"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
Whats the best way to make a square hole in a round piece of material,
without a broach? The round rod needs to be split, so it can be
placed over a 5/8 square rod, and then be able to slide along that
square rod

Gunner


I had a similar poblem last year: How to make keyways on a lathe without a
broach or a mill. I got some HSS tool blanks and ground one to size. Then
I put the work in the 3 jaw and set the back gear to a high ratio so it
would be dificult to turn from the chuck (sort of like using the back
gearing as a brake). Then I set the tool in the tool post and used the
saddle wheel to "broach" the keyway a few thou at a time with the key at the
9:00 position looking at the chuck. It was slow work, but worked great.