Slo' Motion Bobber

[Beags64]

Lucked out with those blocks...Craigslist score. Pattern shop in Saginaw bought a bunch BEFORE they secured the contract on a job, they were just tryin' to recoup some of their $$$$. Good for me, 5-12x12x6 blocks of 6061 for $110 ea.
Tried melting the chips once in the foundry but not enough yield to justify the effort.

 

[88_pony]

Tried melting the chips once in the foundry but not enough yield to justify the effort.

Quote of the day. Nice work trying to use the waste!

 

[Ratranger]

You can always save and recycle the chips too. It takes a bunch to be worth much, but it's better than throwing them out.

 

[Beags64]

A lot of them end up going to our scrap guy at the shop, when I pay attention and keep 'em separated. Had a neighbor who used to scrap but he has since moved.

 

[Ratranger]

Yeah, you need close to 100lbs of chips to even make the drive to a scrap place worth it. It's much easier to drop them in a scrap bin if you work somewhere thatll let you.

 

[Beags64]

All the appropriate holes in the appropriate spots...


...spun up a couple alignment slugs...


...time to start prettying 'em up...



...on to the rotary table next

 

[Jim]

Triple tree?

 

[Beags64]

Yes sir

 

[Beags64]

Knocked all the pointy bits off...

...startin' to look like something

 

[Jim]

I like it you gonna round off the edges more or just stick with the small radius edges?

 

[Beags64]

Yeah gonna TRY to radius over, just knocked the sharps off with a file for now. May have to do some experimenting with a router bit...VERRRY light cuts!
Plenty of scrap to practice on

 

[Jim]

May have to do some experimenting with a router bit...VERRRY light cuts!

I've had good results routing 6061 on a router table. Your mill should be just the ticket for routing.

 

[Beags64]

Thinking a small radius round-over bit with a guide bearing should work. Might be freehand work with the shape, hence the light cuts.

 

[Jim]

Thinking a small radius round-over bit with a guide bearing should work. Might be freehand work with the shape, hence the light cuts.

Freehand works, but I can tell you from doing it both ways, using the table makes it way easier.

 

[Beags64]

Oh freehand on the mill table not with the router for sure...not that brave! Router spins too fast anyway

 

[Jim]

Ahh... gotcha.
Long time ago a buddy wanted me to make some gear legs for his homebuilt. We got some .75" 7075-T6 and had 3 legs waterjetted from the sheet.... one for testing and 2 for his airplane. The test piece cracked when I tried to bend it with my 20T press. We took it to a heat treat shop and had it annealed. I cut off the cracked piece, and since it was now relatively soft, we decided to see if we could radius it. I used a craftsman wood router and a good quality carbide bit. It was hard to get consistent results freehand so I borrowed a table from a buddy. Results were excellent and was now easy to bend. Routed the other 2, bent 'em to the template I'd made and took 'em back to be treated back up to -T6 hardness.
That was over 20yr ago. Recently heard he was still flying with 'em. So yeah... it's doable with a router. Here's the test piece I still have in my scrounge bin. Each corner was cut with one pass.

 

[Beags64]

Good to know, guess we'll give 'er a shot tomorrow.

 

[Beags64]

Waitin' on a couple new round over bits from Fleabay so figured I'd start spinnin' up a new stem.

 

[Beags64]

Almost there, couple on thy fly design changes...

...couple slots, pinch bolts and press stem in.

 

[Jim]

Beefy.