What did you machine today?

[Bented]

Ouch! Yeah that looks like typical A36.... whenever I have to specify a flame cut shape, I call out that it "Must clean up at x.xx" dimension in a lathe or whatever. And then spend a bunch of time with the grinder getting all the nasty off. Grinding disc is cheaper than tool bits.

My last employer was kinda cool, he started ordering everything laser cut from our suppliers (http://www.kleinsteel.com/) and wow did it ever make my life *so* much easier!!! you have *no* idea how much work that saved me.....

There are few shops that will laser cut from 4" thick plate.
Tool cost is unimportant, they are supplied by the same person that ordered the burned parts (-:

[Cenedd]

Ditto.....

What have you got going on at the back edge of your cross slide there? Assume the handle is a lock but to the right of that, is it some sort of stop?

[Bob Engelhardt]

Some very unpleasant A36 burned stock about 4" thick. ...

That was cut from 4" plate? If so I'm amazed by how smooth it is (except the corners, that is).

[Bob Engelhardt]

I just had a thought -- why not turn a diameter of round bar and then file half of it away into a D shape. Stick that in the chuck with the flat side down and that gives you the center.

Then file/grind 1/2 of that away so there is an edge at the center.

[Bented]

That was cut from 4" plate? If so I'm amazed by how smooth it is (except the corners, that is).

If the vendor has sufficient equipment a fairly smooth surface may be achieved on flame cut stock much thicker then 4", equipment is the key factor.

The person cutting the parts shown pierced them on the cut line leaving a nasty gouge on the OD, they did however clean to size.

This is a much nicer job, about 2" thick.

[J Tiers]

Got the second 30 heatsinks done. Good thing I had not taken down the setup yet.

[thaiguzzi]

I just had a thought -- why not turn a diameter of round bar and then file half of it away into a D shape. Stick that in the chuck with the flat side down and that gives you the center.

Yeah that's another popular version, still not as quick though.

[thaiguzzi]

What have you got going on at the back edge of your cross slide there? Assume the handle is a lock but to the right of that, is it some sort of stop?

Don't think i've got a pic of it in action.
Basically its an adjustable stop for a mag backed indicator, when i need really accurate cross feed input, more than my dials.
A cheapo DRO.
Sort of.


This indicator.

[MattiJ]

I just had a thought -- why not turn a diameter of round bar and then file half of it away into a D shape. Stick that in the chuck with the flat side down and that gives you the center.

It worsk but..More often than not you have something chucked and need to change the tools. Same applies to tailstock also so its easiest to make separate center height gauge that sits on cross slide.

[The Metal Butcher]

Something simple. A new t-nut, stud, and spacer ring for the lagun. The spacer ring is the exact height difference between the lagun and rockwell so that toolholders are automatically on center height for both lathes. It's a good stop-gap solution until we get a proper CA and it also works well to use the existing AXA sized tooling we have when doing lighter work.

[nickel-city-fab]

Started making a boring bar last night out of an old AMC Jeep axle. Ended up using some carbide for that, turning between centers. Finish dims were .745 X 12" . I want to know what alloy Dana Corp was using and what heat treat, because the outer .100 of the shaft was harder than Superman's .... er, Little Richard. PILES of little blue chips and 3 busted/dull pcs of carbide..... was turning @ ~240 RPM @ 1.250 OD.

I still have to cross-drill .250 for the bit, and another hole TBD for the set screw. Will be cross-drilling at 45 deg so it can go blind hole if need be.

[Tim Clarke]

Made this flywheel and fit up the governor parts.

[J Tiers]

Made some bronze pipe adaptors for a friend who is putting in a custom fountain. Forgot to take pics, but it was nothing that special.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Made this flywheel and fit up the governor parts.

That looks real impressive,nice work.

[Tim Clarke]

Shortened up a damaged shotgun barrel today. I also discovered that not only I didn’t have any 3-48 flathead screws, neither did my favorite hardware store. There’s a capscrew in the hole temporarily. I’ll send this off for threading the muzzle end for choke tubes. I’d love to do this part myself, but there is really good purpose built tooling and for 1 off jobs it’s prohibitively expensive.