On Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:17:55 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

I have to make four identical 1/4" plates that have 15 holes. 11 of the
holes be countersunk for 1/4" socket-head countersunk screws that will
be used to mount fixture parts, 4 of the holes are for #10 SHCS for
mounting to the machine. These fixtures will hold wood blocks in a
machine. I need .005" difference between hole placement in the plates.
The plates are 8" x 6"

My question is: Can I stack all four plates, tack weld them together
and drill all four plates at once in the mill using the DRO to position
the plates and have the top plate and the bottom plate be within .005"?
In other words, will the drill wander more than .005"? I will use a
combined drill countersink to spot the holes then drill undersized, then
drill the 1/4" hole using all new drills.


I've been wondering the same thing, but with 5. I think I may be
better off not having interchangeable parts. Sure would be nice to
have one of those CNC machines, so one could machine them and it
wouldn't matter if they got mixed up or flipped over.


SW