Hello everyone,
I've been chipping away at small parts to the Edwards radial for the past two months. It's with my recent acquisition of a used 10" phase 2 rotary table that this isn't a fleeting fancy, and that I'm truly enjoying this process. It is with full disclosure that I'm new to machining but am trying to have a steep learning curve. Any mistakes I make I'll post, so others may not make it and hopefully I won't make it again. As it stands I waited too long to get any precise measuring equipment. Last week I got a set of mitutoyo micrometers, and after checking my parts again most things are a bit big by a few thousands. Darn you harbor freight digital micrometers, never again.
I'll try to update my thread each day until it catches up to where I currently am. I'll start with the Pistons today. I started with 6061 borrowed from work. It's 1" rod and I grabbed enough to make 10 Pistons. I learned initially to ease into your last measurement. Many small passes beats going too small. Each rod I cut is enough for two pistons. Grooving tools were ground from hss blanks. Again, it's very easy to over grind, always ease into your measurement.
I bored out the back of the piston with my new 3/8" boring bar set. I went back and forth between moving the carriage and the compound. That's when I learned the make absolutely sure the compound is parallel. No biggie though the taper is just a couple thousands.
At this point I made a plate to hold my lathe chuck to my mill. I made the conrod clearance with a 3/8" carbide end mill. I didn't like the carbide... I also wished I used a 5/16" endmill and made two passes. It's not pretty but it'll work.
I still need to drill and ream the wrist pin hole, add the bottom groove and drain holes. Ultimately I trashed about four Pistons, but these were my first attempts at accurate parts. I learned a lot.
Bear with me everyone, still figuring out how to post here.
Thanks
Kyle
I've been chipping away at small parts to the Edwards radial for the past two months. It's with my recent acquisition of a used 10" phase 2 rotary table that this isn't a fleeting fancy, and that I'm truly enjoying this process. It is with full disclosure that I'm new to machining but am trying to have a steep learning curve. Any mistakes I make I'll post, so others may not make it and hopefully I won't make it again. As it stands I waited too long to get any precise measuring equipment. Last week I got a set of mitutoyo micrometers, and after checking my parts again most things are a bit big by a few thousands. Darn you harbor freight digital micrometers, never again.
I'll try to update my thread each day until it catches up to where I currently am. I'll start with the Pistons today. I started with 6061 borrowed from work. It's 1" rod and I grabbed enough to make 10 Pistons. I learned initially to ease into your last measurement. Many small passes beats going too small. Each rod I cut is enough for two pistons. Grooving tools were ground from hss blanks. Again, it's very easy to over grind, always ease into your measurement.
I bored out the back of the piston with my new 3/8" boring bar set. I went back and forth between moving the carriage and the compound. That's when I learned the make absolutely sure the compound is parallel. No biggie though the taper is just a couple thousands.
At this point I made a plate to hold my lathe chuck to my mill. I made the conrod clearance with a 3/8" carbide end mill. I didn't like the carbide... I also wished I used a 5/16" endmill and made two passes. It's not pretty but it'll work.
I still need to drill and ream the wrist pin hole, add the bottom groove and drain holes. Ultimately I trashed about four Pistons, but these were my first attempts at accurate parts. I learned a lot.
Bear with me everyone, still figuring out how to post here.
Thanks
Kyle
Here is excerpt from Travers catalog just to show variations... dowel pin reamers go reverse tolerance looks like. 
