Ok, so I got some work done! A while back, I was able to get the parts all cleaned up and spray-primed, so first task was the color coat. Through the afternoon, I sprayed 2 coats, which will hopefully be all I need to do. I noticed all the tapped/drilled holes are pretty messy wiht paint/paint-stripper/overspray, so I'll likely need to clean those up as I re-assemble:
Next, I did some quick thumb nuts, which were just a turn to diameter, drill/tap 5/8-18, knurl, and part. Hardest part was fixing the threads after parting them off
These nuts will be used to tighten things on the lead screw collar part that I'm making next. The plans dont have a thickness, so I thought 200 thou was a good look. Worst case, they are easy enough to re-make. I ended up using some hot-rolled I had around the shop for those and the next part.
Onto the collars! These will end up holding the dial/gears on the leadscrew, and interface with one side of the thrust bearing. This will be more obvious when I assemble these. First, I found some scrap A36 from some knurling practice, and turned the OD down to .800.
Next, turned and polished the smaller diameter down to .625.
Then, a quick single-point. The threads look ugly in this picture, but they were actually quite nice cleaned up.
Finally, drilled, and reamed for 3/8" to fit on the lead screw extensions:
Flipped around, and faced to length:
FINALLY, I had to broach the inside. I'll eventually have to cut an external keyway as well, but I want to see how keep the larger broach for the 5/8" makes it, so I can cut it to fit. One thing I DID have a problem with: The little 1-ton arbor press I was given at one point is REALLY not up to the task! It can only JUST handle the 1/8"-A broach length, and even then I couldn't use the bottom plate, I had to drill a hole in some aluminum plate to even be able to use it.
I'm going to have to come up with a different solution with the bigger broach unfortunately, which I was hoping I wouldn't have to do.
In the end, it 'worked' well enough:
