The Boring Head

 

               I thought you might find this tool I was using rather interesting. It is a Universal Boring Head. With it I can face surfaces, turn diameters, bore holes and put scrolls (actually concentric circles) to bite into gaskets amongst other things.

 Here are a couple shots showing how it works. Excuse the quality of the shots, the lighting wasn’t the best! The shots are not in the order I did the work. (Clicking on the photos will enlarge them!)

This is the head. There are holes in its face where you can place boring bars or other tools. The screws hold the tools in place. There is a hole that runs through the sliding part so you can put tools sticking out the ends also if needed. I have a tool clamped in its center so I could put small grooves in the face of the casting. The head is held in the spindle of the mill, behind the knurled ring.

I just put grooves in the raised face here. They are put there so that gaskets will sit tight against it when the casting is assembled. Each groove is .032” (1/32) away from the previous one. They are all .004” deep. I control how deep they go by moving the machine spindle.

In this shot I have just finished cutting the diameter to size. The boring bar is held in one of the holes and the entire head is moved across the diameter as it is rotating, by moving the spindle out of the machine.

This tool was specially made to face the back side of the flanges. It is a carbide tool holder welded onto a boring bar. There is a piece of carbide (that is hidden by the tool) which does the cutting. There is a rod inserted in the knurled ring, holding the ring stopped while the rest of the head rotates. This engages the feed, moving the tool to cut across the face, just like it did in the front. How deep the cut is, is controlled by where the spindle is located.

Another view of the same set-up

Cutting the face. Each cut removes about .02".

Cutting the face

The thickness and diameters are important and need checked in-between cuts. You can see the piece of carbide in the tool holder in this shot.

A different tool is put into the head to cut a small chamfer on the edges and to remove any burrs.

I’ve removed the boring head and replaced it with a drill chuck. All the diameters and thicknesses are with-in tolerance, if not closer! Tomorrow I will drill a ring of holes around the flange. I will do this by moving the head of the mill up and down and moving the table back and forth. Another fun day at work…