Technology, Travel and Everything ElsePutting a round hole in a formerly square peg.
August 2, 2011
Brandon is at it again, demanding more custom parts for the Makery Mendel. A bit of lathing (is that a word?) was in order tonight, turning a rectangular scrap of Delrin into a hot-end bushing for the upcoming 3D printer.
The operations were:
- Hacksaw off a square chunk of Delrin
- Mill flat the rough-cut surface
- Drill a hole to thread a wood screw (which was held in a 3-jaw chuck to mount it in the lathe)
- Using some seriously interrupted cuts, make a square-ish block into a cylinder; Face both ends.
- Remove wood screw, chuck up cylinder directly, finish to approximately .625″ (5/8), reversing a few times to work both ends.
- Drill out hole to 13/64″
- Tap 1/4″-20 half-way down the hole.
It seems like quite a bit of work for something pretty simple, but really only took 30 minutes, and consumed only some scrap that I had laying around (and a bit of sweat, as it’s 98.2°F in the garage tonight). Hopefully, the thermal break in the hot-end prevents the part from melting in use.
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