Author Topic: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE  (Read 5700 times)

Offline ieezitin

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FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« on: May 22, 2017, 07:00:56 PM »
Hello lads and lasses..

been wanting to build myself a finger plate for yonks now so I went off to the scrap bin and dragged out some material, first to be salvaged was this chunk of stainless plate, i whipped it into shape on the shaper, still on the shaper I profiled the v-groove and drilled the punch hole on the mill, i was in an adventurous mood so i applied some engine turning on it as i want it to look posh and to keep with a particular theme.



I made the finger itself from ally but will make one in steel I just needed something now so i can use it, its being designed as i go along but there are a couple of features I want included in it such as a work stop and on the same arm i want a scribe block for quick marking out on the surface plate using a scale, I like the look of old Victorian era design in tooling and i will do my best in giving that appearance.

I started on the scribe / depth stop arm but that's where I have stopped will carry on through the week... Enjoy and all the Best.. Anthony.




 
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline SwarfnStuff

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2017, 02:03:00 AM »
Looking Good Anthony,
          One of those is on my Roundtuit list. Clickspring on YouTube has video of making his. Naturally, being him it is in brass.
Link here,
 
His channel is well worth a visit, one of my favourites.

John B
Converting good metal into swarf sometimes ending up with something useful. ;-)

Online awemawson

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2017, 02:12:12 AM »
Very neat, nicely made, and no doubt will be a useful addition to the armoury. It's one of those things that I associate with clock making, but in reality has a far wider application.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline mechman48

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2017, 06:20:04 AM »
Nicely done; another useful 'to have ' item,used to teach apprentices with this as one of their NVQ2 early stage projects. made one myself when I was apprentice but as with other stuff made, got lost with the sands of time.   :clap:
George.


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Offline sparky961

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2017, 04:42:28 PM »
Oh, that's far too pretty to actually use. :P

If you add a central narrow slot to the bottom plate, you can also use that to hold very small parts and safely cut them on the bandsaw.  I use a much more "utilitarian looking" one for exactly this purpose.

Offline ieezitin

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2017, 07:37:45 PM »
Sparky.

great idea will put this in the design.

Here i am making the locking block for the swivel for the depth stop / scribe arm.

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Offline ieezitin

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2017, 10:10:46 AM »
Its time to mill the male slot onto the swivel arm housing and mill the female slot on the plate

You may have noticed i like using fixture plates, I like to build my operations on a surface plate on the bench while sitting on a stool, situated around me on the bench  I have trays full of bolts, shims, packer blocks and washers, as i build the operation i use the right angle fixture to square off to the surface plate, once its built i can confidently take the build to the mill knowing all i have to do is square it off to either x or y axis. but its biggest advantage is you can hold awkward small parts and perform tight machining operations.

I took sparky's suggestion and made the slot the complete length of the plate.

Ever onward... Anthony.

If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline ieezitin

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2017, 07:43:07 PM »
Made time to do some lathe work today, I wanted to do some off center turning making a cam so i decided to make the finger handle off=set then apply a knurl to it, since this needed to be applied in the 4 jaw and I did not want to put jaw marks into it i so I made soft jaws out of aluminium strips for in-between shims to stop the marring.

we are getting close to finished... All the best.. Anthony..

If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline ieezitin

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2017, 07:48:14 PM »
This is how far i got today...

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Offline ieezitin

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2017, 09:58:39 AM »

I was back in the shop for a few hours yesterday and i focused on the scribe / stop arm particularly on the pivot pinion.

The scribe arm cannot have any play in it and needs to be held rigid yet rotate smoothly, i was going to loctite the arm on the pin but i thought ahead and pondered i may want to add another attachment to it so i opted for an expanding mandrel action so i slotted six slots in the pinion and threaded it 10-32 and gave a 60 deg land for the brass threaded knurled thumb screw. I also opted for a lugged circlip to hold the pinion in the pillow block housing keeping it located while the arm raises and lowers.

I so enjoy not working to planned designs as I like to add and subtract features as i go, i also find working this way you never end up with what in the first place you wanted to do its just plane fun.

Enjoy and be happy as Vladimir would say...   :D    Anthony.
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline ieezitin

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Re: FINGER PLATE BUILD HOLDING SMALL PARTS TO MACHINE
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2017, 04:56:05 PM »
Finished up a couple of things I am very happy with the action on the pinion its tight and there is no deflection or flexing in the arm. I am now working on the scribe pin holder and i am putting in holes to fit my Sine plate platen so this can be used on angles which will be a nice feature because it will eliminate V-Blocks on some set ups..

Anthony.

If you cant fix it, get another hobby.