Finished Wheel Shafts/Axles

Last post the keyslots were cut.  The key end was faced on the lathe prior to key cutting, but the other end was wild, just a saw cut.  I didn't have a nice way to cut them to an accurate length.  I thought about carefully saw cutting them then facing them to final length, but that isn't very easy to do repeatably.  Instead, I ordered a couple of parting tool blades, or cut off tool blades from Enco.  They had a nice sale earlier this week.  I also finally got a set of decent parallels for the mill.  I fashioned a simple end stop in the headstock bore, set to 9.375 inches and cut all the shafts to length using the new tool.  It is 0.0625 wide, imported.  I had to sharpen it, but it holds its edge well if you use cutting oil.  Leaves a nice finish too.

Marks to verify length before cutting

After

Pardon the small pip, I didn't align it too well, but good enough for this work.

Back to the mill to drill the cross hole to retain the wheels.  0.25" hole, on center using the same setup as the key slots.  0.5" from each end leaves about 0.125" sticking out of each wheel hub ( I think it looks nicer than just flush ).

Short 0.25" drill in a collet is very accurate and doesn't walk off the shaft.  I set the center by measuring to the edge of the vise with the caliper.  Yes, that is a piece of wood as a parallel.  I didn't want to cheese up my new ones yet, and for a simple cross drill into a sloppy wheel hole a fraction of a degree error won't be noticable.  It's a sturdy piece of oak I planed true.  Besides, if I miss nothing gets damaged.

Final Product after deburring

Lastly, I scored some nice 0.375" aluminum jig plate at Klein Steel Direct.  They had some various extrusions that looked interesting, but then a found a box full of customer rejects of the plate that had been partially machined.  A nice manageable size and a couple of bucks per pound.  I got three pieces for this and just to have, they are about 12x18 inches or so, a nice size to work with.  They will be used to make the motor mounts, the next phase of this project.