Feeling a little restricted.

[tinman123]

Seriously, it's not really a critical job, if you shatter a cutter it's paid for that lesson so have at it imo. If you ruin a bar it's not exactly got your reputation on the line.

I don't think I've said it yet (although others have) - you've done impressively well in a short space of time, I've seen people having 'proper tuition' just not get it like you have.

wait til he gets the bridgeport in the garden shed til ya see what he can do....

 

[Richard.]

well im delighted you tried the solid carbide and done it yourself, you were more than welcome as you know for me to run them off for you but i admire your dedication.


thats a nice setup on the lathe, makes it that bit more universal.
be cautious with an overhang like what you have there tho, whats not in the vice is under more pressure and not much to support it which on lighter material will cause deflection but the way the cross slide can only push front to back is a bonus if your milling like the way you did it, if you were plunge cutting with a mill or using a ball nose then you would want to be aware of the fact that you would be better off in that case working from the supported area out and the further out you go from the vice jaws the lighter the cuts.
it looks from the pic you mounted the tool in the middle of the jaws, you would be better mounting it in the middle of the cut, dont worry about the rest of it, its just dead weight.

if you keep an eye on the bay you could pick up a face mill, a smallish one at about 40mm, it ill be carbide tipped and will leave an excellent finish as long as your trammed up.(everything squared up with a dial gauge to less than 1 thou)
i have a 40mm, 60mm and 125mm here, great for taking a wide cut and could be mounted on a straight arbor.

check out http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/quick-index.aspx site, they carry a lot of stuff and its fairly reasonably priced and the quality is plenty good for the likes of you and me, i have some of their stuff here and altho its not starret its finished nearly as well and i couldnt fault it, so far anyways.

Awesome tips really quality advice. Thanks very much tin man. Every day's a school day but not quite........ I'm loving this yet I couldn't wait to get out of school

 

[Richard.]

Seriously, it's not really a critical job, if you shatter a cutter it's paid for that lesson so have at it imo. If you ruin a bar it's not exactly got your reputation on the line.

I don't think I've said it yet (although others have) - you've done impressively well in a short space of time, I've seen people having 'proper tuition' just not get it like you have.

Your dead right mate what's the worst that can happen. So I may wreck a few cutters I may put a few knocks in the vice. That's life and as we get better we f### up less stuff.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Your dead right mate what's the worst that can happen. So I may wreck a few cutters I may put a few knocks in the vice. That's life and as we get better we f### up less stuff.

You're in a better position than most if you mess up and machine the wrong bit or go to deep, as you don't have to go with the embarrassed look on your face to the local tig welder to get a part built up so you can remachine it.

 

[Richard.]

it looks from the pic you mounted the tool in the middle of the jaws, you would be better mounting it in the middle of the cut, dont worry about the rest of it, its just dead weight.

I modified the vice so that the tool would sit toward the front but still be pressing firm in the vice. I machined the vice jaws a small recess in them and it works a treat. Very true too. Those bars are within 0.02 at every point I measured them. That might sound a lot to some of you pros but to me that's just brilliant.

 

[Richard.]

You're in a better position than most if you mess up and machine the wrong bit or go to deep, as you don't have to go with the embarrassed look on your face to the local tig welder to get a part built up so you can remachine it.

Yeah very true. I can pretend it never happened lol.

 

[Richard.]

Sorry yes specifics I know.
0.02mm

 

[MattH]

Sorry yes specifics I know.
0.02mm

That's about 0.0005" you couldn't do any better than that without a surface grinder.

 

[MattH]

Well, it's more like 0.0008" - might as well use a chisel

Well if your going to be picky it's 0.00078"

 

[optima21]

with milling cutter, quite often its just the corner or cutting edge that goes blunt, so many years ago I was told by toolmakers to stone/grind the tips off hss cutters at 45 degree angle, as the cutting edge will last longer as it can conduct heat away from the cutting edge better. I do this on end mills up to 1/2" I use for facing and on 25mm shell end mills, like the one below

the cutting edges on carbide milling cutters do last for ages compared to hss steel ones, and you can run the cutters much faster than hss ones so reducing time machining parts.

 

[tinman123]

Awesome tips really quality advice. Thanks very much tin man. Every day's a school day but not quite........ I'm loving this yet I couldn't wait to get out of school

at the rate your going youl be passing me out some time before the end of the year.....
your doing very well for a beginner.

I modified the vice so that the tool would sit toward the front but still be pressing firm in the vice. I machined the vice jaws a small recess in them and it works a treat. Very true too. Those bars are within 0.02 at every point I measured them. That might sound a lot to some of you pros but to me that's just brilliant.

