Machining Puzzles

[Ross Shafer]

Howdy all,

I thought some of you might get a kick out of this. One of the challenges everyone faces in machining is figuring out the order of operations and the holding methods for them. This can get pretty tricky in the CNC world and often necessitates simple and not so simple part specific fixtures...sometimes there's no way around it...believe me I've got an ever growing pile of weird little holding fixtures, many of which will never get used again.

Below are some pics of how I get around making fixtures for everything when the part is suitable. The part being made is my pedal crank. I think the photos are pretty self explanatory, but here's an outline:

pic 1- I mill slots in two sides of the material
pic 2- drill and tap holes, mill slots on both broad sides of the material
pic 3- stand material on end and mill part profiles, slice 'em off with a 4"x.0625" slitting saw
pic 4- machined parts (saw doesn't leave a great finish, but a quick rub on some 220 and subsequent tumbling takes care of that)

anyway, it's pretty challenging and fun to work through the puzzle to figure this stuff out....if what they say about working the brain helping keep Alzheimer's at bay is true...then I'll never get it, because this stuff works the hell out of what meager brain power I have now!

Happy Hot Dang Holidays!

[Ross Shafer]

pic 4:

[maxi19]

Very nice Ross

Ron Mc

[azureskys]

nice machining Ross

[Per Berner]

Beautiful stuff!

[bluesteel]

Very nice, Ross - although I must be the only one here who can't work out what job these parts do!

[Ross Shafer]

The parts in the photos above are my pedal cranks. The portion the pedal rod "hooks" to is a separate piece that is not shown.