Which vertical mill?

[sawdustdad]

Originally Posted by Terry C

I have tilted the head ever so slightly so the backside of the face mill doesn’t drag. Helps the surface finish. Keep the depth of cut no less than half the radius of the insert. Try to take too small depth of cut and it’s just like a lathe. You can’t get good finish taking off a couple of thousandths with a .03 radius tool.

Glad your having fun!

Took another crack at the face mill, and got much better results at ~400 rpm and 20 or 30 mils depth of cut is much better than 5 or 10, which mirrors my experience on the lathe. I could probably bump up the rpms to 600. Rear side of the mill does drag a bit on the surface but nothing you can feel with your fingers.

Do you find a big difference in results using inexpensive tooling from ebay sellers vs. more expensive name brands? Durability of HSS end mills, carbide inserts, etc? I've certainly found that good drill bits outlast cheap ones... Do you have a favorite supplier/website for lathe and mill tooling?

Thanks for your help.

[IHinIN]

If your spindle bearings have any vertical play in them, you’ll never be able to get a great finish with an inserted chipper. One of our Bridgeports at work has .004” play on the bearings and it leaves a horrible finish with inserted chippers. As you start onto the part, the spindle pushes up from the tool pressure and as you come off of the part, the spindle drops down and bounces causing chattering.

With tooling, you definitely get what you pay for. The cheap endmills and drills are not made from good steel.

[Terry C]

Originally Posted by IHinIN

If your spindle bearings have any vertical play in them, you’ll never be able to get a great finish with an inserted chipper. One of our Bridgeports at work has .004” play on the bearings and it leaves a horrible finish with inserted chippers. As you start onto the part, the spindle pushes up from the tool pressure and as you come off of the part, the spindle drops down and bounces causing chattering.

With tooling, you definitely get what you pay for. The cheap endmills and drills are not made from good steel.

I agree with this. But I don’t think Frank will be doing production and maybe get by with middle of the road tooling. If MSC is where you are going, the accupro stuff is kind of ok. It’s no OSG brand good but will work for a tool than maybe you won’t use again.
Do not skimp on taps. OSG, emuge are best IMO.
If you are going with carbide end mills, you have to keep the chips evacuated. You start cutting old chips in a groove they will chip the edge.
Use the feed and speed formula and you will be ok.

[sawdustdad]

I've purchased a combination of insert tooling and R8 adapters/arbors from ebay sellers and a large lot of what looks like higher quality end mills from a retired machinist. The lot includes single and double ended mills, 2 and 4 flutes, short and long, roughing and form cutters (round over, vee, slotting drills, round nose, etc).

I've been practicing making square blocks. Just getting an accurate set up, and facing 6 sides so they are all perpendicular and dimensionally accurate. I'm within .001" across a 4 inch wide block which I think is quite good. Even ground my own HSS bit for a fly cutter to surface a larger aluminum block which yielded a near mirror finish on the part.

Having a lot of fun learning this new machine. Glad I bought this full size knee mill and not a smaller table top version, despite the challenges in getting it and moving it around.

Oh, one thing that might help others considering such a purchase. I was able to move the mill across the garage floor by myself with a 2 Ton engine hoist that I purchased from Tractor Supply. Set the arm at the 1.5 Ton setting and was able to lift the mill off the floor a couple inches and roll the whole rig across the floor to the final position.