Machining
Projects made using both manual and cnc machining methods.
Thread Gage
This thread gage was machined from 1.5” bar stock of 6061 Aluminum using a manual lathe. All features, including threading, were made using the lathe except for the internal thread. Internal thread was tapped by hand because of a defective tail stock in the lathe. The gage was made from a drawing and all feeds, speeds, cutting depth, and operation procedures were determined by me (see all the handwritten notes on the drawing). This is a handy tool that I’m proud of because it’s something I can use for years to come and it helped me improve my lathe skills.
123 Block
The goal of this project was to make two precision machined 123 Blocks. These are tools every machinists has in their toolbox because of their variety of uses. The blocks were made from an irregularly shaped piece of 1018 Steel. All operations with exception to final surface grinding and CNC engraving were done on a manual mill with no DRO system or power feed. This project was made from a given drawing and held overall 1” X 2” X 3” dimensions, parallelism, perpendicularity, and flatness were held to .002” tolerances. The 1” X 2” X 3” dimensions on the steel blocks were ground with a surface grinder to .0002” of nominal dimension. That’s a difference of about .05% the thickness of a sheet of paper. After the two steel blocks were made I manufactured a third block out of 6061 Aluminum on a Haas 3-axis CNC Mill. This was modeled from the part drawing using Fusion 360. The CAM programming was also done using Fusion 360. I’m proud of this project because it challenged me to hold extremely tight tolerances on a manual machine and forced me to be critical with my setup, cutter selection, feeds, and speeds. All operation procedures were developed by me.
Reel Body
The goal of this project was to manufacture a section of a body for a fishing reel from a given .STEP file. The reel body was manufactured using 6061 Aluminum and required designing and manufacture of custom vise jaws. All the CAM work was done in Fusion 360 and machining was done in a Haas 3-axis CNC Mill. This part was a challenge because it was my first time creating a custom fixturing solution for a part.
Test Piece
The CAM work for this project is currently in progress. It will require a custom set of vise jaws as fixturing for two of the three operations. The goal is to create the fixturing for both operations using one set of vise jaws to reduce set up time as well as material and machining costs.