gasket999
getting there...
- Messages
- 354
- Location
- Manchester, UK
Hi folks. I’m just learning basic machining skills in my garage. I have a well equipped workshop for automotive work, but for machining I’m much more limited: only having a mini lathe with a milling slide and pillar drill.
For a new project I need a proper machine shop to prepare an aluminium blank for me to work with. The blank has two critical surfaces that need to be ground flat and parallel.
It’s for a custom length gearshift remote for a Rover gearbox. It replaces a cast piece, but being longer than stock (and given the advantage of time to finish it by hand) I’d prefer to machine it out of a piece of solid stock.
It would be easier for me to start with a parallel piece, rather than machine a rough piece and then hope that the surface grinding doesn’t upset the geometry of the cuts I would have spent hours making.
So assuming it is feasible to order a small blank piece with two ground flat faces from a machine shop (or well equipped hobbyist) - could anyone point me towards someone who could do the job and post it out?
the surface grinding is the key bit, but a bonus would be someone who could also accurately drill a long hole through the length of the piece.
I’ve crudely drawn up a sketch from memory - there are a lot of missing/rough dimensions in the attached and I would of course supply an accurate and complete drawing for the machinist.
In terms of flatness tolerances, I’m not sure what to state in the drawing - it does need to be pretty much spot on as the two flat faces (highlighted blue in the attached) form an oil seal. As there’s a step on each face, I can’t even order gauge/ground-flat plate.
Any advice/suppliers/pointers towards well equipped hobbyists would be most welcome, hoping I can get the piece made without breaking the bank.
thank you.
For a new project I need a proper machine shop to prepare an aluminium blank for me to work with. The blank has two critical surfaces that need to be ground flat and parallel.
It’s for a custom length gearshift remote for a Rover gearbox. It replaces a cast piece, but being longer than stock (and given the advantage of time to finish it by hand) I’d prefer to machine it out of a piece of solid stock.
It would be easier for me to start with a parallel piece, rather than machine a rough piece and then hope that the surface grinding doesn’t upset the geometry of the cuts I would have spent hours making.
So assuming it is feasible to order a small blank piece with two ground flat faces from a machine shop (or well equipped hobbyist) - could anyone point me towards someone who could do the job and post it out?
the surface grinding is the key bit, but a bonus would be someone who could also accurately drill a long hole through the length of the piece.
I’ve crudely drawn up a sketch from memory - there are a lot of missing/rough dimensions in the attached and I would of course supply an accurate and complete drawing for the machinist.
In terms of flatness tolerances, I’m not sure what to state in the drawing - it does need to be pretty much spot on as the two flat faces (highlighted blue in the attached) form an oil seal. As there’s a step on each face, I can’t even order gauge/ground-flat plate.
Any advice/suppliers/pointers towards well equipped hobbyists would be most welcome, hoping I can get the piece made without breaking the bank.
thank you.