Milling machine has landed :)

Josh Dabney

Josh Dabney

Moderator
Hey fellow Dogs !

Seems like I've had too many irons in the fire lately to actually accomplish a finished project. Of course today I went and added another project to the list of things to do.

I had made up my mind that I needed to start saving for a milling machine as my next major tool purchse so I've been trying to be studious in doing my research on mills, tooling, methods, and of course prices and availability of pre-loved machinery. As luck would have it I ran across a Harbor Freight benchtop mill with a homemade stand for $400. I had the cash in my mill kitty to pick it up but having got rid of my truck had no way to move this thing from the other side of the state.

A quick phone call to my friend and fellow Knife-dogger Mike Barton and we had worked out a schedule for picking up the mill and getting it to my house with his truck and an engine hoist that he borrowed from another friend.

Boy did that hoist make thing easier ! I really cant imagine moving this sucker without it.

I can't thank Mike enough for lending a hand (and truck, and hoist) in moving this equipment as I would have probably had to pass on it if it weren't for his help.

Although in the previous owners Craigslist add he had it linked to the current Chinese made 1 1/2 hp mill offered by Harbor Freight this perticular mill turns out to be the previouse model which is a 2HP and was made in the Rong Fu factory in Tiawan. My research tells me this is a GOOD thing :bud:

I'm awhere there are some shortcommings to the round column style Mill/Drills but for $400 I felt I couldn't pass it up.

Let me know how I did fellas.

I've got a pretty good idea of what tooling I need to get to have this sucker operational but I'm sure I'll have some questions for you guys down the road.

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I'm really stoked about having a mill and I'm looking forward to figuring out how to talk it into doing what I want :D
 
Josh Dabney said:
I'm really stoked about having a mill and I'm looking forward to figuring out how to talk it into doing what I want :D
Click to expand...

You better figure out how to use that thing! :p:eek:

I expect to be able to come by next time and have you run me through some training for the future mill at my place if I ever get some more shop space. ;)

It was my pleasure to help out Josh, just call anytime you like. You know us Flori-Dogs have to stick together. :D
 
I used a mill very similar to that in shop class to make a hammer head and parallel clamps. One thing that I wish that style had was a power feed table. We had to surface those pieces, which took usually around 3 or 4 passes to get it scale free, and my arm sure got tired from turning.
 
Mike,

I do see some upgrades in this ol'girl's future.

Power feed on the x-axis and 3-axis digital read out will (I think ???) be the future set-up. I may also quite possibly swap to a 3-phase motor and VFD set-up with a tachometer at some point but probably not soon.

We'll see what happens with time as I actually learn to use this thing but I'm not opposed to doing some upgrades to it as money and skills allow.

There is a ton of info out there for modding these machines but my first priority will be too get set up with the BASIC tooling like a good vise, parallels, collets, end mills, etc etc etc.

I'm definately NOT having a problem dreaming up projects for her future :)

-Josh
 
Nice purchase! I would love to have a mill like that at home. For knife making you don't need a huge bridgeport, just a small setup like that. I do have the little bitty central machinery lathe. It doesn't have any oomph but it is great for very small stuff like pivot pins and thumb studs.

One words of advice- Do not trust that vice that is on the table in the picture. I bought one of those the other day for $10 at harbor freight when I bought my small drill press. I didn't expect much but what I found when I checked it was terrible
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First I turned the vise upside down and placed the ways on magnetic 2-4-6 blocks. I then surface ground the bottom of the vise (which should have been true with the ways right?) but it wasn't and it was almost .100" out from one side to the other. Once I got the flat I turned it over and removed the moving jaw. I then ground the ways, which didn't have much to remove since they were true with the bottom that I had ground earlier. I then put the moving jaw back in and ground the tops of both of these with a small square block tightened in while I did it. The fixed jaw was about .100 higher than the moving jaw. The reason I did this is that I like to set my work on top of the jaws sometimes and they need to be flat. I then ground a small step in each jaw, kind of like built in parrallels. It is now trustworthy..

Alot of work for such a cheapy tool, but I didn't mind. The only downfall to it is that in the bottom, there is a place where the little moving jaw keeper slides on some "machined" surfaces as the jaw travels. These were out as well, and there really isn't a way to get to them with a grinding wheel. You will pretty much have to locate on you ways, and mill them in true with an endmill. I didn't get to this part but I'm going to soon. Then, I would also like to add a V channel to the moving jaw so I can hold round parts vertically.

Of course if you wanted to avoid all this hassle you could buy a small cheap mill vise I'm sure.
cheers.gif
 
JS-

The vise thats on there is already off, LOL. Thanks for the advice, it is appreciated !!!
I'm gonna order an enco vise to go on the mill like this one-
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INLMKD&PMPXNO=26182968&PMAKA=SV425-7240

The on that came with the mill is sad even for a drill press vice but I've been meaning to pick up a small vise like this to complete my bowling ball vise for doing silver wire inlays and scrimshaw. This 4" clunker should fit the bill nicely for that purpose.

On my short list is-
dial indicator set
vise
collet set
end mills
edge finder

Am I missing anything Important to get started with the basic Slotting Guard operation ?

And of course LOTS of stuff to get as I go
reamers
fly cutter
face mill
drill chuck and arbor

Etc etc etc
 
Josh Dabney said:
JS-

The vise thats on there is already off, LOL. Thanks for the advice, it is appreciated !!!
I'm gonna order an enco vise to go on the mill like this one-
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INLMKD&PMPXNO=26182968&PMAKA=SV425-7240

The on that came with the mill is sad even for a drill press vice but I've been meaning to pick up a small vise like this to complete my bowling ball vise for doing silver wire inlays and scrimshaw. This 4" clunker should fit the bill nicely for that purpose.

