Not An Engineer

Machine go brrrr

Added 2023-11-16 08:40:42 +0000 UTC

The trouble with the Whitworth three plates method is, obviously, you need three plates. While it does mean I'll eventually (hopefully) end up with three beautiful reference surfaces, for now it means I've got triple the work to do.

I'm closely basing them on the design of Alex over at "an engineer's findings" on YouTube, he's got some great info on scraping mild steel as well.

But while he went with laser cutting for the web of his straight edge, I decided to 'save some money' and 'just do it myself'.

I'm about 10 hours into the machining on this project so far, and there's got to be at least another 10 to go before I even get to rubbing them together.

If I were a smarter man, I'd have spent a bit more time planning, and put some effort into a fixture. But who has that kind of patience? I barely even 'finished' these two strap clamps before pushing forward.

There's already been a fair share of trials and tribulations, so the rest should be smooth sailing, right?

By the way, if any of you have any smart ideas on a title for this fool's errand of a video, make them known! Or at least tell me if these ones suck;

I spent X hours rubbing these sticks together

Don't watch this video if you like things that aren't flat

These straight-edges are surprisingly agreeable