This video covers milling the slot to a width tolerance of +.003" - -.000" . I turned the DRO off for this lesson and showed how to do it using the dials (Yes they still work).
"I turned the DRO off for this lesson and showed how to do it using the dials (Yes they still work)." I once referred to you as "old school" I stand by it! Don't ever stop making these video's. I'm a huge fan. It was the special few like you that I enjoy what I do now. tx
A machinist is one of the most important people in an industrialized society. Everything around us was made by a machinist. Even things made of wood, glass, or plastic were produced on machines made by a machinist, or tool and die maker. Without machinists, there would be no Iphones, computers, or the cars we drive. I wish people would realize that.
That's because they are full HD. :) I process my videos at 1280x720/60p and they work very well with YouYube. A video like this takes several hours to process and upload, but I think it's worth it. Thanks for watching. Tom
Thanks Dennis but in all fairness, I still do this stuff for a living. Hopefully these videos will make it easier for you guys as well. It's back to work on Monday, so the next video may be a few days. Tom
Tom, Two thumbs up ! I watch a lot of video's on here to try and learn as much as I can but I only subscribe to very few nothing against the other guys and they have good tips & idea's but some people just don't have the "it" factor when it comes to teaching as you do- they seem to cause me more confusion than anything else you do a Great Job!!! I am always learning when I watch your videos Thanks for all your time in making and posting these.
So I gather you finished it up without me? :) I'm glad to hear it worked out well for you. Any chance of sending me some pics through the website? I'd love to see how it turned out. Thanks, Tom
Toms Techniques Click on my name and it'll take you to a couple of videos. I'll add links (in the video descriptions) to blog entries. I checked out your website and the "contact" form doesn't seem to allow images to be attached.
Great videos Tom. I have a new mill ordered, I have no idea how to use one as I am a welder so I'm sure I'll be watching alot more of you. Thanks for your time and effort with all the videos you do. D.
Hi Tom, Damned deflection... Smaller end mills are pretty much subject to that, not to be overlooked. I'm seriously thinking to have this model of knurling tool done for my usage. Thanks so far, Pierre
just checking in Tom and read you have the bug in your home. Sorry to hear that as its everywhere here in Winnipeg many co workers sick. Get well soon and GO Jets Go
Thanks. I am back with the living, but it was touch and go for a while. I was just out in the shop shooting some video/audio and am trying to figure out how to edit it. Hopefully I'll get something useable tomorrow. The Red Wings just murdered the first place Predators 5-2, so I have to say GO WINGS! Tom
Another great job Tom Never thought of plunge cutting, Wonder how that would work on steel? Slower of coarse. Thanks for not using the DRO, That helps us little people with are drill mills. I am learning a lot even though I am not making this project at this time, You are bringing the use of prints and drawings into a better prospective. Also like the way you show different ways to get things done Bill
Thanks Bill. Plunge cutting is even more appropriate for steel. It isn't necessary from an end mill life point of view on aluminum, but it will greatly extend the life of an end mill when used on steel. It's always good to have more than one way to do something. Tom
Heya Tom. I know this is off topic from the video, but I was wondering if you would consider doing a video on boring bars, or more generally, how to bore a hole. Would love to know how this is done and your teaching style is excellent. Love all the videos!!!
I touched on the subject in the last video when I bored the hole in this part. After this tutorial series is finished, I plan on cranking out a few instructional videos for a change, so maybe boring would make an interesting topic. Does that sound right? Tom
Tom, Great post, once again I've learnt a great deal. At some point could you go over the tolerances and the thinking you use when designing the part. I see that following the designed tolerances is relatively easy, when you know how, but would like to understand a bit more about the way they are set up in the design so that parts fit. It's good to hear you had a good Xmas despite your unwelcome visitor, all of the best for 2015.
