Does anyone know how to lap the end surface of a rod so that it is perfectly flat and normal to the rod axis?
I thought I had an article by Geometer on how to do this but I cannot locate it. It is no longer available on Yahoo Hints & Tips. If anyone has this article 119/2961 please let me know.
Thanks, John.
We used to lap the ends of laser rods with a collet chuck that grabbed the rod, which had a large flat face to keep it aligned on the lapping film. I guess the chuck face got lapped a bit along with the rod-end. I can envision a design to avoid that, but it makes the whole business much larger. - basically expand the face so that face can ride on a non-abrasive surface which is parallel to the surface with lapping film on it.
It would be pretty straightforward to make such a chuck on a lathe. I'm pretty sure they can be bought, too, since we did not make the one we used. It was 15 years or so ago, so I could not tell you who made it, offhand.
That's not possible. Any technique you use to form the end of the rod will render it less than perfectly flat, and less than perfectly normal to the axis.
Jim
Hey Jim,
Wouldn't you say it's a matter of what you'd call *perfect*? Starrett has been doing it for years, lapping micrometer spindles and anvils. They can easily resolve .000050" in the hands of someone skilled, so they must be pretty close.
Harold
Place I used to work at, Hemco Gage, had a Pratt & Whitney SuperMic. I lapped the ends quite often, to .000010 parallel, as indicated by the Mikrocator indicator and a class XXX gage pin.
Now Harold, sure that's right.
He knows what he thinks, when he says 'perfect.' That may not be what I think of when I say the same word.
This is why tolerances are put on dimensions.
He didn't put any tolerances there, so I felt free to add in my own interpretation. "Perfect" means no deviation from the correct geometry, at all.
Imagine a machine tool, with absolutely *no* rust on it all....
:^)
Jim
Now that you put it that way, I understand!
H
Now that you put it that way, I understand!
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for the comments and I did receive a copy of Geometer's file. I shall be a little more careful of the use of 'perfect' in the future.
John.
I can't believe no one has asked this yet.
What procedure and equipment did you use?
Adam Smith Midland, ON
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