Faster Milling and Longer Cutter Life...Watch this One !! 

For the last 5 years since I jumped “head first” into learning machine shop, theory and practice I have learned SO much from a number of teachers and RU-vid creators. One particular attribute stands out though from business owners. Time matters, and more importantly, time is money. One step further, that if you work efficiently, and understand that efficiently also means being mindful of how your tools, cutters and processes are actually doing the work you can maximize all elements and ultimately your bottom line; and achieve the desired outcome. Time IS money, so Joe, when you give us your time I hope that guys appreciate that you could be at home, or with family, or building your business. Instead you give us these lessons, sharing your love of the craft, years of experience and time. I just would like for you to know how much it is appreciated, that you certainly stand out amongst other creators. Thank you as always for your time.

I’m a beginner to this and I am finding your videos to be extremely helpful. Thank you.

I feel like these concepts are pure gold for my little baby mill and lathe lol. Your videos are helping me a lot

Joe you changed my line of thinking when you end mill. Till I watched your channel I would have used up my end mill a lot faster. You are definitely bringing me out of some bad habits. Thanks

Nice. Reminds me of AvE's video on chain drilling to get effectively overlapping holes using a drill. Do every second hole, then do the remaining holes. Since there's equal amount of material missing on both sides, the drill bit has less of a tendency to walk to the side. What he showed was with a CNC and for saving time on cutting a piece in two but the same technique should work for manual predrilling of a slot with a little finesse.

Great tip Joe! Thanks for all the great content you're sharing.

303 is great. Last year, a zinc casting rotted away. This was part of the faucet from our tub filler. This was a pretty expensive model, and no longer made. No parts available. I had to make the part from 303. Whew. Angular milling, circular table for part, and, well, it was a pain. But replacing the faucet involved another (expensive) faucet, a contractor to remove the tub from the foundation built around it, and replacement. A good estimate of $3,000 to have done. But $20 worth of 303, and many thousands in machinery and cutters, and it was done. My wife thinks I spend too much on this stuff. Nah. I see you have a Bar Z sticker. I just bought the 1200 hardening and tempering oven from him. Good stuff.

Very nice result! Thank you Joe!

Thanks for the very useful information Joe. I cant wait to apply some of these techniques and get more from my tooling.

Thanks for sharing!

Excellent. Also worth mentioning that using the drill to remove most of the material is transferring the wear onto that tool. Drills are much easier to sharpen than an end mill. Dont need a special grinder or jigs. You can just free hand it on a bench grinder.

thanks Joe for another informative video that also saves wear an tear on tools

Thanks Joe, always learning from your videos. Hope all are well in your family and friends.

I really appreciate your videos, I had a small shop in the mid 1980's, then no machining until now so most is a great refresher and some new stuff. Thanks

Always great content Joe. Really useful information. Appreciate the effort you put in.

Hi Joe, thank you very much for the lesson and the professional explanation. Good job 👍

Thanks Joe, that explains a lot. Your tips are invaluable for us novices.

Thanks very much. Very useful indeed. I have been using climb milling a lot recently, found it much easier on the cutter.

Man... I was about to rough out a huge channel in a large block of steel to make a batch of BXA tool holders. I'm so glad I saw this. What a time saver... Thanks Joe!

Good stuff Joe, thank you, as always.😎

As always, thank you for the excellent advice, and clear explanation of why it works.

Thanks again for your time and effort I did indeed learn several new things today !

Brilliant as usual, Joe, many thanks!

As always great instruction Joe thanks.

I've done chain drilling/milling on CNC before but the plunging is a new trick. I can't wait to try it out.

as always informative practical useful info thanks, Joe.

Excellent video Joe. Been doing it as you teach here but always am eager to learn something new.

He Joe - still the best tips from a man of practice! I always drill and saw the material away befor I mill it. Some guys laught about that. But as I always said "what you drill ya dont need to mill". Keep up the good work and have a nice day!! Greetings from Austria to Austin!

