On 10/30/2011 4:48 PM, Wild_Bill wrote:

One step further.. add a thin key to a slot in a bar (silver solder etc)
which is just a little narrower than the head slot.

That was my first thought, but I'm neck deep in projects and just
getting started on this one, which has been sitting at the front of my
garage for 2 years now. About danged time I get moving with it, and not
going to risk putting it off further by stacking yet another project in
front of it!

I'm using a rod I machined to the ID for alignment, it's the same length
as the drill, which helps a lot.

I'm finishing (finally) the conversion of my old Millport CNC knee mill
back to manual. Sold the balls screws out of it, and bought a brand new
set of lead screws off eBay out of some BP clone. The screws didn't line
up on the same centers as the originals. I have the Y done, by shimming
the knuckle. But that put the X screw up too high, and a bit too far
back. So I'm drilling and tapping the 4 end holes on the table to 3/4NF.
Then I'll clamp up the end bearing plates, get the X screw aligned, spot
and drill/tap new holes. This will look way cleaner than obrounding the
end plate holes, and make it easy for anyone down the road to add a
power feed. In fact, nobody would ever know what I did if I didn't tell
them. I'd borrowed a mag drill from a customer and tried mounting it to
a large angle plate. But it's just too heavy for me to hold up, align
over the hole, and activate the magnet.

Cole drill to the rescue! It's a lot of work drilling that size hole
that deep in cast iron. Drill and tap one a day, that's about what I can
handle... G


Jon