will need a quality tool; it will cost double the price of the cheapest tool, but with reasonable care, will do the job for years, without breaking (don’t attempt to cut deeply with each pass; take your time).

Separating parts this way will bend the diameter in the immediate area of the cut line several thousandths of an inch smaller; this can be quite handy with oversize choke sleeves, and some spacer rings. Otherwise, the inside of the part area might need to be ground or sanded to restore the original inside diameter.

 

RIDGID - CC247 RIDGID 40617 Model 101 Close Quarters Tubing Cutter (1/4” to 1-1/8”); $21.28 through Amazon.com. 

 

Surface cutting air openings and slots in parts: If you stop the disc during a plunge cut, or a chop saw before the cut is finished, more often than not, doing so will cause kickback. The opposite is true when surface cutting through sheet metal products, like pipe and tubing.

Those OEMs (like Dremel Tools) who bother with a thorough list of safety tips in their instruction manuals, all advise the operator to run the cutoff disc back and forth on the part surface, gradually deepening a groove at the cut line, until the disc begins to break through the groove, which is then called a “kerf.” Unlike chop sawing or plunge cutting through thick parts, the operator is supposed to bring the disc to a halt before exiting the kerf; it is dissimilar to other cutting processes, because your disc isn’t deeply buried in the part. There is very little material for the disc to “walk up,” creating an opportunity for kickback, as the disc stops. Also, the numerous tiny grit edges don’t have anything like the tendency to grab unto stock that the teeth of circular blades do. Most kickback from resin bonded cutting discs come from the sides of their discs binding against the kerf.    

    So, surface cutting creates a unique situation, where stopping the disc before removing it from a groove or kerf is safer than removing the disc while it is still in motion.  Die grinders are treated the same as rotary tools for surface cutting (my own description of this technique).

You will notice that friction makes the disc want to move in one direction; take note of it, and make sure that the disc is traveling in the opposite direction, when breaking through the kerf. Otherwise, the disc will tend to bump against the end of the kerf, creating kickback.

Maximum safe RPMs of cutoff discs vary by manufacturer and thickness; if a marketer doesn’t list the maximum RPM for a cutoff disc, the rule of thumb is not to use larger than 1-1/4” diameter generic disks at 32,000 RPM, or 20,000 RPM for 1-1/2” unrated generic disks.  

    Brand name rotary cutoff discs (ex. Dremel), and discs used in electric die grinders (1/4” and 3/8” arbor holes) are typically much higher quality, and are designed to run at higher RPMs than generic rotary tool discs. A 25,000 RPM rating is typical of 3” die grinder discs, and 30,000 RPM for 2” die grinder discs.

    Stop the cutting short of drilled corners, when using a new cutoff disk; save that last 1/8” at the beginning or end of your cut line for a smaller diameter used disc, or a 15/16” disc (without fiberglass reinforcement); most of these small discs are only 0.025” thick jewelers discs (ex. Dremels #409), which should be doubled to run in steel. Dremel also sells inexpensive thicker #420 discs, which are much better in steel than doubled thinner discs.

 

[Mikey98118]

Properly securing and balancing rotary accessories: Fully insert accessories into the tool’s spindle, and just snug the collet nut; don’t over tighten, or you might strip its threads, or worse, the spindle threads. There is a good reason why collet wrenches are so tiny. Take the hint.

    Accessory shank and collet diameters need to be properly matched. Some accessories being sold as 1/8” actually have 3/32” shanks (common with engraving, and nail grooming accessories that were designed for pencil rotary tools). An eighth of an inch is 0.125”; also 3.2mm (which commonly turns out to be 3.17mm). But, 3/32” shanks are more than 0.031” smaller than 1/8”; they will end up loose enough to vibrate their way out of a 1/8” collet. What to do? Buy a cheap set of brass collets; there will be a 3/32” collet among them.   

    I have yet to buy an accessories kit that doesn’t include a little rectangular silicon carbide dressing stone; they are used to help balance the softer aluminum oxide grinding stones, wheels, and cut-off discs. Employ that dressing stone, to keep your rotary tool from suffering degradation from excessive vibration. Cheap rotary tools are likely to have spindles, which were machined significantly out of true with the tool’s axis; if you add unbalanced accessories to that, bent shanks and thrown accessories are the next trouble that will be flung your way. A few light touches, with a dressing stone, can save a lot of grief. You can also buy inexpensive, larger, dressing stones, when it wears out.

    Rotate accessories that can’t be balanced with a dressing stone (like steel discs, brushes, and sanding drums) a quarter turn at a time, to improve balance.

