Shop Built Slot Mortiser finished (PICS)
Well gents, my Slot Mortiser is done. After a bit of testing I show no chatter with my cantilevered design. In fact, having built it in a machine shop, the first test was to pop a .500 end mill in it and cut a mortise into a piece of 6061 aluminum because I had no wood available. Since, I have made a number of test mortises in all different kinds of wood with excellent repeatability. I am very proud of this accomplishment because I had to learn how to use a Bridgeport milling machine before I started. I was lucky enough to have a friend who owns a machine shop, was patient enough to teach me and allowed me to use one of his mills. Well here are some pics.
http://woodworkersweb.com/temp/P1010001.jpg
http://woodworkersweb.com/temp/P1010002.jpg
http://woodworkersweb.com/temp/P1010004.jpg
http://woodworkersweb.com/temp/P1010005.jpg
http://woodworkersweb.com/temp/P1010006.jpg
http://woodworkersweb.com/temp/P1010008.jpg
Guy
Glad my fears were unfounded Guy
Guy,
I'm very happy to learn that my predictions were wrong in this case. Looks like you've got quite the piece of equipment there. It's a lot of fun building stuff in the metal shop too. Just be aware, those tools are not cheap :p
Now, let's see some projects from that beast.
Dan Barber
Anodizing - might save some money
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guy Kowalski
Bruce,
I will either have it Powder Coated or Alodined; I guess whichever is less expensive. You are right! The humidity here on long Island has been terrible. It has been an ongoing fight this year with surface rust on the stationary power tools. I am already on my second container of Topcote.
Guy,
For the aluminum, I'd recommend Anodizing to protect the appearance. One way you might save a little coin on the anodizing is to visit your local anodizing shop - look for one in the yellow pages - tell them you have these parts for them to do and you are not in any particular hurry for them. See if they will put them in with a larger order for a commercial customer. They may do a them this way for less money - maybe not too.
It's for sure worth asking. BTW be sure to specify what color, or clear if you prefer.
Colors readily available are Red, Blue Black, Gold and some others. You might want to mix colors for some contrast on particular parts.
Black shows scratches worse than other colors, but it has that "High Tech" appearance. If you choose black be sure to have all parts of that color done at once, otherwise there can be color variations between batch's
Good Luck, Dan