Moved from beta to paid version

While the beta version was still working it was having issues with the project I was working on. It is a holey disk with 361 holes, the beta was taking a very long time trying to process it. I didn’t want to waste time on doing the whole project to only have it not work so I did much smaller version to play with. The beta version was taking a very long time to finish, I mean walking away and doing something else for a while and just coming back to check it… The new release with the performance improvements is amazing, really quick!

I will be making this with my Shaper but not sure when. I will be using some plastic for the disk, I hope something I have on hand. The disk will be 10" in diameter and have a hole at every degree around the outer edge. The smaller holes will be 1/16".

I will use this to make a drilling jig I’m working on. This one will allow any full degree patterns but of course not all patterns work that way so I might make another one for things like segments of 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 19 or some sub set of those.

This might well be pushing what a Shaper is good for but it is what I have.

Ed

So glad the newer version is working better for you… Wait until you see what’s coming next!!

What is this disk for?

I will use it to make a drilling jig, a indexing device that is independent of radial distance. The drilling jig has holes on the edge rather then the face. Of course it doesn’t need all the holes but with this I can make different ones with ease. It will look a bit like a rotary vice but will have a fixed pin that inserts in edge holes as needed, like say a group of a dozen holes for a clock… I’m working on a sketch of the next part of the project which will make thing a lot more clear.

Ed

That’s interesting… Are you going to put any bushings in the holes for drilling?

This will be an indexing plate and not used for drilling operations. Here is an example of using the disk to make an index plate with say 8 holes around the circumference. This would be done using the horzontal drilling process.

This then might also serve the purpose of being a jig to drill a series of hole in the vertical drill press as seen here:

Ed

Ahh that makes sense to me now. This feels like a very “Izzy Swan” device!

Plans come and plans go. I was thinking I would make this part out of plastic but the only piece I had that was the right size did not cooperate. Tried changing router speed and feed rate but it just wanted to melt… and rather then wreck the whole piece trying to figure things out I changed plans and went with BB plywood.

I also decided on a larger index hole so I told the SO I was using one bit when I was really using something else… and that worked fine.

The cut time for the 361 holes was 1 hour and 4 minutes according to my stop watch. I’m sure that other might find that pretty long but it is what it is for me. This is what it looked like with the 361 holes cut in it:

I then made it into a disk:

Ed

What kind of plastic were you trying to cut and with what bit?

The part looks great!

All the other plastic I’ve cut before has all worked pretty well but what I had was some ABS .236 thick, black, which was a left over from another project. That project did not need holes routed so I was unsure how it would work for this application but it was the right size.

I could get a couple of clean holes then it would start sticking to the bit and that was that. I tried 3 different bits, a stock 2 flute up cut bit, a “ruff cut” bit and a single flute bit. Started at a router speed of 3 then went down to 1. Plunge rate started at 8 then went lower. Once even a small amount of plastic sticks to the bit it is all over.

Anyway I’m pretty happy with how the BB plywood turned out.

Ed

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