Using End Mill For Side Milling

[TommyD]

You always want your material to feed into the cutter, right side of the cutter 12 o'clock, clockwise, approaching the cutter from the 3 o'clock direction....clear as mud? It's material approach to the cutter direction, you want the open side of the cutter, the chip gullet, to engage the material first from whatever direction you are cranking.

 

[mmcmdl]

I thought the bandsaw was easy until I ruined a good band by using a blade that was too coarse for the thin wall material I was cutting. Oh well.

And I bet you learned that those sawteeth are HOT when you wipe them out and they fly down your shirt !!! LOL ! I'm laughing with you and not at you btw .

 

[royesses]

I printed out one of the drawings and taped it to the wall next to my mini mill. It helps when I get a senior moment and get confused.

 

[HBilly1022]

And I bet you learned that those sawteeth are HOT when you wipe them out and they fly down your shirt !!! LOL ! I'm laughing with you and not at you btw .

Ha ha the chuckle is on you LOL ..... the band doesn't get hot because I always run the lube pump when I'm cutting. I did run the saw once without the lube and found that the material got really hot though. BTW I never thought you were laughing at me. All is good. This is a friendly forum. Lots of help and friendly banter.

I printed out one of the drawings and taped it to the wall next to my mini mill. It helps when I get a senior moment and get confused.View attachment 122536 View attachment 122537

That picture is exactly what I was describing with the right hand gesture. Maybe my explanation was lacking or might appear to be backwards because with a handheld router it is the machine / cutter that moves and with a mill it is the work piece that moves. I find the hand gesture to be easy to remember and use. But maybe in another week or 2 I may need to post that picture on the wall behind my mill as I've noticed the memory is quickly fading ..... now what were we talking about.

 

[Karl_T]

There is one type of side milling where conventional milling is specifically NOT recommended. That is, woodruff or keyseat cutters. Manufactures suggest climb milling on these. I can see why, chips clear better with less recutting. Put an air blast on it and re cut is almost zero.

 

[HBilly1022]

There is one type of side milling where conventional milling is specifically NOT recommended. That is, woodruff or keyseat cutters. Manufactures suggest climb milling on these. I can see why, chips clear better with less recutting. Put an air blast on it and re cut is almost zero.

Thanks for the heads up on that. I haven't yet done any of that milling but am anxious to. Got to get the cutters first though.

 

[Scruffy]

I know the difference but some of these explanations had me scratching my head. Royesses picture easily shows the difference.
Thanks ron

 

[TC0853]

Thats what it looks like 'dull & duller". If something you are doing time to time, I would
buy a roughing end mill then finish with a new end mill. We get into this a lot and thats
why we have a shaper. The reason, there are no suppliers around here for end mills, so
if in the middle of a job & break or dull one, thats time waiting for UPS, and the old story
everybody wants something yesterday. Such a shame, if this was in the 1950s I could
walk & get anything right here, the famous Lincoln twist drill mfg. end mills gear cutters
you name it, now there's low cost housing there now...... I'm now ranting again wife says
I'm whining again?
sam

Thats what it looks like 'dull & duller". If something you are doing time to time, I would
buy a roughing end mill then finish with a new end mill. We get into this a lot and thats
why we have a shaper. The reason, there are no suppliers around here for end mills, so
if in the middle of a job & break or dull one, thats time waiting for UPS, and the old story
everybody wants something yesterday. Such a shame, if this was in the 1950s I could
walk & get anything right here, the famous Lincoln twist drill mfg. end mills gear cutters
you name it, now there's low cost housing there now...... I'm now ranting again wife says
I'm whining again?
sam

Maybe..........but you're right

 

[TC0853]

I'm new to milling and just getting some hours in with the new mill. I've squared up a block and my el cheapo vise that came with the mill and things were looking good until a few hrs ago. I finished using a 3/4" end mill to face 4 sides of a 1 1/2" thick mild steel block that was 3" wide and 6" long and figured I would use the end mill to side mill the ends of the block, rather than try to stand it on end and get it square to the other surfaces. Started out ok but I noticed it was getting harder to cut so I stopped and checked the cutter. The bottom sides of the cutter that were below the DOC were still very sharp but the sides of the cutter that were doing the work were dull. I started taking 0.005" deep cuts and backed off to 0.002" as I progressed but dull is dull and it was obviously not getting better so I stopped.

Is this the wrong way to go about side milling and if so what is the right way?

Is there any chance you got the sides of those end mills hot and untempered them. One of the inherent weak links in using HSS cutters.

 

[HBilly1022]

I don't think it got hot but it's possible. There is no color change visible and I don't recall that happening while cutting.