I used the inlet valve from a 3.8 V6 Mitsubishi Pajero (6G75) to bore out a 12mm hole in brass. It needed to be 24.95mm and I didnt have anything bigger than a 12mm HSS drill bit. It worked well, so thanks very much for posting the content... subbed and liked. :)
Very interesting. Yes not everyone can get around a problem,by making a tool for a problem. Great idea/ plan. Nice video. Thanks. I really like the idea of recycling. Right up my alley.
I had to use a small boring bar on an alloy gear today, and used my engine valve bar on the job. My normal carbide bars were not suitable, but this el cheapo worked 100% great. Worth making one up. Cheers Rob
Rob, I am enjoying your videos. Lots of good ideas! I also enjoy hearing the Magpies in the background. They are bringing back memories of my visit to Canberra last March while visiting my son. Cheers from Ohio USA.
Good old fashioned home made stuff, U cant beat it,thanks for your shareing ,if only we could get the youngin's these days to be interested our country could get the smarts again
Good tip mate, thanks. I made a mini boring bar for 5mm holes, I used a Ramset concrete nail. It was very easily shaped by just removing metal from the head of the nail.
good idea and good instruction but be careful because some exhaust valves in diesel engines have sodium in the stems which i believe may be dangerous when cut
Don't expect miracles, but for anyone working aluminium, old engine valve stems are as good as HSS, and cost nothing. Great to grind specialised tooling to machine contours, engine finning etc. As shown, they can handle steel, but will blunten off much faster than HSS. Can easily be resharpened. Cheers Rob
Excellent video and very helpful. Your videos are great and I appreciate how you make due with what you have. Love the sound of the birds in the background but expect it could get tiresome after a time. Thanks!
@6:18 you annealed the rod, so i think it would give you much strength if you heat it again until red for a while and then sock it directly in cold oil
G'day Rob, When I was an apprentice, many years ago, using the side of the grinding wheel like that would result in a severe arse kicking. Wheels are designed to take the load on the periphery. Regards Dave Tointon
My father was a mechanic all his life, and this is standard practice for lightly facing off components in workshops. You NEVER apply more than light pressure to the side of a grind stone. Quite safe to do it this way if you use common sense. Rob
Rob, I got an engine valve today and the shaft is approx 24" long and the valve seat diameter is about 6". Not sure what kinda metal it is but its BIG. Hopin to make a large boring bar from it :)
Now that's a big engine valve. Must have been some monster sort of engine. Those would be useful for all sorts of projects - grinding dead centers, cutters, milling bits etc. Half yer luck. Cheers Rob
If you were right down the road I woulda brought it over and showed it to ya, my mechanic friend was amazed at its size. Also got some 6" diameter bearings for my forge to make knives from and a number of 1 1/4 x 12" bolts and other round stock for the lathe. All free stuff from my buddy at the scrap yard. Dont know if I can even cut the valve with the lathe....will see :)
seems like it would have been much easier and faster to simply use the flat valve head to cut out the cutting portion of the boring bar. Parallel cuts on either side then grind the cutting edge shape desired. Its all hardened steel.
+john buster Hi John, Yes, you could do that. I've used the head section when machining them up into wood router bits and key way cutters. Works quite well. Cheers Rob
Why not leave the head on and cut it to make the cutter rather than lopping it off and then brazing a new piece on? Good subject matter. Always neat to use what you got and often not a choice when you don't have a tooling store anywhere near. Doug
Don North, usually on older engine valves they were made in two pieces and head is not the same steel as the stem. If I remember correctly, the head was friction welded to the stem and grinding it up as a tool bit would probably weaken the weld, so when sideways axial loads are placed on it I would think it would fail quite quickly. In my mind, bending the stem is the way to go.
