Altec;7666

 

Since Ty seems to love jigs so much. I made one to hold round material for side drilling. Instead of spending a bunch of time on the mill setting the part up, and centering the head over the part, I just slap the part in, and go. Saves a bunch of time, and will also be good for small production runs.

I got a little cube of aluminum, chucked it up on the lathe, faced the side, and drilled a hole in the center. Its held on using a hold down stud from my fastener set. I may make a hand knob later to make setup quicker.



I used a countersink cutter to mill the groove, and a deeper 1/4" groove in the middle. I will never use a countersink again to do that!

Then I drilled four holes for the clamps.



I had to figure out how I wanted to thread it. I broke down and made something to make thing a bit easier. In the end of my tap holder it a hole. So I took some 3/16" brass rod, and tapered the tip into a blunt point. Using my 3/16" collet, I chucked it up, and got to tapping perfectly straight hole.





Next I made the clamps. After rounding off a HSS bit drilling half a hole in mild steel, I switched to a carbide drill, that drilled the hole without even trying.



Now I need some bolts to test it out!


I got three more sides to play with still! wink1