Today was not a good day for productivity, despite my best efforts.
My goal was to make 5 stainless steel washers for Neil, and hopefully have enough time to start making the stainless steel nuts to go with the washers. There were three 25mm x 13mm x 1.5mm, one 23x15x2, and one 30x15x 2.6. The best laid plans of mice and men are laid to waste by...lack of screws.
I made the washers nearly complete, but wanted to take a very light finish pass on the back of them and deburr the cutoff side of the bores with a boring bar. Here's what they looked like, other than the second operation not being done:
![[Image: IMG_2153-r_zps4f94fa3c.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/kenm10759/Dads%20shop/IMG_2153-r_zps4f94fa3c.jpg)
Ok, so now I need to hold them to do the second operation. I have no step collets for my 5C collet closer (the tooling list for a machine shop is endless), but I recall getting a set of three unused "soft jaws" for my 10" Pratt-Burnered Super Precision scroll chuck. Where they cam from, I forget now. All I'd have to do is make a shallow counterbore in the soft jaws and the washers will be done.
No luck. In order to mount the soft jaws I would need six 1/2"-13 UNC x 1" long socket head cap screws. I headed off to my local "farm supply" dealer only to find they had only three of them in steel. I wasn't up for paying $4.94 each for stainless steel ones! I then drove to the closest Home Depot (homeowner supply) store, and they had exactly the same thing. I'll wait until tomorrow and get the steel ones from Fastenal. Back to the shop.
I decided I might as well alter the soft jaws a little to help them fit the job a bit better. They were "raw" in that they were just milled to mate with the master jaws on the chuck, but couldn't close down very much. First I stamped each one for position on the chuck so they will repeat perfect when I take them on and off and on again. I set up a 2-1/2" face mill, then used my Starrett No.359 bevel protractor to set the jaws in the vise at a 60º angle. I know, I should make a set of angle setting blocks, but I just haven't gotten a roundtuit yet. Here's the before and after:
![[Image: IMG_2156-r_zpsde89a043.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/kenm10759/Dads%20shop/IMG_2156-r_zpsde89a043.jpg)
After milling:
![[Image: IMG_2157-r_zps0230d9f0.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/kenm10759/Dads%20shop/IMG_2157-r_zps0230d9f0.jpg)
![[Image: IMG_2161-r_zpsd35bbd5b.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/kenm10759/Dads%20shop/IMG_2161-r_zpsd35bbd5b.jpg)
I'll get through this job eventually. ;) I'm expecting a package from KBC Tools tomorrow with hard jaws and a rebuild kit for my Kurt vise, plus a 22ER5ACME threading insert so I can get to work on Darren's parts.
Added: I went to a local Fastenal outlet today and got six 1/2"-13 x 1" UNC socket head cap screws for $3.75 total. If I'd bought the six screws in stainless steel at The Home Depot it would have cost me $31.24! Waiting a day was worth the savings.
My goal was to make 5 stainless steel washers for Neil, and hopefully have enough time to start making the stainless steel nuts to go with the washers. There were three 25mm x 13mm x 1.5mm, one 23x15x2, and one 30x15x 2.6. The best laid plans of mice and men are laid to waste by...lack of screws.
I made the washers nearly complete, but wanted to take a very light finish pass on the back of them and deburr the cutoff side of the bores with a boring bar. Here's what they looked like, other than the second operation not being done:
Ok, so now I need to hold them to do the second operation. I have no step collets for my 5C collet closer (the tooling list for a machine shop is endless), but I recall getting a set of three unused "soft jaws" for my 10" Pratt-Burnered Super Precision scroll chuck. Where they cam from, I forget now. All I'd have to do is make a shallow counterbore in the soft jaws and the washers will be done.
No luck. In order to mount the soft jaws I would need six 1/2"-13 UNC x 1" long socket head cap screws. I headed off to my local "farm supply" dealer only to find they had only three of them in steel. I wasn't up for paying $4.94 each for stainless steel ones! I then drove to the closest Home Depot (homeowner supply) store, and they had exactly the same thing. I'll wait until tomorrow and get the steel ones from Fastenal. Back to the shop.
I decided I might as well alter the soft jaws a little to help them fit the job a bit better. They were "raw" in that they were just milled to mate with the master jaws on the chuck, but couldn't close down very much. First I stamped each one for position on the chuck so they will repeat perfect when I take them on and off and on again. I set up a 2-1/2" face mill, then used my Starrett No.359 bevel protractor to set the jaws in the vise at a 60º angle. I know, I should make a set of angle setting blocks, but I just haven't gotten a roundtuit yet. Here's the before and after:
After milling:
I'll get through this job eventually. ;) I'm expecting a package from KBC Tools tomorrow with hard jaws and a rebuild kit for my Kurt vise, plus a 22ER5ACME threading insert so I can get to work on Darren's parts.
Added: I went to a local Fastenal outlet today and got six 1/2"-13 x 1" UNC socket head cap screws for $3.75 total. If I'd bought the six screws in stainless steel at The Home Depot it would have cost me $31.24! Waiting a day was worth the savings.