All--
Some time back, I created this topic to find out what kind of steel I should use for a clamp strap on a V-block my brother-in-law gave me. I already have a couple of this type of V-block, but I thought making the clamp might teach me something.
4140 or 4142 was suggested and that is what I asked my local vendor for. He either had none or had none from which cutting a chunk out made sense. I think it was the former. Anyway, he had plenty of 1018, so I bought an entire SIXTEEN DOLLARS worth.
I made the clamp . . . three times. It wasn't that the machining was difficult; I just cut my spindle speed down to about a third of the RPM I use on aluminum and experimented with the 1018 while squaring the retangular block. Soon, I had the nice tan chips I have heard so much about.
What I DID find difficult was extracting the correct dimensions from the V-block for the V-block clamp strap. The other difficult thing for me was trying to make one exactly along the lines of the ones I already had . . . they are designed differently.
Anyway, I finally got'er done. Now, the strap pictured below has a rather fine point (relatively speaking) on it and would only work with small diameter round stock. I will make another one just like it and then two more sets with wider flats to hold larger diameter stock.
Then, of course, there is the other side which is larger. I'll need to make sets of V-block clamp straps for it, as well.
I have no idea how 1018 will work for this purpose. I will probably only use it on aluminum, so I GUESS it will at least work. Additionally, those SHCS are "place holders", only. I replaced them with longer ones that were "hardened - heat treated" from my local farm supply store that are not threaded all the way to the bottom of the head. I don't know if they are strong enough. (I certainly won't clamp my aluminum round stock as much as I would steel.
Maybe I should check McMaster-Carr or someone for some Grade 5 or Grade 8 bolts?)
Thanks for your help and sorry if I misled anyone about the exact type of clamp I wanted to make.
--Bill
ps That is my new Albrecht Keyless Chuck with integral R8 adapter in the mill. Previously, on another thread, I claimed it was a 0" - 0.5" chuck. It is not. It is a 1/32" to 0.5" chuck. (I couldn't hold anything smaller than 1/8" with the chuck that came with the mill. The Albrecht is a vast improvement.)
You are what you write.
