Just gotta share... :-) I received my Chinese 7x12 today, and after a flurry of cleaning, inspecting, and lubrication, I finally got to cut some metal tonight. Just a bit of straight turning and facing of a brass rod, but fun fun fun! :-)
Learned a bit, too. I've learned about the importance of getting the tool adjusted to the right height. I've learned what a difference the choice of the right tool makes -- and the speed at which it is made to cut. I've heard and felt actual chatter, and learned a couple of ways to avoid it.
Grattis Tom Ivar. Det er sykt morro ikke sant? Jeg fikk av min bedre halvdel en Myford ML7 til jul, og har hatt mye morro med den. Ser umiddelbart behov for en fres, så jeg har bestilt en Sherline 5400 som skal konverteres til CNC. Yiiha, nå skal det lages mye heftig til fly og heli. Lykke til med dreiingen.
Mvh Søren
Sorry about the jiberish in Norwegian.
"Tom Ivar Helbekkmo" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@athene.i.eunet.no...
Bravo! Now the madness has its hold on you...Buawhahahahaha!
Gunner
The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty." Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute -- get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed. " Lazarus Long
I fly model airplanes, and I've got a silencer that's coming apart on one of my engines, so I'm planning to make a new one. It's just a short aluminum pipe, but the openings at the ends need to be smaller than the inner diameter in between, so it'll have to be made in two pieces that are then joined. I figure that's a good excuse to try my hand at inside and outside thread cutting. The original can be seen at , but I'll be making my replacement a bit longer.
Yup. I'm very aware that this thing, although small, can do damage.
Spinning. Take a bit of tube, spun at a few hundred RPM, and secured at the ends. Apply a bit of greased hardwood rod to the tube. With aluminium or copper, this is almost trivial, you can get quite accurate shapes freehand.
I've got a bucketful of chips by now, having had a lot of fun experimenting with brass, aluminum and steel. I find that brass is difficult to get a smooth surface on, but aluminum and steel are easy to cut. I really like working with aluminum, because it cuts fast and easy, giving a nice, smooth finish.
Anyway, the first useful item I made was a simple little bushing I needed to fit a propeller to an engine shaft -- and then I got to work on that silencer. I've made two, both from 5/8" round aluminum stock. They can be seen at . The smallest one is the original. It's a tiny, single chamber muffler with a pressure tap for the pressurized fuel system. It's CNC turned from aluminum, and the rear cone is a separate piece that's coming loose, and one reason why I wanted a new one. The other reason is that I wanted more sound dampening.
The first attempt is the medium sized one. It's really just a larger version of the original. The cone at the end is a separate piece, and was pressed into the main body in a vise, having a very slightly tapered "plug" that could just be started into the main body by hand. The big one, shown mounted on the engine, is three inches long, and is a two chamber version. It's made in three pieces, a double-ended tapered plug in the middle being used to join the two halves, again by pressing the whole thing in a vise. The plug is perforated by several thin holes. After assembly, I mounted the whole thing in the lathe again, grabbing one narrow end with the lathe chuck, and supporting the other with a steel center in the tail stock. This allowed me to turn the outside of the main body to a smooth finish, visually hiding the two joints near the middle of it.
Great fun! I'm starting to get the "I can make anything!" feeling that Gunner warned me about... :-) Next project: a replacement for the missing pawn in my son's chess set.
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