Welding Tips and Tricks

Some of the projects people have posted lately have been of great interest, and show very skilled people at work.

I would like to include a lathe and mill in my workshop, and don't purchase these "today" simply because I don't have a clear idea of how I would incorporate them into my interests and work. Of course, I understand the concepts and differences between the two, and have a collection of books about both lathes and mills. But, interestingly, most of those books focus on using lathes and mills for making tools for working on lathes and mills.

I am not a model railroad enthusiast, which seems to be the work of most people who own a lathe or mill. I have made several robots, but I have used plastic cases in the past. I will use robots for some toy production, and for yard tools, I have plans for.

Also, and this is the main point of my "plea for examples", I would like to make some of my own parts for lifting equipment (not heavy, but intricate, for elderly people still gardening, etc), developing my own designs.

I have been to web sites for "machinists", but they seem to be most interested in showing how clean their workshops are, and how many machines they can use. (How do you grind and melt and smoke away all day and have such a pristine work place?)

Would those members who have lathes and mills mind showing us some of their work, please?

The reason those guys' shops are so clean and pristine is because they never actually use the machines or make anything with them, they're too busy being online trying to one up each other.

I use a mill and lathe at my shop on an almost daily basis. We make displays and exhibits, so I wind up making a lot of custom hardware for jobs. With the right mill and lathe and a myriad of accessories available like an indexing head, rotary table , tool post grinder, etc, etc, you can make pretty much anything in the world that you can think of. I don't have a lot of pictures of things I've made for jobs, most of it is pretty cut and dried stuff like shafts, hinges, bearing plates, custom threaded bolts and nuts... but I do have a few pictures.

This first picture is how I used to have things laid out in my area, I've moved stuff around as I've added another lathe and drill press. On the very left is a Rockwell Model 15 Tapping Machine, a very handy tool if you do a lot of tapping---it has torque and speed control plus an automatic reverse. In the middle is a Gorton 8d vertical mill and on the far right is a Monarch 10EE Precision Lathe.

The second picture is a hand knurler I made on the lathe and mill. It works pretty good!

The 3rd picture is some exhibit hardware I have in production right now, they are sign and graphic standoffs. These are done using the lathe, mill , drill press and tapper.

If you do get a lathe, these are some important features you should look for. You'll probably need every one of these at some point... multiple thread counts (from 3 to 92 tpi, at least), metric and standard US threading, left and right hand threading, variable speed motor, reversible motor, backgear.

Hope this helps!
Other Steve

This fellow demonstrates how to make a micro-lathe extremely accurate.
He has a lot of very innovative ideas that can be scaled up to any sized lathe or mill.
The following videos have English subtitles as he does not speak English.
https://www.youtube.com/user/tryally/videos

there is a video on you tube (where else) called the concrete lathe project. posted mainly for developing nations it shows how you can cast a CHEEP working lathe out of concrete with a few metal parts embedded. very interesting.

these are the automatic feed gears on our south bend lathe. it's gotta be about 50 years old. the new machinist was running it the other day when it crashed and one of the small gears got stripped. i wonder if south bend is even a going concern anymore? also can a new gear be fabricated on a bridgeport horizontal mill without an indexing head attachment?

Check on Ebay for the gear. With as many South Bend lathes as there are out there, someone will have a replacement.

South Bend still exists. Here is a link to their parts department if you can't find the gear on Ebay

http://www.southbendlathe.com/products/parts

delraydella wrote:Check on Ebay for the gear. With as many South Bend lathes as there are out there, someone will have a replacement.

South Bend still exists. Here is a link to their parts department if you can't find the gear on Ebay

http://www.southbendlathe.com/products/parts

thanks del.

AnvilJack wrote:Would those members who have lathes and mills mind showing us some of their work, please?

I have been doing machining for myself and for others since 2005, initially on flashlight parts, although now also on shaving stuff with Titanium, and I have a few of those projects here in my Hobby website:
http://www.atdms.com/


I made my own adjustable, 1000 lumen flashlight from scratch:



Lots of boring flashlight parts:



Lots of small custom parts:



Lots of grooves on flashlight parts:




Made my own LED shop lights for the lathe and mill:





Making custom parts for a diving flashlight:



Titanium shaving brush:



Titanium handle for DE/satety razor:



Knurling on brass for a DE/safety razor handle:



And not directly related to the lathe/mill, but I also do my own electronics as well (design, layout, solder, program, etc.):



Will

Brilliant stuff. Very helpful. Thanks so much for sharing these.

