workinforwood
Member
I have so many questions, although many of them I don't know the question yet. I figure, I'll keep my questions and answers in one spot if ya'll don't mind, and hopefully you guys will help guide me on my way. I have a vision and sort of a plan, I am just unsure how I get there.
Today, I have to call it quits in the shop to spend time with other things and family and have to work tommorrow, but here is where I am right now. I am truing a rod of aluminum and taking it down to the size I want the OD of the thread to be. The rod is easily 30-40% larger than it needs to be, and I do have smaller ones, but I want to use this larger rod to give me a feel for the machine and the sizing process..It's not like the rod is big money. And I'm using aluminum for it's ease of machining for my first pen. The questions though...well, I don't know that this bit I am using is the best choice for this job and if it is a good bit, I don't know what the angle should be. The rod is running about 8" long between the bed. The more I angle the bit so the point does more of the cutting, the rougher or deeper the grooves are in the rod as the machine travels across. With the point being agressively angled, when I am close to the middle of the rods length, it digs a bit extra so now the rod will not be straight across. In the picture, the bit is only at about a 1 degree angle, it may look like it's flat across, but it is only close to flat across and the cut is a bit smoother and in the center of the rod it cuts the same as anywhere else, nice and even, yet it still does have some grooving marks all the way across. Right bit, wrong bit, wrong angles, grooves are normal or should it be smooth..these are the questions I have and the rod isn't even to the right OD yet!
Today, I have to call it quits in the shop to spend time with other things and family and have to work tommorrow, but here is where I am right now. I am truing a rod of aluminum and taking it down to the size I want the OD of the thread to be. The rod is easily 30-40% larger than it needs to be, and I do have smaller ones, but I want to use this larger rod to give me a feel for the machine and the sizing process..It's not like the rod is big money. And I'm using aluminum for it's ease of machining for my first pen. The questions though...well, I don't know that this bit I am using is the best choice for this job and if it is a good bit, I don't know what the angle should be. The rod is running about 8" long between the bed. The more I angle the bit so the point does more of the cutting, the rougher or deeper the grooves are in the rod as the machine travels across. With the point being agressively angled, when I am close to the middle of the rods length, it digs a bit extra so now the rod will not be straight across. In the picture, the bit is only at about a 1 degree angle, it may look like it's flat across, but it is only close to flat across and the cut is a bit smoother and in the center of the rod it cuts the same as anywhere else, nice and even, yet it still does have some grooving marks all the way across. Right bit, wrong bit, wrong angles, grooves are normal or should it be smooth..these are the questions I have and the rod isn't even to the right OD yet!