Originally Posted by
BaronJ
Hi Gjws,
Everything that you have shown it that picture can be easily done with a lathe and a bit of thought !
Material: Brass round bar. Buy a length of the right diameter.
Cut to length. You could use a hacksaw, or a parting tool on the lathe. I'm lazy and would part bits off to length.
Making the tapered end: This is a bit more difficult, however a cheap carbide wood router bit used as a lathe tool would do that job.
Now drilling and tapping for the grub screw: You could do this on the lathe, in the absence of a drill press, by putting the drill bit in the chuck and using a jig to hold the work using the tool post holder. Something simple like a block of wood, drilled so the workpiece can be held firmly. Drill the hole in the workpiece deep enough to go past the centre line without going right through. Swap the drill for a tap and start the tap then finish tapping the hole off the lathe. Doing the tapping by hand makes it less likely that you will break the tap.
The through hole: Put the workpiece back in the lathe chuck and drill right through.
NOTE: Remember to stone the sharp cutting edges off the drill. This is done to stop the drill grabbing the brass and breaking.
Just a couple of rubs with a fine stone should be enough.
The Slot: This is the most difficult part. You can either use a hacksaw, or band saw, even a file. A mill would normally be the tool to use for this job. On the lathe you could make a mandrel to hold a small circular saw blade and a jig to hold the workpiece. Using the lathe to turn the saw blade cut the slot with the workpiece on the crosslide. Again a wooden jig clamped to the crosslide would do the job, with the crosslide giving you fine control over the cut.
Obviously there is a lot of detail that needs knowledge of your skill set and the tools at your disposal. But I hope that the above helps you.