Rob, I was wondering about using an old broken Cobalt drill bit as a lathe tool for some time now. The are hard as hell and if you bind them when drilling, they snap magnificently. I think they would be up to the task of machining harder materials. Also I have a stack of old circular saw blades hanging on a nail on the wall. A lot of these have those brazed on Carbide teeth. What do you think about cutting up the blade and brazing a tooth to the valve stem? Keep the videos coming, I really have been learning a lot from them. Thanks again. Tommy
Hi Tommy.Carbide teeth on circular saws are very low grade and not up to continuous steel work (as I understand it). I also considered this but it appeared they would be pretty poor/break easy so didn't progress the subject. I generally re-use broken carbide inserts on my DIY boring bars. That's why I like the Bullfinch LPG gun so much. Not sure about cobalt for a boring bar. Never had any experience with it. Try it and see is my motto :) Cheers Rob
trialen I make all my own tooling. Normally I would braze a carbide or maybe HSS on to hard steel bar or rod, But many people can't do that as they don't have suitable heat available. This video is really meant for those people, to enable them to get the job done using something else. Rob
yeah good stuff Rob---I stopped brazing and the like making boring bars a few years ago.. Now I mig them on--three small stabs on the trigger for three sides on the scrap of hss steel---- a high tensile bolt of whatever thickness or length and grind them up...Ordinary mig wire is or very close to low hydrogen standards so it is tough.. Another little trick for really fine work as in model making etc and you want say a 3/16th dia boring bar is grab a cheap screwdriver--attack the handle with a hammer and bust the plastic off--wire wheel for a bit and mig the hss on.. Quick easy and not much heat.. Another thing I have not tried yet is making a reamer out of a valve stem..Some of the old pommy machinests would home make their own reamers out of silver steel so valve stems would be their equal or better and as you know there are plenty of old valves.. I will let you know in future comments how effective it is..Best wishs for the new year..Ian..Its great to swap info....
Ian Craig Hi Ian. Homemade tooling is good - certainly saves a lot of money, works well, is fit for purpose, and it can even look good at times :) The only tooling I ever buy are inserts (off Ebay). I don't have MIG, but that sounds like a good way to go. I just use brazing. I have a reamer made from a valve stem that I inherited, and it looks pretty simple and very well made. Just some longitudinal flutes indexed/ground into it. Haven't used it yet. All good stuff. Thanks for the information, and have a great 2015. Cheers Rob
Side wheel grinding is not recommended, and can cause wheel failure........a very dangerous situation indeed. If you can do most of the grinding on wheel rim and only do light touch-up on the side wall that would be much safer(and give longer wheel life too.)
Why not leave the valve head on and just reshape it into the cutter using an angle grinder it will then retain the original hardness, also maybe an exhaust valve would be even better, they are made of harder steel!
mistera o Yes, you could do it that way. I have also reshaped the head and cut teeth into it to make router bits. Works great. Some exhaust valves are sodium filled, so be careful. Cheers Rob
I used the inlet valve from a 3.8 V6 Mitsubishi Pajero (6G75) to bore out a 12mm hole in brass. It needed to be 24.95mm and I didnt have anything bigger than a 12mm HSS drill bit. It worked well, so thanks very much for posting the content... subbed and liked. :)
Thanks for sharing
Very interesting. Yes not everyone can get around a problem,by making a tool for a problem. Great idea/ plan. Nice video. Thanks. I really like the idea of recycling. Right up my alley.
You can also turn old engine valves into router bits and rough timber gouging tools.
@@Xynudu thanks. Very good idea
As a newbie to lathing I really like all your money saving ideas and techniques. Florida, USA Thanks
I just bought a Myford ML7 and am in need of tooling. Thanks for the tip! Much appreciated....From South Africa
I guess I need to start digging into my scrap pile. Thank You for the great video
I had to use a small boring bar on an alloy gear today, and used my engine valve bar on the job. My normal carbide bars were not suitable, but this el cheapo worked 100% great. Worth making one up. Cheers Rob
Rob, I am enjoying your videos. Lots of good ideas! I also enjoy hearing the Magpies in the background. They are bringing back memories of my visit to Canberra last March while visiting my son. Cheers from Ohio USA.
