Awhile back I noticed one of my suppliers sold a hexagonal bar stock. I did not pay it much mind until I bought a local fabricated hose nipple that was made from that bar stock. The hexagon bar formed the nut that the wrench gripped. So it has me thinking. I have a lathe available with a 4 jaw chuck. If I put the hex nut off center, used a drill with a chuck in the tail stock, Then centered the now drilled bar to chamfer and part... A one foot length of half inch hex rod is only a couple dollars. The rest is machine time... Am I on the right track?
You got it. The fit to the bearing is important. Have one on hand to check. They should be a line fit. No slop. You might want to try fine every cloth the last few thou to dial in the fit and finish. Good luck. Joe
Face stock. offset stock if you didn't for facing ((interupted cuts can wreck havoc on small single points)off setting the 4 jaw once is a time saver though). Turn bearing surface od until bearing fits (very tight fit. hard to get on unless aligned right). Drill for mounting bolt (go with a drill size that is tight as well). Parting operation. Face the other side. deburr. Yeah Auto. If you have the lathe, can get the stock on the cheap, and can afford the time then diy it man. I started making a couple for my machine then ended up buying the rest because for me it wasn't justified to spend my time on it. I made several of my own plates and have 10's of hours into machine time on the rest of my machine. Plus I had the extra 30 bucks laying around to by the rest of the spacers. If you're building an OX or cbeam then make them yourself. I screwed one up by going undersized and after drilling the hole. So I recommend you drill after getting the right fit on a bearing. Have fun Joe
I did mine out of square 10mm stock. set up the 4 jaw, face, cut 7.15 dia portion, part off. repeat. now, make a spacer to get the required offset, about 0.8mm thick IIRC place that on one jaw and mount each nut in turn to drill the offset hole to 5mm. by loosening only 2 jaws each part will clamp accurately enough without any fiddling around with alignment.
Two batches made and working. First batch was made from 7/16 hex bar stock and turned for 10mm hole on the plate and a slightly less than 6mm hole to snug fit a m6 bolt. Works prefect. On my first router with acrylic frame, I 3d printed the eccentric spacers for one axis. It also works well. I would much prefer to buy the parts, but shipping and customs drives the costs over double. Fortunately I have access to a machine shop here in the Philippines and I know a manufacturer of Bosch style profile locally.
