# Milling the milling table.....



## Hukshawn (Dec 20, 2017)

The table surface of my mill isn't in the greatest of shape, it's been abused, drilled, ground, etc. Would I be ridiculous if I thought I could facemill the table with the mill....? Is this a thing...? Do people do that if theyre on a budget and scraping isn't an option?


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## David S (Dec 20, 2017)

Hey Shawn your are making us Canadians out as being cheap, eh?   And yes we can be frugal.

David


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## Alittlerusty (Dec 20, 2017)

I think milling the table is a bad idea. It should be done on a surface grinder otherwise you won't be taking any of the banana shape out of it. It will be shiny and clean but won't be any flatter when your done.


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## Hukshawn (Dec 20, 2017)

I have no idea if it's banana shaped, but it has milled marks, drill holes, etc.


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## Alittlerusty (Dec 20, 2017)

I guess what I'm saying is even if it's not banana shaped now it may end up that way from milling it. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.


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## Hukshawn (Dec 20, 2017)

David S said:


> Hey Shawn your are making us Canadians out as being cheap, eh?   And yes we can be frugal.
> 
> David


Ohh I don't think I'm cheap, but if I turned around a spent, what's likely, an exuberant amount of money to have the mill my wife's HATES reground, she would chop me up into tiny pieces and distribute me around town. Lol. 
So, a guys gotta find ways to get things done.


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## cathead (Dec 20, 2017)

Hukshawn, 

As the table moves from side to side,  it will tend to drop because of the overhang.  It would be nice to be able to machine it flat but
really it needs to be done on a machine that can accurately do the job.  I would not recommend it although it may seem to be a good idea.  
There is no such thing as perfection anyway so give that a bit of thought. Maybe consider living with the table as it is for now, my 2 cents...


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## Hukshawn (Dec 20, 2017)

Well, if I get this jb weld I'm discussing in my other vise thread, maybe I can fill the holes and just lap it smooth.


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## David S (Dec 20, 2017)

Hukshawn said:


> Ohh I don't think I'm cheap, but if I turned around a spent, what's likely, an exuberant amount of money to have the mill my wife's HATES reground, she would chop me up into tiny pieces and distribute me around town. Lol.
> So, a guys gotta find ways to get things done.



Shawn,

A happy wife is a happy life, so don't want to mess that up.  I withdraw my suggestion.

David


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## markba633csi (Dec 20, 2017)

JB weld to the rescue again! You could certainly use it on the table too
Mark


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## f350ca (Dec 20, 2017)

I don't think you'd be able to machine the whole surface of a milling machine in one pass. The travel won't allow it.
My shaper table on the other hand was a couple thou high away from the apron. It can machine itself and did a great job. same as grinding the magnet on a surface grinder.

Greg


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## Hukshawn (Dec 20, 2017)

Since my mill is a column, I could swing it to either side and reach both sides, however, I'd have to loosen and swing the head to reach the adjacent side, likely losing any and all accuracy. 

This was just a thought. I'm not gonna risk ruining the table.


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## Silverbullet (Dec 20, 2017)

I just today watched a couple YouTube videos , with mill tables being machined on a planer . Even the underside v cuts. It can be done with the right machines . If it were my mill I'd get some metal filled epoxy or plug the holes and machine them off to the table. ?


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## Ulma Doctor (Dec 21, 2017)

+1 on the metal filled epoxy, 
then you could hand scrape the highspots with a homemade scraper made from an worn file, if you were so inclined

i wouldn't resurface the table with the mill it is attached to, any alignment error will be transferred to the work.
ideally it should be ground to maintain parallelism


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## MozamPete (Dec 21, 2017)

Filling any damage, drill holes, etc  and smoothing it back would probably be a better way to go, But if you were determined to experiment you could always attach an aluminum plate across the entire table an have a go at it as a dummy run.  Countersink some machine screw in the plate so it is held down evenly over the entire surface, and if you used a large enough fly-cutter and had it perfectly trammed you may be able to do the entire table with just the X travel and no need to reset the head. 

You would get an idea of how much the table was tilting as the overhang changed by the realitve depth of cut on the leading and trailing edge of the fly-cutter as you traversed the table (i.e as it tilts the flycutter will be cutting deeper on the high side).  And in the end you can then check the flatness of the finished plate and decide if that would be an improvement or not.  All without doing any further damage to the actual table if it doesn't work.


