First project

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I decided that having a mill in the garage that is clean, other than the grease they packed it in, was kinda silly.
I got it trimmed, roughly, last night and the vise installed. I had a project in mind and decided to go learn a few things.
Had to grind a bit for the fly cutter first, that went pretty well. Got a chunk of Al that Keith had sent and decided to fly cut the surface to remove the small holes in the stock. Seems Keith used it as a backer in the drill press. Luckily now of the holes went even close to 1/4 the way thru the stock.
Fly cutter did well but it did teach me a couple things. First off, the tram is still ever so slightly off, the back edge is cutting a slight bit more than I want. Might be .001 off or so, I can live with it for now. I also learned why they call them fly cutters, the chips fly all over. I probably had chips in a 12-15 foot radius. I need a better broom.
Used an end mill to square up the ends then did some measuring. I decided that 3 rows of holes spaced an inch apart was going to work well.
I put the stock in the vise, found the edge on two sides, and zeroed the DRO. After that it was just retipition. Spot 27 holes, drill 27 holes, tap 27 holes.
Being able to use the DRO made it so much faster. Power tapping was also a big time saver and also ensures that each hole is straight.

I now have a storage rack for 27 Star sizer push rods. Now I need to label the pushers and get them organized.

680A850E-579B-40D1-8836-2AF41F0063B7.jpeg
 

Ian

Notorious member
You got a lot of basic processes worked out there all in one shot, good going! Nice finish, too, is that a single-cutter head?

Having watched a lot of machining videos, one thing among many that left an impression was all the worn/dirty pieces of cardboard, thin plywood, plastic sheeting, and other things that seem to be stored around mills for making chip containment systems around the workpiece of the moment.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Brad, please don't take this as an insult to your intelligence, but be sure to, at the very least, triple check those set screws on the fly cutter that secure the toolbit.

Safety cannot be over-emphasized.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Brad, please don't take this as an insult to your intelligence, but be sure to, at the very least, triple check those set screws on the fly cutter that secure the toolbit.

Safety cannot be over-emphasized.
I appreciate the warning. I tend to be very cautious around stuff like this, I dislike injury!
A fly cutter bit isn’t much different from the lathe chuck key, just one mistake away from becoming a projectile.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
You got a lot of basic processes worked out there all in one shot, good going! Nice finish, too, is that a single-cutter head?

Having watched a lot of machining videos, one thing among many that left an impression was all the worn/dirty pieces of cardboard, thin plywood, plastic sheeting, and other things that seem to be stored around mills for making chip containment systems around the workpiece of the moment.
I already mentioned to my wife that we will be coming up with some sort of chip containment device. The fly cutter throws them mostly to the 12-3 o’clock positions which also happens to be the most difficult to clean. That will be addressed shortly. Probably should have saved some of the cardboard from the tool chest.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
O yeah, that is a single cutter Ian. It is a fly cutter from Shars. Wish it took larger than a 5/16” bit but I don’t need lots of tool sticking out anyway. It handled a 3” wide piece in a single pass.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I was imagining a single insert-type flycutter, but you did say you had to grind one. I assume 5/16" square HSS stock. That's the same flycutter blank stuff I buy for all my mini-lathe cutters, cheap and easy to get even if a little shorter than I'd like for lathe tools. Can get two out of three lantern post screws on them, which is more rigid than the slides.

So you tapped under power, huh? That would scare the bejeebus out of me the first time. Gotta be Johnny-on-the-spot with the power switch I guess? Used a spiral-point tap? Please 'splain how you did that.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Now you know why they put full containment enclosures around CNC machines. Our Haas TM-1 mill has an enclosure but our TL-1 lathe does not. Our manual mill has no enclosure and just like Brad's it throws chips every-freaking-where. When we move into our new building we plan to make some lightweight moveable walls we can put around it to help contain the chips.

