Cylindrical Workpiece Holding

[Antman]

Hi All,
I’ve been lurking again and haven’t posted for a while. Not much progress to report. So here is another novice question, you’d think after over 2 years in the workshop this should be a piece of cake.
I want to cut spanner flats in a small cylindrical piece either in my knackered old mill/drill or in the shaper but I can’t suss how to hold it securely.
Thanx,
Ant

 

[Jeremy_BP]

A V-Block in the mill vise would do well.

 

[Antman]

Jeremy, thanks for trying to help. I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of holding it in the vise, there is just not enough metal to hold on to. What I should have done is cut the flats first when there was still a goodly piece of stock to hold in the vise. I think what I must do now is clamp it on the machine table directly, using t-nuts, riser blocks and fingers (I think that’s what they are called).
Ant

 

[peatoluser]

How about a lathe filing rest? You do need a dividing capacity for the lathe, but once the gadgets built it's surprising how quick you can file a couple of spanner flats, although the end result won't be as good as machining.

 

[gbritnell]

If the ends are square put it in the vise with the axis from front to rear, against the vise jaws. Let it stick up enough to cut the first flat. Now take the piece out and rotate it 180* and set the flat that you just cut against a parallel in the vise. Clamp and cut the second flat. I do this often.
gbritnell

 

[kvom]

Make a split collet on the lathe and clamp it in the mill vise.

 

[Jeremy_BP]

What are the dimensions of the piece in question?

 

[Antman]

Well, that little job was the most fun I’ve had on the mill. In the end I clamped my new shaper keyway slotting tool onto the table. My vise is a POS, the moving jaw lifts, but the basic casting could use a little work. I found a suitable hole in my scrapped and abandoned project collection, quickly thinned the metal around it with a few strokes of the shaper and had a collar that fitted under where I wanted the flats and held that down with 2 finger clamps etc.
Thanks for all your replies. Especially master model maker George, the artist. You know who I mean. George, your replies are always a huge boost to my motivation. I don’t know how one guy can find so many hours in a day.