 

Extended-shank accessories: Fully inserting extended-shank tungsten carbide rotary burrs isn’t sufficient to keep them from bending. You must also run 4” long rotary shanks (1/8” diameter) at half speed, or less. Run 4” long die grinder (1/4” diameter) shanks at half speed or less. 6” long shanks should simply be avoided, or cut to 4” lengths). If extended shank burrs are spun too fast—or are cheap versions of legitimate tools—they will certainly bend in seconds. Why are accessories made with “overlong” shanks in the first place? So that they can reach further into internal areas (as in pipes and tubes); they were manufactured as specialty accessories. Since speed must be reduced according to shank length, consider cutting extended shanks down to what is needed to get a particular job done, and no longer, because the longer the shank the more the tool must be slowed.

 

3/32” shank accessories were designed for use in pencil rotary tools; their weak motors slow down the minute the accessory starts being worked; thus, the weaker shank is no problem, but that isn’t true in a 160-watt rotary tool. You should reduce speed a little, when using them.

 

3mm shank accessories: When you see an ad for 1/8” (which is 3.2mm) accessories, followed by a description change to 3mm, you can depend on them being only 0.118” diameter shanks; not 0.125”; this may not stay gripped by your tool’s 1/8” collet, but is too large to slip into a 3/32” collet. You will need a Dremel keyless rotary tool chuck, or a keyed micro-drill chuck,  to use them safely.    

 

Freeing up jammed accessories: Collet nuts on rotary tools may need to be sharply rapped once or twice with the tool’s tiny wrench, to free up jammed accessories. Unscrew the nut a partial turn, so that the accessory can slide free; sometimes, they will revolve, but cannot be slid forward and removed. What has happened is that the collet, which the accessory’s shank slides into has jammed in place, locking the accessory’s shank together with the collet. Tap sharply, on the end of the nut with nothing larger than the tiny wrench that comes with the tool; this will transmit just enough of a shock wave through the parts, to break the collet’s grip.

    Should a new tool come from the factory with the collet stuck in place, unscrew the nut a couple of turns, and poke the shank of an accessory against the top of the collet (at an angle), to break it loose.

    If you change accessories frequently, you may find relief from this irritation with a brass collet; brass collet kits, which include 1/8” collets, sell for around $5.00 on eBay and Amazon.com. Just as some collets release better than others, some collet nuts are better too. Most collet nuts fit other spindles, so switching a better collet nut from a less used rotary tool to your favorite, should be an obvious move.

    Some people simply replace the collet nut (and its sticking collet) with a Dremel keyless chuck. Make sure to buy this attachment from Dremel; a cheap look alike won’t work very long, if it even works at all. How clever is this move? Enough that some rotary tools are now being sold with this kind of chuck, instead of a collet and nut. Nothing succeeds like success.

    That said, even the Dremel chucks aren’t problem free. Keyless chucks cannot be tightened anywhere near as effectively as keyed chucks, or collet chucks, and these tiny keyless \chucks increase that problem; obviously, your whole hand can tighten a keyless chuck on a drill motor far better, than a finger and thumb can tighten one of these. So, you might end up using pliers.

 

[Mikey98118]

Properly securing and balancing rotary accessories: Fully insert accessories into the tool’s spindle, and just snug the collet nut; don’t over tighten, or you might strip its threads, or worse, the spindle threads. There is a good reason why collet wrenches are so tiny. Take the hint.

    Accessory shank and collet diameters need to be properly matched. Some accessories being sold as 1/8” actually have 3/32” shanks (common with engraving, and nail grooming accessories that were designed for pencil rotary tools). An eighth of an inch is 0.125”; also 3.2mm (which commonly turns out to be 3.17mm). But, 3/32” shanks are more than 0.031” smaller than 1/8”; they will end up loose enough to vibrate their way out of a 1/8” collet. What to do? Buy a cheap set of brass collets; there will be a 3/32” collet among them.   

    I have yet to buy an accessories kit that doesn’t include a little rectangular silicon carbide dressing stone; they are used to help balance the softer aluminum oxide grinding stones, wheels, and cut-off discs. Employ that dressing stone, to keep your rotary tool from suffering degradation from excessive vibration. Cheap rotary tools are likely to have spindles, which were machined significantly out of true with the tool’s axis; if you add unbalanced accessories to that, bent shanks and thrown accessories are the next trouble that will be flung your way. A few light touches, with a dressing stone, can save a lot of grief. You can also buy inexpensive, larger, dressing stones, when it wears out.

