Hi guys,
Well, my never-ending quest for increased self-sufficiency regarding my tools got a really big shot in the arm today.
I was talking with one of the guys I work with a couple of days ago about making some turning tools- a subject he was very interested in as well, as I just sold him my Midi lathe. He pointed out a 5-gallon pail in the corner, and asked if I could use the scrap for it.
So, I took a look- and sure enough, it was full right to the top with HSS industrial punch tooling that had been discarded for one reason or another. Since the owner was coming back to town for the annual Christmas party (he's mostly retired,) the folks in the office were starting to get a little nervous about how they could discard it without him stumbling across it in a dumpster or tucked away in a dark corner. It wasn't worth much to them, and was actually sort of a liability (in that the owner would have a fit if he saw it, even though broken tooling is something that can't be totally prevented)- so I asked the VP if I could help them out by making it quietly go away. Didn't have anything to do with me, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.
So, I'm now the proud owner of about 200# of HSS that has been smacked through steel plates about a million times. Not all of it will be good for turning-related projects, but there are at least 30 HSS rods in there ranging from about 1/2" to 1" in diameter and about 8-9 inches long that are going to turn into one heck of a set of tools one way or the other- whether I can manage to forge them into gouges and skews, or simply mill or grind cutting profiles into them, it's a heck of a score.
Cost me nothing, and even scored a few points with the boss, for making a potential problem go away nice and quietly.
There is a question in here, though- some of that material would be perfect for machining a couple of really nice chucks and assorted jaws, if I can manage to figure out how a scroll chuck works. Any chance someone has a link to some plans or diagrams of the internal works in one of those beasts? I figure I can work it out, but it's one of those things where re-inventing the wheel is probably not necessary.