Flip-Flopping the Crankshaft

We've made good progress on the crank so far, one aluminum test part and 3 final steel parts all have the first lathe operation complete with no crashes, broken tools, or other mishaps.

Now we remove the 3 jaw chuck front he lathe and replace it with a 16C collet nose. The collet nose will allow us to hold the part very accurately from a previously machined feature.  We'll then indicate the length of the part and run the second lathe operation.  This operation creates the features for the generator main bearing journal, the front bank cam drive, and the tapered stator mount.


3 jaw chuck in first lathe operation:

16C collet nose for second operation:

Now just a few button presses and the 2nd operation is finished:

Repeatedly running the program finishes out the parts for now:

Now we are finished with the lathe work.  Next up will be putting the parts in the 4th axis on the mill and creating the 2 sets of offset throws for the connecting rods and the sprocket teeth for the cam chain drives.  once those features are complete I'll put the part up on a manual mill and drill and deburr the main and rod bearing oil holes.  Unfortunately, that will need to wait a week or so for some client work on the mill to be finished.