Machining

The new mill column for my Sherline arrived today--and what a difference it makes! I'm not sure that the old mill column (practically an antique to the people at Sherline) was really severely worn--but the new design means that gravity is no longer winning the battle when I turn the handwheel to move in the Z-direction.

I should see if someone wants the old mill column for parts; alternatively, I might be able to build an X-Y table (well, at least X or Y) from it.

I also started work on trying to build a caster set for the Vixen HAL-110 tripod. This is a very complicated tripod leg. Instead of round, square, or rectangular, it is a very elaborate casting. My first thought was to do a Michangelo, and mill the part that I needed by removing everything from a single block of Delrin. But there are no customers that can afford a part with this many steps.

Instead, I may look for some way to create it from three relatively simple parts (all rectangular solids) held together with screws in tapped holes. It's an interesting challenge--and I get to buy a new tap: M4-0.7.