INTRODUCTION TO POWER TOOLS & EQUIPMENT METAL TOOLS INTRODUCTION TO POWER TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

Note to Teachers This presentation includes suggested slides for common metal work power tools. You can add your images, delete these slides, or replace them with tools that are appropriate for your school/local industry/community.

ABRASIVE SAW A circular saw that uses abrasive discs to cut metal. The blade rotates at high speeds, slicing through the material. Can be used on all bar, rod, tube, and pipe stock.

AIR RIVETER A pneumatically powered rivet gun. Commonly used in aircraft assembly and production line industries.

ANGLE GRINDER A hand-held power grinder. Used to remove surface material and to polish and cut metals. Can be fitted with a variety of discs, blades, or heads, such as wire wheels.

ARC WELDER A heavy-duty piece of equipment designed to facilitate the process of arc or “stick” welding. The machine uses electrical current to produce the heat required to melt/fuse metal pieces together.

BENCH GRINDER A bench-mounted grinder. The grinding wheels are mounted directly onto the rotating motor shaft. In most cases one wheel is coarse to provide rough surface finishes and the other is fine to produce a smooth finish ground surface.

BUFFER A bench-mounted rotary tool. The soft fabric wheels are mounted directly onto the motor driveshaft. A polishing compound is applied to the soft cloth wheels. Used in finishing processes, to provide a polished surface area.

COLD SAW A metal saw designed to deliver fast, precise, burr-free cuts. The term “cold cut” refers to the cutting process, which produces a heat- and spark-free cut.

DREMEL (ROTARY TOOL) A high-speed, hand-held rotary tool. The bit or head of the tool spins at a high rpm. Used in a variety of techniques, including: polishing, engraving, grinding, and shaping. Incredibly versatile tool in the metal shop.

DRILL PRESS A fixed-base machine that is used for drilling holes.

FORGE A furnace used to heat metal before it is put through the process of forging. The process of forging involves the heating of a metal until it can be easily manipulated through hammering and shaping.

FOUNDRY A workshop or factory specializing in the process of metal casting. Metal casting is the process by which metal is heated until molten and then poured into a mould to produce a cast product.

HAND DRILL A hand-held drilling machine. Can be corded with a plug connection or cordless with a rechargeable battery.

HORIZONTAL BANDSAW A saw in which the blade is a continuous band of metal that moves through the material. The blade has teeth on only one side of the band. The material is held stationary in a clamping vice and the blade moves through it using hydraulics. Used for both rough cutting of material as well as accurate finish cutting.

IMPACT DRIVER A pneumatically powered, hand-held tool designed to loosen bolts. It uses both rotational and concussive force. Often used in the automotive industry.

LATHE A stationary machine where the workpiece is secured in a rotating holding clamp/vice and the cutter is forced against it. Operations completed on the lathe can include knurling, turning, boring, facing, drilling, and thread cutting.

MIG WELDER The metal inert gas (MIG) welder controls the flow of the shield gas as well as the speed of the filler metal material. In MIG welding the filler metal wire supplies the electric current to maintain the arc, which is shielded from the access of air by an inert or semi-inert gas. Also known as GMAW (gas metal arc welding).

MILLING MACHINE A stationary precision piece of equipment that removes material from an object using a rotating cutter. Processes that can be completed on a milling machine include facing, slotting, fillet/chamfer as well as drilling/boring.

OXYACETYLENE TORCHES Welding torches that use a combination of oxygen and acetylene to produce a flame hot enough to join metal together, using a filler metal. These torches can also be used to cut through metal.

PLASMA CUTTER A cutting system that uses high-pressure gases and an electric arc to melt and cut through material. Can be a hand-operated unit or a computer numeric control programmable unit.

SANDBLASTER A hand-operated unit that uses high- pressure air to blow sand, glass bead, or other abrasive materials, to remove dirt, rust, and scale on metal. Finer abrasives can produce smooth matte finishes on material.

SOLDERING PENCIL A hand-operated tool with a tip that can reach temperatures of 425°C (800°F). Used to melt solder to join metals together without melting the base material.

SPOT WELDER A hand-operated welder that uses the process of resistance to join metals together with a current that passes through the electrodes. The size of the weld is limited to the size of the electrodes used.

TIG WELDER The TIG welder unit controls the flow of the shield gas as well has a non- consumable, permanent electrode to produce the arc. TIG = tungsten inert gas; also known as GTAW = gas tungsten arc welding.

VERTICAL BANDSAW A saw in which the blade is a continuous band of metal that moves vertically through the material. Only one side of the blade band has teeth. Keeps the blade location stationary while the material is moved through the blade.