# Other gear for milling



## skeeter355 (Apr 2, 2013)

Trying to get some gear together for my new PM-45. I did get the tooling package from Little Machine Shop for the X3 mill but with a 5" machinest vice. Was looking at some of the items that darkzero has and trying to get together an order from Enco.  Currently on my list is the Noga Flexible Test indicator holder and the Edge Technology stops. I need an indicator and a co-ax but the choices are mind boggling! Trying to keep the price down but also don't want to buy junk. Can you help point the way?

Thanks, Skeeter


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## Tony Wells (Apr 2, 2013)

I'd say that the coaxial indicator is more of a luxury than a necessity and that money would be better spent this early in the game on more basic needs. You will need an edge finder, for one thing. I don't know what the accessory tool kit that you have contains, so can't expand too much on that. I would assume there are collets, and a clamp kit. Look for a small face mill or flycutter unless you want to make your own. Certainly a good drill chuck and an assortment of drills and end mills will be needed.

You will need some way to hold an indicator, usually a DTI, in the spindle for sweeping round parts, or finding center of holes, indicating a vise in, etc.. A dividing head or rotary table will make much work possible, but they will add considerable expense to the project.


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## skeeter355 (Apr 2, 2013)

Here is the kit from Little machine shop http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3526&category=  It has a center finder in the kit. I'm thinking a slitting saw and now a flycutter. Which is more versatile, the flycutter or face mill?

Thanks, Skeeter


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## Tony Wells (Apr 2, 2013)

I forgot parallels sized to fit your vise. 

As far as face mill vs fly cutter, they're different enough that you'll eventually want both, but a flycutter is a little more versatile. Since you can grind your own tools for the flycutter, I'd say it's better first. Generally you can remove more material faster with a face mill, but you are limited on the diameter and profile it came with.

As far as a slitting saw goes, get a stepped arbor, and then you can choose from several different saws or cutters (within limits).


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## darkzero (Apr 3, 2013)

> Tony Wells said:
> 
> 
> > I'd say that the coaxial indicator is more of a luxury than a necessity and that money would be better spent this early in the game on more basic needs. You will need an edge finder, for one thing.
> ...



Totally agree, the coax indicator is a luxury & depending on what you will do it may not get used very much, mine doesn't. You certainly can get by without it & use a DTI or wiggler. I only got the Blake cause I scored a fair deal on a new one & have been regreting missing out on great deal for a Blake from a local retired machinist.

The Noga NF1018 indicator holder I got is also a luxury item IMO although Indicols cost about the same which I personally did not like much. I love my Noga mag base holders so I got the Noga indicator holder. The Noga is nice cause it's versatile, it's very maneuverable & locks up solid so it can be used for may applications. The import versions don't lock up as well. I got mine from Salvage Island. But keep in mind the shank is 8mm, you can squeeze it into a 5/16 collet but I did not like that & bought a 8mm R8 collet specifically for it. If you have a lathe you can easily make a DTI holder for tramming & realisticly you can mount the DTI directly in the spindle for indicating the vise.

I would say that I tooled up my mill pretty fast, many items I went with luxury products, some items are luxuries that aren't necesasarily needed for starting out (depending on what you plan to do). But I was set on what I wanted & knew exactly what I wanted. 

Edge finders & parallels are necessities. For edge finders I did not buy a luxury Starrett set. I went with PEC which are low budget but made in the US. Probably not nearly as nice as Starrets or Mitus but they work great for me. I got mine thetaylormk. They also sell PEC squares which are nice enough IMO. Enco almost always has Fowler and/or SPI edge finders on sale for about the same price & with this weeks deal you can get a better deal on a set.

Parallels I just went with an inexpensive import set from allindustrialtoolsupply. You can probably find them cheaper but they were close to me & I got them the next day. 1/8"s are good for starters.

If you want to save a little money, I would say a 4" vise is good enough but I haven't used my 4" vise yet so not 100% on that. I say this cause last week I found out the limit of the Y axis which the capacity of my 5" vise exceeded. I had a 9" tooling plate mounted in the vise & in the y axis I was not able to mill the full length of it. There are other reasons the bigger vise will benefit but knowing that I would still have choose the 5". Those 6" Kurts are nice & I'd love to have one but IMHO it's really overkill for the RF-45. I think of a mill vise as a lathe chuck or QCTP. I personally did not want to "cheap out" on these items & got the nicest I could afford. But that's just my preference & that doesn't mean less expensive items can't do the job just fine. I just pick & choose what items I prefer to pay more for.

Of course a vise for a mill is definitely a necessity but in my case a super spacer will see much more table time than a vise. But i wasn't able to buy somthing real nice for the SS since they are not cheap. I went with a 6.5" because of the weight (80 lbs vs 165lbs for the 8"). Cheapest I found was $365 & $66 for the matching tailstock from utoole.com. Made by Universal which is one of the most common suppliers of import chucks & looks identical to the Phase II units. Like the Phase II it still needed some deburring but came out working smooth after spending a couple hours on it.

If you do ebay (I know some people hate ebay), then that will save a lot on your wallet. My test & dial indicators are Mitus scored for very low prices on ebay. 95% of my measuring tools are Mitutoyo (I'm a big Mitu fan) scored for fractions of what they cost new on ebay & in many cases were practically new in condition. Just recently scored a 2" Criterion boring head for $100 & a 3" Yuasa boring head for $125 (although the 3" will probably rarely get used).

I've babbled on too long already. I'm no seasoned machinist like many others here but I know & have done enough to be dangerous & keep my bank account low. I'm happy to chat with you if you have questions, just PM me anytime.


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