Block Plane for Travel Tool Chest Build Process

Return to main project page

The next job to work on was the cam that will nudge the blade from side-to-side to provide a bit of lateral adjustment. I started with a bit of 303 stainless steel and turned a section down to 18 mm:

I then mounted the bar in the milling vice and cross-drilled and tapped the hole M5:

I fitted a cap screw into the tapped hole and used it to help align a centre-finder and scribe a line across the end, parallel with the threaded hole:

After marking a centre punch point along that line, I mounted the bar in the four-jaw chuck in the lathe and adjusted it until the centre punch point was on the lathe axis:

I could then turn an 8 mm diameter cam on the end of the bar:

After sawing the bar end off in the bandsaw, I mounted it in a collet chuck and turned the reverse end down:

That end also got a 3.3 mm hole drilled, drilling until I reached the M5 cross-hole. The hole then got tapped M4:

That hole will be used for a grub screw, which will lock a piece of stainless steel M5 threaded rod into the cross-drilled hole.

Finally, I turned a simple brass bush for the cam to rotate in (it should give a smoother action than trying to rotate the cam in a wooden hole).

Next up is the adjuster, which will be used to move the blade in and out and will also form the "handle" that rotates the cam. I started with a bit of brass bar in the lathe, knurled it at the end and then shaped it:

To shape the other end, I used my home-made soft-jaws to hold the adjuster. I could then shape the end and drill and tap a blind M5 hole in the end:

The tapped hole is deep: too deep for most of my M5 taps. However, I have a long-series M5 tap, so I extended the threads deeper using that by hand:

This photo shows how the adjuster components fit into the blade slots:

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

This website is free and ad-free, but costs me money to run. If you'd like to support this site, please consider making a small donation or sending me a message to let me know what you liked or found useful.

Please do get in touch if you notice any issues on the site or can think of anything that would be a helpful addition or improvement.