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<\/a><\/p>\nFor the uninformed, the MITERS lathe has no parting \/cutoff tool holder. As addressed in my Intro to Ghettomachining<\/a> post, the only way to get your part off the stock you started was by hacksaw. Some would dismount the part and hacksaw it manually. I usually just slammed the hacksaw on the stock, with the spindle running, and slice it using power.<\/p>\n Either way, it wasn’t fun, nor particularly safe. And so with the relative success of my Ghettopost II from two days ago, I decided to complete the square blocks of aluminum and make a cutoff tool holder.<\/p>\n Using lessons learned from the turning tool holder, this build went much smoother and with more accuracy.<\/p>\n Sketching the outlines of the finished part in lieu of a full drawing helped alot. This was the other half of the giant aluminum billet that I bandsawed in half. First step was to shorten the height to 1.5″. For this, I used the giant shell mill, doing it all in one .400″ deep pass.<\/p>\n After the block was planed down to height, it was time to mill top features. The “stairstep” shape is to hold the tool as well as a clamping bar thing to lock it firmly into the holder. The large hole was started with a 13\/16″ drill and then finished off to size with a boring head, just like last time.<\/p>\n After the top features were machined, I turned the block around to drill the horizontal clamping hole. Then around to another side to mill the Slit of Clamping. Finally, I flipped it over and cut 5\/16″ out of most of the underside.<\/p>\n The reason for doing this is because the cutoff tool is a very tall and narrow tool. I sized this post according to the remains of a 3\/4″ cutoff blade that I found. Because its cutting edge is correspondingly 3\/8″ higher than the highest I accounted for. As a result, the tool has to sit lower than the flange on the 1″ post I turned.<\/p>\n The solution was to raise the contact surface of this holder to account for the increased height of the tool. The cutout is 2 inches square, which overlaps the 2 inch diameter flange and allows the little step at the bottom to hang off the edge of the compound slide.<\/p>\n After the holder body was done, it was time to make the clamping bar. This would have taken a few minutes if I had some 1\/2″ steel square rod. Unfortunately at MITERS, everything is around when you’re not specifically seeking it out, but I couldn’t find a single square rod near half an inch.<\/p>\n I had to settle for a very odd-looking .5″ thick, 1.25″ wide bar. After taking a few test cuts, I realized it was stainless steel<\/em>. Oh boy, work hardening. Slow and steady was the answer here, and I somehow trimmed this chunk down to 2.5″ long x .625″ wide x .375″ thick.<\/p>\n The complete clamping bar, with holes drilled. The first hole was accidentally drilled for a 5\/16″ clearance because for some reason I thought I was using 5\/16″ screws. Fortunately, it does not affect anything, as the tool will point out the other way.<\/p>\n The clamping bar reaches over the tool bit and has a little lip on the edge to prevent it from tweaking sideways.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n