Machining washers

smeboss · Jul 11, 2008

I may need to machine some (900) washers, 1/2" thick, approx 3" od, 1.50 id. I have a Leblonde 19" lathe, and Bridgeport mill. What would be the best way to do these. I could plas them, or laser cut from plate, and finish the id, od. I could turn the od, in 16" chunks then sawcut and bore.

What do you guys think?

Thanks

Charles

Carl Darnell · Jul 11, 2008

Not enough info.

Are you parting off 1/2" pieces of a 3" shaft and boring a 1.50" hole????

Are you cutting them out of 1/2" plate????

garyphansen · Jul 11, 2008

If you have a bull nose live center, I would set them up on the lathe, drill and bore out the 1.5" I.D. and then part them off. Gary P. Hansen

SND · Jul 11, 2008

All depends on finish and tolerances required. laser cutting out of plate would be a pretty quick way to get something to work from for sure, maybe it can even cut it done?

Parting them on a manual lathe will get quite time consuming over 900 pieces.

Mike C. · Jul 11, 2008

yeah, this is gonna be a hell of a job for a manual lathe. Think I'd bore, face, part as many as possible, repeat. If they have to be super accurate, step collet is in order.

Xtrucker_99 · Jul 11, 2008

i think could you just buy 3"od x 1 1/2" id tubing and slice it on a cold saw.

dt

smeboss · Jul 11, 2008

Hi Carl

I'm looking for any way to get these done. Burn out of plate, turn and bore, etc. I'd love to have a big bore cnc lathe.

Gary

I don't have much luck with parting tool operation. I could get a bullnose, how long do you think it would take to part one off?

SND

The only tolerance right now is the bore, 1.502-1.505, not sure of the OD. Finish is close to mill finish. I do know a good laser shop I'm going to talk to.

Mike
I agree it'll be a hellaciuosly long tedious job but maybe thats the answer.

Thanks Guys!!

bluechipper · Jul 11, 2008

From your original post, it sounds to me like your tolerances aren't that tight.

In which case, I'd use some 1 1/2 x 3 dom, hang out from the chuck just over 3"
Slap a 1 1/2 spade in the tailstock, punch 'em out, and part 'em off.
Keep a debur and a file handy, and knock off the bore's burr before starting to part off the next one, and after plunging in 1/2" or so with the parting tool, file the front and back edge of the o.d.(you can also catch the part with your rattlebur as it falls off, and drop it right into a bucket)
That'd give three parts in about 5 minutes....@ 30 hours nose to the grind stone, including some time to put a chamfermill in the bridgeport, to knok the bur off of the bakside....That's what I'd do anyway.
:cheers:

(In production work, it's the time you spend between parts that can hurt ya)

smeboss · Jul 11, 2008

Trucker

I've bought 4140 1/2 wall tube before, and made rollers but the id wouldnt clean up. This might work though, I'll look into it.

Thanks

smeboss · Jul 11, 2008

Bluechipper

That sounds like a great idea, what kind of tolerances do a spade drill leave?

gusmadison · Jul 11, 2008

Charles,
I realize you were asking about making them but at 900 pcs., I would think you owe it to yourself to get a price on them from Bokers. Their web address is their name dot com.
It's what they do and they are very good at it and fair priced in my opinion.

Gus

bluechipper · Jul 11, 2008

when only skinning the @ .015 the bore is usually under on dom tubing, it will generally cut three to five over...(assuming it was clean, and seated properly when bolted together)
...after reading what you posted(while I was typing my reply) about your tolerances, that may be a little risky. A reamer may be a better solution....but a lot more expensive in such a large diameter, and you'd have to change to a slower rpm to ream. It isn't hard to turn a reamer down as to grab it in a standard drill chuck, but I'd definately give a spade bit the first shot.

bluechipper · Jul 11, 2008

gusmadison said:
Charles,
I realize you were asking about making them but at 900 pcs., I would think you owe it to yourself to get a price on them from Bokers. Their web address is their name dot com.
It's what they do and they are very good at it and fair priced in my opinion.

