Favourite parts with off-label uses?

> like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and 
>grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.

Me too. 

A pity that nobody seems to sell #2-56 angle brackets or standoffs. 

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 2:14:53 PM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
> 
> The quick way is to jam the carbide dental-burr cutter into the board.
> That will do for a quick via. The slow way is to walk down the wall to
> the lab, where we have a drill press.
> 
> I like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and
> grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/yd19osiwz1z74s4/HV_Proto_2.JPG?raw=1


I bought a used but mint Cameron Precision drill press a couple years ago from a retired machinist. I paid $20 for it. I was stunned to learn that it was a current model that sold for $999.00. They have changed to a DC motor, but this is the same basic tool:

https://cameronmicrodrillpress.com/sensitive-manual-micro-drill-presses/new-cameron-214-series/

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 11:14:53 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

> I like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and
> grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.

As long as you have a drill press, there's brass turret posts with rivet bases; just
put the support block on the drill press axis, chuck the staking tool, and 
one pull of the drill press handle sets the rivet

They're silver plated, so you can touch 'em with a soldering iron to get 
the electricl connection just right.   They're perfect for an o'scope probe.

<https://www.keyelco.com/userAssets/file/M65p142.pdf>

Digikey apparently thinks they're VERY valuable, even in tin plate; my stash of
the silvered ones is a few decades old.   An ounce lasts a LONG time.

In article <cf4c5a08-c2c4-4eda-843b-efc51670cbb1@googlegroups.com>,
Michael Terrell  <terrell.michael.a@gmail.com> wrote:

>I bought a used but mint Cameron Precision drill press a couple years ago from a retired machinist. I paid $20 for it. I was stunned to learn that it was
>a current model that sold for $999.00.

That's quite a catch!  Good show.

A few years ago I bought the base-model mini drill press from
Micro-Mark:

  https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-3-Speed-Mini-Drill-Press

Change-the-belt speed control rather than electronic, and only a
simple mechanical height/depth-stop.  It works fine for my needs.
I've used it for a number of PC-board drilling jobs over the years
(both through-hole, and pad-cutting using a diamond-tipped mini hole
cutter) and it has done well... I haven't broken a single carbide bit.

torsdag den 9. april 2020 kl. 21.40.30 UTC+2 skrev pcdh...@gmail.com:
> > like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and 
> >grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.
> 
> Me too. 
> 
> A pity that nobody seems to sell #2-56 angle brackets or standoffs. 
> 

https://www.pololu.com/product/2083

https://www.pemnet.com/fastening_products/pdf/radata.pdf

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 3:58:13 PM UTC-4, Michael Terrell wrote:
> On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 2:14:53 PM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
> > 
> > The quick way is to jam the carbide dental-burr cutter into the board.
> > That will do for a quick via. The slow way is to walk down the wall to
> > the lab, where we have a drill press.
> > 
> > I like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and
> > grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.
> > 
> > https://www.dropbox.com/s/yd19osiwz1z74s4/HV_Proto_2.JPG?raw=1
> 
> 
> I bought a used but mint Cameron Precision drill press a couple years ago from a retired machinist. I paid $20 for it. I was stunned to learn that it was a current model that sold for $999.00. They have changed to a DC motor, but this is the same basic tool:
> 
> https://cameronmicrodrillpress.com/sensitive-manual-micro-drill-presses/new-cameron-214-series/

That's gorgeous, much classier than my setup.  But my little
fella does a wonderful job whenever I drag him out.

It's a Dremel Model 210, and only works with older can't-buy-em
Dremel tools.
https://www.ebay.com/c/1610295968

Mechanically it resembles a knee mill, where you raise the knee
to the cutting tool.  The platform sits on a post that is centered
to the Dremel tool, so that any wobble is rotation that is concentric
to the Dremel, and doesn't flex the drill bit.  Magic.

It's tempting from time-to-time to homebrew a rinky-dink PCB mill or
some such, (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6drMZqmyXQc)

but I've never seen anyone who actually loved their PCB mill much.

