and a magnetic drill press. Have fun guys… You can rent both (probably). You need to constant keep feed press to keep a chip cutting to prevent work hardening.

Check out our clock parts: http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/clockdev/RubidiumFountain.html

Cheers
-Scott

Didn’t I tell you that I’m working closely (actually more like consulting at times) a couple of machinists that have YEARS of machining and instrument building experience. I once handed them a 6 in X 2in block of 304L ss and a cad drawing having them bore four 1.6in thru holes through it to make part of our vacuum chamber. They complained a little, but in the end they did it… I didn’t understand why it took them weeks to do it, but when they came back to me they suggested that I test the part. The cheapo place from which I ordered it provided me with something much more like tool steel (not austenitic anyway) and it was way to magnetic to be used in the for our atomic fountain clock.

OOops! “Sorry guys, can you make this out of Oxygen Free High Conductivity annealed copper now”…

Anyway, they are awesome. If you have any machining questions, let me know and I’ll ask them.

Cheers from DC, and hopefully make it out to climb some MTNS with you Jon.

-Scott Crane