Material for horizontal mill arbor

[JPMacG]

I'm thinking of making my own 1" diameter arbor for my horizontal milling machine. This involves cutting stock to length, threading one end, and turning a few diameters. I want to start with precision ground rod with good straightness. Would this material be suitable? If not, what would you recommend? And does being "stress relieved" matter for my application?

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

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[mksj]

Stress proof 1144 is probably a good choice, I have made my own arbors out of that and also O1 steel and they hold up well. These materials are typically tight tolerance, also depends on how you turn it will determine the final run-out.
Ultra-Strength Easy-to-Machine 1144 Carbon Steel Rods

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

 

[markba633csi]

Do you already have a collection of 1" cutters? Reason being the 1" bore size cutters are harder to find than say, 1-1/4" ones
-M

 

[JPMacG]

I have a collection of 7/8" and 1" bore cutters. I have only a 7/8" arbor. I use a stepped spacer to fit the 1" cutters on my 7/8" arbor. I'd like to make a 1" arbor so that I can use the 1" cutters directly on the arbor.

 

[vocatexas]

I'll be following this. I need a couple of arbors for my small mill.

 

[JPMacG]

I received the 1144 tight tolerance stress free steel rod from McMaster on Friday. It is 1" diameter, 12" long. My 1" cutters are a perfect slip fit with virtually no wiggle. I am pleased with the diameter. It was $41 including tax and shipping. I had to wait 6 weeks for it because it was back ordered.

The arbor should be a straight forward job on the lathe. The slightly difficult part will be getting the morse taper angle just right. I'm not going to bother with the key slot.

Now I just need to get a round tuit.

 

[JPMacG]

Well, its been almost a year and I am finally back on the arbor. Its going quite well - better than I thought. I'm doing everything between centers. I'm still debating how to do the Morse taper #2. There is just enough real estate to use the compound, but I think offseting the tailstock might be better. I'll use my old 7/8" arbor and a traveling indicator to set up the angle.

 

[Winegrower]

I can’t see why if you have enough travel on your compound why that would not be the right choice. What’s your concern?

 

[JPMacG]

Setting the angle on the compound is very touchy - the tailstock provides a finer adjustment. Also, the compound will be running to the extreme of its travel where the dovetails are not well supported. And the compound would need to be hand cranked using the little handle in a tight space - awkward. Also, surface finish is usually better with the cutter under power feed, as it would be with the tailstock offset method.

All this being said, I have done tapers using the compound that turned out very well.

 

[JPMacG]

I ended up doing the Morse taper using the tailstock offset method. That worked well. I did a trial fit on the mill and it is good. Runout is about .001, which I am pleased with, actually surprised it turned out that good. I got lucky. Next I have to do the stop plate, which will screw onto the arbor and maybe be held with locktite or/and a pin.