New mill/drill just arrived, what do I need FIRST . . . then second . . . then third?

Being a newbie, my question is what are the list of priorities to get me running basic milling operations on this machine out of the box? I have to buy tooling as I get disposable cash, so I can’t get everything at once unfortunately. I’m thinking a vice, hold-down clamps, and an end mill holder? Perhaps a test indicator to square everything up? Let me know if there’s something even more basic I’m missing.
You need light to see. Find some good gooseneck lamp that swivels around the cutting edge of the tooling.
Make a tool holder to hold the different wrenches used to adjust the HF mill's table height, speeds, drawbar, and to hold your files, safety glasses, oil can, rags, paint brush, etc.
Set up a trash can near by.
Find a cheapoo vacuum to suck the chips out of the Tee-slots and keep it near the mill
Start thinking about how to motorize the table's hand wheels. Turning those hand wheels gets old quick.
Set up a work table close by so that you don't nick up your table by putting hard sharp things on it rather than the work table.
Look on eBay for the kids selling their granddaddy's machine shop tooling.
 
Re: New mill/drill just arrived, what do I need FIRST . . .Vices are HIGHLY over rated

I started 'milling' with a HF Micro Mill and now I have an RF 30. After reading Harold Hall I have to agree that milling vices are way overrated, or way too high on newbies 'must have list'.

I did ALLOT of milling and still do with just home made hold downs, a pair of Vee blocks, angle plates and Carriage bolts. You make your own clamping kits as many people describe how to on the net... http://www.homews.co.uk/page288.html I used hardware store 'Carriage bolts' for much of the clamping on that Micro Mill because the slots where so small: http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/QuickTricks/QuickTBolt/quicktbolt.html

I also do a fair amount of key groove milling in shafts and a pair or V-Blocks and anything to clamp the shaft down in the blocks is all you really need for a job like that.

Consider that anything you can clamp directly onto your milling table, instead of sticking in a vice, generally will not require precision parallels ($50 to $75 a set) to hold it up as is necessary in a vice.

People also seem to opt for 'curt' style vices that are HUGE.. Check out photo 3 on this page; http://www.homews.co.uk/page524.html the top vice is a 'curt' style. The question is do you REALLY need that much vice. One of the more prolific writers on the net, Rick Sparber, just published an article about how he built a small CRANE to take the load off of his back when mounting a curt vice on his RF - 30 http://rick.sparber.org/mmct.pdf

Also research IF the vice will even fit your table and especially can you bolt it down to your Tee slots? How does the distance between Tee slots on your table compare to the mounting holes on the vice.

I think we've all seen many mills with the vice bolted to the outside most Tee slot, because that's the only place it will fit and the vice looks like its going to fall off of the table..

At the least I've pointed you to several websites with LOTs of reading on Milling.. Tooling, technique, etc.

Good luck
 
Yeah, I've been fretting over the choice of vise. However, I think I'm leaning towards a 3" or 4" toolmakers vise. Partly because most of the stuff I'd be working on is small, but more importantly the way it mounts to the table appears to be much more flexible and versatile. Thanks for the articles sdunt! They were very informative.
 
If you have not ordered your spindle square there is a Special on ebay right now $99 free shipping for this one http://spindlesquare.com I got mine a friend a very seasoned machinist and I tested it to the old school method and it works great with in .0002. Also as I found out working with machines years ago use the collets get the full set as there will be times when something calls for a drill say 5/32 and then you need to wait a week on a collet unless you have a local source! My friends have been using Shars Collets on their small machines about $120.00 for the set shipped I got mine from Shars e-bay page as the website has inflated shipping prices but shars e-bay listings they see to give better shipping rates a tip is get a item with free shipping and then ask for an invoice and they will remove the shipping from the rest the items and ship in 1 package will save you a few dollars.
 
When I got mine, I did the starter kit from LMS. Not a bad price and if you don't have stuff locally, it will save you in shipping getting all at once. Most of the stuff can be had at places like Shars as well. Drill chuck and drills are a must have.

I really recommend saving up for the belt drive conversion. That is the only real modification I have done to mine.

Tooling, I am not so sure on. I got a set of endmills with the kit but many sizes I have never used. I did get an R8 fly cutter and boring head that I use often. I was using my ER32 collets a lot but lately, I tend more towards the regular R8 collets because they leave more room. I also picked up the "little hogger" indexable mills that are pretty nice for this size machine.

Beyond that, you are looking for tooling that will do specific work as you need them. Things like dovetail cutters, t-slot cutters, rotary tables.

Accessories: I use my DTI a lot for setups. Edge finders. Angle blocks. Stop blocks.

I used to worry and think about a DRO but I rarely am doing any measuring on the mill other than depth of cut. I usually do things by layout on the part with scribe and centerpunch.
 
To start off, bare minimum, you're looking at a precision mill vise, a few end mills, collets for said end mills, and material. You'll also need a dial test indicator to align your vise.

I would also add a drill chuck with the proper arbor for your spindle, a set of parallels, and an edge finder.

As far as tightening collets, as well as other mill tooling - at least with R8-taper tooling, we are taught in school that a good rule of thumb is finger-tight, plus about a half a turn with the wrench at the most. Go much more and you can overstress the threads, and break your drawbar. I've seen that done a couple of times... I typically only go finger-tight and about a third of a turn, but I refrain from really hogging...
 
Not that a spindle squaring device is a bad idea, but since you'll want an indicator anyway, head tramming will be a lot cheaper if you buy a Timken (or other good brand) bearing race ~ 4"+ diameter for under $10. Lay it on it's side on your table or vise and use that as the sweep surface. No drops into the t-slots as you spin the indicator around for tramming and it's accurate. The needle will bounce a bit on the stamped lettering, but it's a good flat surface otherwise.

I wish I had a photo, but since I don't, Google images "head tramming bearing race" and you'll get the idea.

This is my table and race. You can just see the red holder on the right. The drill rod comes in handy for "Rollie's Dad's Tramming Method" or spelled something like that. You can Google that, too. You'll need the indicator, but you can use most any bar if I recall. Perfectly straight isn't required.

11004949156_e780890bcd_c.jpg

Have fun.
-Ryan

11004949156_e780890bcd_c.jpg
 
You could also use a spoon style tip on your test indicator. It wont get hung on the slots.
 
How do you like the HF? Any problems? I'm just about to order one myself. Also a question for those with experience, I was going to order some basic stock to start with. What is recommended? Hot rolled, cold rolled, something else entirely? Thanks.
 
Jude said:
How do you like the HF? Any problems? I'm just about to order one myself. Also a question for those with experience, I was going to order some basic stock to start with. What is recommended? Hot rolled, cold rolled, something else entirely? Thanks.
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I'm not the OP but have the same mill. After a long clean up I have had no issues. Run it for a bit and re adjust, seemed to seat in after a week or so of frequent use.

Also as a new milling machine user I find aluminum is much easier than steel to cut.
 
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