Bob,
Thanks for the photos. I've got a Hardinge I can use and I can swap our the collets for a 6-jaw Buck Chuck. Figure I can use that to dial the head in, but I'd rather use a CNC to help keep it nice and hemispherical. When I go down that road I'm like, well, why not just make a new head? How much are you dropping the compression? Strictly a hemi with no squish band?
Thanks,
Chuck
You really don't need that much precision for a hemi head. I've seen people do it by hand with a Dremel!
I turn it on my lathe using a .5 inch radius form tool.
Remember, you're dealing with high velocity compressible fluid flow/gas dynamics.
I should have but I did not measure the before and after compression ratio so I really do not know how much the ratio has been dropped. It felt very high to begin with.
Yes, the head has a small squish band - around .035.
Regarding the venturis, I create the tapers with a small boring bar and the compound feed normally set to 15 degrees.
Bob Z.