1.497A 445 in a custom heatsink (image heavy)

AUTO XX said:

My girlfriend says it could be my replacement....
I reminded her of the ability to pop a balloon from 35' and told her that it would make her light up like a blue Christmas light if she used it for that.
She decided to keep me around

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ROTFLMAO!!! :crackup: New meaning to the word "Fleshlight", eh?

Kevlar said:

Nice work AUTO. Mind if I ask how you machine the cone so good? Is there an auto milling feature on your lathe that allows you to do that?

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Yeah, no worries bro.
I have one carbide tool that has that angle on it, I'll get a pic later today but you can also set the compound on the lathe to the correct angle. That is what I'll be doing next time as the method I used took a little too long.
I also figured out a way of polishing almost any metal in one easy step ^_^
Hopefully the days of working your way up in sandpaper grit are over

AUTO XX said:

I also figured out a way of polishing almost any metal in one easy step ^_^
Hopefully the days of working your way up in sandpaper grit are over

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Well don't hold back :shhh:

This is the carbide bit that I used for the coned end, the piece in the chuck of the lathe is for a "baby build" I am doing for a red LD.


This is a jewlers polish I got years ago, it is too hard (viscous) to use effectively on a buffing wheel but I just bind it between the workpiece spinning at ~2000 and the crossfeed of the lathe and go work on something else for a while.
It will take the machining marks out in about a minute and then I just turn the buffing compound to a "fresh" spot and it will bring it up to a mirror shine by just moving the "Zam" back and forth a few times by hand.




I haven't played with it very much and the last time it was -28*C in the shop so it was VERY firm but it seems to work well.
You can see your reflection on both of the heatsinks now but they get fingerprints all over them pretty quick ^_^
I'm gonna catch pneumonia making these heatsinks....

Aha, I see. I've seen those bits in the catalogs. I'm working with some archaic bits that don't look anything like that. I'm going to have to invest some $$$ on some good tooling.

These ones are ccmt carbide inserts.
They came as a set of 7 I think, including a boring bar.
The only problem I have with them is they only have 2 positions before you have to toss 'em.
A triangular insert has 3 new positions and they cost about the same amount.
The thread cutting inserts only fit in triangular holders as well.
Great tools, cut well, but hey do have their issues.
My set was ~$235 Canadian and there are 3 of them that I have yet to use.
If you are going to do a lot of aluminum, just get high speed steel and grind your own tooling. You can find patterns for almost any shape online and HSS does a nicer job because you can get them a lot sharper than carbides.
I like a belt sander to do most of the rough work and then I'm using a 3M wheel to take the burr off and polish the tool a bit. 2 or 3 strokes on 1500 grit wet dry (glued to a piece of plywood) and the tooling is literally razor sharp. I test them on my arm hair ^_^
I have run a lathe with an 18 foot 6" bed and a three foot sweep (used for turning logs for log homes)
The rough cutters were carbide to take the most material and the finishing cutters were always high speed steel because the sharp edge kept the finish quality high.
Carbide is a PITA to sharpen compared to HSS too

Thanks for all the help AUTO!! It's very much appreciated. I just started working on a lathe.

I started a thread about it here: http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/my-new-toy-lathe-question-57883.html

I've just spent a few hours reading about lathes, techniques, and tooling. Man, there is a lot of info but at the same time, pretty basic. Unfortunately, the guy that works with it at my uncle's shop doesn't know that much about it. His shop is for fixing electric motors, not a machine shop. So he just uses it to turn down the insides of motors when he needs to. Not much tooling on hand either. I'll have to invest in that myself.

The tooling can be more expensive than the damn lathe lol.
I have spent over $800 on gear for it and I still want a rotary table for the milling machine as well as some other odds and ends like a reamer set from 1/16" through to 1"
This stuff adds up but I like the precision of the tools. If you take care of this stuff, it will last you a LONG time.
If you outgrow your equipment, most of the tooling can swap over to the new machine too.