Dovetail problem

Dec 01, 2004 7 Replies
N

I picked up a 12 x 24 Atlas lathe to extend the capabilities of my 6 x



18 Atlas. I need tooling, so what I'm doing short term is adapting some of my 6" tooling to fit the 12". I occasionally (rarely) use a follower rest so I thought it might be a good idea to adapt my 6" follower rest to fit the 12" model (after seeing the prices on ebay). What I had in mind is shown in the crude ascii drawing below. The dovetails involved are 45 deg and 5/16 high. Therein lies the problem. I need a 45 deg dovetail with a 3/8 thickness, and they are only availiable in 5/8" shank and my small mill will only take up to 1/2" shank cutters.

_________ _____\ /_____ | |_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | _____|________ | |_____\ /____|


Since I plan on using Aluminum for the block to make cutting easier, I looked for router bits that might work but didn't find any suitable 45 deg bits. The only other way I can think of is to use a fly cutter, which sounds bad but it's AL and I only have to cut 4 dovetails 1,25" long each.



Is there a better way to do this?


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N

I did just that with a couple cutters purchased cheep on ebay, except by tipping the arbor I was able to make the dovetails for some Aloris holders narrower than the cutter diameter without resorting to multiple pieces. (If you do the multiple piece thing the angle cutter is no longer necessary)

Hard to describe, but a picture makes it pretty clear...

Ned Simmons

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G

Ayup...

Its called a shaper.

Ive done the same thing several times with mine. And in fact am getting ready to do an adapter base for a steady rest to go on my 15" Clausing 1501

Gunner

"I mean, when's the last time you heard of a college where the Young Republicans staged a "Sit In" to close down the Humanities building? On the flip side, how many sit in's were staged to close the ROTC building back in the '60's? Liberals stage protests, do civil disobedience, etc. Conservatives talk politely and try to work out a solution to problems through discourse until they believe that talking won't work... they they go home and open the gun cabinets. Pray things never get to the point where the conservatives decide that "civil disobedience" is the next step, because that's a very short route to "voting from the rooftops" Jeffrey Swartz, Misc.Survivalism

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N

I realized from the start it was an ideal job for a shaper, but I don't have a shaper. ;)

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N

Good idea, but unfortunately the head on my small mill doesn't tip. Might be able to do the same thing by tipping the piece in the vise but the setup starts to get unsteady.

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