Thanks Alistair. The application of tolerances is mostly something learned by experience and is dependent on a large number of factors; the specific application, how parts are expected to interact with each other, how they are intended to be manufactured, the materials they are made of, the environment they will be used in, etc. I may do something on how to specify interference and slip fits at some point, but that probably as far as I'll go on the design side of tolerancing. Christmas is always nice because of the time spent with family. I hope you had an enjoyable one yourself. Tom
Another great video. Super in every way. I was wondering if because of the material removed, could the pressure from the vice jaws squeeze the gap at the top of the part causing too much material to be removed by the end mill? There at the last there is only a small amount on the bottom holding the gap open and that is at the bottom. And the jaws tend to pinch somewhat harder at the top to hold the part down. Is there any risk the milled slot would open up when un-clamped? I appreciate the no-DRO approach because I do not yet have one. I learn a lot from your comments in response to viewer comments, and had to chuckle at the DRO upgrade being the best addition to a mill, except for a motor! I don't know how many are rotating their end mills by hand. Ha! Good one.
Thanks for sharing, Tom. I really enjoy your videos and the image quality seems much better these days too. Glad to see you give a little tutorial on not using the DRO. One thing I have noticed, having both a desktop and bench top mill is that the smaller of the two only has a handle on one end and thus, only one dial to work from. I seem to remember you showing how to do the measurements while taking up the play in the lead screw in another video. Do you recall which one covered that topic? I could always use a refresher. Thank you! Tom Z
That's good to hear Tom. I have been researching the best video formats for RU-vid and seem to have it nailed down. It's a balancing act between processing time and image quality, but I think it's worth the time to get true HD video. I think the video you are referring to is How to Mill a Pocket or Slot on the Milling Machine. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GRL9Pf7STSM.html Thanks for watching. Tom
Hay with the topic of tolerances and speeds and other shop conventions ( assuming there are others ) this sort of thing would make a nice vid and have it all in one place . Or maby on your web page.
Hi Tom, During the part where you were finishing the slot width and took an extra thou on the backside. Was the extra material that needed removal to allow the gauge blocks to fully seat actually on the first wall (your side of the cutter)? I wonder if the single spring cut at 18:30 was mostly pulling in and re-cutting the chips on the bottom and messing with the lower portion since you were climb milling. I like the tip on fast material removal by plunging the mill. It's a LOT easier to resharpen the end of a mill than the flutes! Thanks, again, for sharing your wisdom.
Hi Eddie. It's typical for a small end mill to make a tapered cut when side milling. That's why I checked to be sure. You'll never get a side cut completely perpendicular to the axis of the end mill because eventually there just isn't enough side pressure on the end mill to make it cut. Thanks for watching. Tom
How in the world did you come up with 5.81" for the slot length? I realize that that length isn't important which makes it all the more strange to me. Why not 5.8" or 6"? On a similar note, how do you come up with tolerances? -.000 and +.003 on the slot width, for example. If I'm building something, how would I know how to tolerance a particular feature? I'm just trying to get a feel for the design process. Great video and series. Thanks!
5.81 is 13/16 rounded off to two places. The length of the slot was driven by the need for the knurls to clear a 2" diameter part. The application of tolerances is a key area of mechanical design and mostly something learned by experience. It is dependent on a large number of factors; the specific application, how parts are expected to interact with each other, the aspect ratio of the mating parts, how they are intended to be manufactured, the materials they are made of, the environment they will be used in, etc. I may do a video on how to specify interference and slip fits at some point, but that probably as far as I'll go on the design side of tolerancing. Tom
"I may do a video on how to specify interference and slip fits at some point" That would be very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Jay
Ca I just ask...When plunge cutting with an endmill is the endmill tip type critical (defintions endmill/slot drill?) Or are you avoiding the probem by just using less than half the endmill diameter per plunge?. I'd just like to add that I;ve just bought my first lathe and mill and find your videos the best I've seen for a beginner!! I just need asbestos fngertips for tool grinding at your speed..
Any end mill can be used to plunge cut, even if it's not center cutting. The reason it will still work is because as you pointed out, only about a third of the diameter is cutting. An exception would be if the slot was blind, you would first need to drill a hole to get the end mill to depth. Glad you are enjoying the videos. Tom
Absolutely. That's the fun thing about maching There are many different ways to accomplish the same end result. I never got around to making the final video on this project, so keep this in mind. When you purchase your knurls, be sure to get them with chamfered corners. Otherwise, they will dig in when you use them. The chamfers can also be added by mounting them on a mandel, held in a cordless drill, and adding the chamfer with a belt sander or grinder.
Nice video, thanks for going the dial route. I wonder if there is any reasonably easy way to clip out the high frequency sound during milling, it's particularly painful.
Thanks. Maybe if I was an audio engineer, there would be a way to deal with issues like that but I'm not. As I mentioned in the video, I did invest in a digital audio recorder and a wireless mic, so my voice will be on a separate track in future videos and that will allow me to lower the background noise. Hopefully that will help. Otherwise I may have blown about $400. :( Tom
Another great video Tom. I am scrounging through the shop tomorrow to see if I have enough aluminum to copy. Thanks for your time and dedication to your videos. Also, quick question. What CAD program are you using for your drawings? They are great and I would like to learn that as well as the machning. Mike.
Thanks Mike. I use a 3D CAD program called SolidWorks for my modeling and detailing, but unfortunately it is not really appropriate for the hobbyist. I believe they also offer a free 2D version called DraftSight. I've never used it, but I understand it is quite powerful. Tom
Solidworks seems to be a popular and powerful program, but at over $6000 a seat, it's definitely not for hobbyists whose names don't end in "Gates". I found one called Cubify Design, which appears to be a cut down version of Alibre and has useful capabilities for us hobbyists. It's a parametric 3D CAD program that seems to be aimed at 3D printing users, judging by the limited choice of output formats, but it can let you design parts, create assemblies of parts, and output dimensioned drawings. If you change a part, the dimensioned drawings update automatically. It's about $180, so much more affordable than Solidworks. Since the methods of work are similar to Alibre, Solidworks and other parametric CAD programs, it may be a useful intro and you can upgrade to other programs with more features and higher cost later if you can afford to and need to. I love these videos. The pace is great, the instruction is clear, the methods obviously work, and the projects are useful. I have a small lathe now, but no mill, so I appreciate that this project can be done without a mill...at least if you can do some limited milling on the lathe. My milling attachment has very limited size capabilities...a couple of inches may be too much, but it's close and I'm considering ways to get around that ( like getting a small toolmakers vise and making an adapter so it can be held in the milling attachment). Seems like the main issue will be the long slots...I think everything else can be done on the lathe or the drillpress or a bandsaw (due to cost and space limitations I went with a portable and a table for it from Swag Off-road....throat capacity is only 5", but that's enough for things like this!). Having fun learning to use the lathe, and with all the great videos I've been learning from, so far things are coming out good on the first try! Thanks! -- Mike
I've been lurking around Tom's videos, occasionally suggesting Sketchup or Designspark Mechanical as a hobbyists alternative. Neither are perfect for this sort of work, but they get the job done. I'm more fluent in Sketchup, but DSM easily overcomes some of the things I've struggled with in Sketchup. Both are worth a try.
Tom, over here in the UK 6061 seems to be far less common than in the US, particularly from hobby type suppliers. The common ones available are (HE 30) 6082, 6063 and 2014 with 6082 being the most common. The 6082 in t6 looks comparable to 6061 in tensile and yield strength, but that might highlight my ignorance of metallurgy. Could you say which would be best as a substitute for the 6061. Regards Alastair
Alastair, We call 6063, architectural grade aluminum over here. It's good for extruded architectural shapes, but doesn't machine as well as 6061. I've never used any of the other alloys, but looking at the specs I would agree that 6082 T6 is pretty much the equivalent of 6061 T6. Tom
Hi Tom. Thanks for documenting this project. Looks great. I'm new to machining. Just started working at a Tool & Die shop. Why didn't you go to your final depth dimension before milling to the side dimensions?
I like to mill the bottom separately on high tolerance pockets because milling them together tends to influence the width. Probably not so much with aluminum and a short end mill like this, but definitely so on steel and with longer end mills. Milling the bottom separately also generates a better surface finish. It takes a little more time, but in my opinion, the results make it worthwhile. Tom
You could, but I find it's quicker to just use the dials or the DRO. The only time I've used the table stops was when making multiple parts, i/e. production. Thanks, Tom
Tom, Could you do a video on how to repair a relationship damaged by constantly dragging metal shavings into the house, which are eventually found in the carpet by bare feet? Thanks ;)
Thanks Rob, The plague has passed through our household over the last couple of weeks and I'm just getting some energy back. I'm anxious to get the next video out this weekend and at the same time, try out my new audio recording system. Tom
