The Rucker Tool Co. 9-inch Straight Edge: Machining and Scraping
We now have castings available for the Rucker Tool Company 9-inch Camelback Straight Edge. In this video, I will show the process of machining, grinding and hand scraping a raw casting into a usable straight edge. Dovetail Straight Edges are widely used for checking the alignment and scraping in flat and dovetail surfaces of machine tool ways and slides. These casting are made from close-grained grey iron and have been heat treated to relive stress. This is for a rough casting, which the buyer can then machine and scrape into a useful tool. The dovetail face is at 45 degrees to the bottom face, but can be machined to other angles if desired.
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Enjoyed Keith! ATB, Robin
I picked up a nice 12 inch straight edge at the flea mall, twenty five years ago for about twenty bucks, along with a surface plate, both remain in great shape to this day. I learned scraping from a book, did a fair amount on old machinery and this reinforces my experience, very nicely demonstrated!
I think of Keith as the Bob Ross of machining...very calm, very reassuring, very chill.
@afnDavid
4 жыл бұрын
Happy little straightedges
@ShainAndrews
4 жыл бұрын
Threw up in my mouth a little bit. Complement for Keith, not so much Bob
Glorious!
Great video! Thank for taking the time to make and share your knowledge!
Very cool! I hope there are many more rucker tools to come
Great demonstration. And ya that looks like a handy size to have. Thanks Kieth handy skill to have and develop
The gold lettering reminds me of the lettering on old steam locomotives. Looks awesome.
@georgehunter2788
4 жыл бұрын
Who is actually doing the scrapings on these products that you are selling with your name on them? At four hours total time making them, and a little over $100 selling price, I know you are personally not doing the work yourself.
@nwbackcountry5327
4 жыл бұрын
@@georgehunter2788 I think Keith is selling the castings, finishing is the buyers job.
Glad your using the Horizontal mill. I`m learning so much about a Horizontal mill watching You Tube. Cant wait to get my Cincinnati #2 mill up and running, to try what i have learnt. THank you again.
Thanks Keith. My order was placed.
THANK YOU...for sharing. Very nice.
Cool design Keith...adding one to my want list. 👍
Good job. Thank you.
Mine turned out great Kieth, Thank you for the fun project, my daughters and I had a great time together shaping and grinding it in. I'm just waiting on a power scraper now. Man they have gone up in price the last two years.
You´re a good man, Keith, thanks for all that you´re doin...regards from Germany
Congrats. You should be so proud of yourself for the finished product. Well done. 😊👍🏼
Love the Wells Index mill - also made in the USA! I have the 747 that I am in the process of restoring. You make the scraping process seem easy. Not scary at all. Gives us garage machinists some confidence to try it. Thanks Keith!
Most excellent.
Thank you for the interesting content Keith.
Bam. Ordered as soon as I saw this. I've been looking forward to this day..! ^_^
Nice one Keith. Good luck with the new company.
Very nice, good luck with your venture.
For like minded people like myself, for a made in America product, price is great!
The price is right. I think you’re in the sweet spot, Well done sir.
Kieth, I think that's a good price. Good luck with them. All the best, Mike UK
Aloha Keith, Nice casting I haven't finished scraping it yet, but it machined great NO hard spots and I found no voids, internal or external. This is a spare time project and I can't figure out where all my spare time is going!!!!
I found about the same hard spots as you did. Mine were a little smaller. No problem with my old J-head mill cutting it down. Grinding went quickly. Still need to scrape it in. That should go smoothly as well. Great price and looking forward to the 12". That will fill in the gap. Have a 18" and now the 9".
Way to go Keith!
Hi Keith You are getting good at the scraping it is interesting to watch. A trip to the wood shop to make some protection boxes for those nice tools would be next on the list.
Great job Keith, you should be proud of that tool, your name looks good on it too.
Order placed!
Nice casting usa made excellent. Need to place my order tomorrow. Looking forward to meeting you at Florida flywheelers meet and greet on Feb 19. Chuck Gause.
Keith- -$115 is a bargain for such a quality piece of work. Great job. Thanks for your videos and your website.
Keith -- I love seeing the videos of you and others machining and scraping these straightedges. What I'd REALLY like to see is a demonstration of actually using one! I've seen you use an autocollimator, but not a straightedge...
