Turning a chamfer

Tony Wells

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You should consider the length of part hanging out of the chuck. A slab cut, which is a colloquial term for just plunging into the part to get the chamfer or radius, is more likely to chatter. Much more upward force is involved than just a small edge contact area during turning, especially if it its a large chamfer. If the part is stubby, a quick plunge will usually suffice, with little dwell time.

If the chamfer is long, I usually cut them using the compound. Of course, this requires setting it at the desired angle, and it may not be the desired setting for your other work.

If you are boring, with the compound at the chamfer angle, you can reverse the spindle and work the OD around back with the boring bar.
 
Seldom is a chamfer face width specified on a mechanical drawing on a 45 deg angle. Length of a lower angle bevel is common, but when an edge break is specified as a 45°, you'll see "0.015 x 45°", which means it is to be measured on either the axis or on the radius on a turned part, and from a square shoulder on a milled part, or even on the edge of a hole where it breaks out on a face.
 
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Right, David. If there is a case where the face width is the critical dimension, there will be what ACAD calls an "Aligned Dimension"; that is, along the feature itself, parallel with the line of the feature.
 
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