MAKING A KEYWAY CUTTER
We will start out by making a 3/4 inch keyway cutter. By doing so, this project though a simple one will
go through all the operations that are normally done in a machine shop.
First, you will need a piece of tool steel, usually 01, which can be purchased from about any machine
shop supply house. If you do not have one in your area, in the Appendix in the back of the book will give
you the location of these. Wholesale Tool will have most all of the tools and supplies that you will need.
Once you have the 1-inch tool steel, cut off a piece 2 inches long. You will next need to cut centers in
both ends for turning. Before a work piece can be mounted between lathe centers, a 60° center hole
must be drilled in each end. This can be done in a drill press or in a lathe by holding the work in a chuck.
A combination center drill and countersink is used, taking care that the center hole is deep enough so
that it will not be machined away in any facing operation, and yet is not drilled to the full depth of the
tapered portion of the center drill. To cut the center in the lathe, chuck up the stock in a three-jaw chuck,
or if you are using a four jaw chuck center the stock using a Dial Indicator.
Set up a cutting tool in the lathe and face off each end of the tool steel stock. This is necessary so that
when you center drill the stock the center drill will not cut off center. Once you have the stock trued, place
a drill chuck in the tail stock of the lathe (the taper on the chuck will match the taper of the tall stock
center.)
Centers have shanks with self-holding tapers, and they fit accurately into the tapered holes in the spindle
and tail stock quill. When inserting a center, both the tapered shank and hole must be clean, because
small chips or dirt particles will cause misalignment.
The centers of a lathe must be accurately concentric with the rotational axis of the spindle, if accurate