[widgitmaster]

Ok, so I'm a work-a-holic

I couldn't sit still, so I went out into the shop and made four little knurled knobs with 1/2" hex holes in the middle! I figured it can all go to the plater at the same time, and all the aluminum will be done!

When they return, I will make a little fixture guide block. So that I can press the hex of the stainless adjustable feet into the aluminum knob! That will make it easier to adjust the level of the base plate!

[Jay C]

Wait, no detail photos of the process? Very cool addition.

[CarveOne]

Wait, no detail photos of the process? Very cool addition.

Knowing WigitMaster's work habits, I'll bet my last dime that he made those hex holes using this method instead of a hexagonal broach.

This method works well for square holes when you need them.

CarveOne

[widgitmaster]

Why re-invent the wheel?

All I did was mount a 3-jaw chuck on my rotary table, and mill 6-flats inside a 1/2" dia hole. By rotating 60 deg between flats. THe result is a hex hole with .0625" radius corners. The 304-SS hex will shear the corners when pressed in, and the flats were .002" smaller than the stainless hex!
Total time to mill hex's was 20 minutes.

[widgitmaster]

Have you an estimate of how much of the raw material is now around the floor?

John O R

All Cleaned up, now its time to cut steel!

[CarveOne]

Why re-invent the wheel?

All I did was mount a 3-jaw chuck on my rotary table, and mill 6-flats inside a 1/2" dia hole. By rotating 60 deg between flats. THe result is a hex hole with .0625" radius corners. The 304-SS hex will shear the corners when pressed in, and the flats were .002" smaller than the stainless hex!
Total time to mill hex's was 20 minutes.

No one else seemed to notice the hex holes, so I showed them how to do it the hard way. I figured that you would have a way to do it that involved neither of the methods I mentioned. You didn't let me down. I wouldn't have thought of the one you actually used.

CarveOne

[BobWarfield]

Why re-invent the wheel?

All I did was mount a 3-jaw chuck on my rotary table, and mill 6-flats inside a 1/2" dia hole. By rotating 60 deg between flats. THe result is a hex hole with .0625" radius corners. The 304-SS hex will shear the corners when pressed in, and the flats were .002" smaller than the stainless hex!
Total time to mill hex's was 20 minutes.

1/8" endmill?

[widgitmaster]

Right you are Bob!

I can't wait to see all the red anodized parts assembled!
It will take me a while to make the steel fixture for drilling the balls, all the material is on order. The material for the tool holders has arrived, and I'll be making them first! So much tooling, so little patience

I plan on mounting the fixture directly to a D1-4 hub, to eliminate the need for a 3 or 4 jaw chuck!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

The scrap man was here this morning, he took 110 lbs of alum. chips, and 20 lbs of alum. solids

Chips sold for $.22/lb, Solids for $.45/lb
Total $34.00 cash in pocket.
Now I can buy a few more new end mills!

Eric

[devincox]

maybe a foundry is in order. lol

[widgitmaster]

More progress today!

This morning I started making the turret tool holders, then the material for the ball fixture arrived! So I started working on the fixture, by placing the larger piece in a 3-jaw chuck to face and turn one end. Then I flipped it over, and machined the pocket to fit the D1-4 cam-lock hub. The hub has a snug fit to the block, so tomorrow I will drill & tap three blind holes to fasten the two pieces together.

I have not heard a word from Chem-Tek plating, and I must say it's torture

[mactec54]

That was not a good price for your scrap was the scrap clean like nothing mixed with it

[BobWarfield]

That was not a good price for your scrap was the scrap clean like nothing mixed with it

Shoot, the guy came out to a home to pick up a pretty small amount. It's found money.

Eric, that's a big honkin' chunk of 12L14. Thought it was cast iron before I looked closer. Either one is nice to machine though, eh? Most of my 12L14 has been a lot smaller diameter stock.

Cheers,

BW

[mactec54]

BobWarfield

You are way out of touch with pricing of scrap if you think that was a great deal
Widgitmaster should of got $89-20 for his scrap not $34-00 & the $89-20 is on the low side for what he had

[widgitmaster]

I don't have any idea where you are from Mac, but Florida is full of beach bums, lounge lizards, share croppers, and retired seniors. As for industry and pay rates, Florida really is not on the chart!

For the first two years, I threw my scrap out with the trash, because there is no place to bring it, and I don't have a pickup truck! I was only a year ago that I found this scrap man, and he drives up from south Florida, and gives me cash! The alternative is to haul it to Orlando, and they still don't pay squat! So I agree with Bob 100%

Enough, let's build a Newton's Cradle!
Eric

[widgitmaster]

Started working early this morning, but there were lots of distractions! My friend came over with the front disk brake from his Gold-Wing, and I had to resurface it!

