On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:51:31 -0800 (PST), wrote:



I've seen frequent references to these things before - to me, the only
obvious use is to deburr edges, maybe touch up lathe tools. What else
are they used for?
Andrew VK3BFA.

They're very handy for rough-shaping sheetmetal, particularly
aluminum. By "rough" I mean eyeball, grind-to-the-line (maybe .010"
or 0.25mm tolerance) which often is quite sufficient. They can
remove metal at a surprising rate. Tip: wear welding gloves. The
workpiece can get quite hot quite quickly.

Rounding corners or making radii on machined metal parts. Example:
need an expedient thin wrench of a certain size. Cut out a blank of
suitable thickness on bandsaw, mill the working part to accurate size,
take to belt sander to knock off all the corners so it "looks like a
wrench" and is comfortable to use.

Cleanup of welds on small projects. Example: make a little ally box
for an elex project. Bending never works for me because I don't have
room for a precision brake. I cut out the pieces, clamp them to a
square copper bar, and TIG-weld the corners. A few seconds at the
belt sander makes the welds look like bends and the dimensions are
right. Stuff fits.