Monday, 25 December 2017

Piston assembly part 5 - aluminum beds

Part two of this holiday build is the piston rod arm. Thanks to this part I now have a new favorite material: Aluminum 7075 - this stuff is awesome! Extensively used in aviation, it has similar mechanical properties to steel but obviously doesn't rust. It is easy to machine and the chips are non-magnetic (so they don't stick to the rare-earth magnets I use for holding chip shields etc in place). I just love this stuff. I think I'm gonna build my next house out of it - walls, floors, beds ... everything!

The blank is cut on the cold saw - the band saw takes too long with this stuff. 




Then it is turned down to the right diameter.



Then I turn down a stub to the major diameter of M10 (i.e. 10mm - got to love the metric thread system!) and add a thread relief groove at the shoulder.



Thread the stub with an M10x1.5mm die.



Cross-drill the other end of the arm for the the 8mm pin...



... and test the fit.



The finished piston arm assembly.



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