Originally Posted by
Pete F
Oh bugger, you give up so easily :wink: Here's me hoping you'd have a good crack at it if I gave the appropriate hints. You want to do this Old School on a lathe as a learning experience? I guess the appropriate guidance is then to get you to devise the answer yourself .... teach a man to fish and all that stuff :D
I'm not sure about your travels, but I looked at the picture of your square setup and I don't foresee any problem in fixturing to mill. I'll give you another hint, and this is a game the whole family can play, your milling slide has two 2 slots. One can be used for T nuts, the other used for ....... :wink:
I think too many people get sucked in to think they need to rush out and buy this and that (and I'm at least as guilty as the next person for that), but forget (or never learnt) basics, especially for the Vertically Challenged milling machine owners amongst us!! I believe the most difficult part about machining isn't the actual machining, it's problem solving the fixturing. I'm personally just finishing up 3 little engines, PIA models to give to friends, I can't believe how much work goes in to them and how accurate it needs to be (ever tried machining 1.5 mm gudgeon pins. Or reducing 2 mm cap screws?). Without doubt the most difficult part by far was working out how to accurately HOLD such weeny items, yet be able to work on them. As much as I'm a bit over them, as it's been an onerous time burden I can't really afford, by sticking to the drawings precisely I learnt much more about machining that I ever would have if I'd "cheated" eg friction driving work, trepanning, bizarre tool grinding, etc etc etc. In other words ... you'll figure it out :wink: