Million Dollar Skunksworks Kirkham

[David Kirkham]

Side view. As the collet is drawn back into the tube, the taper is what is what clamps down on the tube.

[David Kirkham]

But a collet won't clamp unless you cut it apart...so all my nice work goes to the band saw.

In order for the collet to collapse, you have to cut your nice part you just made into pieces! But, as it is round, there is no way to hold it to cut it in the saw. So, I welded it to a square tube to hold it firmly in the saw for cutting. I welded it on the outer edge, where weld distortion won't affect the precision work of the inner OD and tapered surfaces.

[David Kirkham]

The collet is actually 4 pieces. So, I had to tack weld it back together after I cut it in 1/2 and then rotate it 90 degrees to cut it again. I made a little tubular fixture to hold everything together while I cut it. The space that the saw blade removes allows for the collet to collapse onto the tube and clamp it tightly.

[David Kirkham]

Here is all my nice work in 4 pieces.

[David Kirkham]

Here is all my nice work deburred and post heat treat! Now it is hard and ready for use.

I really like the bronze color the stainless takes after heat treat.

We will start bending tubes this week!

Hopefully all our engineering worked!