(Might be "next week" before I can achieve anything like these examples, but they are just the confirmation that I am looking for before I drop the dollars on the table. I have also been doing the electronics for some years, and feel more than ready to bring this to more than just toys.)

I am pleased to hear that some other folk also need to be constantly cleaning so that their shops function efficiently, but that some dust, grit, spawlings, etc always mark the history of work.

Actually, I have made some progress by spending time on some CAD/CAM sites. I have downloaded FreeMill, and begun playing with it, along with a range of particularly 2D software. I found good thinking stuff at http://mecsoft.com/gallerymill/, just in case anyone else is in my boat. (I do realise that I am like the little boy who has discovered chewing gum, and tells his mates about it, and they pop bubbles and compare flavours while he shows off his newfound chewy.)

Anyway, I think it is about time I bought a manual mill, cut some slots and grooves in some steel, made a spanner, welded together some custom brackets and levers, and just generally get swinging at the ball. (Do I feel some dust coming off my TIG machine?)

More examples and insights please. I have huge respect for the talent of people on this forum.

On Youtube, use the search words
EMC2 LinuxCNC

This is the free software route with a huge following.
The software was originally called EMC2
but is now called LinuxCNC http://www.linuxcnc.org/

Really neat stuff up there. Thanks for that.

I was looking at lathes on craigslist. Then it occurred to me that anything else I get into from this point on, will only cut further into my already dwindled sleep time.

A titanium yo-yo, modeled after the famous Duncan Butterfly would be cool. With some teflon tires for those walk-the-dog moves.

I understand the concern TamJeff suggests, having too many commitments in limited time, as well, in my case, too many "learning things" spinning in the air at one time. (I continue my formalised look at structures, loads, and design in steel, and mathematical modelling of common, everyday constructions. Here I seek safety, efficiency, and economy.)

But I long to make some of the machines I have sketched, and my current steel work will serve me well for the columns and beams, but not for the articulation of components, the gears and power and drive trains.

A mill first, for me, I think. And a re-awakening of TIG skills.

Thanks for the tip about the LinuxCNC site, too. Very interesting.

The deed is done. A de-greased 1.5 HP mill drill with dovetail every things, geared head, 6 speeds, 77mm (3") face cutter, set of collets, 20 end cutters, 98 piece clamping set (blimey), big table, 180 degrees tilting head, MT3 spindle, chuck, 340 kg (thank you, for the workshop crane), and 3 hours of brushing with kerosene to remove all that Shanghai (? China, somewhere) travel grease.

It weighs 340 kg.

This tool claims to drill 40mm holes in steel, to cut a 28mm swathe across steel, to weigh 340 kgs, and to do everything I ask.

Did I mention that it weighs 340 Kg. It took me three hours to place it on my welding table so that I could degrease it and install the handles, etc.

I have four days to make a base for it, before a die-maker relative turns up to show me how to get down in dirty but "accurately". So that will take two hours, and then I will get some stock to play with.

One man, 340 kg: it is not fair.

sounds like xmas came early to jack's house?!

Nice!

If you decide to use the tilting head, one of the very first tools you should get is a spindle square, pictured below. It makes tramming the head about as dead nuts accurate as you'll ever get. Don't trust the degree marks on the mill head.

Have fun!

Other Steve

Congratulations! 340 kgs??? Wow, I feel your pain. Ok, that's a lie. I don't feel a thing.

Make sure to post plenty project pics to keep the cobwebs under control down here.

I use the Taig Micro-Lathe for the really small precision stuff
and the Craftex B2229 (16 X 20) Lathe/Mill Combo for the regular projects.
Both machines have a surplus of accessories and are good hobby machines.

I've bought a Hitachi VFD (variable frequency drive) and 2hp 3-phase motor for the lathe/mill
and I'm in the process of experimenting with a homemade CNC setup based on LinuxCNC.

