To construct the fuel tank, two circular plates need to be machined to a precise diameter to fit inside the diameter of the tank barrel called out in the fuel tank assembly drawings. The only problem with this is actually cutting out the blanks to be machined. The raw material to form the end plates is coming from a 18x18" 3/8" thick 6061 aluminum plate. Unfortunately, the shop does not have sufficient equipment to cut these out with a saw. The only capable piece of tooling would be a 6" hole saw that was found and a mill/drill. The intention is to clamp the large plate onto the table of the mill and cut a massive hole out with the hole saw bit. Obviously using an ample amount of coolant and lubrication to decrease tool wear. After cutting the plate, the hole drilled in the center from the hole saw center drill will act as a mounting point for a fixture that will be chucked up in the lathe until the entire process is done for both plates. However, that will be done after cutting the diameter on the inside of the barrel to accept the machined plates. In other words, the plates O.D's are dependent on the barrels I.D. For more clarification, the fuel tank drawing is included below and will also be in the Documents section of this blog.
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