Beautiful job on stainless! well done, thanks for the lesson

Your whiteboard technique really helps me understand what you are going to do in the machine. Thank you for these informative videos.

More good stuff Joe! ATB, Robin

Thanks for the video Joe.

Love your to the point explanation. No long winded drawn out videos. Cheers Joe....also like seeing how many subs and views you are getting...well Done, PB

You're one hell of a teacher! Thanks

Good lesson Joe! Thank you!

Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge. You are incredible at your trade and so much of what you have and how you teach it is so sadly laking in many workshops around the world. I would have loved to have learnt from you when I was an apprentice but I am glad I can still learn now. Thank you again.

theory and then practical. Great way to teach. Never thought about climbing/diving while making the slot bottom. Learned something new. Thanks and please keep making videos! I learn something every time.

That clock is awesome :) Thanks again for another great shop lesson Professor Pi.

Another great technique. 👍

Excellent as usual Joe, thanks!

Been doing it that way for 30 years, been so long I don't even remember where I learned that trick but it works so good on hard materials. Thanks.

Thanks Joe! Your timing is perfect!

Thanks joe. Another excellent tutorial.

Once again, a fine example of the art of the machinist! More quick tips please.

Thanks Joe

Thanks for the explanation.... I have seen you use this technique in several videos during the miniature shop tool / steam engine builds....! Good stuff!!!

I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

learned it X Y, never thought about it, well done Joe.

Great demonstration Joe, thanks also for the explanation about the zig zag feeding to help us understand exactly what you did.

I recently discovered this technique, now I use it all the time, works great! 👍😁👍

Joe never disappoints ! Pragmatic arguments with a side helping of education.

Another great video,Joe.

Great video, I learned this method in the 80"s, I call it Chomping, has served me well. Keep up the great content.

Thanks again Joe!

Thank you Joe! Started doing CNC programming/setup/machining on a Hurco CNC mill. I asked what was better.... To go to depth and attack it with the side, or take multiple pecks. Well.... I've been taking multiple pecks... So.... I will try going to depth and stepping over and see how that goes. I really appreciate the time you take to teach and share your vast knowledge. Have a good day!

Hi Joe, Logical explanation at the whiteboard which was backed up with the practical demo at the mill... Enjoyable video... Thank you. Take care Paul,,

Joe right on time with that information

Lots of good information Joe.

Thanks. I was one of the hundreds of people who sent you email asking about making cuts (big stepover and shallow DOC) versus (small stepover and deep DOC) given the same MRR. This answered the question, and gave me a good slotting technique too. Love your channel - it provides high quality information without a lot of fluff and foo-rah.

Nice one, Joe! Don't know about you, I can sharpen drills, but not milling cutters, so the "drill start" will save me some cutters! Thanks!!! 🙂

AWESOME STUFF!

I'm quick to the keyboard to say "thank you Joe for taking the time to share your experience. You help a lot of people. Not many finer things can be said.

Fantastic easy to understand for this hobbyist noob.Id love to see a video on speeds/feeds,that is my greatest hurdle right now.

Love your tips man. Keep em coming

Great info Joe, thanks for sharing. Regards John.

Thanks for sharing your valuable insight on machining! Always look 👀 forward to your videos!.

Another MASTER MACHINIST installment - Thanks Joe! 👍😎👍

Very enlightening and I had thoughts about that recently. That's why as a hobbyist I bought cutters on Ali-express with different lengths of the cutting edge. If you don't have to go deep, a shorter cut will suffice. Thanks for the effort that you keep putting in.

In a word: wonderful.

Thank you Joe for an absolutely fascinating mixture of principles and techniques combined together. Indeed, end mills are not excavators and in a home shop, tool life and optimal tool usage are just as important.

Nice Joe, Thanks.

Very educative. Thank you

Great, practical info. Thanks, Joe! Also - love your test indicator clock - very cool.

