Saturday, January 30, 2010

HOW TO USE A ROCK TUMBLER

If you like to tumble rocks DMSeeleysTools.com has a nice Rotary Dual Drum Rock tumbler tool for cleaning and polishing small stones or hardware. The way the tumbler works is the rocks fall over and over and over, polishing rocks in much the same manner as the ocean has for millions of years. Be advised that your choice of rock size is limited by the small rotor power and that it may be difficult to get replacement parts like a broken belt from an over weighted tumbler. DMSeeleysTools.com usually has belts.
 
Tumblers are sized according to the weight of the load they can continuously bear. The most common cause of rotor failure and belt breakage is improper or over-loading of the barrel. . Double barrels can be used to polish lots of rocks or to ensure a really good polish (if you reserve one barrel for that purpose).
The rock tumbler is a ideal bench top hand tool to have on hand for descaling , deburring, and surface conditioning for smaller items. Use on semi precious stones, glass, metals, remove rust or polish jewelry what ever your needs require. Quiet low-speed tumblers are designed to run for days at a time, ensuring a smooth, lustrous finish. Some tumblers have Rubber barrels for quieter operation. The following is a good way to polish jewelry.
You can use a Small rotary tumbler and barrel.
Soap (not detergent). Ivory soap flakes are recommended.
Polished steel shot. You want enough to fill the barrel about halfway.
Procedure
Pour the shot into a clean barrel to about the halfway mark.
Add enough water to cover the shot plus about 3/4 inch.
Add a tablespoon of soap flakes.
Load the jewelry and/or components into the barrel. You want them to be able to tumble, so pack them loosely.
Seal the barrel and let the tumbler rotate for 6-8 hours.
When the pieces are sufficiently polished, remove them from the tumbler and rinse them well with water
Do you want rounded rocks, or more natural looking rocks?
If you really do not want a well rounded rock, you may want to look at a vibrating model instead of a rotary machine also found at DMSeeleysTools.com. We get consistently better results with our rotary models, but occasionally we find someone who finds a vibrating model suits their needs better. If you are just starting out we recommend starting with a rotary machine. They truly are easier to operate.
 
So why get a vibratory tumbler?" you ask. They have a very useful purpose. They don't change the shape of your stones. If you have stones that you have cut and ground to a specific shape and you want to polish a lot of them at once, then you can use a vibratory tumbler.
On the other hand, vibratory tumblers tend to be a bit more expensive than their rotary counterparts. However, if 'time is money' and you want to retain more of the shape and size of the original material, then a vibratory tumbler may be just what you need.
 
Make a balanced load that includes for large and small rocks. For a 2.5 lb bowl, sizes from 1/8" to 1" work well. A proper slurry is needed to get the best polish in the least time. If there is too little water, then the thickness of the mixture will prevent proper movement, thus slowing the polishing action. Too much water results in too thin of a slurry, which will result in a much longer time to achieve a polish. The grit may settle out of the mixture altogether. Never wash grit down the drain! Plastic pellets may be rinsed and reused, but you cannot reuse grit. Best to your work Denny at DMSeeleysTools.com

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Home Hand Tools For Leather

If you like crafts and working with leather or find your self needing to repair leather items you own such as purses, belts, shoes, or other items around your home there is a Hand Tool that works well. You could go about the job armed with a stout needle and some strong thread . . . but that's the hard way to do leather and canvas work. A much easier way would be to use a handy little Hand Tool device known as a Sewing Awl.

An argument made against hand tools is that it's hard to make them work. A hundred years ago and more, people made hand tools work. They had no choice: You need the right tool and to develop the skills to maintain and use it properly. If you can duplicate that skill, you can be productive in making nice item out of leather.

A picture of the Awl hand tool can be seen at DMSeeleystools. It has storage in the handle for thread (Everything pictured included) and storage for your needles under the silver cap and Instructions make this a very useful hand tool for your home tool box and sewing or repairing leather goods.

The Awl can be handsomely designed with a comfortable wooden handle. This Awl had 4 different sizes of needles and a bobbin to hold the nylon thread, making the whole Hand Tool quite compact. Other types feature exposed bobbins and storage space for extra needles inside the handle. Both types of awls perform well.

Besides sewing or joining pieces of leather together there is Incising or taking a hand tool knife or in modern tooling, a swivel tool knife, and inscribing a design into the surface of the leather. Note that a dull hand tool knife can leave a much larger "line" than a sharp one, and will not weaken the surface strength as much. This is *possibly* the most common method of ornamentation for leather during the Middle Ages.

