This didnt happen today only, but I finished it today, minus some rust preventative measures. Ideas on prevention are very welcome and appreciated. Anyway, short reason for building this. I found blueprints for it. Seriously that's why I built it. I found blueprints and since it isn't dice or a burr puzzle 305, I wanted to try something above my skill level to see if I could do it. It isn't perfect, but I'm happy with it. I may edit this post tomorrow because I'm in my phone and it's easier to post with a PC. This project started about a month ago give or take. Did it in my free time but it took a LOT of free time!!!!
I bought torch cut metal( on 3 sides) and started here!
Did a t slot.
Indicated the plate to the bottom of the t slot, and faced it off. This is after I tried to make the face flat on the mill. I could feel it wasn't flat with my finger. Very small but not flat either. Was hoping the lathe would make it flatter and I think it did. No surface plate so I cant tell you for sure, but it feels better!!!!
This was a bit nerve racking on the base plate but it seemed to work out ok.
This is quite a way through the process. I screwed up the dowel pins when drilling by using a drill bit too big. And it was a harbor freight so throw that in the mix too. Never reamed metal ever in my life so I adjusted the blueprints I found and made it work. One cool thing to me is the holes for the dowel pins fit(in my opinion) very well with everything being machined separate. Other than length on the dowel pins, they all fit correctly during assembly. Shocked myself on that one. I did however somehow get a bolt hole off a little and had to modify one hole on one hinge plate a little. 7 out of 8 fit very well. In very pleased with that and the dowels fitting too.
From here on out the pics show the finished product. I made everything, minus 12 socket head screws, and 2 snap rings.
While I was doing this and reading the blueprints, etc. I did find some math errors in the process. The bad thing is the errors came from me!!! Still a lot of work(for me) but a great time was had!!!!!