Cheers,
James Arthur

wrote in message 
news:b5792cd7-b277-48ac-82bd-b78784a1b8b3@googlegroups.com...
>
>> like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and
>>grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.
>
>Me too.
>
>A pity that nobody seems to sell #2-56 angle brackets or standoffs.
>
>Cheers
>
>Phil Hobbs

If by standoffs you mean tubular spacers, those are readily available in 
2-56 as male-female, female-female, and unthreaded, in round and hex, in 
lots of lengths and materials.   McMaster Carr has them, for one, along with 
Keystone (but not M-F, only F-F).  However, I couldn't find angle brackets 
with holes smaller than #4 at Keystone.  Seastrom didn't have #2 holes 
either, but I'm sure that they would love to quote a custom run for you :-).

-- 
Regards,
Carl Ijames 

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 5:56:30 PM UTC-4, Carl wrote:
> wrote in message 
> news:b5792cd7-b277-48ac-82bd-b78784a1b8b3@googlegroups.com...
> >
> >> like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and
> >>grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.
> >
> >Me too.
> >
> >A pity that nobody seems to sell #2-56 angle brackets or standoffs.
> >
> >Cheers
> >
> >Phil Hobbs
> 
> If by standoffs you mean tubular spacers, those are readily available in 
> 2-56 as male-female, female-female, and unthreaded, in round and hex, in 
> lots of lengths and materials.   McMaster Carr has them, for one, along with 
> Keystone (but not M-F, only F-F).  However, I couldn't find angle brackets 
> with holes smaller than #4 at Keystone.  Seastrom didn't have #2 holes 
> either, but I'm sure that they would love to quote a custom run for you :-).
> 
> -- 
> Regards,
> Carl Ijames

Oh.. I recall these threaded blocks. (2-56) not cubes, rectangular
with two 90 degree threaded holes.. but offset so they didn't 
cross each other.  Maybe they were some custom part? 
like this, but 2-56

https://www.robotshop.com/en/aluminum-attachment-blocks.html

George H.  

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 4:36:21 PM UTC-4, Dave Platt wrote:
>
> Michael Terrell wrote:
> 
> >I bought a used but mint Cameron Precision drill press a couple years ago from a retired machinist. I paid $20 for it. I was stunned to learn that it was
> >a current model that sold for $999.00.
> 
> That's quite a catch!  Good show.
> 
> A few years ago I bought the base-model mini drill press from
> Micro-Mark:
> 
>   https://www.micromark.com/MicroLux-3-Speed-Mini-Drill-Press
> 
> Change-the-belt speed control rather than electronic, and only a
> simple mechanical height/depth-stop.  It works fine for my needs.
> I've used it for a number of PC-board drilling jobs over the years
> (both through-hole, and pad-cutting using a diamond-tipped mini hole
> cutter) and it has done well... I haven't broken a single carbide bit.


   I also bought a micro mill for another $20 from the same man. It has a 4"x4" table. A third $20 item was a small belt sander that I gave my dad.

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 5:56:00 PM UTC-4, dagmarg...@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 3:58:13 PM UTC-4, Michael Terrell wrote:
> > On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 2:14:53 PM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
> > > 
> > > The quick way is to jam the carbide dental-burr cutter into the board.
> > > That will do for a quick via. The slow way is to walk down the wall to
> > > the lab, where we have a drill press.
> > > 
> > > I like to use 2-56 hardware as places to alligator-clip to, power and
> > > grounds. The holes for them work best with the drill press.
> > > 
> > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/yd19osiwz1z74s4/HV_Proto_2.JPG?raw=1
> > 
> > 
> > I bought a used but mint Cameron Precision drill press a couple years ago from a retired machinist. I paid $20 for it. I was stunned to learn that it was a current model that sold for $999.00. They have changed to a DC motor, but this is the same basic tool:
> > 
> > https://cameronmicrodrillpress.com/sensitive-manual-micro-drill-presses/new-cameron-214-series/
> 
> That's gorgeous, much classier than my setup.  But my little
> fella does a wonderful job whenever I drag him out.
> 
> It's a Dremel Model 210, and only works with older can't-buy-em
> Dremel tools.
> https://www.ebay.com/c/1610295968
> 
> Mechanically it resembles a knee mill, where you raise the knee
> to the cutting tool.  The platform sits on a post that is centered
> to the Dremel tool, so that any wobble is rotation that is concentric
> to the Dremel, and doesn't flex the drill bit.  Magic.
> 
> It's tempting from time-to-time to homebrew a rinky-dink PCB mill or
> some such, (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6drMZqmyXQc)
> 
> but I've never seen anyone who actually loved their PCB mill much.


   Sometimes things just go right. I almost passed up the listing on Craigslist, figuring that the prices would be a lot higher.