Milling advice wanted - new to milling

[cederholm]

For those loosing sleep over my progress, rest easy.

I finished the tool holders and applied all your advice to some new projects which are moving along pretty well. This has been a great learning experience and I'm feeling more comfortable with my mill.

Thanks all!
~ Carl

 

[robertw78368]

There is a lot of tool/holder sticking out from the spindle, if you have a collet that will hold the endmill in the spindle then that would help the setup. It's OK to use it that way, but it is less ridged than having a shorter setup. You just have to compensate by taking lighter cuts.

It looks like the width of the cut is greater than 1/2 the diameter of the end mill, that can tend to pull the tool into the work. This may be why the endmill is chipping. I would make that cut in 2 passes on the width with a springy setup, maybe 1/4 the diameter of the endmill.

Also I found that using a 1 or 2 flute end mill works better than a 4 flute end mill, but each to his own.