Setting Up a Face Mill - Finding the Odd Insert - Angle Plate Machining Follow-Up 

you machinists need to understand that the parts you call boring are actually interesting to your viewers ... that's why we're here.

That's what I call an informative video, nothing boring about it, pun intended 😂😂.

Amazing how something so minor and simple can cause problems and it shows no matter how long you’ve been doing something that it’s easy to overlook things

Not a boring video at all. That is a great tip Josh!

Yep I had to pause the video as soon as your said we going to setup an indicator and pop some popcorn. Thanks for sharing.

I have never been around a mill of this size and I am amazed at the precision.

Arh-Arh machinist humor. Thanks fer the nice explanation, pretty cool

Not boring at all. In fact very interesting. Thanks for posting the video.

Ok. 'I got it done the first time'. That didn't happen but was ok for me. Neat to see the fix. I'm a safety third guy. I don't count. Happy spring time!

hello Josh & it's is Randy and i like yours video is cool & thanks Josh &friends Randy

Thanks for posting, very informative Josh

Josh !!!!!... you, the MAN !!!

Hi Joss thanks for that sorted out a problem I was having.

Thanks for showing the improvements in your setup. I’m very impressed with the extreme range of that big mill and the cutting ability of the face mill. Also that all the inserts except one was true within .001. You’ve got a winning combination there. Well made accurate fixtures save time and money in any shop.

Thank you Josh!

Nice job Josh.👍👍 I use to have a VM2000 Winona Van Norman. Had a big head, like 12 plus inches and 12 or 14 inserts, like a 321 series. Had to indicate every one of them. But when they were dialed in it really could mill heads and blocks flat and a perfect surface. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day.

Morning Josh, I am really liking your instructional videos lately, I usually confirm my insert depths on initial set up and let them all wear down at an equal rate. Depending on the type of cutter and the quality of it....I also ck the machine's taper for debris as well as the interior taper of the cutter body itself on every new mounting...some bodies even have an end boss that the tension screw pulls the taper into too and Ive actually seen that end boss not milled correctly or debris get embedded by the draw pressure into the boss and cause a minute misalignment that will show as insert imbalance falsely....but we are progressing well above the machining 101 level in these things.....so far here just the remnants of snowbanks remaining..YAAAAY...however someone on TV was saying maybe accumulating S- - - mid week Wed/Thurs coming up just before the dreaded E-clipse......LOL Great great content, camera , audio and editing video work and easy to follow and understand dialog.....10 thumbs up....AGAIN !! Don

Yep! Nice job! Thanks for the videos!

Excellent, thanks.

thank you Josh....have a wonderful day.....Paul

Nice and clear info .. :)

This was great information, thanks

Once i had the same problem with one insert. Now my milling head run with 6 inserts, not 7 :D

Thanks for taking the time to make this video. I would love to make something but I have to go outside and move some snow with my compact tractor. It is always good to see you because you show me things that I have not done before. Be sure to say "Hi" to Rocky for me. My dogs are 15 years old but still hanging in there.

We always called the indicator tip you describe as an “elephant’s foot”

Good stuff

I get a kick out of seeing your DRO readout is about 3 feet above you when the mill head is at the top of its travel......makes one appreciate how big this mill is.

Cool!!

those inserts are similar to the ones I have on a Carbaloy SECO 2" face mill....SEKN I think......cheers...great video..PB

That’s a great grate how to solve a common issue 👍

What you could do is remove half of the inserts and halve your feed so you have less teeth imparting force on the workpiece. Alternatively you could step the cutter over so all the cutting force goes down rather than directly sideways. With a stepover you could possibly increase your material removal speed too. I would keep in mind that any parts you setup on those angle plates will only be as rigid as those angle plates. If they can't handle a heavy cut, neither will any workpiece mounted to them. What I would try is to use turnbuckles and some threaded rod to brace up both angle plates to eachother and to the t slots at the same time. That might mean drilling some holes in the angled brackets on them.

