technerd_chris
Plastic
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2019
- Location
- Conyers, GA
I "make" and sell this tool:
Not a lot of them, but enough that I'm annoyed about the concept that I know there's something I'm doing wrong.
The consistency is poor. I have a holder that's got some threads, I screw in the bolt, chuck the holder in the lathe (cheap 12x36) and I machine off the threads at the end. It breaks the general rule of being 3x the diameter out from the chuck but I've got the process down pretty well. I've been doing small batches of these for 6 or 7 years. I use a bar with an insert on it behind the part, run the lathe clockwise, first cut of 0.030" off from the end by hand, then move the cross slide in another 0.020" and I use the power feed to cut away from the chuck. I've played with speed and feed as well as depth of cuts to get it almost perfect. But there are always lines in the final part. I've always sucked at machining steel, so I don't usually fret it.
What are the various ways a small shop could machine this bolt? I'm taking off about 0.050" from the outside of the threads, or 0.100" diameter overall.
Or is my issue that it needs finishing? (I'm not too excited about more operations, honestly)
Thanks for your thoughts - long time reader, first time asker,
Chris
Not a lot of them, but enough that I'm annoyed about the concept that I know there's something I'm doing wrong.
The consistency is poor. I have a holder that's got some threads, I screw in the bolt, chuck the holder in the lathe (cheap 12x36) and I machine off the threads at the end. It breaks the general rule of being 3x the diameter out from the chuck but I've got the process down pretty well. I've been doing small batches of these for 6 or 7 years. I use a bar with an insert on it behind the part, run the lathe clockwise, first cut of 0.030" off from the end by hand, then move the cross slide in another 0.020" and I use the power feed to cut away from the chuck. I've played with speed and feed as well as depth of cuts to get it almost perfect. But there are always lines in the final part. I've always sucked at machining steel, so I don't usually fret it.
What are the various ways a small shop could machine this bolt? I'm taking off about 0.050" from the outside of the threads, or 0.100" diameter overall.
Or is my issue that it needs finishing? (I'm not too excited about more operations, honestly)
Thanks for your thoughts - long time reader, first time asker,
Chris