And so it continues. I took the simpler, faster way to cut a screw slot in the Windage screw today, a 1.2mm slotting cutter. It is also the more dangerous option because if you start to get ambitious with the depth of cut you just broke a cutter!

The final machining operation was the drilling of a series of holes around the inside face of the screw that bears against a ball bearing detent. This is where the versatility of the little Taig Lathe comes into it's own. By putting the screw in a chuck in the tailstock and then adjusting the offset the tailstock became a horizontal indexing head. Much simpler and far faster than setting it all up in the Rotary Table on the Mill.

And this is the finished item, it is not perfect because I had not counted on the fact I couldn't actually see what I was doing - the screw head was down inside the chuck:

Now the final step. I decided to use Potassium Nitrate (saltpetre) in a Stainless Steel vessel and bring it to a molten state over the flame of a Butane stove. Why? Because I hadn't tried this method before and frankly, my advice is don't! It is
extremely dangerous. Just a single drop of water was enough to cause a violent eruption. A very hot flame and dunking into oil will produce a similar finish. This was the Pot:

I did a few pieces I had been working on at the same time and they came out well:

graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.