These two books are excellent for getting anyone started in machining.

Thanks for the tips and information, people.

I have the monster bolted down, level too, lubricated, and have changed cutters, done a bit of face milling and run an end mill along a few edges. At least I can tighten down the work piece, worked out how to get the "up cutting" direction set up, spray a bit of cutting oil on the cutter, etc.

I am distilling several hundred pages of reading into a few notes, almost a checklist, as I go, (late night reading), so that I keep a few basics in mind. I'll see if I can attach that here so that people who know better can correct me, or add further essential bits of stuff to get started on a mill. You must not laugh: I am at the stage of a welder being told (or discovering) his machine is a single phase 10 amp 240 volt tool with a work clamp and an electrode.

My mate called by yesterday and spent an hour or two. He laughed. At his work he uses machines the size of my workshop, motors on everything, and he has never used anything as small as mine. Anyway, we got a bit done.

It is a pity I still have some construction work, even if it has quite a bit of welding inbuilt, as this is interrupting my playtime with the mill.

Anyway, keep an eye out for the page of notes, (to be read just before I start up the machine, for now), and see if you can help. Thanks.

Oops ... can't upload a pdf or docx file. I'll have to look into this.

Milling With The Vertical Mill Drill

Always wear eye protection when using a mill. Avoid wearing loose clothes, particularly loose long sleeves. Restrain long hair. Switch off the machine before cleaning swarf, or handling metal or cutters, or making adjustments to set ups, clamps, vices, etc.

Think. Your attentive mind is your primary safety tool.

Strive, always, to work with great accuracy in all machining tasks.

The vertical mill drill can mill, drill, and bore.

The mill can be used to machine metal and other materials to make tools, parts, fittings, brackets and other hardware, gears, threads, screws, toys, artwork, to mill castings, for clock making, for product development, in restoration work, in repair work, to make replicas, robots, appliances, electronic apparatus, laboratory and medical fittings, and in model engineering.

In milling, the cutter rotates, and the work piece is held still.

With a full range of accessories, the mill can machine almost all shapes.

Think your way through the milling task. With a vertical mill, the view from the head (Z axis), the surface being milled is plan view.

Get to know your mill
Work within the capabilities of the machine. A large casting cannot be machined on a small mill. It is important to know what you can ask of your mill.

Here I outline my mill drill. It is a small, industrial quality “generic machine”, and these elements apply to most (all?) vertical mill drills. Other machines have digital readouts on all three axes, and power feeds on the X axis.

The manufacturer provided this technical data.

Geared Head Dovetail Milling & Drilling Machine 1100W/240V/Single Phase
• max. drilling capacity: 40mm (1-9/16") 

• max. diameter of face milling cutter: 76mm (3")

• max. diameter of end mill cutter: 28mm (1-1/8")

• swing: 545mm (21-1/2"")

• max. distance between spindle nose to table: 450mm (17-3/4")

• spindle taper: MT3 (with M12 x1.75 drawbar)

• max. spindle travel: 120mm (4-3/4")

• spindle barrel diameter: 75mm (3")

• speeds: 6 steps (95-170-280-540-960-1600rpm) 

• tilting angle of spindle: -/+180° (Tilting head to ±90º from vertical)

• table size: 730mm X 210mm (28-3/4" X 8-1/4")

• spindle to column (throat): 270mm

• table slot size(t-slot): 16mm (5/8")

• dovetailed head instead of column

• longitudinal travel of table: 500mm (19-3/4")

• transverse (cross) travel of table: 175mm (6-7/8")

• motor: 1.5HP (1.1kw) /240v/1ph (single phase) 

• total height: 1100mm (43-1/3")
*total length: 800mm (31-1/2")

• total width: 1050mm (41-1/9")

• shipping weight: 340kgs 


• accessories includes: MT3 shank 3" face cutter, MT3 drill chuck arbor, 13mm key drill chuck and spanners

Use kerosene to clean all transportation grease from your new mill, and install it by bolting it securely, table level (X and Y axes), so that it will not vibrate while working.