Great tip, Joe!

I enjoyed this one. Learned a bunch, Thanks

I always thought drilling it first would take to much time! But that was effortless, thanks Sir Joe.

Very cool. I use pluge toolpath a lot in CNC. It´s the best way to clean large volumes of material.

very cool , thanks for the lesson..

Thanks joe

Wow, that's the first time you've done a video that I actually do the same thing for the same reasons. I've got a cheap Chinese mill/drill and a drill vice but that method works with even a less rigid set up.like mine

That's a unique Clock!

Another great video, Joe Pie. I still love the "indicator wall clock" that you built. Keep 'em coming!

Exactly how I would have done a deep slot like that. A lot of times when I'm doing a keyway for example that's not at the end of the part, I'll just plunge straight down on my end points and step over with my center cutting, undersized roughing endmill. Then do a full depth cut to size with a finishing endmill that I only use on keys. Cool video thanks for sharing!

I have never even turned on a mill or lathe and I enjoy watching every video. I have been a software developer for 35 years and I enjoy seeing how logic is applied whether in code or in milling or other trades. Maybe one day I will get a machine and give some of my logic a try. Thanks for the great videos I have learned a ton.

Great video.Thank you

Thanks for the great video Joe. The more of these I watch, the more I feel the need for a mill to pair with my lathe....

Saying thousand time thank you will still be not enough. As always absolutely best content 👍 Thank you for sharing

Climb milling on the finish pass gives a better finish on the side walls. Did this stuff for over 40 years. Speeds and feeds are what give you the best results.

Speaking of cutter management. Do you have any videos about cutter selection? I know its a huge subject. But I bet a guy like you has some great simple ideas for home gamers.

Thanks again sir

Super,,fixing to install Tee slots (for my first time) in a 1/2 thick hot roll plate. Have 4 flute end milks, so that a big plus on perdrilling holes first,,thx Joe for the tip,,Nesr

Great stuff Joe - thanks :)

Yeeper's, all about saving ware on costly end mills,,,great to know tip's Joe,,thx. The few I have are under lock and key,,One thing I did on cutting in the Hexagon & Octagon features on an indexer I am making, was to cut the flats with a small fly cutter (recently last wk), and may have been beginners luck, but when I checked depth of cut's, the Joe block rang to the surface. I only took 0.005 cut's and finial @ 0.0005...and results were mirror finish. This vid was most helpful Joe,,,Bear

Love that clock it was good to watch you make it

Most excellent

I just made some parts using this very technique to mill a pocket into a solid piece of steel, I did the drilling first, just like the video shows, I went within .010 of how deep I finally milled the floor of the pocket, did not need to "Z" back'n forth. When doing the finish passes on the sidewalls, I used only light climb (vs.conventional) cuts, made a very clean sidewall.

👍 thanks for sharing

WOW ! Now I understand what a zig zag cut is. Thanks Joe

I like your videos because you clearly explain the fundamental 'geometrical' issues and pitfalls that a (hobby) machinist may encounter. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! Maybe it is due to my lacking English (or Texan?) skills, but I still haven't been able to 'decode' the way you pronounce your last name in your opening sentence. It certainly doesn't keep me from watching your contributions. Regards from the Netherlands.

Man I literally just went to school on this very scenario in my shop!! I'm having to do a 1/2" deep 3/16" wide slot 1.5" long in mild steel....if I slot back and forth progressively it takes 2 min, if I go full depth and across it takes 2 min, or if I plunge a bunch of times and clean up it takes 2 min lol....but the full depth breaks cutters, the progressive slotting ends up exactly like you said with a crap side finish at the bottom, and the plunging by far the cutter lasts the longest, as axially everything is nice and rigid...only issue with the plunging is I do still get vertical banding in the surface finish on the sides of the slot...the tolerances aren't critical so I just step over slightly and clean them up ......great video!!