Custom milled part question

Couldn't you mount it in a 4 jaw chuck and turn it in a lathe?

Dan

Hmm... that's one solution. Thanks.

Others?

Clamp it on a rotary table and mill it in a non-CNC vertical mill?

Is there such thing as a rotary vice? Clamp it in and turn it as it is being milled?

First off, lets assume you have a good reason for cutting away everything that isn't a pin instead of adding a pin.

1. A rotary table.

1. A boring head with the bar turned 180 degrees so that it cuts on an OD rather than an ID.

2. Rough the pin to a layout line, then plunge on coordinates calculated such that your endmill is tangent to the pin OD, clean up with a file.

1. Hold the workpiece in the mill's spindle and a toolbit in the vise. Use the mill as a lathe.

As Ned intimates, Please consider drilling and boring a 1/2" thick sheet 0.5" diameter and then heating in an oven it to expand. Press in a chilled 1/2" diameter

1" long aluminum pin that is 0.001" larger than the hole is (at room temperature).

If you don't want to do a shrink fit, consider machining to a tight slip fit (Hole large by ~0.001") and apply Loctite 609 to fix it in place.

Fast enough, cheap enough, accurate enough.

Pick any three. :)

--Winston

Oof! That's 0.25" diameter.

Oof! That's 0.25" diameter.

To me, using the lathe is so straightforward, fast & easy that it isn't even worth considering other solutions.

Bob

That's certainly how I'd do it; if I needed large quantities I'd look for a self-centering 4-jaw or I'd see if I could make the inside of a soft collet square.

Must it be milled?

If you are starting with a 1" tall block, and only need the round projecting feature left after removing the rest of the upper half,

*I* would do it on a lathe. Grip the block in a 4-jaw chuck, and turn off material until you have your 1/4" diameter column left.

You could also do it in a mill with a rotary table with a 4-jaw chuck or a vise mounted on it.

How many do you need? For one, I would do it in a manual lathe. For many, a CNC lathe or mill could be better.

If there were two columns being left the milling with CNC would probably be easier.

And how accurate do the dimensions need to be? Height of cylinder, diameter of cylinder, height of remaing base?

These two newsgroups should work -- and probably bring up a debate between whether it is better to do it with CNC or a manual machine.

Enjoy, DoN.

On Wed, 13 May 2009 11:27:07 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking, John E. wrote,

Clamp it to a faceplate and turn it in a lathe.