Your mill needs lubricating, perhaps as little as twice a year. If it has a gearbox, monitor the oil level in this, (SAE 68), and change oil once a year. Keep all other working parts lightly lubricated. Check your operating manual twice a year to review your mill’s service schedule.

Changing cutters
A common strategy for holding cutters uses collets (ER collets, on my mill) inside an adapter (cutter arbor) with a tapered shank (MT3 in my case) that is held inside the spindle by a drawbar (arbor bolt). The cutter arbor, C spanner and collets are purchased as a set, MT3 in my case, and allow a range of different diameter milling cutters with cylindrical shanks to be installed into the tapered spindle.

To remove a milling cutter and replace it with another cutter,
1. hold the bottom of the arbor with a C spanner (supplied with a collet set, or purchased separately),
2. remove the plastic cap on the top of the head of the mill drill,
3. and use a ring spanner to loosen the arbor bolt about two turns.
4. Then rap the top of this arbor bolt with a soft hammer (copper, or nylon). This loosens the adaptor, freeing the tapered surface of the adaptor from the inside mating surface of the spindle.
5. Now the adaptor, collet and milling cutter can be drawn out of the bottom of the spindle.
6. Use the correct size collet for the next selected cutter, and reverse the process to install the new cutter.
7. Tighten firmly, but do not over-tighten, with the C spanner and ring spanner on the top of the arbor bolt.

Never grease the tapered surface of the arbor or spindle in the belief that this will lubricate it and cause it to free easily. Just keep things clean.

Several different collet systems are used, and your specific procedure might vary slightly from the one outlined here.

A boring head, drill chuck arbor or face mill will be removed by the same process, but it will have a taper to match the inside of the spindle, and so will not use collets.

Check your new mill
Only when the spindle is square to the work will the surface of the work be machined flat. If the spindle is out of square to the work, the resulting machined surface will be concave.

Normal milling
Prefer “normal milling”, sometimes called “up milling” or “up cutting”. Feed work into the cutter against the direction of rotation of the cutter. An alternative is climb milling.

Climb milling should be avoided, except for very light, finishing cuts. In climb milling the cutter travels in the same direction as the table, and the cutter seeks to take a large bite of metal at the entry into the work piece, and hence it tries to climb onto the work piece.

One advantage of normal milling is that the backlash of gears in the mill is minimised. The main disadvantage of normal milling is that the work must be fixed firmly in place on the mill.

Set up for normal milling by ensuring the cutter rotates in the opposite direction to the table travel. This is toward the table travel carrying the work, in plan view. If the cutter is rotating in a clockwise direction, in normal milling, the table travel will be anti-clockwise (around the outside of a rectangular work piece).

In normal milling, the cutter takes a swarf with a small then larger profile.

Set ups: Clamping and using a vice
Setting up work to hold work firmly, to permit a good sequence of work, and to provide for accurate work often takes more time than the actual milling.

Before you set work on the mill, select the best surface to begin from, and this will usually be the flattest surface. Plan to make the least number of set ups as you mill the work.

Measure from one point on the work piece, if possible a point that will not be machined off during the milling process.

Most set ups require that the work is held square with the table, and then aligned with the spindle.

Use at least three fixing points for each work piece.

Tighten everything after adjusting each item. But, don’t over-tighten.

The cutter should rotate toward the fixed jaw of a vice (if used).

For rectangular stock, most often use a milling vice fixed to the table, and ensure the fixed jaw is square to the table.

Round stock can be held in V blocks. The clamps often provided with V blocks help set work up accurately, but they are not strong enough for securing the work during milling.

Usually irregular work should be clamped to the table, or to a tooling plate, made to accommodate the work. Set up the work on the tooling plate, or indeed, on a chuck if using a rotary table, at a workbench, away from the mill. This makes accurate set up easier. The tooling plate is then clamped to the table.

Check the vice to see if it is square to the slots before you set work up.

Never leave a vice on a table knowing it is not square to the slots.

Squaring the vice
Square the fixed jaw of the vice to the slots in the table by using a dial test indicator fixed to the spindle, or held in the spindle. Set the vice to 1 degree out (counter clockwise), snug but not tight on the table, sweep the dial test indicator, tapping the vice until the needle doesn’t move. Tighten the vice, and check again by sweeping the dial.

