Form Tools

[Tin Falcon]

There was a question about form tools on the building the Stuart 10H thread. Rather than hijacking the thread I decided to post here.
I have had some decent success with form tools for various projects. The easiest one to show is this one.

for the most part I started with a 1/2 in HSS blank then drew the 1/2 profile of the candle stick with a fine line sharpie. I then ground out the profile with a Dremel tool and cheap HF diamond burrs. I know one is not supposed to use diamond on steel but it got the job done and the bits were not expensive. I have also used the dremmel cutting disks to cut and shape HSS bits. The main thing is keep your profile of the top of the cutter and grind in a bit of relief .
I have also done my own oil cups. I will try to get some more pics up. Others are welcome to add there tips and experiences with form tools as well.
Tin

 

[SAM in LA]

Tin,

I'll have to give it a try.

You make it sound so easy.

Regards,

SAM

 

[Tin Falcon]

sure any 5 year old can do it. With 10 years experience. ;D
Tin

 

[dsquire]

Tin

Nice candle sticks. How did you go about making the candles for them? :hDe:

Cheers

Don

 

[walnotr]

So, what does the form tool look like?

Steve C.

 

[Dave_424]

Im a new guy there but this is basically what it is, just a cutter that cuts the whole profile in one go, just plunge it in and let it do its job.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bvxUGRfKcg[/ame]

Dave

 

[Royal Viking]

This is a great tip If I ever need to make 100 widgetts now or a period of time. Do you ever make a form tool for something you will make a few times?

Roy

 

[old-biker-uk]

Here's a few made over the years for various jobs, mostly filed up from annealed carbon steel files then hardened & tempered. The one on the far left is a commercial job.

This one was for making a set of drawer knobs for an Engineer's toolbox restoration.
Mark