steamandsteel
Aluminum
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2017
- Location
- Wichita, KS
Hello,
I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about forming holes in a pair of flue sheets, for a small scale boiler.
I've got a CNC Plasma that can cut out the round pieces from plates, and the related mills, drills, and lathes for finishing work.
My question is - what would be the best way to form the holes in the sheets themselves? I've attached a few pictures for reference.
Thought #1 - The plasma can cut holes that are very square. However, they would still need to be cleaned up, and be approximately 1/64th oversize to allow the tubes to be expanded and rolled into place. A carbide burr could remove the hard layer from the plasma, but I would still need to ream/drill/bore out each hole to get an accurate and round hole.
Thought #2 - Cut out a stencil to lay on top of the two blank circles, which would let me center punch and drill to size. The only downside here is the amount of material that will have to removed for each hole, and the time it would take to do all of them.
I'm very curious to see what you all think.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about forming holes in a pair of flue sheets, for a small scale boiler.
I've got a CNC Plasma that can cut out the round pieces from plates, and the related mills, drills, and lathes for finishing work.
My question is - what would be the best way to form the holes in the sheets themselves? I've attached a few pictures for reference.
Thought #1 - The plasma can cut holes that are very square. However, they would still need to be cleaned up, and be approximately 1/64th oversize to allow the tubes to be expanded and rolled into place. A carbide burr could remove the hard layer from the plasma, but I would still need to ream/drill/bore out each hole to get an accurate and round hole.
Thought #2 - Cut out a stencil to lay on top of the two blank circles, which would let me center punch and drill to size. The only downside here is the amount of material that will have to removed for each hole, and the time it would take to do all of them.
I'm very curious to see what you all think.