    Rotate accessories that can’t be balanced with a dressing stone (like steel discs, brushes, and sanding drums) a quarter turn at a time, to improve balance.

 

Extended-shank accessories: Fully inserting extended-shank tungsten carbide rotary burrs isn’t sufficient to keep them from bending. You must also run 4” long rotary shanks (1/8” diameter) at half speed, or less. Run 4” long die grinder (1/4” diameter) shanks at half speed or less. 6” long shanks should simply be avoided, or cut to 4” lengths). If extended shank burrs are spun too fast—or are cheap versions of legitimate tools—they will certainly bend in seconds. Why are accessories made with “overlong” shanks in the first place? So that they can reach further into internal areas (as in pipes and tubes); they were manufactured as specialty accessories. Since speed must be reduced according to shank length, consider cutting extended shanks down to what is needed to get a particular job done, and no longer, because the longer the shank the more the tool must be slowed.

 

3/32” shank accessories were designed for use in pencil rotary tools; their weak motors slow down the minute the accessory starts being worked; thus, the weaker shank is no problem, but that isn’t true in a 160-watt rotary tool. You should reduce speed a little, when using them.

 

3mm shank accessories: When you see an ad for 1/8” (which is 3.2mm) accessories, followed by a description change to 3mm, you can depend on them being only 0.118” diameter shanks; not 0.125”; this may not stay gripped by your tool’s 1/8” collet, but is too large to slip into a 3/32” collet. You will need a Dremel keyless rotary tool chuck, or a keyed micro-drill chuck,  to use them safely.    

 

Freeing up jammed accessories: Collet nuts on rotary tools may need to be sharply rapped once or twice with the tool’s tiny wrench, to free up jammed accessories. Unscrew the nut a partial turn, so that the accessory can slide free; sometimes, they will revolve, but cannot be slid forward and removed. What has happened is that the collet, which the accessory’s shank slides into has jammed in place, locking the accessory’s shank together with the collet. Tap sharply, on the end of the nut with nothing larger than the tiny wrench that comes with the tool; this will transmit just enough of a shock wave through the parts, to break the collet’s grip.

    Should a new tool come from the factory with the collet stuck in place, unscrew the nut a couple of turns, and poke the shank of an accessory against the top of the collet (at an angle), to break it loose.

    If you change accessories frequently, you may find relief from this irritation with a brass collet; brass collet kits, which include 1/8” collets, sell for around $5.00 on eBay and Amazon.com. Just as some collets release better than others, some collet nuts are better too. Most collet nuts fit other spindles, so switching a better collet nut from a less used rotary tool to your favorite, should be an obvious move.

    Some people simply replace the collet nut (and its sticking collet) with a Dremel keyless chuck. Make sure to buy this attachment from Dremel; a cheap look alike won’t work very long, if it even works at all. How clever is this move? Enough that some rotary tools are now being sold with this kind of chuck, instead of a collet and nut. Nothing succeeds like success.

    That said, even the Dremel chucks aren’t problem free. Keyless chucks cannot be tightened anywhere near as effectively as keyed chucks, or collet chucks, and these tiny keyless \chucks increase that problem; obviously, your whole hand can tighten a keyless chuck on a drill motor far better, than a finger and thumb can tighten one of these. So, you might end up using pliers.

 

“Just buy a Dremel” can be sound advice when it comes to their rotary tool accessories, and attachments. If you don’t want to pay close attention before every purchase; if you’d rather “just get on with the job,” then paying top prices for consistent (not necessarily best) quality is a practical choice. As you get comfortable using rotary tools, you will inevitably modify that choice a lot. With sixty-four years “on the tools,” I still choose to pay Dremel prices at times; but never out of brand loyalty.

    I think that the Dremel 575 Right Angle Attachment, 4486 Keyless Chuck, and A550 Shield are all nearly worth their prices, and will greatly aid you to do this work. The EZ Lock mandrel and abrasive cutoff discs are worth every last penny; so are Dremel 420 cutoff discs. Dremel’s model #100 and #200 rotary tools are worth their cost. But, paying Dremel prices for their other stuff? No thanks.

 

All you Dremel fans out there, should speak right up, if you feel that I’m being unfair. Your viewpoint is as valid as mine, and there are a lot more of you

 

[Frosty]

3 hours ago, Mikey98118 said:

Dremel fans out there

Dremel makes a fan attachment?! 

