The first step will be to file off accurately the four corners 1, 2, 3, 4, so as to form eight equal sides or faces, as shown in Fig. 51. If you will now proceed to file down carefully the eight corners, so as to make sixteen sides, as in Fig. 52, the fourth set of corners filed down will make the filed part look like the ill.u.s.tration Fig. 53 with thirty-two faces.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 52. Fig. 53. Making a Bar Round_]

This may be further filed down into sixty-four faces, and a few cuts of the finishing file will take off the little ridges which still remain.

By using emery cloth, and wrapping it around the bearing portion, and changing it continually, while drawing it back and forth, will enable you to make a bearing which, by care, will caliper up in good shape.

KINDS OF FILES.--Each file has five distinct properties; namely: the length, the contour, the form in cross section, the kind of teeth, and the fineness of the teeth.

There are nine well-defined shapes for files. These may be enumerated as follows:

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 54. Cross Sections of Files._]

No. 1. The cotter file. The small kind is called a verge or pivot file.

No. 2. Square file, which may be tapering from end to end, or have parallel sides throughout.

No. 3. Watch pinion file. This may have its sides parallel or tapering, to make a knife-shaped file.

No. 4. Clock-pinion; which may be used for either nicking, piecing, or squaring-off purposes.

No. 5. Round, with parallel sides for gulleting purposes, or rat-tail when it tapers.

No. 6. Triangular, or three equally-sided body for saw filing.

No. 7. Equalizing file. This is parallel when used for making clock-pinions or endless screws; or for slitting, entering, warding, or making barrel holes, when the body of the file tapers.

No. 8. Cross, or double-round, half-file.

No. 9. Slitting file; which has parallel sides only. A cant file.

CHARACTER OF THE FILE TOOTH.--Files are distinguished princ.i.p.ally by the character of the oblique, or cross grooves and ridges which do the cutting and abrading when the file is drawn across the surface.

This is really more important than the shape, because the files, by their cuttings, are adapted for the various materials which they are to be used upon.

The files are cla.s.sified as _Double Cut_, of which there are the _rough_, _middle_, _b.a.s.t.a.r.d_, _second cut_, _smooth_, and _dead smooth_.

The _Float Cut_, which is either _rough_, _b.a.s.t.a.r.d_ or _smooth_; and

The _Rasp Cut_, either _rough_, _b.a.s.t.a.r.d_ or _smooth_.

Several types are ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 55, which show the characteristics of the various cuts.

The rasps are used princ.i.p.ally for soft material, such as wood or for hoofs, in horse shoeing, hence they need not be considered in connection with machine-shop work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 55. Files._]

HOLDING THE FILE.--The common mistake on the part of the beginner is to drag the file across the work at an angle. The body of the file should move across straight and not obliquely.

Note this movement in Fig. 56 where the dash shows the correct movement of the file with relation to the work. Also observe that the file cutting ridges are not straight across the file, but at an angle to the direction of the dart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 56. Correct File Movement_]

INJURING FILES.--Now the frequent practice is to use the file as shown in Fig. 57, in which case it is moved across obliquely. The result is that the angle of the file cut is so disposed that the teeth of the file do not properly aid in the cutting, but in a measure r.e.t.a.r.d the operation.

File teeth are disposed at an angle for the purpose of giving them a shearing cut, which is the case when the file moves across the work on a line with its body.

To use a file as shown in Fig. 57 injures the file without giving it an opportunity to cut as fast as it would when properly used.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 57. Incorrect File Movement_]

DRAWING BACK THE FILE.--In drawing back a file it is always better to allow it to drag over the work than to raise it up. It is frequently the case that some of the material will lodge in the teeth, and the back lash will serve to clear out the grooves.

This is particularly true in filing copper, aluminum, lead, and like metals, but it is well to observe this in all cases.

CHAPTER V

HOW TO COMMENCE WORK

The question is often asked: Where and how shall the novice commence work?

When the shop is equipped, or partially so, sufficient, at least, to turn out simple jobs, the boy will find certain tools which are strangers to him. He must become acquainted with them and not only learn their uses, but how to use them to the best advantage.

FAMILIARITY WITH TOOLS.--Familiarity with the appearance of tools, and seeing them in the hands of others will not be of any value. Nothing but the immediate contact with the tool will teach how to use it.

FILE PRACTICE.--The file is a good tool to pick up first. Select a piece of metal, six or eight inches long, and follow the instructions laid down in the chapter relating to the use of the file.

Practice with several kinds and with different varieties of material will soon give an inkling of the best kind to use with the metal you have. Use the straight edge and the square while the filing process is going on, and apply them frequently, to show you what speed you are making and how nearly true you are surfacing up the piece.

USING THE DIVIDERS.--Then try your hand using the dividers, in connection with a centering punch. As an example, take two pieces of metal, each about a foot long, and set the dividers to make a short span, say an inch or so, and step off the length of one piece of metal, and punch the last mark. Then do likewise with the other piece of metal, and see how nearly alike the two measurements are by comparing them.

You will find a variation in the lengths of the two measurements at the first trials, and very likely will not be able to make the two pieces register accurately after many trials, even when using the utmost care.

Sooner or later you will learn that you have not stepped paths along the two bars which were exactly straight, and this will account for the variations. In order to be accurate a line should be drawn along each piece of metal, and the dividers should step off the marks on that line.

FINDING CENTERS.--By way of further experiment, it might be well to find the exact center of the ends of a square bar, putting in the punch marks and then mounting it in the lathe centers to see how accurately this has been done.

If either end is out of true the punch marks can be corrected by inclining the punch, so that when it is struck it will move over the point in the direction of its true center. This may be followed up by centering the end of a round bar so as to make it true. This will be found to be a more difficult job, unless you have a center head, a tool made for that purpose.

It is good practice, however, to make trials of all this work, as it will enable you to judge of measurements. It can be done with the dividers by using care in scribing the centers.

HACK-SAW PRACTICE.--Practice with the hack-saw should be indulged in frequently. Learn to make a straight cut through a bar. Try to do this without using a square to guide you. One of the tests of a good mechanic is ability to judge a straight cut.

The following plan is suggested as a test for the eye. Use a bar of iron or steel one inch square, and make a cut an eighth of an inch deep across it; then turn it around a quarter, so as to expose the nest face, and continue the cut along the side, the same depth, and follow this up with the remaining two sides, and see how near the end of the first cut and the finish cut come together. The test will surprise you.