Re: make - forge? - wedge for feathers-and-wedge rock-split

"Richard Smith"  wrote in message news:m1sezwvpqd.fsf@void.com...
Do have to find a way to wash away the slurry, as the "10mm" feathers
are a tight fit in the 12mm hole.  Plus want slippery metal-to-metal
contact, lubed with oil-graphite spray - don't want abrasive paste of
the slurry in the wedge-to-feathers contact, increasing wear and making
friction.
Not found answer to that yet.
Might make say 11mm dia bit of polymer rod, with small central hole you
inject water down some way.  Hopefully efficiently sluice-out the
slurry from bottom to exit of hole.
Regards,
Rich
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I drilled dry, outdoors, and removed the dust by blowing into a 3/8" flexible PVC tube with a 1/8" (3mm) nozzle, that I had made to restart smouldering stove fires. The tube is long enough to keep my face away from the dust and the fire. Drilling a convergent nozzle hole with a tapered wood screw bit like this improves the discharge coefficient and lets you easily test and increase the hole size. A smaller hole worked well, 1/8" empties my lungs at a sustainable breathing rate.
https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Steel-Taper-Point-Drill/dp/B0057H22AW
Lacking a lathe, oversized aluminium rod can be reduced to a press fit in the tubing by chucking it in a drill press and filing.
For a different project I fitted a 1/8" pipe thread to push-in tubing adapter into the cap of a carbonated drink bottle. The combination might let you wash out the hole with water from your squeeze bottle.
If you're into mild mischief a cap with a well centered hole (lathe) turns the bottle into a water + compressed air rocket. I was experimenting with the rocket remotely pressurized and self-releasing to see how much air it would hold before bursting. Alternately the bottle can be overfilled with water so it lifts off slowly and sprays all around as it wanders before accelerating upward. A 6mm hole and 1/4th water is a good start.
Aluminium, brass and plastic parts like these can be made on a small inexpensive hobby lathe. When I tried making larger steel parts I realized I needed an industrial lathe, plus a vertical knee mill and a bandsaw. The 10" (diameter) South Bend has been more than enough for most hobby and lab prototyping projects, their 9" model was very popular. I'm redesigning the blade guide roller assembly for my sawmill and turning or milling each part to the CAD drawing as I progress, to aid and confirm the 3D fitup.
This CAD program is for printed circuit layout. I found it could draw machined RF-tight enclosures for the microwave circuit boards as well, though not correctly export as .DXF, the parts were machined from paper prints. Is there a free CAD for 3D printing that keeps the program and designs on an isolated computer instead of the cloud?