Feeding the addiction!

[oldcarguy]

The thickness started off at .092. And took off .010 each side, leaving .072 now. After machining and grinding the width of the blade to .632.  I will go onto my next operation of milling the center groove and putting the 45 degree  angles on the ends of the blades..

The 18" long blade is parallel to .0001. And .072 this end. You can see a tiny burr of steel (maybe but a few thousands thick) being peeled off the corner on this picture.



.072 other end. The proves  the grinder grinds parallel... Less than a tenth in 18" at least 



I'm taking .0005" with a .050 cross feed increments.And plenty of coolant to keep the blade flat  Only small amount of sparks, evenly over the entire length.



 
 

[Uncle Buck]

Man that is some good looking stock. I bet it will make stunning blades!

[Uncle Buck]

Quality in material shows, even in raw stock.

[oldcarguy]

I'm glad you see and appreciate the quality.. It cost you $40.00 big ones...

[Uncle Buck]

I'm doing some testing. I cut off a foot from a from a piece of .190" by 1" cold rolled steel i had hanging around. As you can see it's bent. There's always issues when grinding thin pieces of steel. The power of the magnetic chuck will draw the work piece down. And the final result the piece will wrap back. The stock will be parallel. But not flat.

One needs to shim the piece and take the high spots off. Then flip it over, shim, and take the high spots off. After five flips, it came out both parallel and flat.. The stock started at .190" and not it's now .140"..

The other option is to place the work piece at 45 degrees on the chuck if it's still wrapped.

My grinder has a very strong fine pole permanent magnet. And hold smaller pieces better.. And has a great supply of coolant to keep the work from heating up.. Did I ever mention that I really like my surface grinder


Before..




Finished ground...

Flip side...



 

It is amazing that you can take a pice of old garden variety cold rolled steel and after some passes under the wheel of a surface grinder it looks like high quality material and not what it actually is. The surface grinder really wakes up the appearance of the material and hides very well the low pedigree of this garden variety material.

[Uncle Buck]

I'm glad you see and appreciate the quality.. It cost you $40.00 big ones...

$40.00 is chump change for what I am getting in return in my opinion. I anticipated half again that cost, or twice the price. I  am not familiar with the going rate for quality material these days, but suspect that it has taken a dramatic price hike over the last couple of years, so I expected it would likely be considerably more than that!

[oldcarguy]

I decided to made a fixture plate to hold the blade from a piece of 1/2" by 17" long aluminum plate I had sitting around. I put three hole to clamp it to the mill table. Using t-slot nuts and 1/2" bolts. Then made four clamps from the test strip I had ground earlier. And drilled & tapped four  5/16"-18 holes for the clamp screws. Then milled a step .075 deep by 3/4" wide where the blade will be mounted. Making it easier to set up after the blade is removed without indicating each time..

I am now in the process of milling the blade to the correct width plus .020" left for clean up grinding. Using a 3/4" four flute end mill and taking .015" per pass. The mill has auto feed so I can do other things around the shop between passes. I'm taking it easy as to not put any more stress than need be into the blade.. Another two passes and should be finished milling. Next milling the center grove...

[oldcarguy]

Finished the milling width,, de-burred machined edges. put on die-blue and using height gage,, marked layout lines for the groove. Clamped back in mill, ready to cut groove. I'll be using the small carbide mill for this operation.. It's on the foreground of last picture.. I have a grandson's birthday party and will have to quit for now... There's always tomorrow... 
.





I have yet to receive the head from you. And kind of shooting in the dark. I'm making the blade to the dimension my friend sent me. And feel safe that it will work on your head. 

[Uncle Buck]

I never got a mailing address to send the head to. I hate to admit this, but I don't even know your real name! I did ask where to send the head though.
 

[Uncle Buck]

OCG and Elroy. Both of you are too kind in your comments. I  can assure both of you for sure,  and several others on this site that quickly come to mind that every one of you gentlemen have likely forgotten more about incredible skill, knowledge and shop/mechanical talent than I could ever hope to equal! I have learned so much from guys like yourselves, and GF in particular and am very grateful for what I have learned from those smarter than me!

Elroy,  thank you for answering the call for help, but OCG accurately describes my situation better than I did.

OCG, I absolutely wish to take you up on your offer! As to the choice of material used for the manufacture of the blades I leave the choice of material up to you. My protractor is nice, but certainly not the most pristine example to be found and as such probably does not rate the most choice or premium material for the blades if the difference in the cost of materials used in the blades is significant. I cannot imagine that any one of the materials mentioned would not result in magnificent blades.

PM me the information I will need to send you my protractor head. There is no timeline on the project, only the one imposed by you.

Again, thanks so very much to both you and Elroy for responding to my request. I suspect that waiting to find blades on ebay would have been a long wait indeed!

This was where I said I needed to send the head. I didn't find anything in my PM though. Once you said your friend supplied dimensions I figured you must not need the head. I feel bad, I would have been happy to send the head.   

[oldcarguy]

I did send where to send the head.. But after checking my sent messages. Nothing was there.. Must have closed the page and not hitting the send button. No doubt it was a senior moment on my account. With any luck, and the dam doesn't break. I should have the two blades finished this weekend. And I'll just send them off to you. Please forward where to send them.

As far as the payment for the material. Simply donate it to the GarageGazette. I'm sure the powers to be will appreciate it.

[Uncle Buck]

I can't tell you how many times I have done the exact same thing! Working from dimensions of the same model I would bet money on satisfactory end results. I will PM the ship to address and make sure Rusty is paid per your instructions.

[oldcarguy]

This is the final cut to make the groove.



Took a light clean up grinding pass to each side of the blade. Then tried it in both heads that I have. Works great... I also need to take .005 of the long edges.





Between passes machining the groove in the mill. I made a setup to precisely grind the 45 degree to the ends using my 6" by 12" magnet sine plate and Vise. I was hoping it would fit under the wheel on my small grinder. It would if I took off the chuck,, but that's too much work.. I
ll just use my big one...





I shall finish it off tomorrow. I took out an 18 pound stuffed turkey for dinner tonight. And just finished whipping of the potatoes.. It's an easy meal to make, actually takes little time. The price was right this season, $.70 per pound for ButterBall Brand.. And stocked up my freezer. I have turkey at least eight times a year. Besides working on cars and machines. The OldCarGuy shops for and cooks all the meals in the household...





 

[Uncle Buck]

Man, I thought I was doing great following the pictures and description of the sequence of events, and I was doing great. Then you had to show that turkey and stuffing and now I am just hungry!

The blades are looking beautiful too!

[zeke]

I'm absolutely jealous of everything about that B & S protractor. Both the find and the recreation of the blade. Just wow.