Jacob 76
Let'er Buck
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 365
So I finally got around to finishing my crossover steering and ran into clearance issues with my front Mag Hytec. Luckily a friend of my dads has a mill so I went to work on it. The mill was from like the 60s (according to the owner) so you had to replace pulleys on it to change speeds and everything was controlled by hand. Well everything was going good with the 5/8 end mill and I got it down pretty good.
The yellow line is where I "thought" I would need to machine it up to because I didnt want to take too much off. LOL
Once I got it smooth I didn't like having just a flat piece so I started machining with a 3/8 end mill and thats when everything went down hill. I had the guy who owned it put in the 3/8 end mill because I didn't know how but he didn't turn up the speed. Well it wouldn't hold a consistent depth for sh!t so I kept adjusting the table height to compensate. It was going pretty good and would have looked awesome but in a matter of about four inches it changed about 1/8 of an inch and plunged through.
You can see the inconsistent depth from one groove to another.
So at this point I figured I would have a little fun and play around with angles and stuff, and let me just say that I have a whole new respect for people who can MANUALLY machine intricate stuff. Getting your hands matched and trying to make letters and other stuff is a real PITA. So I finished machining the surface off and then cut some 1/8" diamond plate to weld over it and had my brother TIG weld it on.
Im happy with my brothers welds and how it turned out, its been upside down holding water for the last twelve hours and its totally dry underneath. I think I'll powder coat it white so it matches the rest of my steering and traction bars. I'll Snap some pics of it after I get it coated and installed with my crossover steering.
The yellow line is where I "thought" I would need to machine it up to because I didnt want to take too much off. LOL
Once I got it smooth I didn't like having just a flat piece so I started machining with a 3/8 end mill and thats when everything went down hill. I had the guy who owned it put in the 3/8 end mill because I didn't know how but he didn't turn up the speed. Well it wouldn't hold a consistent depth for sh!t so I kept adjusting the table height to compensate. It was going pretty good and would have looked awesome but in a matter of about four inches it changed about 1/8 of an inch and plunged through.
You can see the inconsistent depth from one groove to another.
So at this point I figured I would have a little fun and play around with angles and stuff, and let me just say that I have a whole new respect for people who can MANUALLY machine intricate stuff. Getting your hands matched and trying to make letters and other stuff is a real PITA. So I finished machining the surface off and then cut some 1/8" diamond plate to weld over it and had my brother TIG weld it on.
Im happy with my brothers welds and how it turned out, its been upside down holding water for the last twelve hours and its totally dry underneath. I think I'll powder coat it white so it matches the rest of my steering and traction bars. I'll Snap some pics of it after I get it coated and installed with my crossover steering.
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