Machinist Apprentice | Aluminum Showpiece Part 3 | Day 55


I finished up these parts today and was able to get them shipped out!

For the final op, I used a 1/16" ball endmill with a two thou stepover (0.002") and came out from the center to clean that whole face and curves off. Took a little over an hour per part which isn't ideal but if I tried using a flat endmill to finish that face-off, I would have had a more challenging time trying to get the two tools perfectly aligned (manually have to set the tool height) that it would have ended up being the same run time.

I used soft jaws to hold the part in place and set all the tools off the top of them for my g54 (work zero), so I wouldn't have to change anything when I loaded up the part. I did notice that the piece did move slightly and so the finish wasn't perfectly aligned, I was able to fix it manually with a small file and scotch bright. The only thing I can think of that would change it so much is when I had to contour the inside of the soft jaws out - 0.002" to allow the part to fit in there and may have shifted to the side. I cut the extra two thou even though it technically fitted inside the soft-jaws, but it was very tight and so I gave it a bit more room.

After all the cleanup, I tossed them in the tumbler, and my boss packed them up and shipped it out.