@boubaros
4 жыл бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/l2qp18qjppSyg9o.html
thank's man
Scrapping looks like it has a compelling element to it. Maybe a bit like sharpening woodworking tools. I mean it is obviously a means to an end, but it can become an enjoyable undertaking all by itself, with a lot of satisfaction when you achieve a really good result.
Congratulation looks Great it should be a success
Shop doggo approves of your scraping technique!
Great Video! Now we have 2 youtube Shop Teachers! Peterson/Rucker Products!
Hi Keith, as usual a great presentation. hopefully one day i may be able to get to one of your workshops and am looking at colleges to study machining in the US as there is nothing like that here in australia anymore
I actually thought they would be more that's a very reasonable price I actually may have to pick one up and give hand scraping a try !!!
That black ink you use shows up a lot better on camera that the blue dye that is usually used. Diffuse lighting helps too; otherwise the wetness of the ink can make a bright shiny reflection where it should look dark.
Just ordered one. Thanks, Keith! I enjoy the content and the knowledge you impart to us Neanderthals.
i take it your getting ready to scrap the ways on your metal planer by practising on the straight edges i am so looking forward to seeing that machine come to life anyway all my best Keith been watching your videos for so long now every time i come to your channel its like going to visit your favourite cousin
Nice. Would have liked to see this all done on a knee mill. Most of us don't have a horizontal mill
Power scraper makes fast work!!
Got mine last week...awesome looking piece! If you make the 12 inch castings sometime down the road, I would be interested in one.
@hyperacin
4 жыл бұрын
Ordered mine on Feb 2 still no sign of it...
That contrast orange works brilliantly on video compared to some others.
10:50 the way that table is wagging makes me think you need some new gibs :D
@C6903
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah i had to re-watch that, i thought i was seeing things
Brake rotors are a wonderful source of high-strength cast iron, but not so great for thin sections and sharp corners. Adding a tad of silica to the crucible can remedy the hard spots and stresses.
Keith straightedge looks great. 18" or 24" straightedge casting would be great.
@SRMWorkshop
4 жыл бұрын
A 12" is being worked on now, we will see how big he wants to go later :)
Great stuff. You should consider selling a ground version and a fully scraped in version too.
@CrimFerret
4 жыл бұрын
I doubt he wants to go into business making those. It's kind of you wouldn't want to pay what he'd feel his time was worth to do it. Besides, if you have a use for one of these, you probably have the ability to finish one yourself. The scraping can be done by hand, it would just take longer.
@melgross
3 жыл бұрын
Four to five hours of work, added to the price of the casting, which is now $125. How much would that go for? Companies that make these have skilled guys do the machining on machines set up for just that, and the scraping is done by guys who are skilled at it, but not paid that highly, because scraping is thought of as a beginner’s task, because one you learn it, it’s really fairly easy. So their prices, while high, are more in line with a true product line than this would be. Even the casting price here is high, because it’s done in a small manual foundry. A large, more automated foundry, making more of them, would enable a much lower price. So buy the casting and do it yourself. Honestly, even without a surface grinder, it would only take one more round, or, at the most, two, to get the scraping done, as long as you keep your mill in good shape, and adjusted properly.
Got my 9" today. Thought it was pricey until I opened box and looked at it...QUALITY casting job. Also machines quite well on my Bridgeport. Thanks Keith!
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
How long ago did you order it?
@geckoproductions4128
4 жыл бұрын
@@highpwr the day they went on sale
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
@@geckoproductions4128 That is what I am trying to figure out. There is a comment below from someone who says they received one two weeks ago, which was before this video was even posted. I ordered one on the 31st but still waiting.
@geckoproductions4128
4 жыл бұрын
@@highpwr it took 8 or 10 days for mine to arrive. Came USPS well packaged and in good condition. I live in South Texas. Location may have something to do with it.
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
@@geckoproductions4128 OK, thanks. Did you get any notice of when it was mailed? Tracking number, anything? USPS says there is nothing for my address in the pipe line.
Thanks, Keith. Have you considered donating a rough casting to the Bar-Z door prizes? Hope to see you there. Jon
That's pretty cool having your name on some tools.
It would take me many, many days to scrape one in not a few hours. Largely because I do not have a mill, grinder, power scraper, surface plate, shop, work bench... Well I do have an angle grinder.
Many years ago I bought a pair of parallels, of I beam cross-section, from an old man. He had made them when he was an apprentice machinist. To relieve any stresses in them he had left them outside, in the "elements" , for 12 months, through sun, wind, rain, and snow, before finishing them. Effective? I don't know.