On my short list is-
dial indicator set
vise
collet set
end mills
edge finder

Am I missing anything Important to get started with the basic Slotting Guard operation ?

And of course LOTS of stuff to get as I go
reamers
fly cutter
face mill
drill chuck and arbor

Etc etc etc
Click to expand...

I can't see the picture of the vise at work but if it is any sort of mill vise you should be fine.

You definitely need an indicator. What kind of quill (head) does it have? Is it R8? If so you should be able to get a set of common size collets for cheap. I would check around at some local machine shops and see if they have any dull tools they would be willing to donate or sell cheap. Some resharpen tools that are .5"+ dia, but under that they usually throw away. You need to learn to sharpen drills, endmills, and other various tools. Tools are expensive, and its hard to keep them sharp if you don't know how to figure feeds and speeds. You should look into that as well. Edge finder will be your best friend. Reamers shouldn't be too expensive, You can build a fly cutter - if you have a lathe. Face mill will have to be purchased and a drill chuck an arbor can probably be obtained from harbor freight. I have a small Jacobs chuck - remember that name - And I'm pretty sure I got it from harbor freight. If not you can get them through tool supply places. if I remember right, mine has a number 2 taper for the lathe tailstock. If your mill is R8, you will need an R8 arbor with a tapered head to fit the back of the chuck.

If you have any questions man just ask..This is what I do
cheers.gif
 
JS

Appreciate your words of wisdom.

My machine is an R-8 spindle.

The vise I'm planning to get is the Enco version of a Kurt lock-down style vise.

I'm hoping to get by with the collets for a little while but a buddy of mine has warned me about getting an el-cheapo drill chuck and advised to stick with a Jacobs so I'll be going that route.

I'm counting on a few months at least to get tooled up. I spent myself broke with what is basically an impulse purchase but I think like this- I got mill and own it free and clear so if takes awhile to get it fully functional I'm OK with that :)

I sure do appreciate the advise and I'm sure I'll have questions down the road as I learn to use this sucker.

I do actually have one question now.
2 flute end mill- better/faster material removal ????
4 flute- slower but smoother finish ????

Thanks, Josh
 
Josh Dabney said:
I'm hoping to get by with the collets for a little while but a buddy of mine has warned me about getting an el-cheapo drill chuck and advised to stick with a Jacobs so I'll be going that route.
Click to expand...

Josh... you might keep an eye on ebay. I bought a used Albrecht 1/32" - 1/2" for relatively cheap there. I am very happy with the purchase. 2thumbs There are a couple up for sale now at a reasonable price

Erin
 
Josh,


Great find, I know that excitement you have right now :)

An edge finder is one of the basics that is a good thing to have and learn how to use, but I've NEVER used one to slot a guard.

I eyeball center on the part, mill the slot... and do all the shaping of the guard AFTER it's fit to the knife. So it doesn't matter if the slot is dead-nuts on center or not.

The 4" vise you're getting will be fine on this type of machine. A swivel base is pretty much a waste of money.

I just upgraded to two much larger mills, but one just like yours has served me pretty well for about 10 years. If you try to do a bunch of heavy cutting (like say facing damascus billets between folds) then this machine is just big enough to really piss you off ;) But for doing things like slotting guards, it works beautifully.

I really like carbide center cutting endmills for guard slotting. Get a 3/8" endmill to cut a wide, relief slot in the handle side of your guard slot (about 1/2 - 3/4 the thickness of the guard material)... then an endmill slightly undersize for your actual guard slot (and mill it out to dimension).

The 3/8 relief makes it so you're only fitting a small portion of guard material, and not the whole thickness. :)
 
NickWheeler said:
I really like carbide center cutting endmills for guard slotting. Get a 3/8" endmill to cut a wide, relief slot in the handle side of your guard slot (about 1/2 - 3/4 the thickness of the guard material)... then an endmill slightly undersize for your actual guard slot (and mill it out to dimension).

The 3/8 relief makes it so you're only fitting a small portion of guard material, and not the whole thickness. :)
Click to expand...

This is a useful piece of info. You ever mill the end of the handle material to fit into the relief in the guard... to help keep things aligned?
 
NO :running dog:

That is possible, but would be a whole lot of head-ache Erin.

Indexing pins and bedded handles are a whole lot easier than that route :)
 
NickWheeler said:
NO :running dog:

That is possible, but would be a whole lot of head-ache Erin.

Indexing pins and bedded handles are a whole lot easier than that route :)
Click to expand...

Nick...

I've used indexing pins... but with an oversized 3/8" "relief" in the handle-side of the guard, it doesn't seem that there is a ton of real-estate left over for pin placement. I photo might help me out here.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "bedded" handles. Whatever it is, I'm probably already doing it without knowing 'cuz I'm THAT AWESOME. :Dhuh1
 
Nick,

Thanks alot for chiming in here. I'll stick with the 4" vise without swivel from Enco.

I know exactly what you mean about relieving the back side of the guard with a 3/8" end mill so I'll pick one up.

I am aware (from reading NOT experience) there will be some limitations with this size and style of mill on the heavy duty end of things but I'm thinking it should work great for guards, building fixtures, folders, nail nicks etc. etc. etc.

Thanks also for the recommendation of carbide center cutting end mills for slotting guards. There are ALOT of different styles of cutters available and it sure can be confusing which is for what purpose.

Thanks again for the tips,

-Josh
 
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