T-nut machining question

I would say you are doing it just right.
 
That is almost exactly the way I machined mine last year, got a kind of deja-vu looking at your pic.
I used an MT2 drawbar collet instead. Same cutting configuration, except used 0.003" depth of cut (smaller lathe).
 
Day 3:

The local machine shops are in no danger from me...but it got done, it's tight, and in the end it was pretty square. I 'finished' it oversize and not parallel the first time, so I had to back up, re-square the mill attachment to the bit, and take some light cuts to square it up and shave off enough to fit the slot. I don't know if something slipped, or if I was off and flipped the nut wrong, but it came out slightly wedge shaped at first. I had enough metal left to make it work...pure luck I assure you!


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Great Job! And the good news is that in the end it works just like you wanted.
 
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If you hadn't told us that you had to go back and square it up, no one would have ever known. :thinking:

One tip - if you had run an end mill with half the diameter, you could have run twice the RPM and not had as much low frequency vibration.

What is the serial number of your QC54?
 
wa5cab said:
If you hadn't told us that you had to go back and square it up, no one would have ever known. :thinking:

One tip - if you had run an end mill with half the diameter, you could have run twice the RPM and not had as much low frequency vibration.

What is the serial number of your QC54?
Click to expand...

Serial # conversation already in progress in your sticky...:thumbzup:

My dual speed pulley is off balance, so running it in the high speed position results in too much vibration. Direct drive, lower speed at motor + highest speed at headstock is about the fastest (675 RPM IIRC) I can run comfortably, and that turns out to be perfect for a 1/2" 2 flute mill. What I really need is a 4 flute mill, but most of my tooling is odds and ends I find here and there, so I got what I got. A new pulley is on the wish list...
 
Old stringy scrap aluminum, left side cut last year with wobbly old toolpost and 1/4" HSS tools, right side cut with new toolpost and new carbide tooling.

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Oh yeah...!!!

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Can you slow the feed rate down any more? Looks like it is set at something like .010". Unfortunately, the installation instructions for the 10" QCGB's do not give the feed rate specs and I'm not sure they are the same as on the 12".

On the S/N, you're right of course. My memory for names has never been very good. Nomenclature, no problem. Names, nyet.

Robert D.
 
The feed is set to the slowest available, .0042 IIRC. I probably need to buy some larger radius cutters for better surface finish. I was thinking threading when I got these with the smallest radius tip available. That is probably what you are seeing.
 
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