Cutting keyways

Dec 31, 2005 1 Replies

I've just cut a 5mm x 2.5mm keyway in an aluminium pulley.



Now' s a good time to ask the right way to do this!



I brazed a piece of HSS into a piece of bar stock, mounted it in the mill chuck and then took small bites until done. The reason for asking is that I want to repeat the trick but the next pulley is cast iron - wouldn't mind some advice before proceeding -



A secondary question is that when I brazed the HSS into the bar, the cutting edge was just about "blue" as the joint was made. Next job is to braze a die chaser into a piece of square bar (I'm told a better device than a single point tool) and don't want to ruin the cutting edges.



TIA



Steve


Buy a shaper! Have a look at:

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You could use a slotting attachment for your lathe: e.g.

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Slotting attachments are available for mills, e.g.

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[This is maybe not the best example, but it gives you something to Google around]

Does it have to be brazed at all? Would a clamp arrangement suffice? Could you use something to absorb the excess heat? Frost

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sell a putty that does this. I believe potatos are also useful for this. Be sure, however, not to use a metric spud on an imperial chaser!

HTH

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