Thanks Randall, I'm still very new to machining so it's a learning process for sure.
Today I spent some more time on the project....
I cut a piece of 1/4 x 3" flat bar stock down about 2" long, cleaned up the edges on the mill and sanded the face down with 320 grit.
Next I layed out the positions for the holes to be drilled and secured it on parallel bars in the mill. Even got to use my home-made scribe!! First time!!!
I drilled out the first set of holes using an 1/8" center drill, then opened them up to the proper size before moving onto the next.
And I got some practice on the precision end of things as well just to push myself along....this one's kinda blurry as it's taken through a loupe.
After the holes were all drilled I cleaned up the burrs...and lucky me, one of the holes I couldn't get started with the center drill came out on the back side all wobbly...
I tried re-drilling it-didn't work
I tried drilling it again from the back side-didn't work
I tried using a 45 degree countersink to touch up the surface-didn't work
Fail.
This to me seems like the perfect excuse to invest in some more tools...must not tell wife...
Once the holes were all drilled the bulk of the piece hit me and I decided some material had to come off to make it more visually slender, but I also had to keep enough material around the holes to retain the heat so I came up with this.
It's very technical I know, don't be intimidated by it!
Threw it on the mill again and took off the front two corners and got a crazy idea...
Yep, I even decided to try my hand at beveling. I know it's a tool, it's not for decoration, and it should serve its purpose and nothing more but I couldn't help myself.
Once I take the rest of the material off the back side I will finish beveling the top side, drill and tap holes for the handle and two feet then call it done...after I turn up the feet.
Oh and I threw some finish on the handles I turned up and they came out great. Ironically I chose to use red mahogany to stain them, and that's the one very specific color the acrylic sealer I got says not to use it with. Warnings not heeded!!
I'll upload more tomorrow evening.