Mystery Project...

Didn't do much... Just threaded the end of the drawbar and did a test fit. It fits.

Collet Drawbar.JPGItWorks.JPG

Maybe more tomorrow...

Ray

Collet Drawbar.JPG ItWorks.JPG
 
All the excitement of a new roof and the grand opening of the grinding and metrology section of the shop has died down so, here's a simple use of a granite slab.

It's important for the MT-blocks to have concentric taper holes otherwise, drill bits etc would be sticking-out an an angle. In the photo, a piece of drill rod was put inside a collet and a telescoping height gauge is used to check how straight it is. It was checked sitting on its bottom and on its side. Somehow I got lucky and all of them so far are checking out within my ability to measure them. The one shown has not been heat treated yet and the base is intentionally 3 thou oversized. The absolute height of the rod is checked this same way by measuring the distance between the top of the plate and bottom of the rod. Adjustments in measurement are accounted for by subtracting the height of the machinist block and 1/2 the diameter of the drill rod. It will be re-checked and surfaced ground after heat treating.

Grinding and Metrology Station.JPG

We'll resume and work on the base very soon now that the house repairs are (kinda over) over... I'm also in the process of remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms. -Gotta keep SHMBO happy...


Ray

Grinding and Metrology Station.JPG
 
We're rolling on this again... I know, it's been a while but, these are my "leisure" projects -and it's been too hot/uncomfortable lately...

Here we're surfacing the plates to be used for the base. I'm not going to recycle the old one as I wish to keep it intact.

The mill is trammed nicely and is giving almost a blanchard grind look. There are several of these to do and the new vise ( http://www.machinetoolonline.com/VisesHighPrecision.html ) is doing great! I've checked the width of each at 1" from from the corners and total variation is staying well within 1 thou. -Would not have been possible with my old vise -no way, no way at all!

That's a 3", 5 insert cutter spinning about 800 RPM. First DoC was just 5 thou to take the scale off. Next evened it out 10 thou then, I took a skim pass not changing the DoC. No coolant today -not needed for baby cuts like this and plate was easy to handle meaning temperatures were probably around 110 degrees.

More later... I'll be working on this all day to catch-up...

(Plate looks really blue because we have a beautiful blue sky today. The grind marks in the plate are nowhere near as ugly as they look on camera).


Plate 1.JPGPlate 2.JPG

Ray

Plate 1.JPG Plate 2.JPG
 
But I know what it is already. I can name that tune in 2 notes.

"Billy G"
 
Here's a couple more notes to the song... Things got slowed down as I picked-up another walk-in welding job. The last guy I did work for sent two more guys my way. Seems it's feast or famine... I was slow for 2 week and this week brought in 500. It's going to be busy next week. This new fellow needs some big heavy duty tables with built-in roller pinch bars. I need to make the bars too.

OK, here's the pieces of the top-side of the assembly.

Pieces.JPG

The two plates each need a couple grooves cut (as marked) and a precisely fitting key will be inserted. The plates will fit face-to-face and the keys will keep them aligned. The keys will be hardened material and highly polished and will be fixed in just one of the plates. This will be just like a normal tailstock where the push/pull screws adjust for a dead-center or taper position. On the lower plate, an elongated hole is cut to allow a small but fair amount of side-to-side positioning. BTW: the mill surfacing was very even. The plate on the right was surface ground and it cleaned-up with two passes of 1/2 thou downfeed and a 0.0002 final pass. The mill marks came off very uniformly across the piece. This means the mill spindle is in good shape and the face cutter was not getting cocked one way or the other.

Marked Plate 1.JPGMarked Plate 2.JPG


Here's a basic view. The shaft will be trimmed and threaded and I'll make a custom nut and that's what clamps the rotating disk once the proper tool holder is selected.

Setup.JPG

Still lot's of work to do... The base plate is cut and I wanted to cut the v-groove today but, I was busy earning some money. Once the weather cools off, some of these parts will need some heat treating and I've got a couple more taper blocks to cook too.

