Minimum tool set for a mill

[Clock work]

This concept may or may not have any adherents but it's worth a swing. I've been building my shop up slowly in the midst of some pretty extreme distraction in the real world. When I need to push something thru the mill, I open the enormous red box of end/ball/etc mills and grab something that seems like it will work, an for the most part I have not been disappointed, though that said, I'm not pleased with the caliber of my work in the precision/finish area. Time to start to cure or at least improve upon the influence of the tooling on this and build up a minimum working set of tooling.... comprised of the things most people would want in a shop into which they might be placed, before any project-specific tools are identified. i.e. what would a majority of proficient machinists define as a core set of tooling.

I'll locate the best samples from the ERB and hand those to the local sharpening service and there I will have a starting point. If I need to buy some, then I'll buy some. I know those won't remain sharp and one of my first projects will be a simple end-sharpening capability. The tool rests on my Delta grinder are garbage but that is easily cured.

From a simple end-mill positioning capability, I'll move on to something more sophisticated/versatile... make or buy. Make would be nice but you can't squeeze in everything when you're ancient (hope I finish this post...

Right now, I just want to quickly form up a core of mill tooling. From things I have done like boating and off-road motorcycling, I know there exists the concept of minimal sets of critical items. I'm curious if perhaps someone who has set up some mill stations over time has arrived at "the list" for each new station they put into service. Thanks in advance for any potential assistance and take care.

 

[Downwindtracker2]

I'm not a machinist, but things I have used fairly regularly with my mill/drill RF-45, it's about 8x30 size
5" vise
Clamp set
Drill chuck
Collet chuck
Parallels
V-blocks
Indicator clamp
Dial test indicator
Lamp
Spindle wrench and 11/16th box end for draw bar.
32oz deadblow hammer
7/8 box end for clamp nuts

 

[T Bredehoft]

Consider a small (2 1/2") boring head, and a bout the same size face mill with three or four inserts. Don't get hung up on carbide tooling , though. your mill is very near the bottom of the scale of efficient use of carbide. My PM25 doesn't go fast enough for the size carbide I would want. While I have larger end mills, the ones I use most are 5/16 and 3/16.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

set of collets, edge finder, indicol for setting table up, end mills, boring bar is a plus, mic and calipers. I consider myself a nooby still.

 

[Clock work]

Great suggestions, guys. Sincerely appreciated!

Tom's comment on which mills he uses most frequently is the sort of thing I'm trying to get closure on though these lists are fantastic for the general case (just forwarded to a local friend setting his shop up too). My lathe (for some reason) came with a big red tool box full of end mills, ball mills, reamers and lathe tooling. If I had to guess, I have maybe 75 end mills to choose from. Some seem close to new. Some seem like they had been run over by a train. I have some of everything in there I think but I don't want to pay to sharpen all of them to start

What would you want in your drawer as a minimum set? Diameters? Maybe flute count? I actually think I don't have a very good selection of plunging mills. I'm wondering if those get sharpened into non-existence. I have Harold Hall's book on sharpening around here somewhere...

I did buy a face mill off of Amazon but the finish it produced was horrid. One of the inserts was just too high. Back to being a fly-cutter guy until I can afford a sandvik or something...

Again, thank you for your replies. I'm looking forward to "making something that doesn't suck too bad" to post in here. I figure under 10 years, easy! Thanks.

CW

 

[Fabrickator]

I didn't see where you mentioned what material you expect to be primarily working with.working with, makes a difference. I mostly work in aluminum.
I would suggest that you buy a simple combo set of end mills (1/8" to 3/4") in both 2-flute (for non ferrous alloys) and 4 flute( for most steel). Double- ended are best bang for the buck, and that gives you a spare. A Fly cutter set would be good, but they are really slow because you can't take much off at a time. I find that I get the best finishes in aluminum with a large 2-flute at a moderate feed and spindle speed. I use a 1 1/2" inch that I use ONLY for finishing operations and put it away. I also suggest that you get one or two roughing end mills. I use a 3-flute 5/8" a lot for quick material removal. Note that they leave a saw-tooth side cut but a pretty good finish on the bottom cut. Great for hogging off a lot of material pretty quickly.

All of the previously mentioned supplies are a basic necessity. Measuring (minimum of a pair of cheap calipers, steel ruler, dial indicator(s) edge finder(s). I have one whole roll away drawer for miscellaneous measuring stuff, and another drawer for my mics and other stuff. Part holding (mill clamp set, vise(s). Drill chucks 3/8" & 1/2", machinist drill sets (shorter than jobber drills) fractional, number and letter sizes, center drill set. I have a Criterion boring bar and tool set and a fly cutter set and rarely use them. The list goes on and on.... I have probably spent over twice as much as my mini mill for tooling over the years. Seems like most every project demands something new. I just started on my most recent project and had to buy a larger boring bar for my lathe last week ($100).

With the fairly low costs of basic 3 or 4 flute end mills available, I'm not sure it's worth the cost of having them professionally sharpened. If you don't over work them, they stay sharp for a long time.

 

[Clock work]

I didn't see where you mentioned what material you expect to be primarily working with.working with, makes a difference. I mostly work in aluminum.
I would suggest that you buy a simple combo set of end mills (1/8" to 3/4") in both 2-flute (for non ferrous alloys) and 4 flute( for most steel). Double- ended are best bang for the buck, and that gives you a spare. A Fly cutter set would be good, but they are really slow because you can't take much off at a time. I find that I get the best finishes in aluminum with a large 2-flute at a moderate feed and spindle speed. I use a 1 1/2" inch that I use ONLY for finishing operations and put it away. I also suggest that you get one or two roughing end mills. I use a 3-flute 5/8" a lot for quick material removal. Note that they leave a saw-tooth side cut but a pretty good finish on the bottom cut. Great for hogging off a lot of material pretty quickly.

All of the previously mentioned supplies are a basic necessity. Measuring (minimum of a pair of cheap calipers, steel ruler, dial indicator(s) edge finder(s). I have one whole roll away drawer for miscellaneous measuring stuff, and another drawer for my mics and other stuff. Part holding (mill clamp set, vise(s). Drill chucks 3/8" & 1/2", machinist drill sets (shorter than jobber drills) fractional, number and letter sizes, center drill set. I have a Criterion boring bar and tool set and a fly cutter set and rarely use them. The list goes on and on.... I have probably spent over twice as much as my mini mill for tooling over the years. Seems like most every project demands something new. I just started on my most recent project and had to buy a larger boring bar for my lathe last week ($100).

With the fairly low costs of basic 3 or 4 flute end mills available, I'm not sure it's worth the cost of having them professionally sharpened. If you don't over work them, they stay sharp for a long time.

Extremely helpful reply... thank you! My materials center around steel and aluminum. I mostly only have time for repairs to the possessions that own me Really appreciate your breakdown on the end-mill types. As I said, I have a LOT of these things that came in a large tool bod that came with my lathe years ago. Until now I've just been ignorantly pulling the least screwed-up looking ones out and using those, though I'm in the "get the end mills right" phase.

I had assumed (thought I had read) that sharpening is 1/3 the price of new... I need to do more checking obviously. I did email the local sharpening guys about pricing and have not heard back yet.

I think I'm doing really well on the other fixtures/etc. A friend hooked me into a killer Starret horde at wonderful prices and I've been building up the work-holding etc for a year but still appreciated. Also lucked into an extremely nice boring head as well. I wish the cheap face mill thing worked out but the results were terrible. Gotta solve the end mill thing which I now can with your help! So thanks again...

The best of the face mill experiments... mill was trammed.