"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 22:30:59 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..
On Sat, 09 Apr 2016 20:04:14 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 4:18:19 PM UTC-7, John Doe wrote:
I need to cut a 1/2" square through 1/4" aluminum. It doesn't
have
to
be centered, but the dimensions of the hole need to be correct.
---------------

Your subject said "with NO TOOLS". I'm not sure how you can
justify
using even a drill bit with the 'no tools' restriction.

Answer: Rent a machinist. No can do otherwise.

My high school shop teacher was a retired Swedish cabinet maker who
taught us the traditional skills, like how to hone a wood plane
blade
or joint, file and set the teeth on a handsaw.

Ditto in my 8th grade wood and metal shops, but we didn't have the
experienced cabinetmaker to guide us, just a guy who had done wood
and
metalworking non-professionally. He followed a guide and had enough
experience to guide us through the basic skill building. I loved it
all.

But with no tools, the answer is still "rent a machinist", oui?

Although I could barely qualify as a blacksmith's apprentice I've
learned about a lot of pre-industrial methods, beginning when I was 5
years old, watching the foundry men next door create replacement
castings for old textile machinery by hand-carving sand molds to
templates. Trying to apply these methods strongly motivated me to
acquire machine tools.

My machine tools are too small for some of my projects and I still
need to hand-fit some things, for example squaring the sawed end of
1-1/4" pipe that won't fit through my lathe spindle.

With no tools and no skill the answer is to pay someone who does have
them or find a hobby that's less challenging than metalworking. If
there was some easy way to shape metal precisely without the lathe and
mill that 200 years of experience have shown to be necessary and
adequate we wouldn't have spent the money to buy them. 17th century
methods get you 17th century results.

"I've been a Neanderthal woodworker for a long time, but the older I
get, the more I need power tools to get the precision."

I actually worked with Mickey Mouse once, a man who had played him for
Disney, and despite what they say he was a pretty good craftsman.

--jsw