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
That is a common practice with large iron castings. When GM had their engine plant nearby there were huge stacks of raw engine blocks all around the place. It was also one of the engine builders tricks to get good stable engine blocks, you would get used engines from police cars and taxis. All of the thermal cycling made them very stable.
Thanks for making the video. I have purchased one of these from you. I plan to machine it on my Bridgeport, perhaps surface grind it, and take it to the Richard King Detroit scraping class in March to scrape it in. Would there be any benefit to scraping the square edge in? Maybe I will do that just for extra practice.
wanted to check shipping to Norway, but unfortunately it doesn't give me any price :( but very nice and cool product!
Great job Keith! Do the castings go through a stress relieving process? Steve
@windyhillfoundry5940
4 жыл бұрын
Hey Steve, yes they do. I soak them at 1375° for two hours then cool down rate at 115° per hour.
@waynespyker5731
4 жыл бұрын
For our plastic injection molds we would always cold treat our hardened tool steels before finish grinding. If you have an extra week putting it in the freezer, won't hurt.
Why do you need a straight edge tool? I need to go back and watch the earlier videos again. Without the popcorn so I am focused. 😉
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
It is a portable very flat surface. Say you wanted to be sure the ways on a lathe or other machine are dead flat. This lets you bring a known calibrated flat surface to the machine to do the testing.
@j-man72b72
4 жыл бұрын
Your 100 -1000 pound surface plate is too big and heavy to move, your 1000 pound lathe is too big and heavy to move, this is where an intermediate surface is used, a strait edge is basically a small hand holdable surface plate.
LMAO at the table on the bridgeport! Bet it produces some really accurate machining. 10:49-11:15
I see a lot of videos on scraping these things but I’m not exactly sure what I’d do with one.
Nice to see a KZread channel actually making something to sell for income (like Fireball Tools), and not just begging for money, and acting like a RoncoMatic salesman on every video!! Thumbs UP.
On 10.48 there seems to be something wrong with the milling machine table, it moves side to side a lot while you crank it forward.
@steveskouson9620
4 жыл бұрын
I wondered if I wasn't the only one... steve
Keith, how often do you resharpen the blade on your power scraper? I have only ever used hand scrapers and then mostly for babbitt bearings rather than cast iron flat surfaces.
I found this interesting: My eyes may be seeing a video caused illusion, but it appears that as you finish the 2nd to last pass on the vertical that the table waggles back and forth as you crank the facemill off the part is this accurate, or am I mistaken? (time reference 10:49 and following)
@DanielCoffey67
4 жыл бұрын
Certainly looks like it, unless it is a youtube artifact
@twinstaged
4 жыл бұрын
Everyone comments on it. He doesn’t seem to notice or care
@michaeljames9671
4 жыл бұрын
"If you wanna know a little bit more about adjusting gibs you can go back and look at one of my videos" LOL.. guy needs to watch his gib adjusting video.
@Rick_Bagnall
4 жыл бұрын
Don't get me wrong Keith Rucker, I always enjoy your videos, i just thought my eyes were deceiving me. I didn't mean to start something by my comment though it appears i may have.
@charlescartwright6367
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Rick I thought I was looking pretty close, but thought it was just me, I went back and looked again, it is or we both are getting old!! 😀
fucking awesome
At times 10:50 and 11:11- it appears that the milling table wobbles left and right? Is this table wobble just at end of the runs? Or is the camera shaking????
@coolfrost6
4 жыл бұрын
I think you are right.
@alfaspiderveloce6617
4 жыл бұрын
@@coolfrost6 Or else-- Keith is doing the wiggle jiggle? kzread.info/dash/bejne/fXuC186Dp5yZcqQ.html
@UncleDonut66
4 жыл бұрын
I saw that too. I did a double take and reran it about 5 times. I was wondering if anyone else noticed.
@Kieth Rucker honest answer how does it feel to have something you made with your name on it? looks good
"Made in USA", yay!
@Sizukun1
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah I think thats the only thing missing from that casting; a "made in USA" lettering.
@SRMWorkshop
4 жыл бұрын
@@Sizukun1 there was not a lot of room for it on this one to have it cast clean, should be room on a bigger one.
Hey Keith, could you recommend a place to buy larger casting's? Looking to do a 36 or 48"...