Glad you are enjoying them - the birds and the videos :) Cheers Rob
Good old fashioned home made stuff, U cant beat it,thanks for your shareing ,if only we could get the youngin's these days to be interested our country could get the smarts again
Good tip mate, thanks. I made a mini boring bar for 5mm holes, I used a Ramset concrete nail. It was very easily shaped by just removing metal from the head of the nail.
Those Ramset nails are hard stuff. I've used them as centre punches, and to drive out stuck Woodroofe keys. Good idea regarding the boring bar. Rob
good idea and good instruction but be careful because some exhaust valves in diesel engines have sodium in the stems which i believe may be dangerous when cut
Don't expect miracles, but for anyone working aluminium, old engine valve stems are as good as HSS, and cost nothing. Great to grind specialised tooling to machine contours, engine finning etc. As shown, they can handle steel, but will blunten off much faster than HSS. Can easily be resharpened. Cheers Rob
Excellent video and very helpful. Your videos are great and I appreciate how you make due with what you have. Love the sound of the birds in the background but expect it could get tiresome after a time. Thanks!
Hi Ron. Those birds only bother me when I try to shoot video ;) The rest of the time I never hear them. They are native doves. Cheers Rob
Thanks for sharing your know how, have just made a couple and tried them out with good results. Well worth making.
@6:18 you annealed the rod, so i think it would give you much strength if you heat it again until red for a while and then sock it directly in cold oil
Hi Mohammad,
Good point. It would definitely harden it more that way. Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheers Rob
G'day Rob,
When I was an apprentice, many years ago, using the side of the grinding wheel like that would result in a severe arse kicking. Wheels are designed to take the load on the periphery.
Regards
Dave Tointon
My father was a mechanic all his life, and this is standard practice for lightly facing off components in workshops.
You NEVER apply more than light pressure to the side of a grind stone.
Quite safe to do it this way if you use common sense.
Rob
Nice innovation, always enjoy seeing things recycled.
Rob, I got an engine valve today and the shaft is approx 24" long and the valve seat diameter is about 6". Not sure what kinda metal it is but its BIG. Hopin to make a large boring bar from it :)
Now that's a big engine valve. Must have been some monster sort of engine.
Those would be useful for all sorts of projects - grinding dead centers, cutters, milling bits etc.
Half yer luck.
Cheers Rob
If you were right down the road I woulda brought it over and showed it to ya, my mechanic friend was amazed at its size. Also got some 6" diameter bearings for my forge to make knives from and a number of 1 1/4 x 12" bolts and other round stock for the lathe. All free stuff from my buddy at the scrap yard. Dont know if I can even cut the valve with the lathe....will see :)
well done thanks for shearing im in texas take care all the best
Did I miss the link for the torch?? Great video!
Thank you very much. I bought my mini lathe used and want to collect or build my tools same way.
Glad I could help.
Aint nothing boring about it :P nice video simplicity at its best///
seems like it would have been much easier and faster to simply use the flat valve head to cut out the cutting portion of the boring bar. Parallel cuts on either side then grind the cutting edge shape desired. Its all hardened steel.
+john buster
Hi John,
Yes, you could do that. I've used the head section when machining them up into wood router bits and key way cutters.
Works quite well.
Cheers Rob
Why not leave the head on and cut it to make the cutter rather than lopping it off and then brazing a new piece on? Good subject matter. Always neat to use what you got and often not a choice when you don't have a tooling store anywhere near. Doug
no brazing, just 1 piece... cut, bent, ground reliefs. less grinding to cut off the head, but u can tho
Why not just use the valve head as the cutter instead of bending the bar? Would be easy to do with a angle grinder.
Don wouldnt it have been made stronger from the aneal and quench? easier isnt always the best ....
Absolutely what I thought also...
