Where to find 1018 bars - 1/8" x 3/16"

[David King]

Another option for drilling serial holes all with even spacing is to make a simplified drilling guide with just two holes the right distance apart. To use it drill the first hole and then slide the part in until the freshly drilled hole lines up with the second hole in the jig. Insert a pin to keep those two holes lined up while you drill another hole. Slide the part in again and repeat. As long as your pin is a good fit you'll get perfectly spaced holes.

Another low tech option is to just buy threaded, hardened steel drill guides that you screw in and replace when they get worn out. I use those and screw them into birch plywood plates but they'd be happy in low carbon steel, aluminum, plexiglas or phenolic plate.

[Joe Gwinn]

I've made 7-hole drill guides for a friend. The holes (5/16" diameter) were too close together for commercial drill bushings to work, so I made a set of guide from alloy steels. I used A2 and O1 on different occasions, and settled on O1, as A2 is harder to machine and requires a sufficiently high hardening temperature to be a bit of a stretch to do evenly with my equipment. As for the O1, it's heat to orange heat, quench in corn oil, clean and polish, temper to deep straw, hone the drill holes to prevent catching of the drill bits. These guides will outlive us all.

[David King]

MAPP gas speeds up the heating and helps get larger pieces up to temperature evenly. It used to be widely available but it's been a while since I've shopped for it. A bottle lasts me a long time. Straight butane doesn't seem to cut it except on really small pieces.

[Zhangliqun]

I guess I should say I'm not totally inept. I have made good templates, just not without rock fight or two with accompanying blue flame from my mouth. I have a good keeper template. My home-grown keepers are made out of the 1/4" wide stock which works fine on humbuckers but is obviously a problem for P90's. Guess I gotta get a mill.

[Joe Gwinn]

I guess I should say I'm not totally inept. I have made good templates, just not without rock fight or two with accompanying blue flame from my mouth.

Pictures?

I have a good keeper template. My home-grown keepers are made out of the 1/4" wide stock which works fine on humbuckers but is obviously a problem for P90's. Guess I gotta get a mill.

The mill really helps, especially if it has a digital readout, but one can use a drill press and traditional manual layout approaches as well.

For the 7-hole drill guides I was making, it mattered very much that the holes be evenly spaced and colinear, as the eye is very sensitive to deviations from pattern. For keepers, not so much.

Anyway, the traditional approach for keeper-level accuracy is to coat the workpiece with layout ink (traditionally blue, one can use a magic marker), rule a line down the middle with a scriber, rule the cross lines with a adjustable square, use a prick punch to make a little conical hole at every intersection of likes, follow up with a standard drill-start punch to widen the prick-punch dimples, and then to drill the holes.

Drilling the holes is done in two steps. First, one drills a row of starter holes with a 1/16" diameter (or so) bit lubricated with some black sulfur cutting oil. These drill bits are thin enough that they will bend slightly if needed and will follow the punch dimple. Then one revisits the little holes with the full-size drill bit (and more cutting oil), drilling through. The workpiece should be able to slide around to allow the drill to center on the hole, but should not be able to spin free. The drill bits should be new, sharp, and not made in Asia. This process will go through mild steel as if it were made of cheese.

For high accuracy, use a granite surface plate with a height gauge to do the scribing, and a optical centering punch to make the dimples. I prefer dial height gauges to digital, and buy them used for small dollars.

Height gauge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Import granite surface plate

[David King]

Don't underestimate the potential of a good bench vise and a "russian milling machine" (as my shop teacher used to call a file). Filing off a 1/16" of a 1/4" CRS bar can go very quickly and accurately, a lot quicker than buying and moving in a little milling machine from China, installing a DRO and tooling up with adequate cutters and a solid milling vise.
Simmonds makes a series of black oxide treated files that are double cut on one side and single cut on the other. These files are dynamite in the right hands. We were not allowed to go near the the Bridgeport mill until we could file a perfect steel 1" cube within a couple thousandths back in Jr High.

[big_teee]

Don't underestimate the potential of a good bench vise and a "russian milling machine" (as my shop teacher used to call a file). Filing off a 1/16" of a 1/4" CRS bar can go very quickly and accurately, a lot quicker than buying and moving in a little milling machine from China, installing a DRO and tooling up with adequate cutters and a solid milling vise.
Simmonds makes a series of black oxide treated files that are double cut on one side and single cut on the other. These files are dynamite in the right hands. We were not allowed to go near the the Bridgeport mill until we could file a perfect steel 1" cube within a couple thousandths back in Jr High.

