My home built mini milling machine (using some Unimat SL1000 lathe parts) Video 2

Here is the link for my previous video for this mill making lock brass faceplates:    • My home built mini milling machine (using ...  

27th May 2017, Here I am using the same mini mill that I put together cheaply with a few unimat parts and a cheap X Y milling table bought from eBay for £25.

I have it set up with a very cool machine vice which I also bought off eBay for £30 and I am using this mill to machine a male Tee from a solid bock of thick aluminum, This part is for a letter punch jig to help me stamp the locks 100% straight with equal spacing between the letters and numbers.

The idea is that this piece of aluminum which I am working on in this video is going to be the part which guides the letter (or number) stamp/punch along at set intervals so that the letters or numbers are stamped nice and straight which equal spacing.

This is achieved by the aluminium cartridge (the piece of aluminum which I am milling here in this video) having a tee slot male milled in to it so that it corresponds with the female t slot in a scrap piece of steel which is going to be used as a guide rail so that this aluminium cartridge moves perfectly square from left to right, Now in order to get the correct spacing for the letters or numbers, there is a hole drilled through the tee part of the aluminium cartridge , this hole is tapped/threaded to an M4 screw thread for a 4mm ball bearing and a 4 mm diameter spring which is 10mm in length to fit, before these parts are fitted, a series of shallow holes are drilled in to the bottom area of scrap steel female tee slot, then the aluminium cartridge (which has a male tee milled in to it) is slid into the female tee slot, then the 4mm ball bering is dropped in to the tapped 4mm hole followed by a 4mm x 10mm spring and then a M4 machine screw which compresses the spring and pushes the 4mm ball bearing tightly against the bottom of the female tee slot that is in the scrap piece of steel - the effect is a "rotary switch" like click, click, click as the aluminium cartridge that guides the letter or number punch is advanced (from left to right) after a letter or number has been stamped into the work piece (in this case a brass mortice lock faceplate).

Hope you understand what I am building here and why I am milling this block of aluminium to show you this great little milling machine in action! :-)