Don North, usually on older engine valves they were made in two pieces and head is not the same steel as the stem. If I remember correctly, the head was friction welded to the stem and grinding it up as a tool bit would probably weaken the weld, so when sideways axial loads are placed on it I would think it would fail quite quickly. In my mind, bending the stem is the way to go.
Rob,
I was wondering about using an old broken Cobalt drill bit as a lathe tool for some time now. The are hard as hell and if you bind them when drilling, they snap magnificently. I think they would be up to the task of machining harder materials.
Also I have a stack of old circular saw blades hanging on a nail on the wall. A lot of these have those brazed on Carbide teeth. What do you think about cutting up the blade and brazing a tooth to the valve stem?
Keep the videos coming, I really have been learning a lot from them. Thanks again.
Tommy
Hi Tommy.Carbide teeth on circular saws are very low grade and not up to continuous steel work (as I understand it). I also considered this but it appeared they would be pretty poor/break easy so didn't progress the subject. I generally re-use broken carbide inserts on my DIY boring bars. That's why I like the Bullfinch LPG gun so much. Not sure about cobalt for a boring bar. Never had any experience with it. Try it and see is my motto :) Cheers Rob
great idea! thanks. on an unrelated note what bird/ animal can I hear cooing in the background?
xynudu
thanks.
Excellent video. Have you thought of brazing a HSS tip onto it ?
trialen I make all my own tooling. Normally I would braze a carbide or maybe HSS on to hard steel bar or rod, But many people can't do that as they don't have suitable heat available. This video is really meant for those people, to enable them to get the job done using something else. Rob
Trop fort mon ami !!! Respect !!!
Georges
Too strong my friend !!! respect !!!
Georges
yeah good stuff Rob---I stopped brazing and the like making boring bars a few years ago..
Now I mig them on--three small stabs on the trigger for three sides on the scrap of hss steel---- a high tensile bolt of whatever thickness or length and grind them up...Ordinary mig wire is or very close to low hydrogen standards so it is tough..
Another little trick for really fine work as in model making etc and you want say a 3/16th dia boring bar is grab a cheap screwdriver--attack the handle with a hammer and bust the plastic off--wire wheel for a bit and mig the hss on..
Quick easy and not much heat..
Another thing I have not tried yet is making a reamer out of a valve stem..Some of the old pommy machinests would home make their own reamers out of silver steel so valve stems would be their equal or better and as you know there are plenty of old valves..
I will let you know in future comments how effective it is..Best wishs for the new year..Ian..Its great to swap info....
Ian Craig Hi Ian. Homemade tooling is good - certainly saves a lot of money, works well, is fit for purpose, and it can even look good at times :) The only tooling I ever buy are inserts (off Ebay). I don't have MIG, but that sounds like a good way to go. I just use brazing. I have a reamer made from a valve stem that I inherited, and it looks pretty simple and very well made. Just some longitudinal flutes indexed/ground into it. Haven't used it yet. All good stuff. Thanks for the information, and have a great 2015. Cheers Rob
Side wheel grinding is not recommended, and can cause wheel failure........a very dangerous situation indeed. If you can do most of the grinding on wheel rim and only do light touch-up on the side wall that would be much safer(and give longer wheel life too.)
Good shit, loved the vid. Keep it up!
Why not leave the valve head on and just reshape it into the cutter using an angle grinder it will then retain the original hardness, also maybe an exhaust valve would be even better, they are made of harder steel!
mistera o Yes, you could do it that way. I have also reshaped the head and cut teeth into it to make router bits. Works great. Some exhaust valves are sodium filled, so be careful. Cheers Rob
Sorry just heard you giving the warning
Lots of mumbling and lots of blocking the camera with the hands. Still, a decent video. Giving it a thumbs up.
Nice project! Thank you!
For the amount of time and wear you put on your other tools to make this tool, it's probably cheaper to just buy a boring bar
Well done ,Thanks i am of to make one.
I heard some high performance valves contain sodium... Just so you know. Throw those in water for some fireworks...
awesome love it free tools
Cool thanks