Hi Guys
Below are quite a few pictures outlining the steps I took to machine the vise handles.
The handle castings were a little banana shaped from the foundry; it appears that maybe they let the waxes get warm and they warped before they got around to casting them. Not a big deal the 4140 steel is very strong and springy so it can be straightened without fear of breaking.
The two piece handle was cast as one piece with the internal hex cored in the yoke. I decided to start out working on it by leaving it in one piece. Here I’m doing some final straightening; the initial straightening was done in my arbor press.
One note; because of the difficulty in getting good castings Roland is now having these cast as separate parts.
A mandrel was made that is a tight push fit in the cored hex of the yoke.
With the yoke end pushed on the mandrel and supported by a live center the profiling of the yoke is done. I also chose to clean up the tapered section with some emery cloth.
The center hole was put in with the casting held in a 4 jaw chuck, no picture of that operation.
Here are 3 of the handles ready for the next operation.
With the casting flipped around and chucked on the excess stock, the yoke is parted off.
A split bushing was made to hold the yoke to drill for the pin; the bushing is also counter bored on the back side to clear the larger part of the yoke. This allowed me to slide the yoke in from the back end of the bushing with enough sticking out that I could face and chamfer the end; this was done in the lathe. I could have done the OD chamfer during the parting operation but not the ID. This makes a better looking part as everything is done in one setup.
Here the yoke is aligned with the collet block using a gauge pin and dial indicator.
In the mill the cored hole is dialed in, drilled and reamed for a slip fit on the dowel pin.
The aluminum ball is held in a collet and backed up with a collet stop; it is faced, drilled and taped.
A couple sets of jaw plates were made to match the taper of the handle, always good to have a spare.
These were done using a ball end mill and 3d tool path in the mill.
Using the jaw plates the handle is indicated in
Then turned and ready for threading.
The threads were single pointed
Checking the fit of the ball.
Here are some of the parts so far.
The handle needs a chamfer where the round meets the square. Here running the lathe in reverse and cutting on the back side a carbide boring bar is used for this operation.
The jaw plates will be used to do the finish machining on the square end of the handle.
Clamping lightly the flat is aligned, then tightened up
Next the cored hole is dialed in.
The handle is rounded and the hole drilled and reamed for a press fit on the dowel pin
After bead blasting and assembly it is time for a test fit on the vise, I’m quite pleased with how the handles turned out.
Thanks for checking in.
Dave