Originally posted by KenBar:
CNC Dan...Question??
Any pointers on turning the base? Our guy who does lathe work is really good. I will have him build one from scratch if I botch it. I am going to give it to him tomorrow. I know about the dimple in the bottom. How much do you think I can have him turn safely from the bottom.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">He would have to measure the thicknes of the bottom to see how much there is before you break through. I would measure, but all my tools are at work. I would leave about.050" min at the thinest spot. You could also see about taking down some of the dimple, I don't think you need as much as there is.
I have made a few from scratch and the way I do the dimple is to drill a little undersize, getting the drill point to the depth of the top of the dimple.
Then with a solid carbide boring bar, bore to finish size down to the edge of the drill angle. Then at very slow speed feed in to about .065" past the drill point. The bar I use is sharpened to have a flat cutting edge the right width to leave the dimple. I then back out about .055" and face off the dimple to center.
I have only done this with 123 holders. The AA and 2AA would need a longer and bigger boring bar. I have such a bar, but I would need to modify the end to leave the dimple, and then it wouldn't be good for other uses. Good luck.