08-29-2018, 04:27 AM
I took a couple of tandem trailer loads of metal to the local scrap merchant the other day. I have been on the lookout for a piece of plate at least 40mm thick for part of the mounting setup for my frankenmill project- my last couple of visits to the scrapyard have been fruitless. This time he tells me there's a big piece of plate on the front of an old tractor at the back of the yard that I can have if I can get it into my trailer. Needless to say, I got it into my trailer.
18" square by 3" thick and a chisel test showed to to be grey cast iron- quite suitable for my purpose. I need to cut a piece just a little smaller than the size of an A4 page to start with. I decided that I could probably cut it in half with a little creative use of my horizontal bandsaw.
The first cut managed to get very slightly over halfway through before bottoming out in the throat of the saw, that means the second cut should get right through.
I did not expect this kind of accuracy out of my bandsaw over this length of cut.
The two cuts met with around ten thou of misalignment. I'll accept that.
I was half expecting to find some voids inside the block. What I was not expecting was this.
Cleaning the holes out with my shop vac, I discovered they are actually one continuous zigzagging bore that communicates with a threaded port at each end, like some kind of heating or cooling matrix.
I have not yet decided whether this renders it useless for my purpose or not. I'm very curious to know what the heck it was for. There are several stamped markings including a date in 1953.
Glory awaits whoever can identify it.
18" square by 3" thick and a chisel test showed to to be grey cast iron- quite suitable for my purpose. I need to cut a piece just a little smaller than the size of an A4 page to start with. I decided that I could probably cut it in half with a little creative use of my horizontal bandsaw.
The first cut managed to get very slightly over halfway through before bottoming out in the throat of the saw, that means the second cut should get right through.
I did not expect this kind of accuracy out of my bandsaw over this length of cut.
The two cuts met with around ten thou of misalignment. I'll accept that.
I was half expecting to find some voids inside the block. What I was not expecting was this.
Cleaning the holes out with my shop vac, I discovered they are actually one continuous zigzagging bore that communicates with a threaded port at each end, like some kind of heating or cooling matrix.
I have not yet decided whether this renders it useless for my purpose or not. I'm very curious to know what the heck it was for. There are several stamped markings including a date in 1953.
Glory awaits whoever can identify it.
Lathe (n); a machine tool used in the production of milling machine components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.