Hi laminar-flow:
Once you solve the stock geometry issue, you will find that 954 aluminum bronze is very nice to work with and holds detail well...much better than brass because it's not so damn fragile...it can tolerate a bigger bump without bruising like a whiney baby.
A couple of caveats though, which are true for pretty much every aluminum bronze I've ever worked with.
These materials are hard to drill, hard to ream, and hard to tap.
Not impossible, but definitely can't be approached as casually as 360 brass.
I have found threadmilling to be superior to tapping across all sizes; I've found single point boring to be more predictable than reaming, and I've found helical interpolation more predictable than drilling when the LD ratio allows.
When it doesn't I've found playing with the cut parameters helps and I expect to break a few tools until I get it dialed in, so budget for that.
The problem is that the material tends to shrink and grab on the holemaking tool and will twist it off in a heartbeat.
With regard to rough stock; that's what centerless grinders are for...yeah it's expensive but so long as you know beforehand and quote accordingly, it's not a show stopper.
That's how the Swiss guys typically solve a problem of that kind.
Cheers
Marcus
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