The black hole that swallows tools.

[Highpower]

I know it's not just me.... or is it?    

My buddy Sean called me the other day and said he was having a problem and asked if I would do a little machining on his open class competition pistol. He was having a problem with the recoil spring guide rod hitting the muzzle compensator during recoil. There was a deep gouge in the end of the guide rod.

   

   


"Sure - no problem." (Famous last words...)

I went to grab a radiused or ball end carbide end mill out of my tool box - but can't find them. I searched several times in all the usual places I would store such items, and after a couple of hours I was still coming up empty.  
Then I started thinking maybe I dreamed up having such things (again), but found proof that I actually did purchase some not too long ago.  Carbide end mills

Knowing that my friend had a match coming up this weekend and needed to get this fixed NOW, I had to resort to the only ball end mill  I had available.... a 2 flute HSS cutter made in China. Well you can guess how well that went on a stainless steel part.  
I did manage to get the clearance flute widened enough to clear the rod but it wasn't pretty. Lot's of touch up with a Foredom grinder and it looks OK now. That evening I ordered another small set of carbide ball end mills from McMaster.   "SGS" brand cutters. Are they any good?  

So I don't have a clue where that black hole lives that eats up my tools, but I do know it also has a box full of spare parts for my Foredom tools and an excellent hand impact driver that I've owned since I was 13 years old. I bought it at Patterson Honda (long gone now) to work on my first motorcycle. Those are just the ones I KNOW about right now.  

[EdK]

Happens all the time to me. I usually find the tool after I've ordered another one and the job is completed.

I've bought SGS HSS end mills and taps and they are top quality.

Ed

[Highpower]

OK, thanks Ed. I've learned that after UPS drops off a box to immediately open it up and inspect the contents. I've been burned too many times in the past. My own fault for letting the boxes sit too long before opening them.

Anyway.... I opened the box and took a look inside, and was ready to tape it back up again and send it back. The end mills came in a cheap wooden box that looked like what you get tools in from HF, and I've gotten way too many items made in China from McMaster in the last year or more. But I opened up the wood box anyway to have a peek and found that the end mills looked like they were of good quality. I've just never run across that brand before.

Now that they are here I hope you are right about finding the other ones. I'm not holding my breath that that will happen any time soon though.

[EdK]

Oops! Sorry Willie. I just checked and the brand that I have is OSG. I got two of the letters correct.

Ed

[arvidj]

Willie,

When you find the black hole and get your stuff please look for the bin with my name on it and bring it back with you.

Case in point ... Tuesday evening took the two 3 foot solid extensions off the shopvac hose so I could use the shopvac on the radial arm saw. This morning ... Saturday, 4 days later ... I wanted to vacuum the floor and can't find the d..n things.

Arvid

[Highpower]

(09-26-2015, 10:29 AM)EdK Wrote: Oops! Sorry Willie. I just checked and the brand that I have is OSG. I got two of the letters correct.  

Ed

I WISH they were OSG brand tools! Sadly they are not.

(Note: Random Google picture.)

[Highpower]

(09-26-2015, 11:45 AM)arvidj Wrote: Willie,

When you find the black hole and get your stuff please look for the bin with my name on it and bring it back with you.

Case in point ... Tuesday evening took the two 3 foot solid extensions off the shopvac hose so I could use the shopvac on the radial arm saw. This morning ... Saturday, 4 days later ... I wanted to vacuum the floor and can't find the d..n things.

Arvid

Arvid, I've been there done that with the shop vac extensions several times myself.  

More than anything I wish I could find that impact driver. They don't make them in that quality anymore.  
I haven't been able to find it for a long time now, and I'm beginning to think it may have walked off at the last shop I worked in along with a couple of other tools.

If I find any with your name on it I'll let you know immediately!  

[EdK]

We should start a club. The Black Hole Club.

Ed

[f350ca]

I have an intermittent black hole in the machine shop. Spend 20 minutes a day looking of the digital callipers and carbide scriber. They usually surface though.
The cabinet shop on the other hand eats pencils, go through 3 or 4 boxes a year but never have a short one.

[Mayhem]

(09-26-2015, 01:08 PM)EdK Wrote: We should start a club. The Black Hole Club.

Ed

But then we would lose the membership cards...

I once spent over an hour looking for the pin wrench for my 9" grinder. I gave up and made one, and after I had unscrewed the nut, I put the newly made wrench on the bench. I then fitted a new disc and when I reached down to pick up the wrench, I picked up the one I had been looking for

Now my wife would say I had a "man look" but I (like Greg) believe that there is an intermittent black hole in my shop.