Ognib

Good Idea, Michael. I may still have mine that I used for setting up my camshafts...sold a bunch of stuff when I retired. Tim, question...what speed do you turn your cutter bits for side cuts like what I've been doing?

Hey, Scott, good to see you. I'll have to have a mill eventually. I've got too many projects & the drill press is not designed for the side loads of milling so I feed it veeery slowly to minimize those side loads...I have much respect for my equipment. But I'm an old retired guy who's on a very tight budget, so I try to do my purchases in an order that will allow me to limp along while saving my lunch money for the next item.

Thanks for stopping in, Michael, good to see you. Thanks Tim. Sometimes I can live with the "looseness" of free hand work...sometimes not. I've been doing a lot of studying on this in the past few weeks. Found these items at Grizzly. Even with my most careful layout & eyeball execution, I'm seeing small discrepancies in the evenness of the spacing on my cuts as I work around the piece. When I mock it up & set it in with the frame & rest of the build, it's not all that noticeable.....but I know they're there & it bugs the living heck out of me!! I'm committed to doing tighter work than that, for my own artistic edification! With the rotary table, I can finish one cut & crank 36 degrees of rotation on the table & know that I'm cutting precisely in the right location. The roadster seems to be on hold, as I'm being sucked deeper into this current build. So, I'm going to order these items in the next few days. http://grizzly21-px.rtrk.ca/products/4- ... Base/H7578 http://grizzly21-px.rtrk.ca/products/3- ... ble/T10053 The 4 jaw chuck is not self centering, each jaw is positioned independently, which means it's handy for holding odd shaped items like cylinder heads & water pumps & so on. http://grizzly21-px.rtrk.ca/products/58 ... lot/T25250

In keeping with my policy of honest reporting, it is now...quick change side covers, take 2. I abandoned the first one, on the 8th cut of 10, when my clamping slipped, allowing the bit to rotate the workpiece slightly resulting in the cut moving off to the side. Major bummer!! But not totally...I was not happy with the randomness of the spacing between the cuts...a result of eyeball alignment discrepancies. I learned some stuff. Can get an idea, though, where I'm trying to go with this. Bear in mind, that this first cut is only the first of several I have planned for the pieces. This is fun, I'm diggin it!

Nice work on the hollys!

Your hyper-realism in spite of the small scale is most impressive & I really dig the way you get in for the close up shots...just verifies the accuracy of the work. Please, carry on, sir!! Truly enjoying this.

I got cold beer. Any time you're in the neighborhood just let me know & we'll get together! Did the cut from the side. Just raised the bit for pic. The vice platform has X - Y travel.

Nice to meet you, Jeff. Thanks for the info. 19 to go.

Nice, Nice, very nice, to quote an old song!!

Doing some studying this morning & found this. Some of you may find it helpful & informative. http://www.csgnetwork.com/screwinfo.html

Thanks for looking, Bo. Appreciate the comment!

Waiting on a cutter bit so I can proceed on the side covers. In the interim start roughing these in.

Very nice work on the body mods.

Since this is an independent rear suspension, I'm leaving plenty of material here so I can bolt up a bearing hub to support the inner u joint on the axle shaft. Start big & whittle it down to fit...eyeball engineering...

Nice work!! Who's got the best deal that you've found & selection on small mill cutter bits for aluminum? Thanks.

More procedure. My solution to not having a rotary table. Washer keeps the aluminum work piece slightly off the vice. Nuts are in the vice. Everything is solid & plumb. Accounted for the thickness of the washer with a piece of .092...used a piece of .062 & set the depth stop loosely to it. This will give me a 1/16"...1/2" @ 1:1... base for this side of the side cover where it bolts to the center section. Centered the lay out mark in the vice opening & with the bit centered on that mark it will run with the axis up the ramp to the center of the piece. I'm employing trippple quadruple redundancy in this set up...I've got an entire sunday invested in the side covers at this point...got to get this right, the first time!!!

Thanks, Michael. Nothing looks more like metal than metal... Couldn't resist...love my mock ups.

Draw a few lines to help me visualize how it all fits.

Ya, I get bored unless I've got something new in front of me to figure out how to do.

Thanks, Scott. Squared a line off of the degree line & set the square on it for doing layout up the side that's centered on the bore.

Beginning the layout for the stiffening vanes & bolt hole bosses.

Thanks for looking, guys. Building side covers for the rear end. Here's my procedure. Having neither mill or lathe, I'm forced to be innovative & think outside the box to achieve my desired results. Rough in on the band saw. Button head on bolt is the dia I want for the outside end. Big washer is correct for where it bolts to the center section. I'll work to these as my size templates. Jam nut keeps everything tight in the spinning drill press. Jigged a coarse rasp in the vice to hold it steady as the spinning aluminum plug is lowered on to it. Slow going. But I'm getting the result I want. On to the next step.

Kudos. Always enjoyed your builds & been inspired by the level of your work.

We got chips. Roughed in the shape on the band saw & final shaping on the spindle sander.