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That looks a lot better....
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Info needed for installing/setting up pm940m
- Thread starter tim81
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2022
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I like Accusize tools as well, they are Canadian and I have quit a few of their instruments and tools.I have some Mitutoyo instruments. They are nice, but a bit expensive.
Clockwise Tools, Amazon, seems to make some nice tools and are reasonably priced. I have not purchased a micrometer from them, but I have purchased digital dial micrometer (plunge micrometer) from them and it works really well. I measured it and calibrate it: 1 micron resolution and accurate to 5 microns over the full 1 inch stroke. I actually built a set up to make these measurements. I was impressed enough to purchase two more plus the cables to present the data directly into a spread sheet.
Delivered this week. ~ $65
Also, if you have not gotten one of these edge detectors you might want to. Cheap and I use mine all the time. They are especially nice if you have DRO on your machine so that you can return tot he same point.
Mitutoyo 050101, Edge Finder, 3/8" Dia. Shank, .200" Dia. Tip
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2022
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I don’t know did not have a milling machine before. But it should not have them in my perspective as I cannot physically do that kind of damage. If it stops it stops and I use torque wrench whenever possible.
@tim81
You got the mill in late Oct.? So before you buy a lot of other stuff... Maybe you should make/machine a few things before buying a lot more stuff. Somethings are cheap, but it is really easy to think you need some expensive thing which you do not use very often. I am not trying to be snarkey .... The more you make the more you find out what is needed, wish for, or what you purchased that you do not used much. What do you plan to make or are you a true Hobby Machinist, who spends more time working on the machine than using it for making things. When I purchased my machine it was delivered on a pallet and put on the floor of the garage with the stand in a second box/pallet. I needed to move it to the basement. So I decided the first thing I would make would be a somewhat flat dolly with casters to bolt to the mill stand. I got some flat 3/8" steel pieces of proper width and length and bolted them together with the casters and had a dolly. I used the CNC mill, while still on the pallet, to drill lots of holes in the steel plates. The bolt holes were to hold the 4 plates together and to mount the casters at the corners. As I said I did this drilling while the mill was still on the pallet so no leveling or anything. I was on my knees on the garage floor. I used this base twice, first to wheel the stand around the basement. Then, lather to move the mill around. In each case I had made bolt holes to bolt the stand and then the mill directly to the dolly. I had to take the table off the mill to get it through the walk out (three steps up) basement door. Anyway, I learned a lot about the machine during this drilling and taping.
Here is another cheap thing that is worth having. After drilling a hole that you want to tap you put it in the mill chuck and it will hold your tab handle straight and prevent you from starting the threads crooked or accidentally slipping and breaking the tap off in the hole. It spring loads the tap/handle to press the tap down at the hole. Amazon search "Spring Center Tap Guide Tool to Align Tap" There are a lot of them to choose from. Cost ~$10. Your tap handle should have a small hole at the end opposing the tap so that the point will got into it. The one I purchased sort of looked like the following, but there is not much to them. Just get one that does not have too many bad reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Cente...+guide+tool+to+align+tap,industrial,98&sr=1-9
If you do not have a "tap handle" get one with top hole. They do not all have them. Reversible is not necessary as the tap handle freely turns when the guide is pressed down on it. They also make a tap handle which has a rod sticking out the top which will fit in a mill chuck and yet free wheels. I have a lot of tap handles I have picked up over the years. Tap handles come in different sizes for small and large tap diameters. They all work, but some of them hold the tap more firmly. Some are reversible and some are not. A nice feature sometimes when hand tapping and not using it in the mill or lathe. But sometimes it is a nuisance as it slips from one direction to the other. It does not really reverse direction, it is just that you flip the lever and then it ratchets in the opposite direction.
The picture shows the hole in the back end of the handle.
If you got a vise then "Precision Parallel Set" for the vice jaws are handy. They hold your work up out of the vice jaws. Precision matched so that the work is the same height on both sides. They come in different widths.... to match vice widths.
Another thing that is handy: matched pair of 123 machinist's blocks.
There is no end to this stuff ....
Enough for tonight.
Dave L.