Gus

I don't know about this one, But the way I see it, say you get 5 bux a piece, @ 1.50/" for stock...3300(gotta figure for the part off tool loss..900 1/8" is 8 inches short of ten feet)...for a week..... or you can buy them, what if they only cost 1.50 from Bokers????....same 5 bux gets you 3200...just a couple of phone calls.
You ought to look into it anyways.

HuFlungDung · Jul 11, 2008

If you have to make them, I think I'd go with laser cut blanks. Probably, it would be easy enough to just ream the laser cut hole (use a floating reamer holder of some description) with a carbide tipped shell reamer, then make up a mandrel to hold 10 or 20 at a time and turn the OD.

Deburr the OD afterwards on the belt sander. For this type of deburr, I usually scrounge a piece of round stock and weld a flange to it, then make the round stock a running fit inside the washers. The flange helps keep the washer running true. Now, approach the sanding belt with the disk canted at about a 30 degree angle so that the belt wants to spin the disk, but you only need apply a bit of friction with a gloved fingertip to the disk so that it does not spin too fast, and the belt will sand a nice even break all around. Quickly tip the disk 30 degree to the other side of vertical and break the other edge. Done. Should deburr 4 parts / minute or so.

I don't hold the disk axis perpendicular to the belt (in a negative rake attitude) because the belt will itself raise a burr on the finished edge. The almost tangential belt approach tends to sand its own burr off.

mobile_bob · Jul 11, 2008

i vote for a good laser shop myself
i had some 3/8 plate cut with approx 2" holes for balljoints to be pressed into
and they asked how tight i press fit i wanted,, i asked for .002"under and the pressfit was perfect,, so i would think they could attain your tolerance's without much trouble.

they cut gears for all sorts of stuff that are ready to mount and run without further machining,, sounds like that is close enough for your requirments.

probably worth a phone call as suggested, can't hurt and might save you a bunch of work.

bob g

SamH · Jul 11, 2008

bluechipper said:
From your original post, it sounds to me like your tolerances aren't that tight.

In which case, I'd use some 1 1/2 x 3 dom, hang out from the chuck just over 3"
Slap a 1 1/2 spade in the tailstock, punch 'em out, and part 'em off.
Keep a debur and a file handy, and knock off the bore's burr before starting to part off the next one, and after plunging in 1/2" or so with the parting tool, file the front and back edge of the o.d.(you can also catch the part with your rattlebur as it falls off, and drop it right into a bucket)
That'd give three parts in about 5 minutes....@ 30 hours nose to the grind stone, including some time to put a chamfermill in the bridgeport, to knok the bur off of the bakside....That's what I'd do anyway.

(In production work, it's the time you spend between parts that can hurt ya)

Wouldn't it be 3.0x.75 DOM?

Limy Sami · Jul 11, 2008

An alternative to consider to the above.

IF, you have the time and or need the work AND the price is right, I'd look at getting the material in the cheapest possible form, -laser, tube etc etc, then machine it in your own facility thus generating and keeping as much of the value for yourself.

bluechipper · Jul 11, 2008

SamH said:
Wouldn't it be 3.0x.75 DOM?

????????Dunno??????
I'd call my supplier and say hey Dave i need a stick of 1.5x3 dom, and he wouldn't send me a piece of 3" solid ...for sure. Maybe he has just never called me on my ignorance.

garyphansen · Jul 11, 2008

"I don't have much luck with parting tool operation. I could get a bullnose, how long do you think it would take to part one off?"

I have never timed it but I would guess that using my LeBlond power cross feed to part off it would be about 20 seconds per washer. The drilling and boring would by far take the longest. I am guessing you could make them all in a 50 hour week. I would make a few and do a time study be for I quoted a price.

My idea for making them would be to drill and bore as deep as practical and then part them off and repeat. Using a bullnose live center will make parting easier and each washer will end up hanging on the live center so you do not have to go looking for it. If you have any problems parting off just ask, I have lots of tips. Your LeBlond shold part off all day long with out working up a sweat. Gary P. Hansen

SamH · Jul 11, 2008

bluechipper said:
????????Dunno??????
I'd call my supplier and say hey Dave i need a stick of 1.5x3 dom, and he wouldn't send me a piece of 3" solid ...for sure. Maybe he has just never called me on my ignorance.

I guess he knows what you mean. Although it could be my ignorance. I always have to give diameter and wall thickness.

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