How do you know if the bottom surface and dovetail surface are in the same "plane"? (YZ rotation perhaps?). Is that only down to the accuracy of the surface grinder v-blocks?
@bcbloc02
4 жыл бұрын
For the use of the tool it does not matter if they are in the same plane or not. The tool is for printing on one side or the other not both at the same time.
@patriklindahl4991
4 жыл бұрын
@blbloc02 I see, makes sense
What are you using for stones? I'm not sure where to start when buying some
So for an amateur machinist that doesn't have all the access to the machines too do all the process for making a finished straightedge, I would be willing to purchase a finished tool. I will look forward to purchasing a finished tool.
@paulwomack5866
4 жыл бұрын
What machines DO you have?
At 10:50 ish, it looked like the table (not sure if that is the right term) was wobbling or twisting, or was that the camera?
How accurate do you make the 45 degrees? JIM
@jlg4880
4 жыл бұрын
As long as it's less than the 60° angle of the dovetail sliding surfaces, the 45° angle isn't important, only the flatness. The 45° is just so the straightedge's angled surface can easily fit into the dovetail areas.
Have you gone straight to the surface plate after grinding to see how close it is before you scrape? Des.
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
He did on the first one he finished. It wasn't bad but still a few tenths out.
Sir,what are the benefits of surface scraping?
Paint Black ?!?!??! I was hoping for Wilton Vise Pink !
Any idea when these will ship?
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
When he gets one of these? pbs.twimg.com/media/CGNOxrzUgAATdjI?format=jpg&name=360x360
I'm order # 11
I just looked and the store didn't list them , is the first run sold out already?
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
store.vintagemachinery.org/
I have two questions: 1) Why are the ends not being machined? 2) Why are both surfaces flat scraped without checking the 45 degree angle? I thought you would bring them flat and then fix the angle (This final setup on the stone was what I was expecting) Thanks for the videos!
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
The 45 isn't an important angle. It's just to allow you to get under an angled surface, not to measure the angle with.
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
You still don't understand what the straight edge is for. It is NOT to set or measure the angles at all. It is also impossible for it to have two different angles from end to end and still be flat. For the angle of the dovetail this is not the tool you use to measure it.
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
There is NO way you can have a perfectly flat compound surface. Compound means it is made of different angles or facets. As far as being co-planer, these are not intended to be used for measuring. They are only intended to test the surfaces to be sure they are flat. Perhaps Keith will do a demonstration why the angle of the toe doesn't matter for the intended use which is only to verify the surface is flat. You want to measure the angles, get an angles gauge set.
What’s the 45 check
I want one, but Paypal won't let me checkout as a guest.
hand-scraping brings the dovetail angled face into flatness, but...what if it's not at the right angle? This could be a nicely scraped 45.5-degree dovetail straightedge...
Since I'm not a machinist, I don't know but why would the surface grinder not get the surfaces level?
@OldtimeIronman
4 жыл бұрын
Mark Hagel a surface grinder will get things down to less than a thousandth, but scraping can go much flatter than that. A skilled scraper can work to millionths.
@mehagel65
4 жыл бұрын
@@OldtimeIronman Really? I did not know that. Thanks for the info.
@OldtimeIronman
4 жыл бұрын
chris0tube hem, interesting... Ive never seen a grinder that can get closer than a tenth, maybe 50 millionths on a good day. But then again, the last time I ran one was 10 yrs ago. If you read the Moore book, they were scraping closer than that way back in the 60s
So how would I put a crosshatch on that without a machine?
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
You do it using manual scraping. The machines make it faster, but also a LOT easier to screw up.
Can't find the store
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
Click 'SHOW MORE' at the bottom of the video description. There is a link below "Order from:"
I allways wonder how accurate the 45 deg is. it looks like the angle precision is not by far at the same precision as the flatness. but this is not the purpose then I guess? cheers
@tbernardi001
4 жыл бұрын
If really critical, I guess you could set it up with a sine fixture.
@paulcopeland9035
4 жыл бұрын
45 deg is not critical. The angle is to allow the tool to fit dovetail areas that need to be flattened.
@paulcopeland9035
4 жыл бұрын
@chris0tube ...."Care, pride, and knowledge" are admirable traits, but they do not apply here. The 45 degree side of the tool is 45, simply because it is convenient to machine. It could be any similar angle as long as it will fit in the dovetail area. The 90 and 45 (+/-) degree sides of the straight edge are tools to measure "flatness" only. It will never be used to set an angle or for comparison. There are way better tools for that purpose. If you care to build it like that, then it is your choice and have at it. In reality, this is not that tool.