You need to be careful. If you keep putting out such interesting videos, you're likely to hit 100k subscribers. Just joking. I hope you do hit 100k soon.

Something else you can do to somewhat reduce vibration is removing a few inserts in an uneven pattern like with a reamer or one of those fancy Hoffmann-Garant counter sinks, supposed to reduce tool pressure and interrupt the standing wave. The one time I did it I also managed to stiffen up my setup so I don't know how much to credit to what, while it does work in those counter sinks and reamers those are also cutting with all edges all the time

Well - I have a facemill I have to check. I was getting a crappy finish and couldn’t figure out why. Better have a look at the inserts. 👍

Obligatory algorithm boost 👍👍

Not boring at all. Just facing a minor issue.

Im not sure where you learned to use brake cleaner but a proper mechanic uses at least half the can per press of the nozzle! I was taught to use the paper test on a multi head cutter for a quick indicator if the inserts are set consistently. Use piece of notebook paper as a feeler gaue against the same point on a part ensure it has similar drag on all the inserts. Love the content!

I've always wondered if any body Checks this and how you fix it. Thanks

If you'd quit milling around it might actually be boring! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I can still smell the oil and coolant from the shop I used to work in. And who can forget the aroma of Moly-Dee? I hated that stuff!

It doesn't take much to knock an insert out of position. I always blow out each seat when i change/turn inserts.

Great follow-up video. Sometimes we just get wrapped up in the effort and accept the result as good enough. Any chance your clamp/jack stabilizers actually introduce a twist in the face you are milling such that when you release them the face twists the other way? Obviously it all depends on the allowable tolerance - just wondering if it was a concern enough that you measured it?

Interesting how something as small as four thou can cause such a big problem.

You can go bankrupt buying inserts for that beast.

I'm thinking if it was me I would have run an end mill down the sides and top as well to make all edges true to each other while I had it set up.

The nob on top of the indicator has a curved big flat.. unskrew it use that as the tip.. works on most dial indicators

I always seen it done with a feeler gauge between the cutter and the workpiece or table. Any cons to that method?

Boring or not thats how you learn😊

Come on fans we know better , it was definitely not boring. IT was cutting😅.

in the last video i was wondering what the clicking sound was while cutting im guessing that was it was gonna ask but got distracted by the shadow in the upstairs window

Do you stone the surfaces after face milling?

I like these “meat and potatoes” machining videos. Walked through a shop recently where there was a Cat truck engine block setting, disassembled. The machine marks on the head deck were horrendous. Must have been cut with a very large face mill that had one insert standing at least .005” proud of the others. Question about hor bore operation. I see you are feeding the head (Y axis) from top down. How do you have the head set to slide on the ways? Are the gibs tight enough that the lead screw is pulling down on the head? I’m trying to understand how to set the gib on that axis. Thanks!

i kinda heard something like one insert was off

Yeah this can really destroy either your part or the facemill - depending on how off one of the inserts are. Ive told the apprentice at work that he needs to at least blow it all clean with an airgun everytime he changes inserts and do a double check to make sure theyre all seated right. Why the double check? Well, Ive witnessed him manage to rip a facemill in half because he either didnt screw the inserts in correctly or didnt clean it. This shouldnt happen under normal circumstances but he was running a high feed facemill and pushing the tool AND machine to their limits. The best part was him trying to act like nothing happened, playing it cool and then coming over and asking if he could borrow a highfeed facemill from me - didnt tell me why at first but there wasnt a single person at work that didnt hear the damage he did

Real shops use air

With jokes like that, I'm surprised you're not ashamed to show your face (mill) around here.

Why would people beat you up about using the air gun to clean the pockets out. Thats the easiest way to do it

Very boring video, but don't you WANT boring in the shop? Especially when you are working with pieces big enough to kill you? I think boring is fine.

Not boring at all, but shows how the setup is the most important part of the job. The angle plate should have been laid on its side instead of being 3' tuning fork the table has the room and travel from the looks of it.

Great job buddy thanks for sharing

Blahahaha...the insert identifies as "her"!😮😂