Default
I appreciate all the replies. I meant to post a picture for size and use reference and got a customer call so just hit "post."
Here you can see it just needs to be straight enough to be coaxial with the dial indicator. It would have to really banana to cause issues, I think.
Quantities to start off with are projected at a few hundred a year. I am cutting them to length (plus facing stock) and then sticking them in a collet, machining the first side, M00, manually flip it, then machining the second end. I originally intended to hard turn material, but I do have concerns about the machine being capable (this is on my archaic Takahashi gang lathe).
Why hardened? Partly because "that is the way the old owner did it" but also because I don't want the anvil to distort against the thumb screw over time, and I don't want the radii to wear on rod bolts over time. Making them hard removes the concern.
The heat treater is picking up some to test today. He doesn't expect problems due to the short length. Biggest issue is they will have scale on them afterwards, and I'll have to try tumbling them and maybe polishing as well.
If I can't get pretty parts this way, I will look into the 17-4 prehardened. I don't have the SFM to run CBN but the Sandvik rep got me a few inserts to try out in up to 60HRc at the speeds I can run.
Again, I appreciate all the information.
I laughed when I saw these pics…..HARD! The first few replies to this post were all on the same train of thought as I. We all thought, since you did use the word taper, was that you wanted to make your own specialty “Taper Pins” which are typically used to lock round parts fitted through another part vertically, such as a gear on a shaft. What you have there is an angle down to 1 mm radius. My question is this. What is the thumb, set screw made of and is it hardened?