David Is that russian milling machine, any Kin to the Oklahoma Snap-On wrench?
That is what Daddy used to call a Crescent Wrench!

[ReWind]

We were not allowed to go near the the Bridgeport …. back in Jr High.

You had a Bridgeport mill in Jr. High?! I'm not sure you age, I'm only 35, but we had no such awesomeness. Hell, we weren't even allowed to use the paper cutter. Had to ask teacher to do it if needed. I think we might have still been using safety scissors in Jr. High.

I feel like I understand the world better after reading that.

[David King]

My Jr High school mothballed the metal shop for 10 years due to funding before they auctioned off the 2 bridgeports and 6 south bend heavy 10s for scrap dollars. Kids these days have no idea how pissed off they should be. Then again they can live totally virtual lives in 2D on a PC so perhaps they would never miss it.

As important as learning how to MAKE things might be I feel worse about the loss of home economics. As long as they can open a McDonalds bag they are good to go right?

[David Schwab]

My son actually took home economics in high school and learned to cook! He doesn't do it much, but he's pretty good.

[Joe Gwinn]

My son actually took home economics in high school and learned to cook! He doesn't do it much, but he's pretty good.

I learned how to cook by watching my Mother. Didn't intend to learn, but it sure came in handy when I was in school, and had to cook for myself. And raw materials are a lot cheaper than restaurant meals.

[Achiles]

I find some 3mm x 5 mm x 500mm,1045.Other then dimension what should be the diference (in sound) between 1045 x 1018?

[ReWind]

Chemically, at least .23% carbon, by weight. I would think it to be brittle and harsh compared with lower carbon steels. I think 1022 is too brittle for my taste, though. Others seem to really like it. I also wouldn't go for annealed steel or any sort of heat or surface treatment.


eFunda: Properties of Carbon Steel aisi 1045

United States: ASTM A29 , ASTM A510 , ASTM A519 , ASTM A576 , ASTM A682 , FED QQ-S-635 (C1045) , FED QQ-S-700 (1045) , SAE J403 , SAE J412 , SAE J414 , UNS G10450
Composition

Element Weight %
C 0.43-0.50
Mn 0.60-0.90
P 0.04 (max)
S 0.05 (max)



eFunda: Properties of Carbon Steel AISI 1018
Designations United States: AMS 5069 , AMS 5069A , ASTM A108 , ASTM A29 , ASTM A510 , ASTM A513 , ASTM A519 , ASTM A544 , ASTM A545 , ASTM A548 , ASTM A549 , ASTM A576 , ASTM A659 , MIL SPEC MIL-S-11310 (CS1018) , SAE J403 , SAE J412 , SAE J414 , UNS G10180
Composition

Element Weight %
C 0.15-0.20
Mn 0.60-0.90
P 0.04 (max)
S 0.05 (max)

[LtKojak]

1022 is too brittle for my taste, though.

Are you talking specifically 'bout 1022 keepers? Or you include 1022 screws as well?

In my case, I use the Mojo 1022 GOLDEN screws, as I feel they compensate for the golden layer, and to my ears they sound good and they look great, if you ask me.

I like the sound of Addiction FX nickel-plated 1018 screws.

I don't think I've ever heard 1022 keepers, only 1018; and now that I think of it, I don't think I have compelling enough reasons to try other values.

Tell me James, in your opinion, am I missing something by not trying?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

[ReWind]

Yes, Pepe. You are missing the joy of machining harder steel on your tools only to find the time wasted and result disappointing. …well, in my case it was. …though time NOT really wasted because now I know - first hand. That's got to be worth something right? dunno.

PS - Keepers and screws/slugs alike. I've tried all in 1022 and didn't care for them in my pickups. Maybe in hotter or potted pickups I would feel a little differently where I need a little something different in the top end. Honestly though, 1215 and 12L14 are my go-tos for "something a little different in the top end" and will probably stay that way.

I had some great success with 1008-1010 in keepers. The problem was that it was inconsistent sounding from one source/order of 1008-1010 to the next. Part of the nature of the metals I guess. There's such a wide swing for carbon tolerance in there.