Numerous examples can be found in Knives and Scabbards, Shoes and Patterns, etc. Carving technically is the technique of undercutting the leather surface and making it physically stand out from the general surface of the leather. Cutout-- is Creating a design by punching holes in the leather. An excellent tool for small holes is a very heavy duty leather hand tool punch at DMSeeleysTools.

I like the large size hand tool punch making it easier to punch holes in challenging materials with it's comfortable anti slip grips. Nice addition to your shop or home hand tool craft needs. Punch sizes are 7/64'', 1/8'' , 5/32'', 11/63'', 3/16'', 13/64'' ; The Overall length is 9-1/2'' and it is Light weight with high carbon steel punches that are strong enough for most of your project needs.

What ever your leather project may be from starting something new or repairing something old the Sewing Awl or Leather Punch are reliable hand tools to assist you in your home workshop project or repairs. These hand tools will help you duplicate your skill so you can be productive in repairing or making nice items out of leather.

Denny

Monday, September 22, 2008

Jewelers Home Hand Tools

Check out some of the neat hard to find Jeweler's tools at DMseeleysTools.
They have a nice 30 x loupe made of all metal and glass as well as other magnifyiers and always fair deal shipping.

The Doming Block Punch hand tools set from DMSeeleysTools has 18 hemispheres for shaping and forming jewelry or small precision parts. All the hand tools are of heavy duty carbon steel construction and a great addition to your at home work shop or jewelry store.

Their handy hand saw includes 144 piercing saw blades in different sizes. The blades will cut soft metal, plastic and wood. Ideal for intricate carving's.

Great for Jeweler's, Hobbyist's and other home crafts needs in the shop or around the home. The frame is metal and will adjust to different saw blade lengths with a thumb screw. Handy to use with broken and shorter blade lengths. The blade thumb screws can be moved from one side to the other on the metal frame and the handle is wood. Click here for a picture view.

Saw blade sizes are: 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 1, 2 & 5 1/4" length. Throat on saw from back bone to blade 2 1/2".

Also included with the doming block tool set at DMSeeleysTools is a wood block storage stand with labeled holes that will hold 24 doming tools including the doming block.
The Punch face sizes in this punch hand tool set are in millimeters:
2.3, 3.5, 4.3, 5.1, 5.9, 6.7, 7.5, 8.3, 9.1, 9.9, 10.7, 11.5, 12.3, 13.0, 13.8, 14.6, 15.4, 16.2, 17.0, 18.6, 20.2, 21.8, 23.4, 25.0.
This set weighs near 9 Lbs if you wanted it shipped.

Check out these as well as many other unique tools at DMseeleysTools.com for your at home hand tool needs and fair deal shipping.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Snap Hand Tool Kit

DELUXE SNAP HAND TOOL KIT
This NEW snap tool set is a real winner from DMSeeleysTools I sell a couple snap hand tools and this really is a deluxe tool kit and has all kinds of extras!
The vise grip pliers hand tool is the base for the set and is really neat because by implementing changeable jaws, 18 of them it now becomes many tools in one. Not only that but you can reduce or increase the tool pressure with the threaded adjustment screw this puts extra power in your hands which can come in handy for thicker material and can save on your wrist or hand wearing out before your done.

This snap hand tool will set the canvas style snap you might see on boat covers, (snaps included). Not only that It will also set button snaps. The type you may see on clothing also( included). Make another quick jaw change and you can now use it with the gold brass grommets 6.35 & 6.36 MM which are also included for larger stress protected holes. I use them on my flags and they look great. Also use them on any stress tie down. Pool covers grill covers, that fire wood pile you decide.
That’s not all, change the jaws again and you now have a powerful hole or center punch. It can also be used to countersink or indent your material by adjusting the threaded screw. Use on leather or other thick similar material.

That’s not all this handy home or work shop snap hand tool kit does. It also will set rivets in 3 sizes 3/16" 1/8" and 5/32" again (included). It also has the ability to be used to remove those same rivets. Last but not least there are two protective plane jaws to use for no mar gripping up to 1/2" thick. All this in a handy impact plastic case from DMSeeleysTools for your at home hand tools needs.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

EYELET HAND TOOL KITS

DMSeeleysTools Eyelet Hand Tools Kits


For folks into scrap booking and other hobbies where you use eyelets check out some of the eyelet tool kit’s at DMSeeleysTools.com. Use these hand tools to replace eyelets in shoes, belts, or other hobby needs. The eyelet hand tool kit(Picture View) comes with spring loaded pliers, 100 eyelets and leather quality hole punch with comfort cushion spring loaded handles. Handy for the home and most important no hammer needed like other tool kits.