A milling vice may have true sides so that you can use one engineer’s square, or two, (a smaller placed inside and against a larger), against the vice, and in this way square the vice with the table. Parallels may be needed to raise a square above the table to allow the engineer’s squares to be placed against the machined base of the vice in this process. Check the set up after this process with a dial test indicator.

Squaring stock
Before you begin to make a part, the stock should be squared. Aim to saw the stock to oversize so that you only need to square, test, and then mill twice, a cut to shape the part, and a finishing cut. (But, often more, light cuts will be needed in milling a work piece.)

Support the stock with one parallel near the fixed jaw, and a piece of soft wire near the moveable jaw. When squaring stock, mill a face and mark it with texta or sharpie. Deburr each surface with a second cut file, or scraper, as you proceed. Then mill the remaining surfaces with this first surface against the fixed jaw of the vice. (Mark each edge milled.) When you have the milled surface supported on the parallel, tap the stock into place with a soft hammer. When milling the first end, check for square with a try square.

Cutting metal
The decisions that need to be made are (a) cutter size and type, (b) depth and width of cut, and (c) speed of rotation.

Lock the table if axis is not being used to move the work piece, and lock the spindle after the head height has been set. The work must be held firmly, and the milling machine must be as rigid as possible.

Before you mill the part, make a very light test cut, just one or two hundredths of a millimetre.

Using HSS cutter on mild steel
(1) use a sharp cutter
(2) the width of the cut should be not more than 40% of the diameter of the cutter (2 flutes in the cut gives even, good quality cut)
(3) the depth of the cut should be not more than 30% of the diameter of the cutter
(4) use the largest cutter the arbor/colletts can hold, for the cut that needs to be done.

For an end cutter, most of the strain is on the side of the cutter. If the mill struggles, reduce the depth of the cut (which reduces the side strain).

Open slot making: use cutter same width as the slot, but reduce depth to 15% of diameter of the cutter, and slow down.

Speed of mill (RPM of cutter)

1. Using a sharp 12 mm HSS end cutter with mild steel, use 500 rpm, or the next slowest speed.

2. For a 6 mm cutter, try 1,000 rpm, and for a 24 mm cutter, try 250 rpm.

3. For cast iron and bronze, halve the speed suggested for mild steel, and for aluminium, double the speed.

4. For blunt cutters, use 75% of sharp cutter recommendations.

5. If steel swarf is bright blue, slow feed rate, and also slow the speed of the rotating cutter.

6. If the tool chatters or squeals, decrease the speed (rotation of cutter), and increase the speed of feeding work into cutter.

Lower the cutter with the fine adjustment, not the drilling handles.

Apply cutting oil with squirts from an oilcan onto the cutter to lubricate the cutter in mild steel.

Do not use oil when milling cast iron. Cool cast iron with compressed air.

Stop the mill before you clean up, but clean swarf after each cut. Do not use your fingers: use a small brush, perhaps a suitable paint brush, or a tooth brush.

Closing down for the day
When the mill is switched off, clean away all chips or swarf with a brush, a small scoop, even a vacuum cleaner at the end of the day. Clean any oil found on rubber guards on your mill.

Leave the milling tools in better condition than they were in when you found them.

Cover the mill with a cloth to prevent dust settling on the machine when it is not in use.

Precise work
Never cut steel without a plan that includes dimensions. Make parts “to size”. Mill operators can produce work of higher standard than the mill is capable of: strive to be a very accurate machinist: push your mill’s accuracy to the limit.

1/1000th of an inch is .025 mm.
1.0 mm is .04 of an inch (“40 thou”).
0.1 mm = 4 thou.
0.01 mm = 0.4 thou.

Use a dial test indicator to accurately set up work.

A piece of 10 mm plate glass can be used as a surface plate.

If a lot of metal must be removed from a particular location on the work, remove it with “rough cuts”, or heavy machining, before proceeding to mill accurately (to achieve close tolerances).

Strive from the beginning to make better and more accurate parts than you think you need. Work to closer tolerances than the job demands.

