last little thing?.....Mec-Gar mag bottoms

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by G.T.

The main difference between what we have done, is mine is lathe turned, while yours are milled.

You chuck one knob in the lathe chuck and the ball end mill in the tailstock chuck??? Another skinned cat!

I have been on the lookout for a tool post milling attachment for years. I owned one once; they are great! Basically a mill vise mounted on an L-shaped base, it has a center pivot so you can turn it 360º. It also has a screw to allow lengthwise movement.

It makes any operation so much easier.

[G.T.]

Hi Rich, long ago, actually since the start of my machining efforts, I've always been either under machined (too small!), or broke! Which in machinist terms is the same thing! ....So, I have had to invent almost all my own tooling, fixtures, collets and such. It not only had to be simple, but inexpensive, and flexible..... So, early on I started making my own one-shot collets by turning a round disc on my lathe, indexed to my three jaw chuck, with the correct size hole and a slot to provide clamping / spring tension, and bored to the final dia. with a boring tool or drill / reamer.. As long as I always mounted it indexed the same, it was repeatable zero and concentric! I found I could reposition the work by sliding it thru or re-indexing it to my home grown collet and maintain concentricity, as long as the index marks were aligned. So, with the mag bottoms I simply insert the knob thru the homemade collet from the back side, and it is both held tight and true... then I just plunge with a ball end mill ...... If the stock moves, I simply wedge a piece of aluminum stock between the backside of the work and the face of the 3 jaw chuck.... (really shade tree!!!!) If I even remotely ever knew what I was doing, I would have probably quit years and years ago!........ Best to all, til...lat'r....GT.....

[Eugen]

Those "remodeled" mag bottoms look great. Such talented and creative folks on this forum.