It's a oilite bushing for a lawn mower transaxle. It looks like a standard round bush that has had a flat machined on 4 sides.
I have ordered standard cylindrical bushes but I need to know the best way of accurately machining the 4 flats on it.
The 2 methods I have available would be
1. Mount it in the 4-jaw chuck in the lathe, using a suitable slug of steel inside the bushing to prevent crushing the bush. Then I can face off each flat in turn. Problem with this is getting it mounted squarely in the chuck.
2. Use the vertical slide attachment for the lathe & mill the flats off with a slot drill. This will require a lot more setting up which won't be easy as I've not used the vertical slide before.
Any thoughts appreciated!