0.02 is as paddy would say, spot on.
and as said, after that your in tool maker territory, the only time more than that tolerance will show up is on a bigger shell mill, the 60mm one i have likes things to be well trammed, im building at the 125mm one so havnt used it yet but its going to be even more fond of the square.

id square the vice off a .001 dial gauge, mostly because i like the challenge.

 

[Richard.]

I have to give the little myford credit I was no way expecting my lathe purchase to be such an accurate tool. I've said it through out the whole thread it is such a capable little thing when it comes to sizing the work piece.
Every thing is a chore on it to set up but once done it's great. It's never gonna make me money unless I start working for £5 an hour It took me ages to clock up the milling slide and another lot of ages to clock up the vice but once it's away its away.
My next purchase is a new milling vice. The oem one is crap. 32mm max is little good for anything other than lathe tools. I've see none oem ones with up to 75mm capacity that fit the slide so I'll be looking at that next.

 

[Richard.]

at the rate your going youl be passing me out some time before the end of the year.....
your doing very well for a beginner.

Ha I doubt that. You guys really know your stuff. My progression is mainly down to asking the questions on here and taking on your advice.
You said use a carbide cutter so I bought a carbide cutter. My threads are spot on now but only down to the books you guys have sent me and I sat down and read them then went out to play.
I wouldn't be no where near where I am if it wasn't for starting this thread that I can guarantee.

 

[Turbo]

Do you have a pic of the setup you used to do this? I have a similar setup to you - a ML7 and milling slide and I want to do the same job ie reduce a carbide lathe tool holder so it fits my toolpost.

What does the cutter look like and did you mount it in the 3 jaw chuck? I have some slot drills, biggest is 12mm, would they work for this task?

 

[Pete.]

I have to give the little myford credit I was no way expecting my lathe purchase to be such an accurate tool. I've said it through out the whole thread it is such a capable little thing when it comes to sizing the work piece.
Every thing is a chore on it to set up but once done it's great. It's never gonna make me money unless I start working for £5 an hour It took me ages to clock up the milling slide and another lot of ages to clock up the vice but once it's away its away.
My next purchase is a new milling vice. The oem one is crap. 32mm max is little good for anything other than lathe tools. I've see none oem ones with up to 75mm capacity that fit the slide so I'll be looking at that next.

You're just getting going. In time you'll learn to do stuff like use a parallel off the chuck face to set your slide up in seconds. I have a piece of rectangular gauge plate that I use for all manner of things. I set up my mill vice by jamming the plate between the jaws and the column. I set tools in the lathe by holding it against the chuck face. It won't stand up to tenths but it'll nearly always be adequate.

Another thing to do is think about your tolerances. What you have done would have worked just as well with 0.2mm tolerance as 0.02mm. I know it's satosfying to get it as parallel as you have but was it necessary? You have height adjustment, so could suffer a bit of variation.

The only other thing I could say is that it would have been better to take material off the top of the tool where the clamp screws go rather than the bottom, this would have left the bottom surface with a nice flat seat against the holder.

 

[Richard.]

The only other thing I could say is that it would have been better to take material off the top of the tool where the clamp screws go rather than the bottom, this would have left the bottom surface with a nice flat seat against the holder.

That wouldn't work pete.
The whole idea is that the tool tip goes down. At the mo with the 12mm bars the tips are not low enough to cut in the centre of the work piece. Taking off the top won't change that.
Also I know you say my tolerance is un needed but I didn't set the thing up to get me that tolerance I just clocked every thing up true and started cutting. The fact it's come out that flat can only be seen in a good light I would say.
I ain't that good yet that I can deliberately set it up for such tolerances.

 

[Pete.]

Aah, you're reducing centre height, that makes sense then.

My comment was more about applying appropriate tolerances than commenting on yours. It's natural to be over-zealous when starting out but you'll soon learn what needs applying and when. You'll be surprised if you take a caliper or micrometer and go measuring shop-bought items. Some things you would think to be very closely made will measure up quite rough.

 

[Kram]

Looks good.
Vice I recommend the one I got, not many that open 90mm, fit on a slide, and have a small enough jaw to not limit travel.

 

[Richard.]

Mark 2.
Better all round. Finish is smoother, threads are a really perfect match up
Made using 2 home ground threading tools which getting them exactly the same is a skill in itself.
And this one actually has a use. It's wide and deep enough to hold 6 x 50p's.

 

[MattH]

You can never protect 6 X 50 pence pieces enough.

Well done.