The hand wheel calibrations are quite accurate, and should be used whenever possible. Each calibration unit is .05 mm, and one complete turn of the wheel is 1.0 mm. It might help to write down your “numbers” for each milling operation, as part of your planning.

“Think three times, measure twice, cut once.”

When using an end mill with an angle plate, the bottom of the milling cutter cuts at the angle of the angle plate, but the side of the milling cutter cuts at 90 degrees less the angle of the angle plate.

Drilling
When drilling holes, where accuracy is required, (always?),
1. mark the position of the hole with a centre punch,
2. begin the hole with a centre drill.
3. Use good quality HSS drills.
4. Ensure the drill bit is sharp,
5. and that it is fastened tightly in the chuck using the chuck key.
6. Use cutting oil, applied with a brush.
7. The first hole following the centre drill should be to about the depth of the diameter of the drill.
8. Reverse the bit to clear spawl.
9. Apply more cutting oil,
10. and thereafter reverse and clear the spawl at each increase in depth (and application of cutting oil), the diameter of the drill bit.

Drilled holes are often then reamed to increase the accuracy and finish of the hole. Drilled holes are frequently out of round, and are not cylindrical. Reaming corrects this.

The Rotary Table
The rotary table with T slots is a major accessory for the mill. It has a worm and worm wheel, and a calibrated dial, to allow the rotation of the round table by known amounts. The worm has a known gear ratio, 90:1 being one common ratio.

The rotary table can be used in conjunction with a tailstock, indexing plates, angle plates, a chuck, a faceplate, and at 90 degrees to the mill’s main table. And so dividing, milling circular or curved surfaces and curved slots, and many “lathe-like” operations can be achieved using a rotary table and its related tools, (particularly if the head of the mill can be set at an angle, sometimes up to 90 degrees to its normal perpendicular, or if the rotary table itself can be set at any angle up to 90 degrees).

When fixed to the mill’s table, the rotary table must be aligned (centred) to the spindle. This can be done with a dial test indicator, and edge finder, or with a shop machined fitting that is held in the spindle and, when lowered into the rotary table before it is fixed in place, ensures the rotary table is centred.

Other ingenious methods of quickly aligning the rotary table to the mill spindle have been developed by innovative machinists. Check your set up of the rotary table with a dial test indicator if you use any of these other approaches to aligning the table to the spindle.

When machining a radius on work mounted on a rotary table, the machinist must add half of the diameter of the cutter to the dimension of the radius of the part (outside radius) or subtract half the diameter of the cutter from the radius (inside radius).

When machining with work held in a chuck that itself is fastened to the rotary table with a screw adapter, only light cuts should be made, since the milling action seeks to unscrew the chuck.

Boring
Holes are bored when they need to be more accurately dimensioned, and better finished, than is possible with drills and reamers.

Often castings are bored when large, accurate cylindrical holes are required. Since the work piece is stationary in a mill, it is often safer to bore castings on a mill than on a lathe. Set up is easier for large castings on a mill than on a lathe chuck. Also, the metal debris is more easily cleared from a mill, making such boring operations more preferable on a mill than on a lathe.

Boring bars are held in a boring head, this in turn being held in a tapered adapter in the mill’s spindle. The boring head can be adjusted very accurately (though backlash in lead screw adjustments should be “corrected” by backing up the screw several turns if the first attempt to set the boring head has not been satisfactory).

The radius of the hole provided by the boring head is adjusted then locked with set screws on a dovetail.

When boring through a work piece, raise it above the clamping surface (table, angle plate, etc) with parallels or 1-2-3 blocks. Clamp the piece firmly, with at least three clamping points, since considerable force is used in boring. Protect the surface of the work piece with brass strips placed between it and the clamps.

A boring head can be used to bore parts of complete circles (crescents).

Fly-cutters can be used for boring large holes.

Sounds like you have a good handle on milling! The most important things on that list, well actually the 2 most important things are......locking down all moving parts on the mill that don't need to move during the cutting process and using sharp cutters.

