Friday, July 27, 2007

The Evolution of the " Slipper Plane "


Most investment cast miniatures I have made over the years start with making the model.Sometimes the model is made from blocks of wax,delrin,wood,or brass. Material selection is driven by the different challenges or features the model must have. After the model is made the next step is making an RTV (room temperature vulcanizing ) mold. The mold is injected with hot wax to produce multiple wax patterns that will be invested and cast with bronze, silver or gold.
The process I chose for the "slipper plane" was similar with a few changes, most changes were a result of not being satisfied with the design and wanting to tweak or change it along the way.
The above RTV mold was made from an original antique Meriden patent plane. The feature of this plane I was attracted to was the cam blade locking and positing lever. I do not have a current photo of the japanned cast iron original,one can be seen in Roger Smiths book PT&MP volume 2 page 149. Also Google patent number 282,468.
Although the antique plane was "cute" I wanted to keep the cam feature but enhance the design of the planes side profile and give it a custom or modern design.
The above photo shows a wax injection from the RTV mold. This wax was invested and cast in silicone bronze. The next photo is the assembled bronze casting from one of the waxes.

The first step was to take one of the original waxes and modify it to the new profile as shown in the following picture. The sides were added by doing a cut and melt using a special flexible wax. The red and yellow waxes are main sprues and feeder sprues used to evacuate the wax during wax burnout and also serve as feeder lines when pouring the molted metal into the heated and cured investment.(think of investment as a fine sand similar to plaster of Paris.
The next shot is the casting from the first "attempt".
The first modification was close to what I was looking for but It was "no Cigar".
Because the first modified wax was lost (lost wax casting) the new attempt was like starting from scratch. Using another original wax it was cut and melt time again to form the new design. The next two pictures show the second attempt wax model and casting.

The second attempt looked a little better but needed a little more pizazz. The casting was then hand engraved with a deep relief to provide the required depth in the finished casting.
A final mold was made from the engraved model. The next picture shows a casting of the plane in silicone bronze. Notice the additional material that was added to the base of the casting,this was done to provide additional metal to allow for sanding the plane bottom without getting it too thin. The pink wax next to the casting shows the additional stock that was added. After casting and grinding the overhang of this extra stock I decided it was too much trouble to clean the overhang off .The next castings which were done in red brass the overhang was left which gave the appearance of a sole on ones shoe.After showing this version to a friend ,who is a model maker and has a good eye for design and proportions, he made the comment "it looks like a slipper". This was how the plane received its name and it has stuck.
That's my story and I am sticking to it.
At this point it was time for production to begin. Following shots show a group of final waxes and a view of what the red brass castings look like before pickling the castings and final polishing. The last two shots show the completed project.I started delivery last week and have sold out the first production run, I'll be casting another larger batch next week. If you have any questions or comments I will try and answer. hamlertools@alltel.net
Paul


Hand engraved 01 tool steel blade.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Fixture for engraving ferrules


I was railroaded into doing a simple engraving job for a friend. Well you know how those simple jobs turn out sometimes... this one did.I used the 4th axis CNC mill with a spring loaded carbide scribe to scratch the artwork on the rings.

Because of the small diameter (.625) of the parts I was spending more time trying to rotate the part and reposition it to keep the area to be engraved located at 12 o'clock . Every time I loosened the jaws on the engraving vise the part would usually fall down between the jaws and require reinstalling it in the vise.


I fabricated a holder to go into the engraving vise to keep the rings from falling and to provide an easier mouse trap to better rotate the ring as required while engraving. The first step was to drill one hole in the face of each of the 2 engraving vise jaws (very soft) . I used the same size hole as those on the top of the jaws (factory drilled).


The pictures show two holding adapters ,one is for rings or ferrules that have one end capped with a small hole that the scribe or cutting tool goes through ,the other holder is for normal rings. The pictures show both style holders being put into the vise and shots showing the vise closed. The beauty of this fixture is all it takes is a small loosing of the vise to enable you to rotate the ring to the new position to be engraved. A few different holders could be made to handle a wide inside ring diameter and if the 2 holes drilled in the jaws that support the rod were properly registered it would accommodate some gun cylinders.


Another thing that made the operation easier was to remove the captive retainer from the vise tightening screw (the one that keeps the vise jaws centered). This enables you to slide both jaws at the same time and position the ring under the microscope center.


Wednesday, July 18, 2007

New Project

The task are lining up on schedule for the insert project. I will be meeting with the foundry tomorrow to work out some details on the first batch of castings. I'll keep you updated on the project .
Would like to thank all who have responded and requested one when available.




The scraper insert will fit the later version Stanley planes as well as the Stanley Bedrock and Lie Nielsen planes with a blade width of 2 3/8. For a product review go to Scraper review

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Salesman's Sample















This is a sample of some of the miniatures I've made over the years. Most every piece was done in a limited edition run of 50 or one hundred. Once a piece is sold out I very seldom go back and remake the tool again.
For pictures of more tools and some pictures of work in progress go to The following link Photos

Also see This Link















Stanley 45's




Recent production run of the Type 4 Stanley 45 multiplane. They were one third scale.



Is this a small Stanley 45 or a big dime?