This is the first cut on the top of the cross
slide. I had previously gotten the top as
flat as I could using an end mill on my
milldrill. You can see in this picture that
the results were not good. The first pass
with the shaper did a much better job.
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This is the setup I used for mounting the
cross slide for subsequent cuts. You can see
that there are no clamps on top of the work.
It's edge clamped using toe dogs so that I
can cut the entire top surface in a single
pass, without having to stop and rearrange
clamps.
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This shot shows the difference between the
first and second passes. It's hard to see
the different textures in this thumbnail, so
you really should look at the
big
version of the picture.
A closeup of the finishing cutter taking
about a thousandth off of the iron surface.
Moltrecht recommends such a cutter for steel,
but I've had good luck with it on other
metals, as in this case.
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A brass Zippo lighter lying on the finished
cross slide. Nice shine. You can see the
lighter's reflection in the iron.
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This is another shot of the same thing. I
guess there's no reason to show you both of
these pictures, but I feel like showing them
both off because I'm proud of that pretty
iron finish.
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