The hole punch has 6 different size punches on a revolving wheel. 5/64", 3/32", 7/64" 1/8", 5/32" and 3/16". The punch has hardened steel tubes with a brass anvil and handle lock.
The eyelets are black brass copper and silver colored some sets are all silver. The eyelets fit into a 3/16" size hole. They are about the size of a shoe lace eyelet. There is an all in one eyelet hand tool with 500 eyelets. (Pitcure View) also no hammer needed.

There’s also a neat set that comes with a metric snap tool. Use the snap tool instead of sewing to replace buttons with snaps. Great for snaps on hats, bras, scarfs and many other repairs. All three tools come with comfort cushion spring loaded handles and chrome plated. There is also a deluxe home hand tool kit comming in the near future and all can be seen DMseeleysTools.com.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Adjustable Circle Hole Cutters

                      Adjustable Circle Hole Hand Tool





From DMSeeleysTools.com If you ever need to put a hole or drill a circle in metal wood or other
materials you can obtain a couple neat hand tools that will work well for
most of your at home projects. The more common is a drill style hand tool, which
is an adjustable circle hole cutter and will cut a nice circle in light
metals, plastic or wood. Metal as long as it has a carbide cutter and metal drill. I used mine to cut a hole in a exterior wood door covered in light metal. I suppose as a fire retard. You must drill light metal with a high RPM drill.

There are look a like hand tools and bits out there but most will not cut light metals
like this adjustable circle hole bit will. This hand tool will take the place of a number of drill bits
and take up less room in that at home hand tools box. It has a capacity from 7/8"
to 5" diameter and both the drill and carbide are replaceable. Some money
savings compared to having to buy a new circle hole tool when they get dull. Handy to
have since you never know what size hole you might be drilling around the
home or workshop.

Even more interesting at DMSeeleysTools.com is the larger adjustable sheet metal hand
tools hole cutter used by some airplane mechanics as well as for at home sheet
metal projects. This adjustable circle hole drill will cut from 2" to 12" holes in up to 20-gauge
sheet metal. It can also be used with any high-speed electric hand drill. The bit
in this tool wears in the amount of thickness being cut so adjusting it up or
down exposes new blade for more cuts increasing the life of the circle hole drill bit being
used and again saving a few bucks in the long run when needing to replace
tooling..
This hand tool has a sliding hole with a pivot pin in it so you can make
adjustments for the size of holes you are cutting. It also has a handy scale
on the bottom in inches and metric to help with your size adjustments. Two
tools doing the work of many different size bits is the advantage these tools
have over others. They are DMSeeleysTools.com examples of another unique and useful adjustable circle hole drill.

Denny

DMSeeleysTools.com for your at home hand tools.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

PLUMBIMNG HAND TOOLS TIP:

The Garden Hose Trick

I'm going to talk about a neat hand tool to have around the home below but before I do check out this tip from your home hand tools blog. So your sink is plugged or your toilet won't flush. You tried the plunger and all those drain cleaners that are met for maintenance. If you don't have the right hand tools it may be time to call the plumber or maybe try this.

Run a snake which is what your local plumber would do. You say you don't have that hand tool! Well you could still save a few bucks by just buying one and have it around the home for future use.

Now I want to be her4e for you for you, and before you do that here's another possible way to save you some of your hard $$$$ earned money around your home.

Before I tell you how and get a e-mail I know this may not work for you folks in high rise buildings or apartments since you may not have a hose handy. I also know you folks out there are clever and could find a way it may work for you! You decide! Some short cuts just will not work for everybody.

I've used this method for many years with my rental properties with out needing all of the plumbing hand tools out there and its saved me a lot of money because it usually works.

You might not consider your garden hose a hand tool until it saves you money. You will need some help to do this though you can do it your self because I have.

Bring your connected garden hose into the house and put it into the plugged drain or toilet bowel or what ever is not draining. Wrap it with soft cotton like a T shirt so you have a tight seal around the opening. Get it wet first to help your seal. Turn on the hose and hold it there with all your strength and do not let the water back up toward you. In most cases the water pressure will blow out the obstruction.

If the water backed up try it a couple more times. Some plumbers out there might not be happy with me but at
http://www.dmseeleystools.com/ we will suggest their help when their expertise is your best choice.

May your drains run free and you save some $$$.

Denny