enormous steel chopstick?

If I had to do it with the stuff I have at home, I would use the mill and a wedge baseplate. Use double sided tape to hold down the workpeice to the baseplate. Machine the taper. Finish the corners with an endmill having an inside 1/8" radius.

Kevin Gallimore

Can you talk him into how great they look hand-forged? Stamp some artistic designs into the sides...

Steve

Grant Erw> I have this friend in art school, and he wants to make a sculpture. He

If you used a follower rest, where it's just rounding off the corners, wouldn't it only come into contact at the corners (which are opposite where the cutting takes place on a square cross-section)? Maybe it isn't a problem.

This is a forging job. First, I would forge a square taper all the way down. Then rough forge the round end. Chuck it up in a 4 jaw, turn the round more accurately. Then a bit of handwork at the end.

I made some giant pencils for a sculpture I did for Bellingham Trade Tech basically the same way- took a big chunk of 2" round, forged the hex into it, then used the lathe to make the eraser and sharpened point.

Hi, Grant. Sounds like he is asking for a very long pin punch. I have one in a tool box that is the right size, but only 1/2 as long as your friend wants. Perhaps longer ones exist somewhere. Would he be bothered if there was a brand name on his chop sticks?

Paul

Could you make the item in three pieces then weld or braze together? You could cut the taper by turning on offset centers. You are only removing

1/8th inch on the radius over 18 inches. Before turning on the centers both 222 79881 body Could you make the item in three pieces then weld or braze together? You could cut the taper by turning on offset centers. You are only removing 1/8th inch on the radius over 18 inches. Before turning on the centers both ends of the taper section could be prepared. The small end could be drilled to receive the 1/4 inch diameter. The large end could have a pilot machined to fit into the end of the square section. Using this method the three parts could be silver soldered together. Sounds like a simple thing to do on a production basis for serious money. With an adequate lathe I don't think it would take more than half an hour prep and machining per taper section. Use cold rolled steel for the square and round tip to reduce finishing time. Randy

18" of that length.

Even if the piece were round, I don't think a follower rest is practical on a long taper. It's conceivable that a CNC lathe might have a CNC follower rest which could follow the profile, but I sure as heck don't have one of those.

I suggested he find a beater lathe somewhere, chuck up the part between centers, spin it at high speed, and have at it with an angle grinder, figuring after awhile he'd either get the hang of it or get sick of it, and either way he'd be out of my hair. But he didn't go for it. Unfortunately, this guy has a lot of money and wants me to make him 18 of these.

Anybody have an idea how to go about it? I thought about hacking a prototype out of wood and trying to have a part cast, dunno.

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington

Didn't you hit on the solution with the grinder? Just use a toolpost grinder on a lathe with a taper attachment for more precision.

Pete C.

I'm not a machinist, so I won't be surprised or upset if you find fault with this idea. But, here goes: Make a round collar with a 1/2" square hole. Slide this over the 1/2" raw stock, and start machining the small end. Keep moving the collar and the steady rest toward the middle as you go.

George Rickey has been doing that for years out of stainless sheet and a long break.. Then welds and grinds the seam. Check out

$64267*5386118

I think you have it right -- only I wouldn't expose a lathe to the abrasive grit. Just make a "lathe" frame out of whatever, maybe 2" square steel tubing, with bearings and holders on each end. Put a motor on one end to rotate the workpiece, maybe just an electric drill, and then shape the piece with abrasive. Instead of an angle grinder, I'd use a handheld belt sander with a ceramic grit belt. Those belts are agressive, run cool because they cut more than they drag, and they last a very long time on mild steel. Might want two belts, a 40-grit for roughing and an 80 to 100 for smoothing.

If you wanted a modicum of "precision", you might make a tapered sliding guide (maybe drawer slides) for the sander, but since they don't have to fit anything I would think that eyeball appearance is probably more important than any dimensional precision.

After shaping and smoothing, I'd then finish them with a cratex wheel moving the piece longitudinally to take out the sanding marks. Maybe he could do that, he being the artist and all. You (or he) could then polish them up in a few minutes on a buffer with a sisal wheel and aggressive emery compound.

After polishing, they could then be copper plated, buffed to a mirror finish, then nickle-plated, then flashed with chrome if desired.

On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 02:19:57 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Pete C." quickly quoth:

(So take the money and run. It'll be a nice half/full day's pay doing something different for a change, Grant. Be sure to get 2/3 of the money up front and show him the first prototype for a signoff. Rich folks can be mighty uppity. What's he paying? For the right price, I'll go grab a HF lathe and do them for you. Things are slow right now. ;)

Yeah, or he could put a 1/8" offset on the tailstock (shims or jig it up), maks/protect the vital parts of the lathe from grit, and go for it with a grinder.

I think I would do it with a 1/2 inch sq. 5c collet and a live center. I would leave about 5 inches out of collet at a time and turn 1/4 end first then move out another 5 inches with center in tailstock pick up dia.and do the next 5 inches ect. I think I could do it on my Logan. I would try 1/2 sq. leadloy 12L14.If I had a piece aof stock I would do one for fun. Jim

Thats! a good idea.

Saved for future reference

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

How about doing it freehand on a belt grinder? Turn a recess for the small end (to get a clue when to stop gringing) and sand it off holding the stick lengthwise to the belt.

Nick

Just a dumb suggestion, but see if there's a Korean grocery around--Korean chopsticks are often stainless steel and cooking chopsticks come up to 30 inches long. Might be possible to just buy however many you need off the shelf.