Hi cinematechnic:
OK that explains the source of your difficulty much better.
I looked at your post #5, thinking I might have missed something important, but could find no reference to the fact you're hoping to mate import toolholders to a Swiss toolpost.
I looked also at your post #7 and similarly could find no reference to what you were trying to mate.
So that's why, based on this
"I need to remove a small amount of material in the bore holes of a few Multifix tool holders in order for them to fit properly to the toolpost (the fit is too tight).". from you in post #5, I presumed all components were Multifix and was perplexed at how this could be, given the quality of my own toolpost and holders.
OK, so you will need to take out more than what you can probably achieve by lapping, and since that's the case, it's probably worthwhile to do what it takes to wire cut them rather than sinker them.(sinkering will be costlier)
Here are your choices as I see them:
1) temporarily sacrifice the toolposts to the wire shop so they can use them for fixturing.
2) Use them yourself if you have a surface grinder and can grind some properly flat and square clamping surfaces that are consistent from holder to holder.
However you do it, you must have the means of hanging the holders into the work tank so the upper and lower heads can both travel over the entire top and bottom surfaces.
Bolting the toolpost to a plate and hanging it into the worktank accomplishes that most cheaply.
Then you can C-clamp the holders against the toolpost, leaving the clamping bores accessible.
You can pick up the bore locations of an original Multifix tool holder (if you have one), and can then just wire cut each of the new tool holders to match, by clamping them in turn to the toolpost and running the program.
I estimate the farting about for setup to consume a couple of hours, the programming to consume half an hour and each tool holder to consume about half an hour for both holes assuming you can live with single pass precision and finish (gets you to within 0.002" and 64 microinch finish).
Typical charge out rate for wire shops in my area (western Canada) is $120.00 CDN per hour, so the mod will be roughly 60 bucks a holder plus the setup and programming amortization, if your area has a similar shop rate for wire work.
Making a "plug" simply allows you to avoid stripping the toolposts off the lathes and surrendering them for a few days, but now the plug has to be modeled, programmed and wirecut so it can serve as a surrogate for the tool posts.
It only needs one serration on it, but it still has to be chopped from a big enough plate to hang from the side of the worktank, and the wire is charged out by the distance it travels, not the complexity of the contour it follows, so many serrations costs what one serration costs but one's enough to index from and it's simpler to model accurately.
So if the toolpost is 2" thick, and 3" diameter, the wire needs to travel roughly half the circumference so 5" at 0.100" per minute so call it an hour ($120.00) to wire cut the holding fixture, plus what it takes to model it, program it, mill on a clamping step and bolt holes to mount it on the table, mount it and prep it for cutting.
So you can see where this is going cost wise, and if you have 10 holders to process, you're going to be approaching the thousand bucks I referenced earlier.
Now you have to decide how badly you want to keep the toolposts at home, and how much this project is worth to you.
Be aware also, that the tool holders and the tool posts will likely suffer some surface rusting...it will be minimal if the steel they're made from contains any reasonable amount of Chromium, but there WILL be some.
Cheers
Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining