MetalworkingFun Forum

The first image is the "real" project I picked up last fall, the second image is my current sub-project - crossrail clamps. It's a close-up of the first image with the original clamp circled in red.

The problem was that the 4 original clamp bolts were all gone but one, and it was badly stretched, about to break. On the far side (not shown here) someone had replaced one with a big stove bolt. So I set out to replace them using 1144 bolts and new clamp plates.

I've often wondered how well a horizontal mill would take to milling curves on a rotary table without standing the table on end and hiding the work. Bit of a profile change in the way of a slight curve, but it worked fine! I followed up with a radius all 'round the top with a homemade form cutter (single point).

One concern was to attempt to remain authentic looking. I can do crude work, so this came naturally.. The two old bolts with a new bolt at the bottom are shown, along with the plates and the final installation. All parts were flame blackened to blend in better.

Sunset,



Nothing crude about them, excellent work and workmanship

DaveH

Well thanks, Dave.

Here's a pic of the mill going 'round the bend. I honestly didn't think it would work and expected something to break. Bit of a trick setting the longitudinal position, I adjusted it during the roughing passes to minimize the error. Normally this would be done with the axis of the table and spindle parallel to each other, rather than intersecting like I'm showing here.
[attachment=2115]

Sunset,

I'm afraid you have lost me,

around the bend?

Was the radius not made by rotating the R/T?

Jerry.

That's right. The point was if the horizontal mill would work for this. I have a vertical head for it, but it's a pain-in-the-neck to install. The other option was a mill/drill, but it's pretty light and would have taken many more passes - more chances to wreck something. I could have set the table on end and used an endmill, but the work would be hidden out of view. Thought I'd try an experiment.

Thanks Sunset,

that clears things right up for me.

Jerry.

Using a Rotary Table for this sort of thing is exactly what it was designed for, Horizontal mills are far more versatile than most folks give them credit for, In fact the finish you've acheived there is probably better than if you had have used a ball nosed end mill, as the end mills tend to undercut slightly when transitioning fron radius to straight line cutting, this is mainly due to the amount of spring in the tool, Not a whole lot of spring in your form tool.
Best Regards
Rick

I'd like to try another experiment, another carbon steel form cutter. This one would have a 1/4" hole drilled and then material removed to make it a 1/4 or 1/2 round. The effect would be to form a raised bead or just a rounded corner. One of these days..

Almost finished with a phase converter (bunch of stuff screwed to a board) and should have the planer running today. It'll be the first time in at least 30 years that the wheels spun on the old thing. It has seen a lot of history over the last 150 years. I wish it could talk, although I guess in one sense that it does. Just looking at it tells a story about yesteryear. Anyway, I'll see if I can whip up a home movie of it running.

Sunset,

Home movies my favourite kind of movies

DaveH

Personally I can't wait to see this old girl running, I'll have to ship my mill's table out to you to clean off some of it's thirty years worth of scars,
Best Regards
Rick