I couldn't resist Mike. Not sorry. Nope, definitely not sorry. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mikey98118]

Actually, your humor is about the only smile this attachment seems to have drawn. The critical reviews of this attachment seems to run from open contempt to outright savagery. I try to limit my own evaluations civil, but what I read about this product in other customer reviews were not

To be fair, they only fit on a couple of Dremel's very oldest rotary tool models (the #100 and #200), so it's going to be a tough crowd evaluating it.

[Frosty]

All you have to do is wave a straight line in front of me you know. 

I use my Dremel so rarely I couldn't evaluate anything. Well the cut off disks are REALLY fragile.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Don't fret Frosty, I'm sure to come up with a doozy straight line sooner or later, that won't get you banned.

[Mikey98118]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

Well the cut off disks are REALLY fragile.

I will assume that you are describing 15/16" cutoff disks, since even 1-1/4" cutoff discs are now fiberglass reinforced steel cutting types. But even Dremel's 15/16" disks come in two kinds; their #409 discs are thin jewelers discs; their #420 are for nearly twice as thick, and meant for steel cutting.

To be fair, you can't rock and roll with the thicker discs; they are for delicate work, and must be handle with care; but they will  successfully cut steel sheet-metal.

[Frosty]

14 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

Don't fret Frosty, I'm sure to come up with a doozy straight line sooner or later, that won't get you banned.

Not fretting, I know I can count on you. 

I don't know what size disks I have, Mike. I bought a number of tubes of them years ago. Little plastic tubes with slip on caps with maybe 20 disks each. I got a few grades in bulk. 15/16" sounds about right but I don't know for sure.

I have a delicate touch, especially with small FAST tools but if they tend to require ME to handle with care they're pretty darned fragile.

I'd be more familiar but I rarely use a Dremel disk and haven't bought a new one in probably 15-20 years. 

I have your write ups saved for a time I may need the knowledge.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mikey98118]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

I have a delicate tough, especially with small FAST tools but if they tend to require ME to handle with care they're pretty darned fragile.

That beautifully summarizes the point, because like so many other things in life it is a viewpoint. So either view is correct. there is no right or wrong answer; only "how does it look to you" time. If we don't have a better choice, we are then forced to level up and deal

[Frosty]

A lot is using what you have and Dremels are common. I appreciate the time and effort you put into telling folk how to use the things as safely as possible. 

Several years ago I saw a RotoZip in the case with all the attachments, blades, guides, etc. at a yard sale for an asking price of $10. Instead of whipping out $10 I let my reflex response escape my lips and countered $5. That REALLY ticked the fellow selling off and I never got a chance to apologize and pay him asking. He just ran us off with a stream of curses. Been kicking myself in the butt since. 

Were I to make one of your burners a RotoZip would be my preferred tool but how many guys out there are going to spend that much on a tool to make a burner. Unless they have a lot of other things to use it for of course.  That's an excuse I use frequently to get something past Deb. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mikey98118]

Keeping prices down is always on my mind. But advising people who are mainly clueless about small power tools to haunt yard sales just won't work. I try to give them good choices, and the rest is in their own hands. Of course, compact tools work for a lot bigger percentage of the population, as more people become Makers.

[ThomasPowers]

A "Fretted Frosty"  Now I'm picturing him with Steamboat Gothic ornamentation.

A long time ago, about 40 years ago, I used a lot of the 409 disks cutting steel for a spring steel chainmail project.  I got good at using them down to a nubbin and not breaking them.  Never got used to the smell though.

[Mikey98118]

Okay; that sets the bar for doing things the hard way. On the other hand, I don't think Dremel even marketed their thicker #420 discs way back then. Leading the way is a privilege...and a pain in the backside ain't it?

[Frosty]

"Noted Thomas," responds Frosty with arched brow.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mikey98118]

Always clean the gas system before assembly: Teflon shreds are not the only junk that can enter your gas system. Burrs from cutting, grinding, sanding and threading operations must be thoroughly cleaned from burner parts, and all lines and hoses cleaned out with compressed air, to avoid debris from accumulating in the small gas orifice of a burner. Debris could have collected in the fuel hose from the gas cylinder, if you rent cylinders from an exchange system, from junk in the hose, if you leave it off for a long time. Insects and spiders are attracted to fuel hoses, because of their stench of fuel vapor. Propane can leave a buildup of tar and wax in a burner's gas orifices; especially from poor quality fuel. The wrong kind of hose will rot out over time; only use propane rated hose.

Pressure test the gas system before use: Use liquid detergent in water to pressure test all joints on any gas assembly, starting at the fuel cylinder, and checking every joint including those on the burner. Some burner designs can tolerate minor leaks in the gas jet parts, by drawing them into the mixing tube along with incoming air; other designs will backfire from the smallest gas leak between whatever is being used for a gas orifice and the gas pipe it’s mounted in.

Caution: Normally the gas pressure within a burner is a little less than line pressure, due to its open gas orifice. But a plugged orifice will allow full line pressure to accumulate in all parts; without a pressure regulator (such as with cylinder mount torches) that will reach full fuel cylinder pressure; this can be well over 150 PSI. The very small orifice sizes used in small air/fuel torches are given to clogging from impurities found in propane fuel. Keep a set of torch tip cleaners on hand to clean out clogged gas orifices immediately.

[Mikey98118]

Helpful tools for building those picky picky Mikey burners

Self-Centering Drill Press Jig: $10 from Harbor Freight Tools (available in-store only). This fixture allows the quickest and easiest accurate drilling and threading of multiple holes in pipe and tubing, but is worthless for surface cutting and grinding, without additional parts being added, to trap tubes and pipes in place.

 

Central Forge 4” drill press vise: $23 from Harbor Freight Tools is light weight and repairable with a burner and aluminum solder. This vise is good for drilling, and threading; less so for and cutting and grinding.

 

Universal bench vises are a handier choice for holding burner parts for surface cutting, and grinding bevels. You give up some control by hand drilling (compared to buying a drill press), and gain more control during cutting, and grinding operations. Hand drilling holes is no great task, but whether or not you can thread them by hand, with acceptably close to right angles will vary from person to person, just as what is considered acceptable will vary according to temperament.

    There are two types of universal (positioning) vices for good reason. Dual-axis vices started out as favorites for plumbers, and shipyard pipe fitters; ever smaller models have become popular as tradesmen look for increased mobility.

    On the other hand, swivel-ball vices are actually ever larger versions of third-hand positioning jigs, which started out as a helpful tool for soldering electrical circuits; they have grown in size, to become popular for model making, bow work, and gunsmithing.

    Vice practicality is limited by the material it is made from. Cast steel is dependable; so is ductile-iron. But imported cast iron vices are undependable; parts can crack apart under moderate stress. Thin wall cast ‘aluminum’ products are often on a par with pot metal for quality. Why so poor? Cast iron, even more than steel, is affected for better or worse by tempering; with cast iron, that mostly happens in the mold. So, casting good iron requires a master craftsman; not a day laborer.

    Cast aluminum, if poured from the right alloy, and properly handled, is tough enough for engine blocks. However, aluminum alloys were originally classified as one of the “white metals” for a very good reason; so many white metals mix readily with it. Another term for generic white metal alloys is pot metal; it ranges from poor to downright awful, because it may consist of whatever aluminum, tin, zinc, and lead scraps are available to be dumped into a cast-iron pot. I bought a cast ‘aluminum’ swivel-ball vice several years back, and it’s still okay; on the other hand, it’s always treated very gently.

    So, how do you distinguish a legitimate aluminum alloy from probable junk? Weight; aluminum is light, while zinc, tin, and lead are all heavy metals. Industrial grade Zamak is a tough legitimate alloy of zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and copper. Zamak3 is an alloy of 96 percent zinc and 4% aluminum, which hobby casters are pleased to turn into homebuilt equipment all the time, but they are casting from ingots of known high grade alloys. Pot metals are easily and cheaply die-cast, which is why they were used for decades in toys, and are now turned into low quality tools. Which is the worst bet? Chinese cast-iron, or their die-cast mostly-not-aluminum alloys? The latter, because zinc/aluminum/whatever alloys can be hard soldered back together with cheap zinc-aluminum filler rod and a burner; while even high-quality cast iron has always been a total nightmare to “sort of, not really” fix.

        Vacuum actuated bases are a generally poor idea. Even the addition of a cheap “C” clamp improves their reliability. Fortunately, most of these bases appear to have been intended for easy drilling and screwing onto bench tops. 

    Before using a new vice, grease all screws. Never employ a hammer or pipe wrench on its screws to apply extra pressure to moving parts. 

 

2-3/4” Articulated Vacuum Vise is an ‘aluminum’ swivel-ball type available from Harbor Freight Tools for $18; at this price you can afford to buy the zinc-aluminum rod you may need to repair it.

 

Stanley Multi Angle Vise is a sleek little cast ‘aluminum’ swivel-ball type, with built in clamp and mounting holes (from $46 to $75 online); check their product reviews on Amazon.com before purchase.

 

Grobet USA Vacu Vise with Swivel Base - 58103 is a sturdier looking cast-iron model for $40 from Penn Tool Co. No product reviews are available.