Working on a new set of parts today that pose a unique machining technique!
One of the parts is bracket shaped piece with two thin plates meeting at one point at the ends. The tricky part comes into play because of their size! With each side being approximately 8 inches long, the only way to make these bracket parts is out of a large block of aluminum and cutting away all the excess material.
My boss bought a large square block of aluminum 10"x10"x6", and today I cut dovetails on both the top and bottom of it, then I will cut it diagonally from one corner to the other to get two triangular pieces that I can use to make the brackets. So instead of milling out a whole block of aluminum and getting one piece, I can get two by cutting the block in half!
I'll be doing all the work on the 5-axis due to this piece's features and some of the tricky surface finish requirements along the side walls. To be totally honest, I am really not excited to work on this, a super big and sketchy part to make that won't be easy. But that provides the challenge, which will be very educational and exciting.