I have written several prior articles about milling cutters, and today it’s time for another. We’re going to look at a specialized cutter for making dovetails. Once again, the person who named these didn’t waste much time on the task. They’re called dovetail cutters.
Tag: milling
Making things with a milling machine – tools, techniques, projects, etc.
I’ve written before about end mills, but so far all we’ve discussed are the straight ones, for cutting square corners. Those are real workhorses, and I use them most of the time. But once in a while I need to make a curved shape. What then? Corner rounding end mills, that’s what!
Last week I wrote a brief introduction to end mills. Big shout-out to the one person who read it! Today I’d like to further test everyone’s patience and go into it a bit further. We’ll start by talking about straight end mills, which are by far the most common.
Awhile back I made a post about my milling machine. In that post I promised to talk further about end mills and other milling cutters. Well, today’s that dreaded your lucky day!
In a previous post I wrote about modifying a Crosman 1322 air pistol into a rifle. I did that project for someone else, but I have a Crosman 1322 too. I wanted to make my own custom rifle. Mine would be a little different, though. I wanted something very compact, that would easily fit into a small backpack and quickly deploy into a rifle capable of hunting small game.
My lathe is rated at a seven inch swing, meaning that it can accommodate a piece of metal 7″ in diameter. You could maybe mount something that big somehow, and it would be able to rotate. But you couldn’t get a cutting tool to reach the outside diameter of the piece. In truth, the lathe really can’t work over about 5″.
A friend of mine is a cigar afficionado, and smokes outside on his patio. He was lamenting that he needed a better ashtray. He wanted an ashtray with wide enough grooves to accommodate a fat cigar. It must stay on the table even in high winds. And it had to look “industrial”.
Some of you asked what I make in my shop. So today we’re going to look at the first steam engine I made. I found a free set of plans online, and the metal was stuff I had around. I think it turned out pretty well!
Sure, some uncharitable people might call it my basement shop. Some particularly pedantic types might even note that I have a split-level house, so the basement isn’t even really underground. But screw them. I do experiments, so it’s a laboratory. And it’s probably as close as I’ll ever get to a supervillain’s lair. Let’s have a look!