My first job!

[Doug Gray]

Sorry wrong thread

 

[Brento]

Let me congratulate you on your first job. Usually a machinist's first job is very enriching, but not in dollars, it is in the knowledge gained on estimating costs for future projects. It teaches you to examine the job more critically, and estimate accurately the difficulty and special tool costs. It also can help in teaching you different approaches at any task.

I would likely look at this job and take a different approach than most of the GOOD ideas here. Step one would be annealing the tool. Then the machining operations (which would be HSS-friendly on annealed steel), followed by a hardening and tempering. This is the same order of operations the manufacturer of that tool used (although they might have skipped the annealing phase, as they likely bought the steel stock already soft). Then the finish would have to be re-worked after all that is done. But then, I started making knives back in the 1970s, so heat treating steel is less daunting for me. Do you have any knife smiths in your area?

As far as i know of i do not have a knife smith around. But i will admit that i was not ready for a hardened tool holder when i first took the job but that goes into my learning curve. Id prob keep my pricing the same but need to get better at an hourly quoting.

 

[Cadillac STS]

Tubal Cain dovetail video: This is part 2 part 1 also helpful

 

[Brento]

Ive done dovetailing before but thank you! Did quite a bit at my last job.

 

[Brento]

So far it is going good. I feel i am pushing this endmill at a decent rate also. I cant tell my speed/feed really which is why i would like atleast a way to read spindle speed. Believe it or not ive gotten this carbide rougher for 6$ and seems to be holding up very well.

 

[Brento]

This is what i ended the night on. I cut .100 passes until i got to my depth and have been doing .07 radial passes. By my guestimation im doing prob 23% of the tool diameter in a radial cut.

 

[Dabbler]

Where'd you get the 6$ carbide rougher? I'd love to try one!

I'm really glad this tool holder is softer than mine! Great work!

 

[Alcap]

I’ve been following your thread from the beginning, I’m glad to see your getting it cut without too much trouble. Great Job !!

 

[Brento]

Dovetail is now finished. Just need to drill a hole and tap it for the height adjustment tonight and the job is finished.

 

[addertooth]

Excellent work! I suspect the tap may be a bit of a devil if the material is hard.