A
Anonymous
Guest
Well, today I was given a very decent Mitutoyo micrometer head with a 50mm movement.
After a bit of thought, I thought it might make a seriously accurate stop on the Rat which would make cutting mortises of a set width and similar tasks even easier and more accurate.
So, I decided to machine some aluminium to make a solid bracket. Ripped it to rough size on the bandsaw and then machined it on the rat - like a milling machine.
I set the router speed to 1 (slowest) and use a spiral end mill from a local engineering supplier - £11 for a 1/2" spiral cutter :shock:
I took fine cuts, and went about 0.75mm deep and cut 3-5mm wide at a time which worked really nicely. I was surprised how quickly I could feed the material through the cutter! I wouldn't cut more than this though as the material might move in the clamps.
I then cut a little relief for where it sits above the moving plate to stop binding
No relief
With relief
Drilled and counter bored a couple of holes to clamp it securely and fitted it in place
I set the bit against the wood, zeroed the micrometer and tightened the 2 bolts, then wound the micrometer out to the desired shoulder width. Took the cut. Wound the micrometer out by the tenon width (+1/2" for the cutter diameter) and took the second cut. One bang on tenon!! If it were slightly oversize, it is so easy to take off the exact oversize by winding the micormeter in and re-cut.
Of course, this is not over the top :^o and I really do need the 0.01mm resolution to work with wood :^o
but I am pretty chuffed with it and enjoyed making it - and it cost me £0.00 to make (hammer)
I have looked on ebay and there are some 25mm travel micrometer heads on there for a fiver at the minute if anyone fancies making one of these.
After a bit of thought, I thought it might make a seriously accurate stop on the Rat which would make cutting mortises of a set width and similar tasks even easier and more accurate.
So, I decided to machine some aluminium to make a solid bracket. Ripped it to rough size on the bandsaw and then machined it on the rat - like a milling machine.
I set the router speed to 1 (slowest) and use a spiral end mill from a local engineering supplier - £11 for a 1/2" spiral cutter :shock:
I took fine cuts, and went about 0.75mm deep and cut 3-5mm wide at a time which worked really nicely. I was surprised how quickly I could feed the material through the cutter! I wouldn't cut more than this though as the material might move in the clamps.
I then cut a little relief for where it sits above the moving plate to stop binding
No relief
With relief
Drilled and counter bored a couple of holes to clamp it securely and fitted it in place
I set the bit against the wood, zeroed the micrometer and tightened the 2 bolts, then wound the micrometer out to the desired shoulder width. Took the cut. Wound the micrometer out by the tenon width (+1/2" for the cutter diameter) and took the second cut. One bang on tenon!! If it were slightly oversize, it is so easy to take off the exact oversize by winding the micormeter in and re-cut.
Of course, this is not over the top :^o and I really do need the 0.01mm resolution to work with wood :^o
but I am pretty chuffed with it and enjoyed making it - and it cost me £0.00 to make (hammer) I have looked on ebay and there are some 25mm travel micrometer heads on there for a fiver at the minute if anyone fancies making one of these.
