Washer making WIP

Calvin Robinson

Calvin Robinson

Moderator Christian Forum
I use washers in the construction of my slipjoint knives to provide relief from getting radial scratches on the tang of the knife and to provide a metal bearing surface on my Linerless knives, I usualy make these out of stainless steel but today I made a batch out of bronze.
These washers are for use with a 3/32" pivot pin so I make them .096" ID X .285" OD X .008"
Yall follow along and please feel free to ask any questions,make comments,or offer any advice.
And please forgive the poor quality cell phone photos.


I begin by cutting 3/8" squares from .008" bronze shim stock.
 

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The next step is to load the squares into this jig I made for holding them in order to drill the ID hole. I can do as many as 15 of this size at a time.
 

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This photo shows the jig in position for drilling. This jig can go up to a 3/16" ID so I made a bushing for the .096 hole that I will be drilling. I drill halfway through the stack of 15 then turn it over and drill all the way back through.
 

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Now I load the drilled squares onto the mandrel that I made so I can
hold them in order to grind them to the deminsions I want.
 

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The second photo gives an idea of the small scale of this operation.
In the first photo I have chucked the mandrel in my cordless drill and will rough grind the bulk of the material off,using my 2"X72" belt grinder and a 60 grit belt. I will run the drill in the opposite direction that my belt is running and in a direction that will not unscrew my mandrel halves. I will grind down to within about .024" or .030" of my final deminsions.
 

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This photo shows the completion of this step. Now to the surface grinder!
 

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I put the mandrel in my spin jig that is on the magnetic Chuck of the surface grinder. I must spin the jig by hand while hand cranking the table of the surface grinder back and forth,lowering the grinding wheel .0025" each time untill I get to my desired deminsion of .285". These photos loaded out of order so the finished washers,in the mandrel are shown in the third photo.
 

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Next I de-burr each one before cleaning. I rub LIGHTLY , in a figure eight motion, on a piece of worn out 400 grit paper that is glued to a granite slab. This removes any burrs from drilling and from grinding.
 

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Next I load the de-burred washers in a tea hicky so the won't get lost in the sonic cleaner.
 

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The next step is quality control.
I check each one to be sure a 3/32" pin will insert easily,measure the OD, and measure the thickness. I also check for flatness and flatten if needed.
 

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If one needs flattening I place it on a 1-2-3 block,place another 1-2-3 block on top and WHACK! With a mallet.
 

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In about three hours yesterday I made fifty washers and only had to discard three for failure to meet specs.
:biggrin:
 

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Last edited:
Ok so my last one was a lil premature but I think your done posting now and there is alot more steps than I would of imagined! This is an awsome process Thanks Again for sharing!!
 
Very cool Calvin. That's a neat spinner rig you have for your surface grinder. Did you buy that or make it? I could see all kinds of uses for that.

You're pretty clever. ;)
 
Calvin, I was going to ask you about this yesterday but, didn't want to step on anyone's toes!:what!::biggrin:

Calvin thanks for WIP, the cell pics were fine and it really lays it out about "how to"!

If you don't mind me asking where did you buy the sheet of bronze and what thickness was it at start??
 
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