It may not seem like much but for now this is the kind of stuff I get to do at the shop...it's a pin for a bucket that needed to be made (two of them actually) and I finally got two of them made....perfectly...literally 
It started out as a 2 5/8" piece of rusty steel...
I faced both ends to ensure that they were perfectly parallel to each other and I drilled the ends so that I didn't have to use the steady rest and I could just use the center...
Then I chucked one end and put the steady rest on the other end and wen't to town...
The two smaller sides are 1" 437 thousands in diameter which is what caused the problems...I'm not comfortable with the lathes "quarks" yet which include the one doesn't like to repeat very well...and the other one likes to cut about 1/2 a thousands per inch so it tapers if you aren't careful...
But I got it done...then the center is just dropped down to 2" on the button...
Next I got to use some "freehand" skills and make a radius (the last person who made the pins didn't radius it on either end and that's where they snapped) so that was fun and quite a challenge...but they turned out pretty good...
Finally I chucked it back in the lathe and used a file to round the sharp edges and used more freehanding with my tool bit to round off the outer edges...
Then it was on to the mill for the holes....
I chucked it in the vise and swapped out chucks to fit the bit I had to use...then I ran the mill down and wen't in and touched the pin on the side...then I pulled it up and used just used the digital readout to go over 1/2 the width of the bit and 1/2 the width of the pin at that point (1" 437 thousands) then I drilled away perfectly centered in the pin...
Then I just kept it there and measured the distance between the holes on the old pin and used the mill to run over that distance and drilled the hole in the other end...
Finally I finished up with a bit (forgot the name) that looks like a tap but we use it to round out the edges of the holes (you can see it in the pictures) and cleans up the edges....
So TA DA! I know it doesn't sound like much but for those of you that have done machine work you'll know that it isn't a bad start for me...sure beats sweeping the shop!
-Avery
It started out as a 2 5/8" piece of rusty steel...
I faced both ends to ensure that they were perfectly parallel to each other and I drilled the ends so that I didn't have to use the steady rest and I could just use the center...
Then I chucked one end and put the steady rest on the other end and wen't to town...
The two smaller sides are 1" 437 thousands in diameter which is what caused the problems...I'm not comfortable with the lathes "quarks" yet which include the one doesn't like to repeat very well...and the other one likes to cut about 1/2 a thousands per inch so it tapers if you aren't careful...
But I got it done...then the center is just dropped down to 2" on the button...
Next I got to use some "freehand" skills and make a radius (the last person who made the pins didn't radius it on either end and that's where they snapped) so that was fun and quite a challenge...but they turned out pretty good...
Finally I chucked it back in the lathe and used a file to round the sharp edges and used more freehanding with my tool bit to round off the outer edges...
Then it was on to the mill for the holes....
I chucked it in the vise and swapped out chucks to fit the bit I had to use...then I ran the mill down and wen't in and touched the pin on the side...then I pulled it up and used just used the digital readout to go over 1/2 the width of the bit and 1/2 the width of the pin at that point (1" 437 thousands) then I drilled away perfectly centered in the pin...
Then I just kept it there and measured the distance between the holes on the old pin and used the mill to run over that distance and drilled the hole in the other end...
Finally I finished up with a bit (forgot the name) that looks like a tap but we use it to round out the edges of the holes (you can see it in the pictures) and cleans up the edges....
So TA DA! I know it doesn't sound like much but for those of you that have done machine work you'll know that it isn't a bad start for me...sure beats sweeping the shop!
-Avery
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