Machining the ballnut bracket using Probe Basic Lathe conversational

I cut the stock to size previously, so just need to centre it in the 4-jaw and drill the 25.5mm pilot drill ahead of sending the boring bar in.

I've not used the DTI directly in a centre hole before. It's strictly approved to do this, as the probe tip can only move in one plane but once the workpiece is close, this works well. Besides, I'm just blasting a hole in some steel. Despite that, I seem to have got it within about 40um total runout

I've put some polycarbonate shielding around the work area so I don't get hurt again.

And - in with the big fatty, following a 10mm pilot:

Now to set up a new (bigger, fatter) boring bar. I used a girlie 12mm SCLCR with a CCMT06 insert last time but now I will be using a 20mm SCLCR with a bigger CCMT09 insert. The approved workflow is to create the tool in Fusion, then import it into Linuxcnc as a json file. This includes all the dimensions for the bar, insert, tool angles etc, which are used in the conversational add-in to do sanity / safety checks.

Ready to run the conversational boring operation now. We'll have a go at that next time.....