Tool Hacks

2974 Articles

Everyman’s Turbomolecular Pump

April 9, 2016 by 61 Comments

What can you do with a very good vacuum pump? You can build an electron microscope, x-ray tubes, particle accelerators, thin films, and it can keep your coffee warm. Of course getting your hands on a good vacuum pump involves expert-level scrounging or a lot of money, leading [DeepSOIC] and [Keegan] to a great entry for this year’s Hackaday Prize. It’s the Everyman’s Turbomolecular Pump, a pump based on one of [Nikola Tesla]’s patents. It sucks, and that’s a good thing.

The usual way of sucking the atmosphere out of electron microscopes and vacuum tubes begins with a piston or diaphragm pump. This gets most of the atmosphere out, but there’s still a little bit left. To get the pressure down even lower, an oil diffusion pump (messy, but somewhat cheap) or a turbomolecular pump (clean, awesome, and expensive) is used to suck the last few molecules of atmosphere out.

The turbomolecular pump [DeepSOIC] and [Keegan] are building use multiple spinning discs just like [Tesla]’s 1909 patent. The problem, it seems, is finding a material that can be made into a disc and can survive tens of thousand of rotations per minute. It’s a very, very difficult build, and a mistake in fabricating any of the parts will result in a spectacular rapid disassembly of this turbomolecular pump. The reward, though, would be great. A cheap turbomolecular pump would be a very useful device in any hackerspace, fab lab, or workshop garage.

The HackadayPrize2016 is Sponsored by:

Retrotechtacular: Rein-Operated Tractors

April 8, 2016 by 19 Comments

It’s not unusual for new technologies to preserve vestiges of those that preceded them. If an industry has an inertia of doing things in a particular way then it makes commercial sense for any upstarts to build upon those established practices rather than fail to be adopted. Thus for example some industrial PLCs with very modern internals can present interfaces that hark back to their relay-based ancestors, or deep within your mobile phone there may still be AT commands being issued that would be familiar from an early 1980s modem.

Just occasionally though an attempt to marry a new technology to an old one becomes an instant anachronism, something that probably made sense at the time but through the lens of history seems just a bit crazy. And so we come to the subject of this piece, the rein-operated agricultural tractor.

Continue reading “Retrotechtacular: Rein-Operated Tractors” →

3D Printed Linkage Produces Automatic Hacksaw!

April 8, 2016 by 35 Comments

The more tools you have the better. Unfortunately, not everyone has the space, or the money for full-size equipment. Looking to expand his maker capabilities, [Bruno] had the clever idea to turn a hand-tool, into a power tool. One we’ve never even seen before — a powered hacksaw.

Using his 3D printer he designed a linkage system, not unlike a steam locomotive drive to turn rotary motion from a geared motor into linear motion. Not only that, it also angles the hacksaw as it goes. 3D printed brackets hold the hacksaw in place, and weight can be added to the top to adjust the cutting speed. He even 3D printed a guide for his vice to line up the material to where the blade will cut.

It’s a bit slow, but it’s fantastic at making cuts! Continue reading “3D Printed Linkage Produces Automatic Hacksaw!” →

IR Rework Station

April 5, 2016 by 8 Comments

Modern surface mount components often need special tools for rework. However, those tools can be expensive. [Michael Skrepsky] wanted an infrared rework station, but didn’t like the price. So he built his own.

According to [Michael] he used a lot of scrap in the construction. . He used K-type thermocouples, optotriacs, triacs, a 20×4 display and, of course, an Arduino. An old bathroom heater, along with a 600W and 100W halogen bulb work as heaters.

Continue reading “IR Rework Station” →

Reactor Forge Promises Induction Heating For All

April 5, 2016 by 60 Comments

Ever want to try your hand at black smithing? Building a forge is expensive and tricky — especially if you live in an apartment! But we’re all tech nerds here — it’s way cooler to use induction heating to heat up your metal for forging. Fire is for cavemen! [Josh Campbell] is working on a kit to bring induction heating to the masses — he calls it the Reactor Forge.

The kit hasn’t launched yet, but you can follow his progress on his GitHub. Induction heating works by magnetically inducing current into the metal, where resistance turns the current into heat without physical contact. The Reactor Forge [Josh] has built runs off of a 220V circuit, and in the following demonstration, heats up a 6″ section of 1/2″ steel bar.

Continue reading “Reactor Forge Promises Induction Heating For All” →

Cheap Air Pickup

April 4, 2016 by 7 Comments

If you work with surface mount components, you might want an air pickup tool (sometimes called air or vacuum tweezers). You can find inexpensive ones that use a bulb or spring mechanism (like a solder sucker). While these are cheap, they don’t work very well. [Natsfr] had one of these cheap tools and decided to add a proper pump to make it work like a much more expensive tool.

Continue reading “Cheap Air Pickup” →

Turning An Angle Grinder Into A Belt Sander

April 3, 2016 by 23 Comments

Faced with a project requiring a lot of sanding, [George] had two options. Suck it up and buy a belt sander — or re-purpose a tool he already had to do the same job. He chose the latter, and turned an angle grinder into a belt sander.

Part of a series called Make It Extreme on YouTube, [George] built the entire project from scratch using raw materials. Using a lathe he created the aluminum rolling dowels the sanding belt will sit on. He pressed bearings into them, and then welded up a frame using scrap steel to hold them apart. He’s even added a spring-powered tension device to ensure the belt stays on.

As for mounting the angle grinder in place, it couldn’t be easier. It slides in between two metal guides, and attaches using the threaded hole for the angle grinder’s handle.

Continue reading “Turning An Angle Grinder Into A Belt Sander” →