The retainer plate took a long time to setup - nearly four days, most of which was getting up to speed with the cam software. Now that it is done, I decided to do something easy and rewarding.
Compared to brass alloys, of which there are quite a few, the array of engineering plastics out there is eye-watering. I presume that the lever, portafilter and valve handles are injection molded thermoplastic, but what kind I do not know. As designed, the valve handles cannot be turned on a lathe. The other two can be cut from stock quite efficiently however. My intention is to use black Acetal resin for the lever handle, but I only have white on hand - and they ain't gonna be white. I did have a rather nice piece of mahogany which has been waiting for a purpose for quite some time. It wasn't quite big enough in one dimension, so I split in two and laminated it with some birch plywood.
You're not supposed to cut wood on a metal lathe because the dust quickly contaminates the oil film on the moving parts, but with a cover over the ways and a vacuum nozzle close to the cutter, I can contain the dust almost completely.
Profiling complete.
After the cutoff operation, the work piece is now unsupported at one end, so enlarging the bore is done with tiny cuts.
With a little sanding, some tung oil and about an hour and a half from start to finish including cam programming its all done! The new handle next to the original.
Compared to brass alloys, of which there are quite a few, the array of engineering plastics out there is eye-watering. I presume that the lever, portafilter and valve handles are injection molded thermoplastic, but what kind I do not know. As designed, the valve handles cannot be turned on a lathe. The other two can be cut from stock quite efficiently however. My intention is to use black Acetal resin for the lever handle, but I only have white on hand - and they ain't gonna be white. I did have a rather nice piece of mahogany which has been waiting for a purpose for quite some time. It wasn't quite big enough in one dimension, so I split in two and laminated it with some birch plywood.
You're not supposed to cut wood on a metal lathe because the dust quickly contaminates the oil film on the moving parts, but with a cover over the ways and a vacuum nozzle close to the cutter, I can contain the dust almost completely.
Profiling complete.
After the cutoff operation, the work piece is now unsupported at one end, so enlarging the bore is done with tiny cuts.
With a little sanding, some tung oil and about an hour and a half from start to finish including cam programming its all done! The new handle next to the original.
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