Todays Project - What did you do today?

[PixMan]

(06-12-2015, 02:47 PM)zmotorsports Wrote: Here is the mess after the lathe work is completed and just prior to removing the backing plate from the 4-jaw chuck.


Turning and facing processes completed and ready to drill the mounting holes.  The step is .001" smaller than the backside of the chuck so it will self center onto the plate.


Chuck test fit onto the plate to ensure self-centering.  I got a little cocky here but I should have test fit it prior to removing it from the lathe.  Had my measurements been off I could have been chucking it back up in the lathe to make a skim cut.  Luckily everything fell together perfectly.  Another reason I probably shouldn't work this late at night.:willy_nil


Vise removed from mill table and the backing plate clamped down locating the center.  I have it spaced off the table so I can drill through without hitting the table.  Using my handy, dandy modified Noga/IndiCol DTI holder.  Works awesome.  You can also see the DRO that I have zero'd after locating center.


Three chuck mounting holes drilled.  The bolt hole circle function in the DRO flat ROCKS!!!


I used a .375" end mill and countersunk for the socket head capscrews to sit just below flush.


Next I flipped the adapter over and plugged the dimensions into the DRO for the four bolt hole pattern to match the slots in the rotary table.


Four bolt pattern drilled and countersunk with a .625" end mill.


Completed sitting on the rotary table.  


Mike.

Mike,

Nice work! Good to see some chips on the otherwise pristine machines. You did the right thing to cover the ways before machining cast iron, that stuff is a magnet to way lube and really gums up the works. Other than being the dirtiest metal there is, it a joy to machine. Never (or rarely) is there a chip control problem, though it can wear out the wrong HSS tools pretty quickly.

BTW, I've used end mills as counterbores in the home shop for years and it does work but keep your eyes open for a bargain on true counterbores. I found this array had fallen outside my shop one day (quite literally) and they've proven very handy. You get a true flat-bottomed counterbore and good ones break the edge of the counterbore were it meets the minor diameter.