Files - size and cut?

[polybear]

Hi,

With regard to files (not needle files) for etched brass kit building, do you find 4" or 6" the most useful; smooth cut or 2nd cut?

Thanks.
polybear

[Western Star]

Vallorbe, 6" overall length, Barette style, 2, 4 and 6 cut used progressively...  followed by 400 grit wet-N-dry stuck to lolly / coffee sticks.

 

Bought from Cookson Gold along with a handle per file - the handles have a pin-chuck on the end which takes the tang of the file.

 

I use the plastic winding for cables to protect the file when not in use -  a definite necessity when you have recovered from the price of the tools (although if you use the cable sheath you shall keep the files in first class condition for many years).

[polybear]

Many thanks - these sound like needle files?

[ian@stenochs]

Hi Polybear,

 

Needle files are fine for delecate work but for a lot of model building too small. Get a couple of decent quality 8”/200mm flat files, a smooth and a second cut, half round is useful too, and keep them solely for brass and nickel silver. You will find that filing a straight edge and cleaning up etch is much quicker and more accurate than plittering with needle files. Keep expensive needle files for detail work.

 

Any decent tool shop will have a range of quality files but Cromwell tools are good.

 

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/abrasives/engineers-files/09010101?familiesDisplayed=10&familySkip=20&page=3

 

Ian

[Siberian Snooper]

I use smooth and 2nd cut files in both 4 and 6 inch sizes from Chronos.

 

https://chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Engineering_Menu_Files__General__Engineers__Swiss_and_Needle_244.html

 

Usual disclaimer.

[PenrithBeacon]

I hardly ever use a 4 or 6" file on etched kits, they're much too big. Swiss files and the new-fangled abrasive grit files for me, thanks

[micknich2003]

A good source for quality and sensibly priced tools is www.arceurotrade.co.uk They have a good selection of files plus small drills and many other useful modelling tools.

Tome Feteira Files - Arc Euro Trade

[Clive Mortimore]

The most useful item when it comes to files is a good file card. Clean your files after use with a file card and they will last for years.

 

Second tip. It is not always the most expensive or even the supposedly best file you should be buying. It is the one that you feel comfortable with when using it.

 

Third tip. Never use a file without a handle. One it is harder to use, less control but secondly it is dangerous. I worked as a nurse on a hand injury ward and every couple of months a patient would arrive having slipped off the work piece while he/she was filing and the tang had gone into the palm of their hand. We only saw those who had caused damage to tendons, blood vessels, nerves etc A&E departments dealt with the less serious injuries. Most were hobbyist not someone who earned a living using hand tools. 

[81C]

I didn't know file could be so interesting.

 

                                                              Steve Davis

[polybear]

A good source for quality and sensibly priced tools is www.arceurotrade.co.uk They have a good selection of files plus small drills and many other useful modelling tools.

Tome Feteira Files - Arc Euro Trade

 

Hi Mick,

How do the Tome files compare for quality against Vallorbe?  I've been looking at both.

Thanks

Brian

[Mrkirtley800]

Looks as if I am on my own here. I use a 10” second cut with parallel edges. Clamp it in a vice and run the brass nickel along it. Finish off with fine wet and dry.

I use it for long straight edges like footplate or when building the main frames. I am currently scratch building a slim boilered 4-4-0 and have used my file most of the time so far.

Needle files will be used when I need small and delicate filing.

Derek

Edited December 13, 2018 by Mrkirtley800

[Clive Mortimore]

Looks as if I am on my own here. I use a 10” second cut with parallel edges. Clamp it in a vice and run the brass nickel along it. Finish off with fine wet and dry.

I use it for long straight edges like footplate or when building the main frames. I am currently scratch building a slim boilered 4-4-0 and have used my file most of the time so far.

Needle files will be used when I need small and delicate filing.

Derek

Hi Derek

 

You have just proved my second comment, "It is not always the most expensive or even the supposedly best file you should be buying. It is the one that you feel comfortable with when using it."

 

I look forward to seeing the finished slim boiler 4-4-0.

[Mrkirtley800]

Thank you Clive. It was progressing quite well until the weather turned cold when my arthritis started to make life a bit uncomfortable.

But, I shall persevere.

Derek

[Dagworth]

The most useful item when it comes to files is a good file card. Clean your files after use with a file card and they will last for years.

 

 

Interesting, I was taught at school to use a piece of brass to clean a file. I'd be very curious to know which works better.

 

Andi

[raymw]

Brass. If you use a file on steel, then on brass, it will not cut as well as a file only used on brass. It therefore follows, that if you use a steel wire file card to clean a file, it should not be used on brass afterwards.

[Clive Mortimore]

Interesting, I was taught at school to use a piece of brass to clean a file. I'd be very curious to know which works better.

 

Andi

Hi Andi

 

As an apprentice with the CEGB I was taught to clean my file after use with a file card. I have never heard of using brass.

Brass. If you use a file on steel, then on brass, it will not cut as well as a file only used on brass. It therefore follows, that if you use a steel wire file card to clean a file, it should not be used on brass afterwards.

Hi Ray

 

If you use a file card correctly it removes any debris in the teeth, it doesn't leave itself in the teeth. 

[RedgateModels]

I'd echo the comments about keeping separate files for brass/copper and steel. At school our first task when introduced to the lathe was to make file handles from wood with either brass or steel ferrules. Woe betide any poor child who used the wrong file on steel with Mr Hall on the prowl. He has a length of 1/2" dowel with a masking tape handle that used to rap the knuckles of anyone caught so doing LOL

 

Aluminium is a sod, and a good file card is essential to clean out the file after use. I tend to use diamond files now on ally for this reason.

 

Can't believe no-one has mentioned bastard cut yet - always a source of amusement to schoolboys (and before anyone wades in about sexual stereotyping, boys did metalwork and girls did home ec when I was at school, I am of course old lol )

[MarkC]

Can't believe no-one has mentioned bastard cut yet - always a source of amusement to schoolboys (and before anyone wades in about sexual stereotyping, boys did metalwork and girls did home ec when I was at school, I am of course old lol )

Indeed - and it was always a good one to catch out apprentices who thought they were being stitched up - again - when told to go and get a bastard file, and answered you back.. The look of horror on their faces when reality dawned could be priceless... 

[Guy Rixon]

Hi Mick,

How do the Tome files compare for quality against Vallorbe?  I've been looking at both.

Thanks

Brian

 

I've had both and don't find any difference in what they do. That may mean that my skill in using files is to low to feel the difference in quality. Also, I don't do much filing of steel.

 

Concerning size, I prefer the 6" size to 4" to get a longer, smoother stroke, even on small work. Draw filing is also easier with a longer file. I find no need for 8" or 10" files, except for the case where the file is clamped and the work is moved over it. 

 

PS: just found a really useful set of pages on the details of files.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Guy Rixon