While waiting for bits to continue with the mill though I'd have a bash at this face plate..
First job, got hold of a 1 inch long section of 5" ally bar .. just to turn the vast majority of it into chips & noodles!
Then thin down and reduce the dia' of the original face plate just to keep the cooling fin section and turn a pocket in the back of the new face plate..
And leave a wee spigot on the other side as an arbour for the diamond disc centre's..
Then used some loctite retainer to fix the 2 together – not like there is going to be hardly any load on it. Once bonder, mounted it on a temp arbour in the lathe to finish dressing the faces and the mounting arbour, drill and tap the centre M5 and make a corresponding cup to lock the diamond disc's on – though this would be easier for changing and saved having to drill discs for drive dog holes as others have done, I know that looks far better but this will do me fine..
Works a treat, just a notch out of the table for the arbour / retaining cap.
The only down side is the motor spindle has a pretty poor plastic bushing that the face plate mounts to that doesn't fit the best so can wobble ever so slightly.. I'll get round to making something more rigid one day but it seems to work really well.. a successful bit of fiddling I reckon..!
Oh, and a small washer between the 'protractor' and the fence slide means it can be locked but still slide.. bonus!
Edited By Taf_Pembs on 20/05/2023 21:22:30