Machinist hammer

[dikman]

I made this primarily to use with my lathe but it may be useful for working on sewing machines etc. Copper face one end, nylon the other, copper was melted from motor windings. I found that copper is a pain to turn in the lathe as it galls and creates a rough finish!

[kgg]

13 hours ago, dikman said:

I made this primarily to use with my lathe but it may be useful for working on sewing machines etc.

Very nicely done. It would also be good for hammering down the thread in seams.

kgg

[chuck123wapati]

heck yeah thats cool. did you try using just a file at slow speed? I do brass  but havent tried copper.

[dikman]

It's funny stuff, my first cuts were using a carbide bit and it actually caused the bit to chip! I reverted to a sharp high-speed steel bit and that went fine until it galled, left a surface with little raised bits on it. I then took very light cuts to smooth it out , used a fine file and sandpaper and finished off on a buffer.

Brass is much better to work with on the lathe, I don't think I'll be doing much more with copper. It was an interesting experiment, however, and at least copper doesn't give off those nasty zinc fumes when it's melting.

Having said that, kgg got me thinking - a hammer-head profile like a cobbler's hammer might be nice, copper has the weight for it.