Nothing ever goes as planned.
I had the Cam Covers quoted at one of my favorite quick turn suppliers. I didn't think this was going to be in the budget, but... Just sharing:
With a 3 day lead time: $734 for the Pair.
With a 3 week lead time: $278 for the pair.
Either way - ouch. A local shop could probably do better, but most shops just don't want to deal in supper low volume, with no promise of greater volumes to come.
So - going to do this myself.
To get these Cam shaft covers fabricated, running parallel paths, I was hoping to get an old (primitive, low budget, Mill/drill) CNC up and running again after 10 + years of hand cranking --AND-- as back up - planning to make manually if necessary. (The CNC with servo motors is fully capable of functioning by hand crank and I have a very small lathe.)
Anyone familiar with USB to Parallel port interfaces for CNC machines? I bought a UC100 interface and updated to Mach 4 software - Dead in the water. The USB to Parallel (dongle?) isn't giving a blue light (which means it's installed correctly and communicating). No matter what I do. If anyone has experience with this - It'd be great to hear about it.
Ok, so putting the CNC on hold, got the new 4" replacement chuck for the lathe just need to bolt it on. Material for the new parts and drawing in hand, ready to go to work. Sliced off two pieces from the stock.
Nothing ever goes as planned. New chuck bolt pattern is too large and won't fit the lathe. Not to be defeated - just design an adapter and fabricate - how difficult could that be. It's Saturday morning, around 8am.
Adapter designed, drawing and a scrap piece of aluminum in hand, ready to go.
On the mill... That was the easy part. Making a rectangular plate round was far harder than expected. Got the 4" chuck mounted to the lathe - 24 hours of work later. Cam cover "material" is squared up and ready to be made into parts.
I'm exhausted. Sunday late afternoon around 4:30pm.