Then I started back on the fixture, first by drilling and tapping all the holes in the three part fixture. Then I mounted it on the lathe, and drilled a pilot hole followed by a 1 9/16" dia hole. Then I bored a flat bottom hole around 1.500" deep. Next I rotated the compound tool holder to 15 deg. and started boring the hole.

As I got close to the larger diameter, I bolted a 1-2-3 block to the fixture face. Then I subtracted the prints dimension for how much of the ball is to protrude from the fixture from the 1-2-3 block's thickness. Then I made a final cut at 15 deg.

With the fixture removed from the spindle, I checked my number using the surface plate and height gage. The ball was protruding .002" more than the prints number. That's perfect!

Next I put the 3-jaw chuck back on the lathe, and made a similar cut a 32 deg. This one was easier to measure, as I could remove it from the 3-jaw chuck! When finished, the ball protruded .001" more than the prints number. That's .004" of interference to clamp the ball securely!

Next I removed the chuck, and remounted the fixture. Then I turned the OD to lighten the cap, and put a nice radius on the corner.

I'm please with the fixture, as the ball is held securely, and exactly in the center of the spindle! Now I need to finish the tool holders, and I'll be ready to drill & ream the balls!

[BobWarfield]

Wow, that is one heck of a fixture!

I think I saw one like it on the Manhattan Project. :cheers:

Those steel balls are certainly hardened, but I did have a thought for you.

I've always been partial to temper colors on steel. Very pretty blues to be had there. Not sure if it is worth your trouble or not, but something to keep in the back burner for consideration. Probably better left for some other project.

Cheers,

BW

[widgitmaster]

Today I worked on the tool holders, first by drilling & counter sinking one hole in each for 5/16 SHCS. Then I made up four little T-Nuts to fasten the tool holders to my lathe's 8-station turret.

Next I put a dial indicator in the lathe chuck, and used it to center all four tool holders to the same X-Zero. That required a little mirror to see the indicator when checking the back side!

Then I center drilled a pilot hole in all four block, simply by rotating the turret for each one. Next I removed the R8 arbor from my little boring head, and put the boring head in the 3-jaw chuck. Now I can make several .050" deep passes on the OD of the blocks, until my final pass mad the block 1" dia, about .950" long.

Next I put a corner rounding tool in the boring head, and put a .25 Radius on the nose of the tool holders. Now I can remove them from the turret, so that I can drill & tap two #10 holes for setscrews to hole the cutters in place. When finished, I put one of the tool holders in the chuck and used a long tool holder to face the inside surface.

Now the tool holders are complete, but I only need two of the four. So with my 5C collet chuck installed on the lathe's spindle, I placed one of the tool holders in a 1.0" collet. This ensures the tool is placed squarely and on center of the spindle. So before tightening the screw holding the tool holder, I turned the cross feed knob one turn clockwise. and set the DRO to zero. Then I tightened the screw. By repeating the last procedure, I am confident the cutting tools are both dead center, and parallel to the spindle.

Now its time to load up that BIG ball fixture, and try this drilling procedure for the 1st time! After cutting lightly with the spade drill, I noticed the ball was loose in the fixture. I suppose the pressure seated the ball deeper in the 15 deg cone. So I removed the cap, and removed .005" from the inside with my surface grinder. Then I reassembled the fixture, using the spade drill point to realign the divot. Then I tightened all six screws. With the ball mounted securely, I finished using the spade drill (tool #1) and rotated the turret to the next tool. The .2500" dia. straight flute carbide drill worked perfectly, with a little cutting oil at 300 RPM. The hole is .375" deep and when finished drilling, a .249" dia. pin fit snuggly, and a .250" dia. pin would not fit!

So all I have to do is put a special step pin in the bottom center of the fixture, and I can flip the ball to drill the other side!

[lancut]

Nice work widgitmaster. As recently retired tool & die maker I appreciate what you doing. How hard those balls are? Just about year a go I drilled some for a test project, did some Rockwell test on those(38 R)and as it turns out once you got thru the nickel chrome part the rest of the way is a piece of cake. I used a carbide c-drill to start and finished with 5/16 cobalt drill bit rest of the way... BTW the dia of those ball was 2.0000

[widgitmaster]

The balls are NOT chrome plated, they are fully hardened chrome alloy steel.
They are grade 25, hardened to 60-67 Rockwell-C