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## higgite (Dec 21, 2017)

Unless some of the dings are large enough to swallow a vice, I would just lightly stone the table to knock down any raised edges on the ding marks and not bother with filling them in or refinishing the entire table surface. Besides, a few dings (that have been stoned flat) give it character.  ymmv

Tom


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## cathead (Dec 21, 2017)

I saved some cast iron machining dust for later use.  One can mix JB Weld or similar with cast iron powder to make a paste.  This mixture
works well for filling imperfections on mill tables like drill holes and crashes and the like.  My Gorton mill had a couple milling marks
on the table that were fixed this way.   The repaired area can be filed and or sanded and the imperfections become quite unnoticeable. 
Most dings and dents are only cosmetic really.  It's a good idea to have a diamond flat hone (like a red DMT 2" x 6") to stone off any minor
high spots that occur with normal use.  I stone off my table whenever I remove the vise or add the rotary table.   Also, I have learned
to use some aluminum table covers for the unused parts of the table and that helps reduce these dings from occuring.


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## Hukshawn (Dec 21, 2017)

Yeah, the table is fine, I just hate how it looks. Every metal surface that isn’t painted has that aged brown oiled metal look. Not shiny and new...


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## Tony Wells (Dec 21, 2017)

I thought you were just supposed to stamp "O I L" by the drilled holes?!?!?!


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## Bob Korves (Dec 21, 2017)

Low spots cause no real issues on a table if they are not big enough for the part or tooling to fall into.  And even that can be dealt with by using a spacer plate.  High spots can (and should) be lightly stoned to remove the burrs.  Precision ground flat stones are the best way to do it.  Ignore the "character and history" that previous (hopefully!) users left for you.  The real goal is beautiful parts, not beautiful machines.  Machines are a means to an end -- for machinists who want to make stuff...


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## seanb (Jan 4, 2018)

If u want it to look clean take some scotchbrite wrap it around a sanding block or block of wood.
Oil it and scrub till clean.
Comes out pretty nice and won’t change dimesions


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## Chipper5783 (Jan 4, 2018)

As Bob pointed out, if it works, leave it alone.  Clean it well, service and install the machine properly and use it. I looked over your thread on rebuilding this machine.  It looks like a fine enough machine and you have done a nice job. That table is in way better shape than many are.

By far the cheapest and best fix is to just buy another machine.  One that gives you a capability boost.   If you have a working mill you are way ahead of many folks.  You can bide your time and when a better machine shows up, you will know what a good deal looks Iike.  For example, you have a round column machi e, does it stay registered?  Does that head have a low gear, or is it just belts?  How about variable speed?  Whatever the issues, use the machine as is - down the road, buy another one which is better.  You existing machine, if it is clean and running well will sell on just fine.


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## Hukshawn (Jan 4, 2018)

Oh I didn't do anything with it. Stoned it and reinstalled my two vises. Nothing's moving now that it's all trammed. 
No it doesn't stay registered when I raise the head, I just have to be smart about my heights and use more quill if I have to or an edge finder. 
It does have back gear and belts. 

The only reason id buy another mill at this point is if I win the lottery, my hose burns down, or the stars align and my wife allows me. Lol.  I'll own this mill forever. It's just fine.


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## higgite (Jan 4, 2018)

Hukshawn said:


> I'll own this mill forever. It's just fine.


Famous last words. 

Tom


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## Hukshawn (Jan 4, 2018)

Lol. Ohh I know.


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## e189552 (Jan 10, 2018)

Worked in an aircraft component manufacturing company for years and one of the first things we did was to machine a piece of aluminum plate about the size of the machine table. Skim cut top surface true to machine movement.
Drill and tap holes for bolts to either clamp parts or to bolt parts directly to our "sacrificial" plate.
You do lose some "Z" axis height but not much.
Protected our tables from most crashes or cutters too long, etc.


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## Cheeseking (Jan 10, 2018)

higgite said:


> Unless some of the dings are large enough to swallow a vice, I would just lightly stone the table to knock down any raised edges on the ding marks and not bother with filling them in or refinishing the entire table surface. Besides, a few dings (that have been stoned flat) give it character.  ymmv
> 
> Tom



This...


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## Kernbigo (Jan 10, 2018)

I have scraped in mills and we always ground the tables. Like everyone else says fill the holes with jb or something like it and file  flat and forget it.


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## Cheeseking (Jan 10, 2018)

My .02 skip fill. It serves no purpose unless your clamping tiny fixtures that don't bridge the defects. Use a stone and carefully hit high spots. Your table can be gouged, dinged, drilled etc and still be dead flat or as flat as it was on its birthday and perfectly useable. You mill it and it will likely be a hunk of junk.


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