I do not have a good granite surface either. I do have a scrap piece of marble/granite counter top that gets rare occasional use. The mill table is smooth/flat enough for me to see if a drill bit is flat etc. Just roll it and see if it stops on one side (bowed). I assume you purchased a vice with the mill. If not one can spend a lot on them. The one I got from PM works fine. Sometimes I wish I had purchase two at the same time that were matched to the same height. Then I could use both to mount longer or larger parts and still have the part be level.
You got the mill in late Oct.? So before you buy a lot of other stuff... Maybe you should make/machine a few things before buying a lot more stuff. Somethings are cheap, but it is really easy to think you need some expensive thing which you do not use very often. I am not trying to be snarkey .... The more you make the more you find out what is needed, wish for, or what you purchased that you do not used much. What do you plan to make or are you a true Hobby Machinist, who spends more time working on the machine than using it for making things. When I purchased my machine it was delivered on a pallet and put on the floor of the garage with the stand in a second box/pallet. I needed to move it to the basement. So I decided the first thing I would make would be a somewhat flat dolly with casters to bolt to the mill stand. I got some flat 3/8" steel pieces of proper width and length and bolted them together with the casters and had a dolly. I used the CNC mill, while still on the pallet, to drill lots of holes in the steel plates. The bolt holes were to hold the 4 plates together and to mount the casters at the corners. As I said I did this drilling while the mill was still on the pallet so no leveling or anything. I was on my knees on the garage floor. I used this base twice, first to wheel the stand around the basement. Then, lather to move the mill around. In each case I had made bolt holes to bolt the stand and then the mill directly to the dolly. I had to take the table off the mill to get it through the walk out (three steps up) basement door. Anyway, I learned a lot about the machine during this drilling and taping.
Here is another cheap thing that is worth having. After drilling a hole that you want to tap you put it in the mill chuck and it will hold your tab handle straight and prevent you from starting the threads crooked or accidentally slipping and breaking the tap off in the hole. It spring loads the tap/handle to press the tap down at the hole. Amazon search "Spring Center Tap Guide Tool to Align Tap" There are a lot of them to choose from. Cost ~$10. Your tap handle should have a small hole at the end opposing the tap so that the point will got into it. The one I purchased sort of looked like the following, but there is not much to them. Just get one that does not have too many bad reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Cente...+guide+tool+to+align+tap,industrial,98&sr=1-9
If you do not have a "tap handle" get one with top hole. They do not all have them. Reversible is not necessary as the tap handle freely turns when the guide is pressed down on it. They also make a tap handle which has a rod sticking out the top which will fit in a mill chuck and yet free wheels. I have a lot of tap handles I have picked up over the years. Tap handles come in different sizes for small and large tap diameters. They all work, but some of them hold the tap more firmly. Some are reversible and some are not. A nice feature sometimes when hand tapping and not using it in the mill or lathe. But sometimes it is a nuisance as it slips from one direction to the other. It does not really reverse direction, it is just that you flip the lever and then it ratchets in the opposite direction.
The picture shows the hole in the back end of the handle.
If you got a vise then "Precision Parallel Set" for the vice jaws are handy. They hold your work up out of the vice jaws. Precision matched so that the work is the same height on both sides. They come in different widths.... to match vice widths.
Another thing that is handy: matched pair of 123 machinist's blocks.
There is no end to this stuff ....
Enough for tonight.
Dave L.
Thanks a lot man, I will use your tips for sure and get what you said. I got a pair of parallels from hf for the vice did not get one yet. I am not sure and wanted to have the mill running and see what I will need “size” some are pro 6” some 4” or something in between. One question though. I got a hf tap and die set for metric sae and it did not come with the drill bits. Is there a way to undersize some bits so I can use them for the tap and die set?
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There is a set of drill bits HF sells, they have all of the Imperial sized bits including the numbered set, the lettered set and the standard set. If you plan to do a lot of tap work it is worth buying the HSS set with the gold coating then as you wear them out and/or break them replace them with Cobalt bits one at a time, that will give the best bits for the ones you use often and a good bit for those you need occasionally. Also find a good tap chart that tells you what size bit you need for the threads you wish to cut.
You do not need an expensive vise but you will not enjoy a cheep vise either. Buy a 5 or 6" mid range with good reviews and you will be satisfied, the mid range vise that PM sells is very good.
