Laser Center/Edge Finder Holder |
|
|
|
I decided to bore to depth and then clamp the last 1" of stock while using the live center in the hole that I bored. That short would be used for my drawbar mod a couple of days later. |
|
Rockin' the Silver &Deming. I decided to get a little bold here and hit it with the 1/2" bit. I was actually very impressed with the power and stability of the machine. It took this cut and begged for more. Not much more...but more. I also discovered something interesting here...probably discovered by a few thousand people before me as well. Anyway, I bored out the initial hole and before I hogged it, I shot it full of Tapmatic. Since the oil is viscous it pretty much hangs out inside the bore and acts as a reservoir, constantly lubricating the drill tip. I have found I can hog almost the entire depth of the bore and keep the drill bit wet, especially if the oil filled bore is over 7/16" |
|
This was my first hog and decent pile of chips. Mmmmmm chips. |
|
Here you can see I've clamped about and inch at the chuck and plugged the live center into the hole I just hogged. Trying out another tool bit too. I forgot to take pictures after this, but I just took a couple of light cuts on the outside and proceeded to cut some grooves with the parting tool. I also tried out my compound slide for taper cutting and matched the shoulder angle on my LC/EF at the lip of the holder. |
|
Moments after arriving into this world as an LC/EF holder, the chuck is still moving even. |
|
The next little step was to try the "bolt circle" feature on the DRO. I'll have to say there would be no way I could just jump into machining without the DRO. Center up the piece in the vise, enter the hole pattern information and the DRO just tells you where to go. Magic. I tip my hat to everyone who learned or still does it the old fashioned way. I drilled out the center so no grit would get trapped in the bottom of the holder and gum up the .0035" hole where the laser comes out of the LC/EF unit. Yes, that is in fact 3.5 thousandths of an inch. That's like, way small. |
|
This is the finished product (on the left). The taper on the holder actually worked out nicely. I put three magnets on the bottom as sort of a tripod, so I can set it anywhere and it will be flat on the surface. On the right is my tool height gauge. |
|