Member postings for John Reese

Standard slot drills and end mills are ground with the ends slightly concave, about 2* if memory serves. The intent is to provide relief so only the periphery of the tool engages the bottom of a slot. If you need a dead flat bottom the tool needs to be re-ground. When plunging I find the 3 or 4 flute end mills are more stable than the 2 flute.

Most 2 flute cutters will be center cutting. Not all cutters with 3 or more flutes are center cutting. The vendor should state if it is center cutting.

In re-grinding some of my own cutters I do not always try to re-establish the center cutting configuration.

The concave end of end mills does nothing to keep them on line. You depend on the rigidity of your machine and your part clamping to hold to keep the cutter on line. Starting with a smaller slot drill should help by reducing cutting forces.

I started with Solid Edge. Pretty easy to learn. Later I switched to Solid Works. The user interface is quite similar between the two. I had a little experience with Autodesk Inventor. The user interface was a little different. I tried to use Fusion 360 but the workflow was sufficiently different that I decided to stay with Solid Works. If I didn't own a license for Solid Works I would probably pick Solid Edge.

Adrian,

I am not too familiar with UK terminology but I would assume that black refers to hot rolled steel and bright refers to cold finished. Some apparently bright sheet is actually hot rolled that has been pickled and oiled. In the US we are seeing supposedly cold rolled flats that are merely sheared from plate and the edges slightly rolled to remove shear marks.

I just bought a pair of really cheap magnetic bases. I will remove the posts and attach plastic sheet to the magnets. I can place them where needed on the mill to keep hot swarf from flying everywhere.

And don't wear V-neck T shirts when welding.

I have an almost unlimited supply of 1" x 4" x 8" hot rolled bars. I use a lot of it. It is a little gummy to work and as Andrew said it does not distort and finishes well with the proper tools and speeds.

I fit a DRO to my South Bend 10K. I believe the shape of the cross slide is similar to that of Boxford. My lathe had a taper attachment so there was something to which I could anchor the outboard end of the magnetic scale. I needed to mill a flat on the side of the slide and make a suitable spacer. If there would have been no taper attachment it would have been necessary to mill a flat on the right side of the cross slide and mount a rectangular bar to which the scale would be mounted.

There was not sufficient space to mount the read head inside the bed. It is mounted behind the bed. That means the scale has to project quite far behind the bed. The mounting for the scale did block access to the mounting holes for the follow rest.

I may still have some photos of how I did it. Send me a PM if you want me to try to find the photos.

You surely would need to remove it before starting the shaper.

Now that you have the adapter you may as well buy the boring head.

I like Peter Tucker's method. If tubing were not available it could be turned from solid stock.

Today's Startrite saws are industrial quality and priced accordingly.

The Jet saws seem to be evolved from the old Delta and Walker-Turner 14" saws. I have a 14" Delta for wood & metal. It has a built-in gear reduction for metal cutting. I find it quite satisfactory for cutting metal, including steel. There are a lot of 14" Delta clones built in Asia. I would be very surprised if they were not available in Europe.

In the days of solving math using pencil & paper it was simpler to multiply by the inverse function than to divide by the function. Some of the early mechanical calculators were not capable of division hence the need for the inverse functions.

Beautifully done.

Unhardened carbon steel balls are available.

Clive,

If I can crank up the knee of a Bridgeport I should have no problem cranking the head of my mill up or down. I planned to use head movement in the same manner I used knee movement on the Bridgeport. I will tell you later how successful it was. If my idea does not work out I can buy a short scale and fit it to the quill.

Clive,

I have a 3 axis DRO. I planned to use the Z axis on the head rather than the quill. After reading your post I think I should have bought a 4 axis unit.

Have fun. I adapted a Hardinge turret to a South Bend 10K. I did a lot of measuring and made a detailed CAD drawing based on those measurements. It didn't fit quite right. A lot of time trimming and shimming to grt it right.

That is the type I propose to use on my quill.

Some time ago I downloaded a draawing for an adapter plate for the quill of the RF45 mill. As I remember it it included a mount for a DRO and a screw type depth stop. If anyone is interested I will find it and post it.