Four Sided Machining with an Indexer

[coryatjohn]

I had a requirement to machine a part on four sides of the material. Ok, simple. Except, two of the sides tilted 6 degrees off vertical. To solve the problem, I used my indexer as the hold down and simply rotated it using the MB command to the proper orientation between cuts. Worked perfectly.

Here's the part without any 3D machining in Rhino:
33294

Here's the top of the part being machined.

33295

Here's a side being machined.

33296

Here's the finished part.

33297

33298

I wrote up a more detailed explanation on my blog: https://www.coryat.org/2019/10/four-sided-machining-with-indexer.html

[scottp55]

Nothing I'm set up for, But like the fixed rotation aspect of it John! :)
Nice job!!
scott

[coryatjohn]

I've used the indexer as a hold down on a bunch of other projects. Mostly, for "drilling" a hole down the center of a piece.

I do this by making two pieces of material precisely the same size, temporarily attaching them to each other, then mounting them in the indexer.

I carve a channel (round/square/?) down the center on two opposite sides, then take them apart, switch them around so the "hole" is now complete, glue it up and presto. I have a piece with an exactly sized and placed hole drilled all the way through it. Very scalable.

I'm sure there are better ways of doing this with a lathe or some other tool.