How to square up stock on the milling machine

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Tom Griffin

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Here is a little video on the procedure I use to get a block square and to size on the vertical mill.

Tom


[video=youtube_share;igfqYZPdQ78]http://youtu.be/igfqYZPdQ78[/video]
 
Thanks for the video Tom. Very informative for those of us who are still a little green!!!

David
 
Thanks guys. There are lots of sources explaining the squaring up procedure, but none that I know of actually showing it. Hopefully it will help some of those who are just starting out.

And Paddy:

1) I will also start with a larger side against the jaw on parts with a thinner cross section (such as plate).
2) I seriously can't remember much of what they taught me in trade school. :thinking:
3) If you use the ball end of a ball pein, it feels like a dead blow hammer but it's a lot smaller. Of course you would never use one on a finished surface.
4) A small, square part like this is difficult to hold to one side of the vise without supporting the other side of the vise with a jack screw or a similar part. I'll do it that way with longer parts or plate.
5) I guess my finger must be fatter than yours, but I use two parallels on larger parts as well.
6) Huh? My files also cut in the forward direction and I was one of those instructors doing the slapping. :cool:

Seriously, there are many ways to accomplish the same thing so I expected one or two such comments. It's always good to hear hints and tips from others.

Thanks for the video comment. It turned out surprisingly well considering that I had to use my Canon pocket camera. My kid appears to have made off with the digital video camera.

Tom
 
There are lots of sources explaining the squaring up procedure, but none that I know of actually showing it.

Tom,

Your videos are excellent ranking up there with Tubalcain. Please keep 'em coming.

Ken
 
Tom,
Great vid, please keep em coming. I never even thought that I needed to do that till I got a weird issue with a fit and realized the sides were not parallel and would be too loose if I milled it enough to get it right. So I wasted a few hours starting over and doing it right. Sure wish I had seen this before I started.
Bob
 
Great video. :biggrin: Is this video public? I would like to forward to to a friend that is teaching shop this semester his students would get a lot out of it. One question you are climb milling on these cuts. Is that the best way to do this? On aluminum your mill is handling it fine but on less ridged machines or on harder materials I wounder if this will cause problems.

I hope this starts a trend in videos like this on this site. This is as good (or better) as any professionally shot video I have seen on metal working.

Thanks
Jeff
 
Great video. :biggrin: Is this video public? I would like to forward to to a friend that is teaching shop this semester his students would get a lot out of it. One question you are climb milling on these cuts. Is that the best way to do this? On aluminum your mill is handling it fine but on less ridged machines or on harder materials I wounder if this will cause problems.

I hope this starts a trend in videos like this on this site. This is as good (or better) as any professionally shot video I have seen on metal working.

Thanks
Jeff

Thanks Jeff...and yes the video is public. I used to do a lot of demos like this when I was teaching. It's kind of fun to get back into them again.

Climb milling is only an issue when side milling or when taking deeper cuts. Even less rigid machines should be fine with cuts this shallow. I like to do it this way because it creates less of a burr on the edges of the part.

Tom
 
A beginners question ... why is the "finish to size" done before the entire block is square?

On one hand I can see waiting to finish it in case I botch up just getting is square. I will call that the "beginners lack of confidence" or "unexpected outcomes" approach.

On the other hand I could see that once you have it in the vice and have the DRO set up correctly you might as well do as much as you can before you move the material. I will call that the "knows what they are doing" or "time is money" approach.

And here is where you provide "and this is really why it is done" education.

Thanks,
Arvid
 
A beginners question ... why is the "finish to size" done before the entire block is square?

On one hand I can see waiting to finish it in case I botch up just getting is square. I will call that the "beginners lack of confidence" or "unexpected outcomes" approach.

On the other hand I could see that once you have it in the vice and have the DRO set up correctly you might as well do as much as you can before you move the material. I will call that the "knows what they are doing" or "time is money" approach.

And here is where you provide "and this is really why it is done" education.

Thanks,
Arvid

Arvid,

Good question.

Finishing to size while squaring up the part saves a few set-ups and therefore saves time.

If you squared the block up first and then went back to machine it to size, you would need to re-find three of the surfaces with the end mill. That would take extra time and introduce the possibility of error. If you size the part at the same time you are squaring it up, the machine is already set. It's just a matter of measuring the part, raising the table the required amount and machining the part to size. If the size and shape of the part is such that you can side mill two of the surfaces it's even easier to size, because the part doesn't need to be removed from the vise for measurement.

Hope this helps.

Tom
 
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