Have no idea what I'm doing, but want to learn!

[Scootered]

I get why you didn’t want to post the final use or intention for the parts, but I think it could be a help. With the final goal in mind, someone might be able to think more outside the box. They might have a better idea of tolerances required, or might have suggestions on changes that could make he parts easier (cheaper) to make and accomplish the same goal. For instance, if the curved piece is just to fit the radius of the pipe and be welded on, farm fit might be good enough. The curve could be cut in steps with a small end mill and be good enough.

If I were working in wood, that's pretty much exactly how I would do it, with the added finishing of a drum sander or the end of a belt sander.

I have some router bits that are close in radius, and they would do the job in wood.

In fact, I have already made these out of reclaimed pallet wood a couple of times. I know how the woodworking processes go, but I don't know anything about any of the metal machining ones.

 

[Scootered]

You're right. Some things do matter. The grooves mating, or knowing what the dimensions are isn't one of them. They are specifically intended not to mate, as they are intended to grasp something between them. Ooops, I gave something away!

The only way I can think of to describe it, is to just show a sketch of the cross section. It's attached. The red part is where I thought the weld would go. If the pipe just fits up inside the "groove" then the weld will have a better area to hold. If there's all sorts of space between the pipe and the part, well, I could foresee problems.

The thickness of the walls of the pipe is (at a guess, I've never measured it) a little more than 1/8" and it's 1-1/2" in diameter. So that would be the radius, I'm guessing.

Does this help any?

might help if I attached the doggone drawing!

 

[MarkM]

Don t over think. Think of tooling as cutters or what hits the material. Some are common shapes like a rectangular, some can have a special shape. This is very general so you get the jist. Processes think the action required to do the operation. Sometimes a special tool may need to be bought for a shape or feature like a 3/8" radius along one edge or a cnc can do crazy wizardy and move the tooling or part driven by a program to move the tool to shape. Again just a very general thought here. One foot in front of the other.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

Yes, that is exactly what would be needed fo a good weld.

might help if I attached the doggone drawing!

 

[MarkM]

How wide is the part. The radius is half of what the shaft diameter but how deep is it cut, depth of v and is it a 60 degree included angle. Height of total part. I think you put the shaft in to show what you are doing. Am I right to think that.

 

[Scootered]

Remember there are no dumb questions. Only dumb answers. I see this site as a learning experience for me even though I have been around machining operations for over 50 years. So keep asking those questions. I do.
Regards, Chuck

My English Lit teacher says the same thing. I don't intend to give up until I have a satisfactory understanding of what I am doing.

But there is one thing: I would really like someone to explain to me, (and please, use small words so that I'll be able to get it,) why 53 decimal places of precision is necessary. I have a forstner bit in the garage, and it says 1/2" on the side of it. The holes it cuts measure out to be a half-inch in diameter, whether I'm drilling into old pine from a pallet, or a piece of hard maple. If its more than a 1/2" hole, say 9/16" then it isn't a half-inch hole, is it? Are metal fabrication tools that much more precise than woodworking tools? The only time I've ever used a caliper was in a science class a couple of years ago.

 

[Scootered]

How wide is the part. The radius is half of what the shaft diameter but how deep is it cut, depth of v and is it a 60 degree included angle. Height of total part. I think you put the shaft in to show what you are doing. Am I right to think that.

As I mentioned in my original post, it's a piece of flat metal bar that's 3-1/2" long by 1 wide, by 3/8" thick. I set the "depth" of that radius in the body of the bar to be one-half the thickness, or 3/16" just like the drawing shows, or would if it were dimensioned.

I put the piece of pipe in to show how it would be welded to the part. And in a way, you're right, because it does show what the overall finished thing would look like, if it were sawed in half, crosswise.

 

[MarkM]

You said that you wanted to learn or how to communicate with machinist. Decimal points are not requird but you can t go into a shop and say hey buddy can you make these parts for me. I kinda want this. If the spindle isn t turning there not making money and you come across as a time waster. You can draw a half inch hole how you want 1/2" .5, 5.005", 5.0005" The 5.0005"cost more. Your part is simple but i still don t know what you want exactly want. What if I make that radius for a two inch pipe and your pipe is three inches and doesn t conform for a good weld? Machinist love loose tolerances but hate talking about it for an hr. and then they don t want to pay for that hr. Grab a napkin even draw a rectangle with some lines. How long is it how wide, where are the holes and what size. Show radius and what pipe you want to mate to. Draw whatever you can from this.

 

[ttabbal]

My English Lit teacher says the same thing. I don't intend to give up until I have a satisfactory understanding of what I am doing.

But there is one thing: I would really like someone to explain to me, (and please, use small words so that I'll be able to get it,) why 53 decimal places of precision is necessary. I have a forstner bit in the garage, and it says 1/2" on the side of it. The holes it cuts measure out to be a half-inch in diameter, whether I'm drilling into old pine from a pallet, or a piece of hard maple. If its more than a 1/2" hole, say 9/16" then it isn't a half-inch hole, is it? Are metal fabrication tools that much more precise than woodworking tools? The only time I've ever used a caliper was in a science class a couple of years ago.

The most common precision is three decimal places. Thousandths of an inch. There are some cases where you go to ten-thousandths, but not often. Metal parts often have to fit just so, think about the engine parts in your car. They need to be small enough to fit together, but large enough to hold a seal. If your parts don't need that, call out +/-0.01 or similar. It makes it easier to make as well.

 

[Twirpunky]

Take a machine shop class at a Vo-Tech center or just about any two year college. While learning the language, you will also learn a valuable skill. The instructor will most likely allow you to make just the part you need if you are caught up on the regular assignments.

D