Nifty CNC Machining

Nifty CNC Machining custom parts design and manufacture using a Hitachi Seiki CNC HiCell CA20 turn/mill Lathe with full conversational control of all 4 axis XYZC

custom parts design and manufacture using a Hitachi Seiki CNC HiCell CA20 Lathe with 4 axis XYZC

09/03/2026

A bit rough on the video skills, but this is the angled slot milling on the PETP plastic bearing using only Y & Z axis

It's been many years since I've had to machine this particular grade of plastic. It looks like a nylon or acetal but is ...
09/03/2026

It's been many years since I've had to machine this particular grade of plastic. It looks like a nylon or acetal but is much heavier, no a glass filled Teflon either. It is PETP Sustadur Thermoplastic Polyester Polypropylene Terepthalate. Try saying that after a beer or 5.

These are a split spherical bearing for a driveshaft. Copied direct from the sample supplied. Cable tied it so as not to lose the sample. The Hicell has a Y axis for milling angles like this. It is actually possible to just use the C axis, rotate the chuck whilst moving along Z axis, but I went with Y axis, just for a change. Writing the G code program by hand is way faster to setup than any other method.

A smaller top up batch of these stainless steel mounting discs done and dusted.
05/03/2026

A smaller top up batch of these stainless steel mounting discs done and dusted.

Work has kept me busy lately, so I've not had the time to post jobs here. Many never make the cut anyway for various rea...
28/02/2026

Work has kept me busy lately, so I've not had the time to post jobs here. Many never make the cut anyway for various reasons. It could be R&D, patents, intellectual property rights, just plain uninteresting or I simply forgot to take pics. This job is one of the biggest and longest run time batches I've done in a very long time. The pic of the raw material supplied doesn’t look much but there’s a lot of jobs machined from it. Nearly 4 weeks work according to the customer. I did it just a little quicker. I've done these for about 8 years now.

These are simply a stainless steel spring clip pin assembly. A few years ago, the customer had a new batch of springs made and found they were catching or hanging in the aluminium and riding up on the pin. They left it to me to find a solution. I decided to bore the aluminium instead of just drilling, to achieve a smoother finish and maintain more accurate size. I reduced the clearance between the pin and Ali keeper bush to keep better alignment. Also increased the pin diameter to provide more surface area for the spring to seat square.

Problem solved !

They are a relatively simple design but just take time to produce. The 1st part is an aluminium keeper bush to be welded in place. It contains a spring and the 2nd part being the stainless steel pin. Quite simply a quick pull release for safety equipment. The stainless pin is only 6.30mm in diameter and 31mm long with a spigot dia. 4.30mm x 20mm and a 2mm cross hole for the ring pull. Machining stainless is difficult enough but when you need such small sizes the bar tends to break or push away whilst machining. Try doing it with the bar protruded far enough from the chuck to allow clearance for the live tooling and take a cut and watch the bar deform and snap. So I develop new techniques to overcome it. Keeping close tolerances is not so easy.

The aluminium keeper bush is 13.65mm x 18.6mm, counter bored 6.60mm x 15mm, to 4.50mm.

All components are odd sizes. Often this is done to prevent interchanging or copying easily.

No prizes for guessing the final quantities 1840 off aluminium & 1240 off stainless steel.

Another job completed and delivered.

It's getting to the point that I should just leave the programs for these in the machine and the tooling setup on the be...
25/02/2026

It's getting to the point that I should just leave the programs for these in the machine and the tooling setup on the bench ready to go. I'm doing small batches often. Another batch done now and one in the pipeline. I'm not complaining, I like repeat jobs as all the hard thinking, programming, tooling, etc. It has been done already.

These are surgical laproscope eye pieces, machined from a plastic known as PEEK. It is autoclavable. It is not to diffic...
24/02/2026

These are surgical laproscope eye pieces, machined from a plastic known as PEEK. It is autoclavable. It is not to difficult to machine. Cuts well, holds good size and geometries. I used to machine hundreds of thesevin various shapes and sizes to replicate existing ones or reverse engineered to fit the supplied laptoscope. Clearances all need to be minimal for glue and to prevent bacteria pe*******on. The fibre optics inside these laproscopes are absolutely incredible. It can't be described, it has to be seen to be believed.