We just ran a batch of proprietary items for one of our principal customers. We used 8 pieces of 3/4" x 3" x 144" 6061 aluminum bars. After cutting the pieces into 14.75" lengths we flycut one side on the manual mill and then cut all the rest of the waste away on the CNC mill. After flycutting 72 pieces on the manual mill the area around it is covered several inches deep with "aluminum wool". On the CNC mill we cut away 83% of the stock as chips or small hunks of scrap. We turned 2592 cubic inches of aluminum into 2151 cubic inches of scrap and waste and 441 cubic inches of product. And since chips bulk up by about 500%+ you can imagine why the chip auger runs a lot when we run these.

By the way, nice work there Brad, very clean looking.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
For chip containment, I have a 3 panel affair made of 1 x 4s for the frame and heavy duty window screen. Kind of looks like three homebuilt screen doors connected to each other by hinges; resembling a dressing screen, so it can stand on its own and can be folded for easier storage.

EDIT: The three section screen forms 3 sides of an imaginary octagon covering part of the sides and the back of the mill. I can easily vacuum up chips behind the mill and access the collet holder on the back side of the column.
 
Last edited:

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Ian, t wasn’t as scary as I expected. I used a 4 flute hand tap. Every try to find a spiral point odd size tap? The Star uses a 1/2-27 thread, hard to find anything but a hand tap.
I chucked the tap lightly in the keyless chuck, oiled it well, and let er rip. I was running a whopping 60 RPM. I can walk around the mill that fast. If I saw any slip in the chuck I shut off power and reversed. Once I got the right tension on the chuck I managed to tap each hole without stopping.
Next time I do it I will shoot some video.

I wonder if some Masonite would make a decent screen? Easy to work with, rigid enough to stand, and not too expensive. I could easy use hinges to join the panels.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Masonite sounds like a good choice, but I'd still use window screen or a plexi or polycarb panel for the upper half so that light can travel through from other parts of the shop. You can also use some Masonite scraps to make table/T-slot covers for either side of your vise. Thus reducing or eleminating one more cleaning chore; cleaning the chips out of the T-slots in your table.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Table covers are in the plans. Cleaning the T slots is a pain, that is for certain.
Hadn’t considered light transmission. Luckily the best light in the garage comes from the 3 4 ft shop lights above the mill and lathe. I do want to add a spot type light for the mill. Can’t ever have too much light.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
I like the idea of panels that can be hinge-pinned together. Thinking of using 16-18 ga 1" square steel tubing welded together for the frame. with 1/4" plywood for panels. I like plywood so I can staple drawings, posters, reference tables etc. to it. Make the walls 6 to 7 ft high to catch 99% of the chips and with good overhead lighting illumination should be fine. If I can find one of those clear plastic strip curtains used in warehouse doors I'll mount that across the front so I can walk in and out while still catching most of the chips.

Brad, I have some aluminum scrap pieces from a recent job that are about .72" thick, 8-9" long, and about 1-1/4" wide. If your table slots are 5/8" wide you could mill these down to just under the slot width and just under the bottom of slot to table top distance. Square up the ends and just drop them in the slots. Cut them to various lengths so you can fill the empty slot space in increments.

Let me know if you want enough of these pieces to fill your table slots, I'll send you a flat rate box full for the price of shipping.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
That sounds like a good deal Keith. Practical and it gives me a chance to get more practice. Look for PM for my address. I can PayPal you the $

A screen will be on the menu for this weekend. Just showed my wife the fly cutter and she wasn’t impressed. Good news is that means I have the go ahead for that project.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
While my panels are linked together with standard cheap 3" hinges, hinges with easily removable pins would be a meaningful improvement.

Thanks Keith.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Really nice work. That is the nicest star punch holder I've seen. How good are you at milling an rmr cut in a stainless slide? I figure you've had the mill more than 24hr. & should have 3 or so done now?;)
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
What is an rmr cut?
And no, haven’t cut into any firearms yet. That still scares me a bit.