A Proper Keyway

[rake60]

I was handed a 3/4" stub shaft at work today.
It needed a 3/16" X 1" long keyway cut in it.

I've cut a lot of keyways but never really gave them much thought.
For this one I actually looked up the standard SPECS.

It's on center, the width is good and the .644" length ended up .640", within tolerance.
It even looked good.

The key fits too. That's a plus!

Rick

 

[smfr]

Did you use an endmill, or a keyway cutter? Looks like the former from the rounded end

 

[Stan]

The big question is, did you cut it with a 3/16" cutter or did you cut it narrow and then widen to spec.

 

[rake60]

My little X2 spindle runs out .0005" I used a 3/16" end mill and the width ended up
at .188"

The X2 isn't going to take a cut .106" deep in one pass.
It was cut in .020" increments. Even with that, the width held.

Rick

 

[tattoomike68]

Iv cut ,miles of key-ways. My tool of choice is a horizontal mill.

This old girl rocks, you would love it. you can do 1 inch keys , set it and forget it, it is a sweet heart of a machine. The table is like 12 X 54. we make gears and splines with that machine.

 

[modelman1838]

Certainly looks better than the first one I cut when first an apprentice in 1953 which we had to cut with a crosscut chisel and clean up with a file, good idea milling machines I think.

Hugh

 

[Maryak]

Certainly looks better than the first one I cut when first an apprentice in 1953 which we had to cut with a crosscut chisel and clean up with a file, good idea milling machines I think.

Hugh

Took the words right out of my mouth ;D Then, wonder of wonders, a shaper

Best Regards
Bob

 

[rake60]

That brings back some memories.

About 32 years ago I watched an old machinist broach shaft keyway on a lathe.
He had been a machinists mate in the Navy during WWII and said they didn't have
a mill in his ships machine shop.

He locked the spindle then centered up a piece of tool steel in the tool post.
.005" deep at a time and hand cranking the saddle back and forth.
It took some time but looked good when he was done.

He told me that he had done internal keyways using the same method on a drill press.
Just lock the spindle, center up a tool and dial the vise in .005" at a time while running the
ram up and down by hand.

I guess we are spoiled these days!

Rick

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Iv cut ,miles of key-ways. My tool of choice is a horizontal mill.

This old girl rocks, you would love it. you can do 1 inch keys , set it and forget it, it is a sweet heart of a machine. The table is like 12 X 54. we make gears and splines with that machine.

I think I saw this machine in RoboCop, only there were some machine guns mounted on the sides.

 

[Stan]

Rick: I am just amazed that you have only.0005" runout on the end of a end mill in a little import mill. I haven't used a lot of hobby type machines, but that is impressive.

 

[rake60]

Rick: I am just amazed that you have only.0005" runout on the end of a end mill in a little import mill. I haven't used a lot of hobby type machines, but that is impressive.

The spindle run-out out of the crate was more like .0025"

I put new SKF bearings in the spindle and polished all of the
rough spots out of the R8 taper to get that .0005" run-out.

As I've said before, these import machines are basically a kit.
You get all of the necessary parts but making them accurate takes
some tuning up.

Rick