Help getting the first milling essentials

I'll chime in with a few links being the right side of the pond :D

Parallels:

www.zoro.co.uk

Oxford Hardened & Ground Steel Parallel Set 18 Pie| at Zoro

Oxford - Hardened & Ground Steel Parallel Set 18 Piece available at Zoro.co.uk - UK's Leading Supplier of DIY Tools and Supplies'
www.zoro.co.uk www.zoro.co.uk

After much research I settled on that set. Having a range has been a godsend.

Vise:

ARC Versatile Milling Vices - with swivel base - Arc Euro Trade

ARC Versatile milling vices with Angle Lock clamping. Can be used on its own or with the swivel base supplied. Sizes: 80mm, 100mm & 125mm.
www.arceurotrade.co.uk www.arceurotrade.co.uk

I settled on the 125mm version for the Bridgeport, but you're probably looking for the 100mm. Essentially the same as the Glacern that our American friends rate. Needs a little finishing here and there but it ain't half bad for the money. Having said that, I've not once used the swivel base, and something like this might be better suited to your machine:


ARC Versatile SG Iron Milling Vices - Arc Euro Trade

ARC Versatile SG (spheroidal graphite) iron milling vices with Angle Lock clamping. May be used horizontally or vertically. Sizes: 100mm & 160mm
www.arceurotrade.co.uk www.arceurotrade.co.uk

Precision Tool Vices Type 2 - Arc Euro Trade

Precision Tool Vices Type 2
www.arceurotrade.co.uk www.arceurotrade.co.uk

Step clamps:

www.ebay.co.uk

Clamping Kit 58 Piece M8 Stud : 10mm Slot New Style | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Clamping Kit 58 Piece M8 Stud : 10mm Slot New Style at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk

58pc Clamping Sets - Arc Euro Trade

Clamping sets for T-slot width: 10mm, 12mm, 14mm or 16mm. Includes: 6 clamping bars, 12 step blocks, 24 studs, 6 T-nuts, 6 flange nuts, 4 coupling nuts.
www.arceurotrade.co.uk www.arceurotrade.co.uk


Something like that. Lots of sets around to suit.

End mills:

HSS End Mills Associated Production Tools

Hss High Speed Steel End Mills General Use, End Milling Cutters for Roughing, Finishing, Stainless, Titanium Alloys, Un-coated for Aluminium.
www.shop-apt.co.uk

I've found their tools to be excellent. I'd go for some HSS to start with. Grab yourself a 12mm rougher:

www.shop-apt.co.uk

12mm Diameter Fine Pitch Ripper 4 Flute HSS High Speed Steel 8% Cobalt TiAlN Coated

12mm Diameter Fine Pitch Ripper 4 Flute HSS High Speed Steel 8% Cobalt TiAlN Coated.
www.shop-apt.co.uk

And a little range of diameters:

4 Flute End Mills HSS 8% Cobalt TiAlN Coated 40HRC Associated Production Tools

4 Flute High Speed Steel End Mills TiALN Coated for General Use on materials up to 40HRC
www.shop-apt.co.uk

You'll need collets or end mill holders to suit, but my knowledge is lacking in MT territory.

A fly cutter is definitely a good Idea:


I like this coolant:

www.ebay.co.uk

1L Quaker Houghton Dromus B (Shell) Water Soluble Cutting Fluid Coolant 20L Suds | eBay

Quaker Houghton Dromus B is a general purpose soluble oil for light to moderate duty machining on a wide range of materials.
www.ebay.co.uk

No need for a pump; mixing some up in a spill proof kids paint cup and applying with a brush is quite sufficient.

That ought to get you going :)
 
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Harold Hall in his book Milling found on Amazon describes how to make tee-nuts and parallels on your mill, useful book. An angle bracket project holder helps to make parallels etc.. You are probably aware of endmill length and clearance from spindle to mill table.
Have a good day
Ray
 
If you watch media from time to time, there are a number of great YouTube channels with varying levels of how-to, humor, and everything in between.

Keith Rucker is great all around. Abom79 gives a ton of great tips and tricks. This Old Tony shows a lot of clever solutions with humor that will make more sense as you learn about machining. There are a ton more, way too many to list.

If you find you enjoy the content, it's a great way to pick up knowledge over time.

And then of course there's the old school textbook route too :)
 
....but be aware that most commonly available cheap brazed carbide boring bars are total garbage, having completely the wrong geometry and require substantial grinding work to do anything useful.
 
Yep - I knew I could rely on you guys!
Given the subject title of this thread, it is going to get searched and lurked by beginners, and there is already a ton of good stuff.
My thanks to @Lo-Fi for the UK links.

@Jim F answers the question about what a chuck is used for.
So my My Mill Rules #1 is - Chucks are only ever used for holding drill bits.
This naturally leads to the #1 consequentials. Cutters go in collets, or tapers. Taps also.
I am bound to discover more no-no's.

