Help getting the first milling essentials

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graham-xrf

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After the unabashed urgings of the HM rabbit hole squad, and wanting to get ahead of possible future import charges and general financial mayhem, I did purchase a little mill-drill machine. --> Thread HERE

It has not even arrived yet, but now I have to get together at least enough to cut the first test chips.

Cormak 230V MT3 Mill-Drill.jpg

The T-Slots are 10mm. They are the sort of thing one can make, but I got a few 10mm T's with 8mm threads from eBay to get started with.

What about a drawbar? I have no idea whether the mill comes with one. I tried the HM search. maybe I can make one. I take it that trying to mill with a MT3 taper mounted tool, and no drawbar, can be a recipe for injury and broken stuff?

The spindle has taper MT3. I guess getting a first milling cutter is next - but which one? HSS or carbide? How many flutes?
Should it be 2 cutters minimum? End mill + something else. Should it include fly cutter?

Humdrum stuff. I suppose some kind of clamp-down things. What is best here?

Duh! Parallels! Can I cut up some ground stock? How to harden it? Maybe just throw them into the woodburner/

A milling vise of some sort. Split type? Tilty over up to 45° type?

Can one do milling OK without a cooling pump kit?

A wobbly edge finder?

Oh yeah - what about DRO?

I only ever messed with a lathe, and that not much. Now I have the South Bends, albeit one in pieces
Am..mm I sh.. sh..showing s-s-signs of n-n-n-new aaaaaa-d d d dictions already? (Twitch)? :confused 3:
 
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It has a drawbar, good there.
you need collets for holding tooling.
a Vise.
Hold down sets are a nice thing, but not essential.
Parallel set, yes.
Edge finder,yes.
Cheap set of endmills, 2 and 4 flute, yes. Start cheap, you will break them...........
Drill chuck, yes.
Tap follower,yes.
Others will add to my list.
 
Congrats Graham!
For that size mill, I have seen a machinist style vise used with great success. Check out Stefan Gotteswinter's Youtube channel and you'll see one in action.
 
In for the alerts. I need a bunch of stuff also. If anyone posts specific things maybe non-china names could also be listed?
 
My thanks for the replies so far folks.
I expect to put drills and taps in the chuck. I thought milling cutters go in the MT3 taper spindle.
Then I see the available sets of milling cutters with parallel shanks.
My ignorance of the norms here is complete. Does one use them with collets? Even in a chuck?

I plan to trawl the stuff and apply some logic. I will figure it out soon.
I have to let the planet turn some now.
 
graham-xrf said:
My thanks for the replies so far folks.
I expect to put drills and taps in the chuck. I thought milling cutters go in the MT3 taper spindle.
Then I see the available sets of milling cutters with parallel shanks.
My ignorance of the norms here is complete. Does one use them with collets? Even in a chuck?

I plan to trawl the stuff and apply some logic. I will figure it out soon.
I have to let the planet turn some now.
Click to expand...
Endmills go in collets or mill holders, never in a drill chuck, same with taps, never in a drill chuck.
 
graham-xrf said:
My thanks for the replies so far folks.
I expect to put drills and taps in the chuck. I thought milling cutters go in the MT3 taper spindle.
Then I see the available sets of milling cutters with parallel shanks.
My ignorance of the norms here is complete. Does one use them with collets? Even in a chuck?

I plan to trawl the stuff and apply some logic. I will figure it out soon.
I have to let the planet turn some now.
Click to expand...
The advice I received was to go with an ER32 collet chuck for end mills and other related tooling. I found on with an MT3 taper and it has worked very well for me. I'm rounding out my collet range so that I can also use them for drills as the drill chick I have eats up a lot of Z-axis.
 
What about a drawbar? Nobody sells a Mill without its drawbar

The spindle has taper MT3. I guess getting a first milling cutter is next - but which one? HSS or carbide? How many flutes?
Should it be 2 cutters minimum? End mill + something else. Should it include fly cutter?

We are going to recommend HSS to get started, 4 flutes for steel, 2 flutes for aluminum.
Standardize your setup around one end mill (mine is 1/2" but I have a bigger mill; I started with 3/8ths but wnet bigger)
The $15 fly cutters on (everywhere) are just junk.......

Humdrum stuff. I suppose some kind of clamp-down things. What is best here?

You are going to want a vise (4") a hold down kit (sized to the t-slots in your bed) and this should cover 80%.
Later you will add a rotary table (or 2), various collets to hold mills and parts, files, deburring tools, machinest hammer, parallels, angle blocks, 1-2-3 blocks,.....

Duh! Parallels! Can I cut up some ground stock? How to harden it? Maybe just throw them into the woodburner/

After you use parallels 500 times, you will be in a position to make your own parallels to the required accuracy and precision, so, yes, buy them!

A milling vise of some sort. Split type? Tilty over up to 45° type?

Flat !!! those tilty things are not as stiff. And take it off the roundy thing, too. Flat and right to the bed is as stiff as you can get.

Can one do milling OK without a cooling pump kit?

Slower RPMs and feeds generates less heat and thereby less need for coolant.

A wobbly edge finder?

Absofriggenlutely !

Oh yeah - what about DRO?

Later grasshopper, later..........
 
You can make your own parallels. Plain old bar stock will serve. Heck I've even used pieces of wood and popsicle sticks for odd setups.
Your machine is light duty so probably want to stick with 1/4" and 3/8" endmills for cutting steel- for aluminum you can go a little larger, but beware of chatter. Use eye protection especially for cutting brass; the little chips are devilish and fly everywhere. Watch your fingers too, endmills are wicked sharp.
-Mark
 
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