Got The Hf Mill...now What?

[P T Schram]

Collets-get a couple to match the bits you get. No need to buy a huge set right now-although there might be an economy of scale to buying a set. As for brand, trust me, the collets will not be the limiting factor with regard to this mill.

Mill bits-I do the vast majority of my mill work with a 1/2" roughing mill bit. I would avoid HF mill bits and have had great success with Enco over the past 40 years, both in quality of tooling for what you pay for and customer service, although customer service has lagged since MSC bought them.

Vise? When I got my mill, I quick like a bunny got an Enco vise and have since realized I could have saved that money as I've found most of my work is done using toe clamps. Cheap sets from Enco have been fine for me and I buy them frequently as I use them for welding clamps, etc.

Something you didn't address is the need for 1-2-3 blocks-again, something it's hard to have too many of.

 

[Dask62]

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]
Yost 5" vise. Ya...I think she's a little too big. Bought it a year ago not knowing how it would fit on the mill. Cost a little over $100.

 

[upTheHill]

anther thing I remembered looking at the vise photo.
I made some 1" aluminum spacers to mount my mill on.
this allows me to put a small pan underneath as a catch, or just get underneath it to more easily clean.

 

[Bill W.]

I have the HF collets and end mills and so far they have worked just fine. Several of the reviews I read on the end mills on the HF site was "for the price, they're a good set to start out with." Welcome to the club... Bill

 

[stupoty]

View attachment 122192 [GALLERY=][/GALLERY]
Yost 5" vise. Ya...I think she's a little too big. Bought it a year ago not knowing how it would fit on the mill. Cost a little over $100.

Looks like a nice hefty vice Looks more upmarket than my record drill vice which looks almost designed to make one jaw rock up.

I've got an RF25 mill I use a 3" budget milling vice, everything else tends to get held with hold downs or made up clamping devices. Work holding I sometimes think is one of the most challenging part of the whole thing.

My vice is like the one shown on the LMS page http://littlemachineshop.com/info/vise_compare.php , second one down. It's a little more expensive hear I think i paid £65 for it and their listing at $65, some one who is a member hear said theirs was a little lose on tolerance so they might vary between vendors. I use mine without the rotary base & I found that to be much better as it's got a massive contact area on the base of the vice.

It isn't a "hold down" vice like the kurt so you need to tap the work a bit with a plastic or brass hammer a bit. I was planning to replace it with a better one at some point but haven't felt the need(which is always nice) I think if I bought another it would be different as apposed to just bigger or smaller.

The "Precision Milling Vise" listed on that page has the hold down feature which would probably be better to help avoid hitting the mill with hammers so much.

That one also has the one feature I wish I had on mine which is the end swappable jaws, so You can hold a very large piece of work by mounting the jaws on the vice differently.

The hardest thing I found with the small vice was getting a set of parallels that was short enough to be of any use with the vice. They were these ones
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Precision...mm-/361153175016?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

Humm I don't remember paying the same for the parallels as the vice but maybe I did. Their quite handy for their range of sizes and I used (and still do somtimes) as squaring aids or for gauging hole number millimeters. Their probably also available in imperial sizes. They don't have any manufacturer info on them.

I've linked to the websites to show examples of vice style not "buy that one!" as I'm an ocean away so specific vendors are probably best recommended by more local users.

P.s. If the vice can be bolted down and the axis cranks arn't substantualy more difficult to turn with it on , then it should be fine to get started holding stuff.

Stuart

 

[P T Schram]

I have the HF collets and end mills and so far they have worked just fine. Several of the reviews I read on the end mills on the HF site was "for the price, they're a good set to start out with." Welcome to the club... Bill

I'm glad to hear this!

edit: Bill W. I just noticed your avatar. What a beautiful Chat Siamois! I've had three just like that and had a Shop Moggy who clearly had some Asian genetics in him. Shop cat until he somehow found his way inside and now he's a fat house cat who follows my wife and me around worse than the dogs!

Nice cat!

 

[Dask62]

Thanks for all the replies gentlemen.
Right now I'm like a depression era kid in a candy store with my face plastered on the candy display case. Drooling at all the posibilities within arms reach, yet my wallet says otherwise...aaahhhhhhhh.
Keep on adding items in carts at Enco, LMS, EBay, HF, amazon but can't afford to go crazy tight now. Baby steps...baby steps.
Maybe I should start a "Fund Me" page and have donations come in for this addiction we call milling.
Keep up the recommendations and once I start purchasing product and making upgrades I will post pics and videos.
Once again thanks for all the replies.

Dask

 

[stupoty]

Thanks for all the replies gentlemen.
Right now I'm like a depression era kid in a candy store with my face plastered on the candy display case. Drooling at all the posibilities within arms reach, yet my wallet says otherwise...aaahhhhhhhh.
Keep on adding items in carts at Enco, LMS, EBay, HF, amazon but can't afford to go crazy tight now. Baby steps...baby steps.
Maybe I should start a "Fund Me" page and have donations come in for this addiction we call milling.
Keep up the recommendations and once I start purchasing product and making upgrades I will post pics and videos.
Once again thanks for all the replies.

Dask

I think every one has the kid in a candy shop feeling

Some of the tooling you need can be improvised to start with e.g. using steel square or rectangular stock as parallels. T nuts are a good simple project to practice the basics, a bit of milling a bit of drilling and a bit of tapping (a little hack sawing) all without needing to hold mega tolerances. Hold down clamps are another relatively simple project to do.

Stuart

 

[P T Schram]

Thanks for all the replies gentlemen.
Right now I'm like a depression era kid in a candy store with my face plastered on the candy display case. Drooling at all the posibilities within arms reach, yet my wallet says otherwise...aaahhhhhhhh.
Keep on adding items in carts at Enco, LMS, EBay, HF, amazon but can't afford to go crazy tight now. Baby steps...baby steps.
Maybe I should start a "Fund Me" page and have donations come in for this addiction we call milling.
Keep up the recommendations and once I start purchasing product and making upgrades I will post pics and videos.
Once again thanks for all the replies.

Dask

For now, buy what you NEED to do the task at hand.

There will soon come a time where you'll look at the Enco flyer and realize you have most of what they offer each month-hint, it doesn't change much month-to-month.

 

[Charles Spencer]

Some of the tooling you need can be improvised to start with e.g. using steel square or rectangular stock as parallels. T nuts are a good simple project to practice the basics, a bit of milling a bit of drilling and a bit of tapping (a little hack sawing) all without needing to hold mega tolerances. Hold down clamps are another relatively simple project to do.

An excellent point. It seemed like the first year after I retired I spent my time organizing my shop and making parts for my machines. You can start doing some work in steel to get comfortable. Soon you will be looking at projects people post and saying, "Hmm, I could do that...".