Just for information, I spotter a batch of cutters going cheap in eBay auction. Maybe the reason is the threaded ends.

Thread Shank Cutters.jpg

Only now that my attention is on cutters, I see it, but I never noticed it before. Is this a "standard" or common thing? Would cutters like that still be usable in a collet? That would look a bit short, but what do I know? FYI - I passed on those.

My Mill Rule #2. Pay attention to collets!
I am going to go with the advice from @DavidR8 that ER32 is a OK collet size range to work in a MT3
The #10 post from @markba633csi suggests that 1/4" or 3/8" endmills are a suitable size. So 6mm to 10mm.
I looked at charts on --> This handy page --> https://littlemachineshop.com/info/er_collet_sizes.php
ER32 can do 1mm to 20mm, and is, I suppose, about the largest that can fit up a Morse Taper MT3

I know one can splurge on a whole set, or take the approach of building up a set, buying the size as the need arises.
Here we are going to run into "which collets"? Chinese or not? Can they be crap? What about the MT3 collet chuck? What are the warning signs? I suppose if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Given the South Bends have MT3 spindle as well, the collet set can be used there also.

The vise.
As important as the collets. Pretty much you don't do anything without it. I might go for something like @Lo-Fi suggests.

Parallels?
Sure, we can make them. The thing is, ground bar is already super accurate. It looks as if one can simply cut up some hardenable bar, finish the ends, and heat them up some with a plumbing torch.

Just for some orientation. Consider (say) a first collet set of 6 covering from about 3/16" to 3/4" plus collet chuck. (about 4.5mm to 20mm).
For reasonable quality, would $120 to $150 be enough? (about £90 to £113)

Thanks for @AmericanMachinist providing the link to Abom79. Oodles of stuff there. I do consider YT as my greatest education tool, but I also know that there are not enough hours in my life to watch even the stuff in my line of interest. Links from HM members help zero in on stuff they already filtered.

Thanks @Mitch Alsup as well. 4 flutes for steel. 2 flutes for aluminium!
I have quite a lot to absorb here. I will post questions/stumbles as they arise.
One thing that is not up to the job is the re-purposed COVID-19 plastic face shield. I take it that without protection, hot chips will make it into the eyes !
 
Re: Collets Size Range Choices
I get it that when the MT3 collet chuck is used in a smaller mill like mine, then the ER size range can, and maybe should be smaller because we should not be trying to use tool sizes more appropriate to to bigger mills.

@DavidR8 used ER32, and is very happy with it. I thought the choice very good, since MT3 also fits the South Bend Lathe(s)
When the thought is that used with the work held in the collet (for lathe) as opposed to the tool in the collet (for mill), then perhaps the bigger the better.

I see that one can get a 15-piece set of ER-40 with a MT3 collet chuck. That one happens to start at 3mm, ending at 26mm, but in principle allows holding into a 1" diameter part. If one wants to do very small work, it has to be ER-11 or ER-16.

Aside from milling teeny tiny, like Stefan Gotteswinter with his 0.5mm milling cutter, and how he knocks on the collets to get 10 microns run-out, what are the motivations to settling on a ER size? Do mill owners usually just have more than one ER size set? Does the size of the supplied drawbar have influence on what can be used?

Please forgive that some of us guys just don't know this stuff yet.
 
As the collet chuck goes up in size, ER16, 20, 32, 40 the overall dimensions of the chuck necessarily increases as does their holding capacity.
If a person needed to get into a small area with a 1/8” end mill then the sheer size of an ER40 chuck could be a problem whereas an ER16 might work better.
I’ve not run into a situation where the ER32 has been too large but it depends on the type of work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The alternative to getting into ER- style setups is to just buy a couple of MT3 to straight shank collets, and a drill chuck with a straight shank.
Then you can accept endmills or drill chuck. One inexpensive way to get started.
-M
 
There has been a lot of information put forward as to what to buy and what to make. If you're new to the hobby I would stick with Jim F's short list for the near term. You can spend many times what the machine cost and still barely scratch the surface of the tools and tooling available. If you jump in with both feet it's likely you'll buy things you may never use or need and just waste money.

Get your feet on the ground with minimal cost and learn from there. As your interest and skills progress you can buy what you need. One piece of advice that has always stuck with me came from a previous boss. If YOU THINK you need a tool or tooling to complete a job you probably do need it. If A SALESMAN tries to tell you you need a tool or tooling you probably don't. Consider everyone here giving advise as a salesman. They're not spending their money, but rather telling you how to spend your money.

Keep in mind this is your first machine. In a year or two you may find you would like a different machine. If you load up on tooling and accessories specific to this machine you may find they won't work on another. If that's the case you'll have to once again spend money on tooling.
 
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