I hate losing parts, but it has happened. Somehow, somewhere on my travels, one of my Harley seat retaining bolts has pa...
16/02/2026

I hate losing parts, but it has happened. Somehow, somewhere on my travels, one of my Harley seat retaining bolts has parted company with the rest of the bike. It's been a very long time since this bike spat parts off. When I first got it, as a basket case, it was renown for throwing parts at anyone riding behind. Nuts, bolts, mirrors, number plate, exhaust, etc. Fencing wire held the exhaust on from Jennacabine to home on one ride. Most of this bike's parts I machined over 10 years ago. Most are #316 stainless steel. It polishes up like chrome, but never rusts. These flanged acorn bolts I conceived myself because off the shelf items just do not exist. They screw into a rubber block that has a brass insert moulded into it. Thread is 3/8" x 16UNC. A whole lot easier milling hexagon on CNC lathe than having to do it on a manual milling machine with a dividing head. I do not miss those days.

11/02/2026

This short video is purely to show the capability of the Hicell automatic tool changer. This procedure is rarely used. I found it by accident, it's not in the manuals because it is not a standard procedure or operation. Any machinist will know, tool clearance is always the biggest issue. Especially on a multi axis machine with live tooling. Often the chuck jaws or workpiece restrict tool access. Using a single line of code, yes, I know there a 3 in this program. The 1st line removes front turret tool 6 and swaps it with tool 8. The 2nd line of code reverses that function. The 3rd line purely indexes the front turret to tool 8 ready to cut. This is all done without use of the random pocket selection on the rear tool carousel. You can of course, simply place any front turret tool into the rear carousel and leave it there whilst using any adjacent tooling that required clearance. Very cool little feature.

This acetal plastic job is now completed and delivered. It's always a challenge on a lathe to ensure the live tooling o...
09/02/2026

This acetal plastic job is now completed and delivered. It's always a challenge on a lathe to ensure the live tooling on both X & Z axis have clearance. Often that is extremely close. Sometimes the challenge is how to hold the job, not only to machine it all over, possibly in several setups, but to machine it with the best possible outcome. Ask 5 machinists how to go about any job, you'll get 18 answers. There's always another way. There are far too many variables to answer correctly. So, once the choice is made, you run with it or start over. I decided to cut the bar stock into pairs for this job. 20 off hexagon lubrication nuts were required. 10 off 80mm long, 10 off 55mm long, so I cut the billets 142mm long. Allowing for a facing cut and parting off after both ends were complete. Doing them in pairs ensures secure workholding with adequate tooling clearance. The pics are terrible, it's hard to get a good pic of white acetal. I need to try a better lighting environment. There's a face groove for a seal. 2 opposing Grease ports for 1/8" x 28BSPT grease ni***es, counter bored for socket access. The thread is 2 1/4" x 4 1/2TPI. It has a lubrication scallop milled through the thread. I even chose to chamfer the hex with a spare live tool, rather than scrape it or hand file. Program and setup took me a couple hours longer than I expected, but I'm happy with the finished product. Videos of some portions I posted previously.

07/02/2026

1st part done

07/02/2026

Helical milling was an option the Hitachi Seiki Hicell did not come with, so after deciphering the Japanese definition.of the binary parameters, I took a guess and turned it on. The auto conversational control software is incapable of helical milling, so hand typing the simple code or even writing a macro is a workaround. I needed a 19.70mm counter bore, so using a 16mm milling cutter, I simply helical interpolate a 1.85mm radius tool path to the desired diameter depth, then a cleanup pass, rapid back to the return point, index the chuck 180 degrees and repeat.

Just a part video showing milling of a counter bore on white acetal plastic, the milling cutter is 16mm 4 flutes high speed steel. Rpm is 1500, rough feedrate is 355mm / minute, then 282mm / minute finish pass.

07/02/2026

Just a part video showing milling of a hexagon on white acetal plastic, the milling cutter is 16mm 4 flutes high speed steel. Rpm is 1500, feedrate is 1194mm / minute. I can go faster, but I wrote the code to do both the larger job and the next op is a smaller job holding on alot less, so I don't need it moving in the 3 jaw chuck. So far, it's working well.

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Bullsbrook
Perth, WA
6084

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