Milling Steel on a Mini Mill

I don't have a recommendation for a mini mill, but once you get one you will find lots of stuff to use it for.

How many blades does your woodchipper have? and what are the dimensions of the blades? That is all going to come in to play when it comes to what size mill.

My woodchipper has 4 Chipper Blades and 36 Shredder Knife Blades. Mine are double sided but still it would be a lot of work to make the 36 Shredder blades on a mini mill. I bigger mill would sure make it a lot easier.
No shredder blades on mine. I have a pto driven chipper on a JD 1025R tractor. There's four blades on the rotary wheel. The blades are 150x50mm and about a half inch thick. They are reversible so there are two bevels on each blade. I've researched a lot of mills and I like what I see on the LMS 4190. I hope you're right about finding uses for it, because I'm scared to death it might end up as an expensive garage ornament.
Thanks for replying. Happy holidays to all.
 
That's a fairly large part to make but a mini-mill would do it no problem. Buy the best unit you can afford.
You consider 50x150x one-half inch a large project? Please explain, because I don't. Buy what you can afford has always been my philosophy and then some. But I'm trying to be careful here, because I don't want my dear wife getting mad at me for squandering our money. If I can justify the purchase, she'll be mollified a bit.
Thanks for replying.
 
You will need a pretty good torch to heat a piece that size up to the red-hot temperature needed to harden it. You could be looking at some additional expenditures in order to achieve what you want.
 
A mini mill will do it, but it will take some time.
Most things are possible, given time and ingenuity......
 
You could reach out to one of the machine shops for heat treating the blades after you have machined them.
 
I don't have a recommendation for a mini mill, but once you get one you will find lots of stuff to use it for.

How many blades does your woodchipper have? and what are the dimensions of the blades? That is all going to come in to play when it comes to what size mill.

My woodchipper has 4 Chipper Blades and 36 Shredder Knife Blades. Mine are double sided but still it would be a lot of work to make the 36 Shredder blades on a mini mill. I bigger mill would sure make it a lot easier.
Hope you're right on finding uses for it. My chipper has four double-sided blades, 150x50x10mm approx. The chipper is a pto driven model mounted on a 24 hp JD 1025R.
I don't have the room or the money or the desire for a Bridgeport-type mill. Smaller is better for me.
Thanks for your advice.
 
A mini mill will do it, but it will take some time.
Most things are possible, given time and ingenuity......
Well, I don't plan on hogging it, just a little bit at a time, like I see on YouTube. YT--very helpful. Thanks.
 
You consider 50x150x one-half inch a large project? Please explain, because I don't. Buy what you can afford has always been my philosophy and then some. But I'm trying to be careful here, because I don't want my dear wife getting mad at me for squandering our money. If I can justify the purchase, she'll be mollified a bit.
Thanks for replying.
Largest practical vise that can be used on an LMS 4199 is 3”, so your blade is 2x the width of the jaws, is a relatively large part.

The 500W motor is the only option for this mill (I have a 3990, which is basically the same mill without DRO’s & spindle interlock and a few frills that I have added over the years). While I’m very happy with my mill, I should have saved a little more and invested in one of the LMS or PM bench mills for larger work envelope, increased rigidity and a quill in addition to the moving head for Z-axis work, which is my recommendation for your mill. Yes it will cost significantly more, but the mill is just the beginning of a wonderful, long experience of exchanging money for more tools.
 
Hi, all. My first post here. I want to buy a mini mill to make blades for my wood chipper, which the seller no longer supports. I think the blades are hardened steel, although I don't know for sure, only assuming. The mill I'm looking at is the LMS 4190. My question is: what size motor would I need on my LMS 4190 to bevel, drill holes, and tap into the steel blades for my wood chipper? Can anyone here recommend a mini mill for this operation?

Thanks for any reply, and happy holidays.
As a note, the work envelope of the mill is the limiting factor, in the x axis it appears you'll need at least 6" and in the Y axis you need 2 or three inches, most of the small mills will manage this; however, the Z axis you'll need to insure that all of your tooling as well as the part will need to clear with some extra. I would think if you were using a fixture for the angle along with the end mill and a collet R8 would cut that down some. I suggest 8 or 10 inches in the Z axis.

Cutting the harder steel is doable, but slower as you would need to take lighter cuts, I used a drill press as a mill for a while (not big enough work envelope for your task) and I cut 4140 annealed with it no problem. If all you want to do is make these types of parts maybe what you are looking for is a surface grinder and a heat treat oven, just a thought.

Be safe out there...
 
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