cutting up

Good thing this was just a 'little' project. Mind you, I've gotten tired of kludging a solution together at the last minute to get a task done. I have been meaning to complete a number of small jobs to provide more jigs and clamping fixtures. One of the most vexxing aspects of machining is simply figuring out how to hold the workpiece! Having access to the large machines with their myriad accessories has allowed me to let these seemingly insignificant (but necessary) jobs slide.

done:
- clamps for the good vise
- new arbor for a larger diameter slitting saw
- collet bored out for DTI mounting peg
- a pair of 1-2-3 blocks

to do:
- more t-nuts (Many, many more. They're like potato chips. Can't have just one.)
- strap clamps (Three sets of step blocks are on-hand.)
- cam lock clamps
- small sine bar
- new clamps for the good vise (I've thought of some design improvements.)

I have suspected that there is a slight mis-alignment of the Z-axis on my mini mill; along the Y plane rather than the X. The slitting was imperfect, but I will (for the moment) attribute the results to using three blades of different thicknesses on two different arbors. Some of my tooling is, alas, second hand and of unknown quality; but you have to start somewhere.

I have obtained a Y-axis extension kit with an excellent set of tramming instructions from Wildhorse Innovations so this should help with proper setup and usefully increase the working range of the mill table.