Facing Mandrel - Ideas?

[lesrhorer]

I'm not sure what can be made with PVC pipe that would have cause for .001 tolerance on the ends.

I never said .001". A tolerance of +/- .005", or perhaps even +/- .010" should be fine. It does have to be fairly decent, because the end faces are drilled and the end caps attached with sheet metal screws. End-to-end tolerance is more like 0.100".

Consider the anatomy of a tolerance value like that. The thickness, diameter, and concentricity specs of plastic sewer pipe

I also did not say "sewer pipe". This is thick-walled pipe.

is an order of magnitude more slack than that. The battery case assembly won't care if it's length tolerance is within the range of thermal expansion anyway, so why not make hundreds of these the easy way with a .010" or greater tolerance? Chuck it up externally in a 3-jaw, softly, forget about the plugs, and give the end the support it needs with a steady rest.

Apparently you did not read my posts. Woodchucker feels a steady rest can be fashioned to fit my lathe. Maybe. I am a little skeptical.

 

[lesrhorer]

You're talking about single-pointing a piece of supported 3" PVC, right?

No, 4.5" diameter PVC. 3" Aluminum, for a different project.