Another update:
This is the main body. Pocketing a starter hole for the 15/16 drill bit. I wanted it to run in straight so starting with a 3/4 inch deep, on-size pocket should help.
Then drill with the 15/16 drill bit. This was then reamed to 0.9685 because that is the closest reamer I had to 1 inch. So I turned a 0.968 shaft.
Here is where the pucker factor went up again, drilling the 0.093 clearance/anti-stress holes through 1 7/8 thick, gummy, sticky aluminum. About 2500 RPM, and just go down and touch the bottom, retract to clear, rinse, repeat. Don't let the drill bit load up.
Made it through both holes without a problem.
Pocketing the clearance for the dovetail. 3/8 solid carbide, 2 flute. Running about 2800 RPM, 10 IPM, 40% stepover, 0.060 DOC. Kerosene coolant.
And cutting the dovetail. About 0.010 step over, 1200 RPM. You don't see any coolant coming out of the nozzle, it runs about a half cup / hour. That's all you need. No fog either, it creates micro droplets. There is so little flow that there is no residue when the job is done. Just evaporates.
And the finished dovetail
Next is put some wrench flats on the modified nut. This nut started out life as a standard 7/8-14, stainless steel, nyloc nut, highly modified to fit the application. I could have set up the 4th axis and done this, but the main body makes a great 4 sided ''collet holder''. Screw nut on backwards and tighten against the washers with channel locks (polish later
). It ain't gonna move for this operation. Do one side, flip it over and do the other. 1/4 inch solid carbide router bit.
Of course a special nut needs a special wrench. I dug this out of the miscellaneous tool stash. It's is hard, but I could file it. It's 22 mm and I need 26mm to fit the nut. So we'll just open it up a bit. Clamped a chunk of MDF in the vice, screwed and clamped the wrench down, and located it with the spindle laser. No the laser is not extremely accurate, but for this operation close is good enough.
I grabbed a router bit that had the corners of the end chipped but most of the cutter was unused, so I went 3/8 deep to utilize the unused portion of the flutes.
And it fits !
Next step is to make a Weldon shank for my saw arbor. Milling the flats, using a 1/2 inch rougher.
Then next is machine the 45° chamfer on the edges. I picked up a few of these what I think are fiberglass drills. Was at the local metal supply one day and they had a bunch of these for $3.00 each. Solid carbide. They have a 90° included angle.
And done
Setting up to make the slot. First I turned a tight fitting aluminum slug exactly the same length as the main body. The goal here is two fold. First I don't know how stable the aluminum is, and I don't know if it will want to close up on the slitting saw once it breaks through, so the slug will keep that from happening. Secondly, this will eliminate any burr in the bore caused by the slitting saw.
And the slug clamped in place so the saw can't walk it out. I will be cutting about 1/16 into the slug on the final pass.
And here it is cutting, about 2/3 of the way through. I was being pretty gentle because I have never done this before. 280 RPM, 7 IPM, about 0.010 step over. I think I could have been a lot more aggressive with the cut. Probably could have doubled those numbers with no problem. Kerosene coolant, the nozzle is hiding behind the tool holder. The HF ''4 inch'' saw blade worked perfectly....almost, the teeth are not quite on the same centerline as the center hole so it was only cutting with about 4 teeth out of 24. Also, the 4 inch blade is actually 3.773 diameter. They shorted me a 1/4 inch
On the other hand it's only $5
And here is all of the parts. Still have a couple things to do but I'm tired.
So they will wait for tomorrow.