I need some ideas

[Ken_Shea]

This test piece machined nearly perfect, but now I have run into a unpredicted snag,
I need to flip these parts 90 degrees and drill a perfectly centered 9/64 hole through the flats. My dilemma is, how can I flip these and keep the flats horizontal for drilling.


Thanks much

Ken

Thanks Ward

[wms]

Ken,

Your image has to be max 700 x 700. It is under the "Manage Attachments" radio button. Then navigate to your file and "upload".

[ynneb]

Now that IS a problem.
Didnt you read the manual about inserting images? ( A Mach2 pdf joke )

Just in case you cant find the manage "attachments button". You will need to scroll down a bit. Maybe you have low resoluition monitor and didnt realize it was there.

[Ken_Shea]

Thanks Benny, I guess I was distracted by the "Insert Image" icon


Ken

[Ken_Shea]

I could mill a small single flat on the OD for orientation prior to the machining.

[IJ.]

How many do you need to do Ken?

And how are you holding them now?

My quick off the top of my head suggestion would be to make a male part with long flat section (Sort of like a T handle) and use that to index the part between operations

[DareBee]

If you just want a couple done, I would leace the back end long by maybe 1/4" (6mm) and mill a good reference flat on it. Then clamp in a vise by holding on the faces. Indicate and drill.
If is a production part spend half a day and make a fixture.
You could also drill the 9/64 hole in your round blank first and then fixture that hole for to machine the square (this would be an easier set up)

[Ken_Shea]

Thanks IJ. and Darebee for the input,

Only need eight so a fixture in not out of the question but not practical. This test piece was just clamped in the vice with the square up, all eight will fit nicely in the vice. Thought I had the operation all planned out until I got to the drill part, then uh-oh, think something has been overlooked. It seems that a flat may be the simplest approach.

Thanks again for the input guys.

Ken

[HuFlungDung]

Ken,
I'd machine a male square to fit the square hole in the part. If you need two holes at right angles, then hold this fixture in an indexer so you can do the 90 degree index.

Once you set up to mill the square on the fixture, and drill the hole in it, then do not disturb the fixture. Just slide your real parts over it and drill them, too.

It appears as though your part has an axial hole lengthwise through it, so that means you could add a threaded stub to the end of your male square fixture, to retain and clamp the part whilst it is drilled.

[Ken_Shea]

Thanks Murray,
I will try to keep that method in mind for future use, it may be a bit more complicated for me then eight of these are worth. Remember, you know what to do and how to do it while I have to put all this together from scratch. I am finding that the CAD/CAM can be the easier work and the fixtures to hold the part that can take a lot of time.

I am going to mill a small reference flat length wise on the round stock prior to cutting them to length for machining, got the cad and cam work done (OneCNC-XR is a pleasure to work with) even more so now that I am getting more familiar with basic CAD/CAM principles.

Ken

[nervis1]

Heres my idea. Make a vice jaw that has a square boss that fits that square hole on your part and is parellel to the vice bed. Then just slip your part on, clamp the vice so everything is squared up and tight, drill, remove -replace, repeat drill cycle. It would make indexing to the other side easy too, just unclamp and rotate 90 deg.

[Ken_Shea]

Dave,
I had thought of something similar as well, but the hole needs to be drilled first, I kinda put the cart before the horse in my first effort, drills have a tendency to wander when drilling though another hole. I also wanted each setup to machine all eight which total length fits in my vice perfectly.

Thanks