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Thread: A Centerless Filing Button

  1. #1
    Supporting Member rgsparber's Avatar
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    A Centerless Filing Button

    I don't know why, but I have a facination with forming rounded corners on flat stock. The standard way to do this is with a filing button. You drill a hole in the stock, run a bolt through the button and the hole, and add a nut to secure the assembly. Then file down to the button. That hole really bugs me. I did figure out a way to avoid drilling the hole by using hot glue to secure the button. That didn't satisfy me so I kept thinking about the problem. Can't say that I'm done with this journey, but here is my latest "day trip" - a tool that lets me cut a nice 7/8th inch radius in sheet stock. No hole is drilled and no glue is used.

    If you are interested, please see

    https://rick.sparber.org/CenterlessFilingButton.pdf

    Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.


    Thanks,

    Rick

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    Rick

  2. The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to rgsparber For This Useful Post:

    baja (Feb 14, 2020), bobs409 (Feb 14, 2020), Carnel (Feb 14, 2020), Corm (Feb 17, 2020), DIYer (Feb 13, 2020), EnginePaul (Feb 15, 2020), greyhoundollie (Feb 22, 2020), Jon (Feb 13, 2020), lassab999 (Sep 20, 2022), Little Rabbit (Feb 16, 2020), Philip Davies (Feb 13, 2020), Scotsman Hosie (Feb 17, 2020), Seedtick (Feb 13, 2020), Tule (Feb 22, 2020)

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    Thanks rgsparber! We've added your Radius Fixture to our Metalworking category,
    as well as to your builder page: rgsparber's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:




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    Supporting Member baja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rgsparber View Post
    I don't know why, but I have a facination with forming rounded corners on flat stock. The standard way to do this is with a filing button. You drill a hole in the stock, run a bolt through the button and the hole, and add a nut to secure the assembly. Then file down to the button. That hole really bugs me. I did figure out a way to avoid drilling the hole by using hot glue to secure the button. That didn't satisfy me so I kept thinking about the problem. Can't say that I'm done with this journey, but here is my latest "day trip" - a tool that lets me cut a nice 7/8th inch radius in sheet stock. No hole is drilled and no glue is used.

    If you are interested, please see

    https://rick.sparber.org/CenterlessFilingButton.pdf

    Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.


    Thanks,

    Rick
    Thanks Rick! Just solved a problem for me in rounding corners on metal (or plastic) sign blanks.

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    greyhoundollie (Feb 22, 2020), rgsparber (Feb 15, 2020)

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    I could see a use for something like that! Great idea. Hmmm, I feel the wheels starting to turn in my head again... Uh oh!

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    rgsparber (Feb 15, 2020)

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    Rare earth magnets come to mind.

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    Supporting Member rgsparber's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tooler2 View Post
    Rare earth magnets come to mind.
    I’ve tried using neodymium magnets. They slide. You certainly do not want to use them as filling buttons. They will shatter.

    Rick
    Rick

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    Quote Originally Posted by rgsparber View Post
    I’ve tried using neodymium magnets. They slide. You certainly do not want to use them as filling buttons. They will shatter.

    Rick
    What kind of ''filing'' are you doing? I have not tried it out but magnet's field may require a minimum thickness of material to stick properly. Not sure if you use one underneath as well if it would have to be perfectly aligned. Once the curve is well defined one can remove the guide and fair the curve freehand with some skill.
    Rob

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    Supporting Member rgsparber's Avatar
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    The magnetics I tried take a lot of force to pull straight up. But a slight nudge with the file makes it slide enough to mess up the shape. I suspect that if I had more skill, these bumps would be light enough to not move the magnet.

    As shown in the article, I do a lot of shaping on my belt sander.
    Rick

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    With any method you should be cutting to a line, not actually cutting till you touch the button?

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    I like this, thanks. Been noodeling on how to do similar rounding with thick stock on a milling machine with out the expense of a rotory table. Or maybe a fudgit home brand table. Thinking along the lines of bike chain, sprockets, mabey angle grinder gear head. Chain n sprockets to keep the hight down on my small mill allowing crank and perhaps index plates to be off the table. All the pieces have not noodeled into place yet.

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    rgsparber (Feb 16, 2020)

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