I do me some dogs.....

[Slartibartfass]

I have decided to tackle some metal working exercise (I am not very experienced yet at milling and turning metal so beware. Failure is an option.....) and create some variable height dog's ala Tool Improvement LLC creation.

I have a Sherline mill and lathe.

I ordered 12 pieces of mild steel 1018 cold finished 0.875" diameter size cut to roughly 2.5".

First step is to square one end:

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The finished side:

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All 12 lined up, ready for the next step which is cutting and truing them up all to the same height/length (2.400").

More to follow if I can figure out how to do this.....

 

[Kev]

Failure is a step towards success ... don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sean KS]

Looks like an exciting endeavor. I look forward to seeing your work as it progresses.

 

[mwildt]

Looks great. Do keep the post going with pictures. I'd love to get a small mill/lathe my self.

I'm not a machinist, but you could do it all on the lathe. Clean the end. Shave off to the proper diameter, like 19.8mm, in the length you want. Flip the rod so it now clamps the smaller diameter (all depending on the later run out etc). Then shave off the thick end, like 25 mm, then cut off for final length. May have to play with how fine a cut to take on the last pass. Then on to the mill if one side needs to be further processed.

 

[Slartibartfass]

Mwildt, I thought about that some and came to realize that based on my approach I might have to do the initial step again at the end after I turn the different diameters on the lathe. Also made me realize that the final size will be smaller than 2.4" as obviously I have to hold the piece in a chuck. To have optimal trueness I will not reverse the piece on the chuck but cut the different diameters from one end so it will be perfectly concentric. Also might have to incorporate a steady rest or live center at the opposite end to improve stability while turning. Much to think about (as always the most important part in a project, think thrice, measure twice, cut once....). More to come....

 

[fdengel]

I was wondering about the fact that you seem to be using a mill for this.

I would think this would be an entirely lathe-based project.

 

[Slartibartfass]

I guess that is correct. The reason why I use the mill at the beginning is to start out with pieces of equal length knowing that I will have to do a facing cut at the end probably to square the end to the side although this has no impact on the precision use of the dogs....

Starting out like this I have a reference edge at the outside end which makes the layout and measurement of the turning cuts easier I think.....

 

[mwildt]

Mwildt, I thought about that some and came to realize that based on my approach I might have to do the initial step again at the end after I turn the different diameters on the lathe. Also made me realize that the final size will be smaller than 2.4" as obviously I have to hold the piece in a chuck. To have optimal trueness I will not reverse the piece on the chuck but cut the different diameters from one end so it will be perfectly concentric. Also might have to incorporate a steady rest or live center at the opposite end to improve stability while turning. Much to think about (as always the most important part in a project, think thrice, measure twice, cut once....). More to come....

Yep, just leaving it in the chuck works well too. Just wasn't sure how large your stock piece was since you need something to grab onto before slicing to final length.

 

[Slartibartfass]

Finally had some time to finish turning some dogs:

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[anthonyz]

I made a video on how to make dogs on your wood lathe. You don't need a metal lathe with aluminum. Great job on those though!

 

[Slartibartfass]

Cool. That's an easy way of doing this. Thx for sharing.