Got a wee bit done to the turret, faced it off on the lathe, bored for the coupling, the shaft seat and a small recess for the coolant ring. Got the curvic coupling half fitted in and the other half bolted to the milling table and got 32mm of the 60mm depth cut before I  came home. Hopefully will get the rest of the hex cut tomorrow and get started on roughing out the slots.
Pics below and also one of the dog, he didnt seem too impressed with my lathe work
Hood

Ah... so this is the little fellow who's been helping you around Looks like he works night shifts

Good progress on the turret. Thought it'd take months till you get there, but looks like it's a matter of weeks.

Will it be pneumatics or hydraulics pushing the coupling? I have always been doubting the stability of such couplings under load. It's always looked to me like if the spring pulling it is not sufficiently stiff then the coupling halves would slip against each other. Would you please comment?

Dan

He does less work than I do

It will be hydraulic clamp/unclamp, no springs.
The cylinder I am making will have a 1.2 tonne pull which should be enough, the one on the front turret is smaller dia I think and its fine. If needed I can increase to 2.5 tonne with the space available.
The curvic couplings cant slide as such, the shape of the teeth centre each half to the other. I suppose it could be possible for it to ride up but that would take a fair amount of force and have never had that happen on any I have and it seems to be the industry standard for turrets.
Hood

Looking good Hood!  The dog looks good too.  Is his coat that shiny because he has been drinking coolant or you feeding him raw eggs?

Brett

Just a wee test

Looking good Hood!  The dog looks good too.  Is his coat that shiny because he has been drinking coolant or you feeding him raw eggs?

Brett

Thanks Brett, nah no eggs, its just that crap colchester he lies beside spewing out oil
Hood

Got the tool slots roughed out today, have 0.5mm on the wall left to take out and 0.2mm on the depth. Not sure if I will get a chance to do any more tomorrow as I will probably be needing the mill.
Hood

Got a bit more done to the turret plate.
Have the slots all finish cut , holes drilled and tapped for the clamp bars and have the coolant holes and drill holder mounting holes done.
I mounted the half coupling in the chuck of my indexing head, the indexer wasnt used as an indexer but rather just to hold things in the vertical position. I had a bolt go through the turret and the indexer and when tightened this held the  turret plate tight, I then drilled the holes and then slackened the bolt, turned the turret plate 1/12 turn and clamped back up, that way it was the curvic coupling that was acting as the indexer which is deadly accurate.
 Still have the keyslots for the drill holder location to cut and then 24 holes on the back face to drill, 12 for coolant and 12 for mounting the coolant ring. Once thats done the turret plate is finished and I can then move on to the shaft and turret housing, may get some of that done at the weekend.
Pics are not that great as I forgot the camera so had to use the phone.

Hood

Hood,

Are you using the Beaver's servo spindle for tapping the holes?

By the way, you've got a good phone, but looks like your shaky hand spoiled the second picture

Dan

Yes did tap the holes with the mill but just use a floating holder and a G84 as its much easier to code than mess about swapping axis. The mill has a lot of backlash in the spindle as it goes through a gearbox and also there is a lot of play in the splines. I am thinking of doing away with the quill as Z and using the knee instead, I was going to use both but if I just use the knee then I can drive direct to the splines of the spindle and get rid of the backlash.

Phone is just a cheapo but suppose even the cheap ones nowadays have half decent cameras, think though the second pic was more to do with the light under the head of the mill making it look a bit fuzzy.

Hood

Looks great!  Keep the pics coming.

JH