If you can find what are called "roughing' or "hogging" end mills, pictured below, they will make your milling life much, much easier. They will remove an incredible amount of material compared to any regular end mill. Use them for rough cuts and then go back in with the regular end mills to finish to the spec size and for clean up. They are available for cutting a wide variety of material and will also come coated for special cuts. Well worth the cost!

Okay, so I've considered the "spindle square" but decided to put both purchasing one and using the mill head at an angle on hold for a little while. Baby steps for me, I'm thinking.

I have read about roughing cutters, and I will buy one or two of those (20mm and 12 mm ??) in the next week or so. Love to try them out.

And I've ordered a Tabletop Machining book from Amazon. It will get here in a week or so, and I will have read my other books by then.

I have digital callipers, a dial indicator and arms on a magnetic base, 10 end cutters, 10 slot cutters (2 flutes), a set of collets, and a set of parallels, and many other measuring tools from "other interests".

What other peripherals will I need in my early stages?

Dovetail cutters. I hardly ever use the 45 degree ones, but the 60 degree ones get a lot of use.

Also, there is what's referred to as a chip scraper. I don't know the official name for it, but it looks like a T shaped paint scraper. It fits into the T slots in the mill table and pushes out all the hard to reach chips that get in there. Very handy tool!

AnvilJack wrote:The deed is done. A de-greased 1.5 HP mill drill with dovetail every things, geared head, 6 speeds, 77mm (3") face cutter, set of collets, 20 end cutters, 98 piece clamping set (blimey), big table, 180 degrees tilting head, MT3 spindle, chuck, 340 kg (thank you, for the workshop crane), and 3 hours of brushing with kerosene to remove all that Shanghai (? China, somewhere) travel grease.

Photos?

We love to see new "toys"

Score? Mill (and close friend, Scraps Bin) 2, A-Jack 0

I'm using a 16mm end cutter to try and face two bits of angle iron which I thought I might be able to make into angle plates to help hold future work. The plan was to make the external angle 90 degrees, and then drill and thread some holes for work holding studs and nuts, and some slots to accommodate studs set in the table slots with T nuts. Then, I thought, I would weld in two webs to each angle plate, to give them greater strength and so stability for work holding.

First, you can see that I am having trouble getting a machined finish: nice patterns, but not "machined".

Second, while one of the angle plates ended up at 90 degrees fairly easily, according to my engineer's Try square, the other is constantly high, away from the angle. I figure it is flexing under the force of the cutter, no matter how small a cut I make, and so less material is coming away than I need to bring it down to "level".

Finally, one of the things I like about welding is that if you make a mistake (cut material too short, or burn a hole), then you just fix it.

Not so with milling. Nip out too deep a cut, and you've got it for ever. Even have to start again. You can see how one of the angle plates has a much thinner wall than the others.

Ah well, I'll get better. (I'll get better at photography, too, I hope.)

AnvilJack wrote:Score? Mill (and close friend, Scraps Bin) 2, A-Jack 0

I'm using a 16mm end cutter to try and face two bits of angle iron which I thought I might be able to make into angle plates to help hold future work. The plan was to make the external angle 90 degrees, and then drill and thread some holes for work holding studs and nuts, and some slots to accommodate studs set in the table slots with T nuts. Then, I thought, I would weld in two webs to each angle plate, to give them greater strength and so stability for work holding.

First, you can see that I am having trouble getting a machined finish: nice patterns, but not "machined".

Second, while one of the angle plates ended up at 90 degrees fairly easily, according to my engineer's Try square, the other is constantly high, away from the angle. I figure it is flexing under the force of the cutter, no matter how small a cut I make, and so less material is coming away than I need to bring it down to "level".

Finally, one of the things I like about welding is that if you make a mistake (cut material too short, or burn a hole), then you just fix it.

Not so with milling. Nip out too deep a cut, and you've got it for ever. Even have to start again. You can see how one of the angle plates has a much thinner wall than the others.

Ah well, I'll get better. (I'll get better at photography, too, I hope.)

Mill 2.png

Angles 1.png

Angles 2.png

if you "nip out too deep a cut", why can't you fill it in with weld and start over?? we just had a pipe fitting that high pressure steam cut a groove in the flange face and i filled it in with weld and the machinist easily milled it to a perfect surface.