What tooling to use for what procedure. (New to manual Milling)

bwbdub

bwbdub

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I'm new to milling and just getting started with my manual mill. I have acquired lots of tooling new and some used. End mills of all shapes and sizes, shell mills, face mills, fly cutters ect ect.

My question is what tool to use for a specific job? Is there a chart or cheat sheet? It seems like some tools will do the same type of job as 4 other tools. But I just don't know where to start.

Thanks for any help

Ben
 
You could get a couple of books, or look on YouTube. But you're absolutely correct; very often, there are 3 ways to do anything. A lot of it depends on your equipment, and which tools you have on hand. Don't be afraid to try things, but always, BE CAREFUL!
 
I would start with some smaller standard high speed end mills and machine on some mild steel for practice. The bigger cutters
are generally for bigger work. A fly cutter is used for surfacing larger areas. Learn how to tram your vise and tram your
mill head if you don't already know how to do it. Get to know feeds and speeds too so you don't burn up your cutters.
Once you have the basics under control, you will see how the various cutter shapes do their work. There are a lot of
You-Tube videos on machining on various subjects so one can do a little research on the computer and watch and
then apply your new knowledge in the shop. :idea: Above all, have fun and be safe.
 
bwbdub said:
I'm new to milling and just getting started with my manual mill. What tool to use for a specific job? seems like some tools will do the same type of job as 4 other tools. But I just don't know where to start.

Thanks for any help

Ben
Click to expand...

This guy has a three part video series , watch it and it will answer all the questions you could ever have .
It's a very good video , I watched it when I got a machine and it covers just about everything...how/why and when to use all the different tools and methods.
After you watch these three then check out mrpete222 , oxtoolco , thisoldtony , and a few others that are very good resources to learn from.
One other thing , check out a few of your local scrap yards. See if they have a clip aluminum bin you could buy out of. Try and get any blocks and bars of aluminum you can get. It's about 55 cents a pound at the scrap yard. Alum is much easier to mill, easier on tooling and more forgiving to learn on. Learn your machine and tools on aluminum at least for a little while til your comfortable.
Good luck with the new machine and tooling !
~Steve

 
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Use the tool that works best for the job, learn by doing what works with your machine, I could tell you what works well in a 20 HP, 10,000 RPM spindle mill but it probably would not help you very much.

As mentioned read a book, use end mills for slotting, profiling and pocketing, face mills for facing, drills for drilling, reamers for reaming, a boring head and bars for boring and taps for tapping.

Experiment and find out what works and what does not work for you, have at it, you will break tools and ruin a few parts in the process, this is called experience. You could spend the rest of your life watching youtube how-to videos yet 1 successful job on the actual machine will teach you more.

Good Luck
 
use what you are comfortable with there are as many ways to do the jab as there are as machinists. some better than others. are you trying to make money with this or just a hobby? like others above have said experiment be safe and have fun. bill
 
Besides the above, there are a couple other things need to be considered along with which tooling to use. Those are how to hold your work safely, and order of operations. Sometimes when you "fly by the seat of your pants" you end up machining off a feature that was the last good way to hold the part for the next operation.

I will often make a series of maybe 2x2 inch sketches on a sheet of paper that show my intended steps. They do not need to be very detailed or have any dimensions, they just help me think thru the steps so that I get them in the best order for the tools (cutting tools and work-holding tools) that are at hand.

-brino

EDIT: ...and also, Welcome to the site Ben!
 
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Welcome to the HM!!
Please come back with lots of questions.
We've all had a first chip.

Please don't forget your safety glasses. Preplan all of your movements and never get your hands close to moving parts.
This may seem obvious. However.....

Daryl
MN
 
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