Dovetail cutter???

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Olle

I tried a sight blade in it, and even if I didn't tap it in all the way it seemed to fit very well. This is a carbide cutter, so I cranked it up all the way (2500 rpm) and ran it dry. The only precautions I took was to set the cutter as deep in the collet as I could to reduce vibrations, and I also brushed out the chips after each cut. It wasn't even remotely as scary as I thought it would be, no vibrations, no funny noises, no nothing. Just go for it!

I did as you suggested; ran a 1/8" end mill down to sight base depth, then cut with Harvey dovetail cutter. Low cutting speed; extremely low [hand] feed.

I had no problems with the cut; my problem was with my depth measurement. I used two different calipers, one Starrett dial and one digital, and could not get the same measurement twice. The two also differed as much as 10 thousandths on a single depth measurement.

This applied to the sight blade itself as well as the cut.

I'll have to re-think how I want to do this in the future. I've tried a magnetic base dial indicator reading directly off the spindle and that is not precise enough either (too much play in the 'headstock').

This was matching a Luger sight blade with a 'new' dovetail; I've had no problems cutting dovetails and making my own sight blade for them & pressing the rough blade in and then finish machining it in place.