-Until next time...

Ray

Pieces.JPG Marked Plate 1.JPG Marked Plate 2.JPG Setup.JPG
 
Nice work, and thanks for the explanations.

Good to hear you are staying busy.
 
Thank you. You're welcome.

Let me know if there are other details you'd prefer to see in these posts.


Ray

Nice work, and thanks for the explanations.

Good to hear you are staying busy.
 
A couple more action shots. Didn't get much done today and #3 son's car had a tire problem that needed attention...

It was time to cut the slots so, the first step is to align the piece by adjusting the vise. Using a DI, the part is run back/forth horizontally until the DI is flatline.

Align.JPG

The cuts went well. I'm slowly switching over to all carbide endmills and took 1/10" deep cuts and it was like a hot knife through butter and it's totally natural feeling to crank the infeed pretty fast. Each plate needs to have the basic slots aligned perfectly so, the center of the hole in each plate was determined using the DRO then each slot was cut at a chosen offest from that center position. I'm using Kool mist and after cutting a 0.200" deep cut (3/8" wide) the workpiece and bit were positively cool to the touch.

Slot.JPG

...And in case you didn't follow the last verbal description of the slots and keys, here's a picture (minus the keys inside the slots). One plate will be able to slide across the other and the keys will hold things aligned.

Plates.JPG

Ray

Align.JPG Plates.JPG Slot.JPG
 
Here's a little chunk of progress -working on the bed plate.

I made a pair of 45[SUP]o[/SUP] angle vise jaws to hold the bed plate to cut the V-groove. Some rough pics of those are shown in the ongoing Project of the Day thread. The jaws did a great job of holding the piece.

Today was one of those "special" days and it took about 20 minutes to get my head wrapped around the dimensions of the cut and where to start making it, another 10 minutes to set it up and 10 more to cut the grove. It worked out well and is fitting nicely but, it will take a little tweaking. Right now, the V-notch is cut just a tiny bit undersized -fully expecting it may need to be tweaked and also cut deep enough for it to sit flat across the ways. I don't believe I've ever made a cut like this and am happy with it so far. The overall dimensions of the piece and were it sits in relation to the V-groove and flat-way came out satisfactorily.


Vgroove1.JPGVgroove3.JPG

The V-Grove itself came-out very well and the 90[SUP]o[/SUP] is very perpendicular to the surface but, it seems the corresponding V-notch is at a slightly different angle. I may be wrong about this and need to observe more closely because it could be that the depth is not quite deep enough and the other, flat side of the bed is preventing it from sitting squarely. -We shall see and fix as needed.

Vgroove2.JPGVgroove4.JPG

OK, break time. -Need caffeinated beverage (coffee!) a quick rest -and back out to the shop. See y'a later.


Ray

Vgroove1.JPG Vgroove2.JPG Vgroove3.JPG Vgroove4.JPG
 
In the shop most of the day... First I had to make tools so I could make more tools. Was spending a lot of time with the surface grinder. -Man, I'm going to leave a dirty ring around the bathtub tonight!

Well then... The bed plate is coming along nicely. The angle of the V-groove on the lathe is dead-on 90[SUP]o[/SUP] (so that wasn't the problem) and so was the groove in the plate. The problem was that A) the groove I made was rotated ever so slightly -probably about 1 or 1.5[SUP]o[/SUP]. Mills aren't good candidates for ultra precision work so I decided the surface grinder was the ticket. I ground a 45[SUP]o[/SUP] angle on a wheel, set things up and cleaned-up one side of the groove. A test fit looks real good. The other side will have to wait until tomorrow. Here's shot of the grind setup in the SG and a pretty good look at the plate. Yes, I need to make a slot at the root of the V. -Tomorrow.


Vgroove5.JPG


Ray

Vgroove5.JPG
 
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