Why won't the surface grinder produce a perfectly flat surface? I would have liked to see the surface plate test on the freshly-ground surface.
"Take a little off if that" He says and just eats away big chunks of cast iron. nice
What is the task you accomplish with this tool?
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
It is a portable known flat reference surface. It allows you to check other items like lathe ways or machined surfaced to see if they are really flat.
@basharalngar1567
4 жыл бұрын
@@Blazer02LS Thanks, my friend, I knew I was good for you
I'm surprised nobody has invented an automatic scraping machine.
@BedsitBob
4 жыл бұрын
@chris0tube Nope, that serves a totally different purpose.
I don’t own a surface grinder but since I have never scraped before, I think maybe spending lots of time hand scraping might be a good learning experience. From what I can glean from other KZread scraping experts, it seems that very few are happy with the currently available hand scrapers. I would be thrilled to see a Rucker designed hand scraper(s) offered for sale in the Vintage Machinery store, in sizes appropriate for scraping in the 9” straight edge. Or, maybe you could offer a project kit that would facilitate making my own scraper: Carbide cutters, design considerations and drawings, instructions, etc. Hey, why not offer brayers, inks, and everything else I might need? One stop shopping for the beginner scraper? Ah, well, I can dream. In the meantime, keep up the great videos. And thank you.
When scraping a dove tail, how can we be sure the angle is the same all along the tool? In other words, if it is at 45 on one end, can we be sure it is 45 not 44 at the other?
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
That angle doesn't matter. The angle is only there to allow you to get under the dovetail not as a measurement tool. It just needs to be flat on the surface so you can check how flat the underside of the dovetail or whatever is.
@prodoverjeff2876
4 жыл бұрын
@@Blazer02LS I don't understand. Take a dovetail way, with a gib to control side to side play. The horizontal way is flat to control vertical play, the dovetail seems like a controlling surface in tandem with it. If the slide and the way are not parallel, movement of the slide becomes excessively loose or tight on the gib. Or do I have that wrong?
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
Correct on the control areas, the 45 degree section of the straight edge isn't to check the angle though, it is to give you clearance to print the area under the dovetails overhang where you could not get a straightedge that was 90 degrees.
@prodoverjeff2876
4 жыл бұрын
@@Blazer02LS I'm not suggesting checking the angle (45, 44, etc. doesn't matter,) but a consistent angle along the length is what lessens the occurance of slip/stick. So I wonder how that consistent angle can be assured along the whole straight edge. I've seen, but never used camelbacks and wonder how this is accomplished.
@Blazer02LS
4 жыл бұрын
That is what the scraping does. There cannot be any difference in the angles from end to end because it is scraped to a flat surface. A change in angle cannot happen on a scraped flat surface, or it wouldn't be flat.
It’s a shame MADE IN ENGLAND doesn’t mean what it used to,keep up the vids I look forward to them in the cold UK
I tried t order but there is no shipping option for Isle of Man and UK didnt work either :(
@jonka1
4 жыл бұрын
Normal way of American business.Even if they do ship abroad it's usually with FedEx who hold us to ransome for large extra payments before they let us have the goods.
@colmboorman
4 жыл бұрын
@@jonka1 postage might be to rich for me but I would like to see if I could afford it ☹️
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
@@colmboorman I looked it up on the FedEx web site. Approximately $375 USD to the UK via FedEx International. FedEx states that they do not provide service to the Isle of Man.
@colmboorman
4 жыл бұрын
@@highpwr Thanks bud. I have received a parcel from FedEx last week and I have a 2nd one on the way from china. 1st delivery was 45KG and this new one is 4.5KG. Maybe FedEX don't ship from USA?!?
@highpwr
4 жыл бұрын
@@colmboorman FedEx will ship from the USA to Sambro with no problem. But it keeps telling me they don't have service to the Isle of Man. My guess is it's more likely due to some government bureaucracy preventing FedEx delivering there from the US. Makes no sense to me either. It doesn't really matter though if he does not want to deal with shipping outside of the US. It is getting very hard to ship anything outside of the US anymore with all the restrictions they have now.
Good video. In case anyone else, like me, didnt know the term Grey Iron here is a description (in short its a type of Cast Iron) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_iron