Cross Slide Vice, Drill Press and Milling

flatgrinder

flatgrinder

Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
2,045
Hi,

I'm making a hidden tang/ rabbet tang / mortised style handle and I need some way of slotting a guard.

I was thinking about using a cross slide vice with a 3/16" end mill in my drill press. The material will be nickel silver. Anyone else done this? Will it work? Any other recommendations?

(Can't afford a mini mill yet ;) ).

Thanks! :thumbup:
 
It can certainly work, and lots of folks do it. You're likely to burn out the bearings in your drill press if you do a lot of it or if you try to mill out too much at once. Take VERY light passes and go slow and you should be fine.

I'm getting ready to set up a cross-slide a friend is loaning me for just this type of work. Would I prefer to have a miller? Yup. Can I afford one? Nope. Will it save me enough time fitting guards and handles that I might be able to get more knives made and sell enough to buy a mill? Nice dream :)

-d
 
Start by drilling a series of holes down the slot line and mill out the web in between the holes. Just go slow and take a light cut then it should be okay.
 
argel55 said:
Start by drilling a series of holes down the slot line and mill out the web in between the holes. Just go slow and take a light cut then it should be okay.
Click to expand...


Thats the right way to do it. with a Drill Press. But its still hard on the press. If I was him I would get a small mill to do the job. Save up the money and go for it. God bless.

Barkes :)
http://my.hsonline.net/wizard/knifeshop.htm
1.812.526.6390
 
Be aware that putting side load on a Jacobs taper sometimes causes the chuck to come out. It's not fun when a sharp endmill and chuck are spinning like a top all over your shop floor.
 
Yeah, I have had the chuck fly out on my before. Unless your drill press is a monster, I would definitely take shallow passes. Not that you will need to, but I wouldn't rely on the graduations provided on the vise at all unless you have a high quality vise. Also, I wouldn't bother with bench/mini mills. Keep your eyes out for a machine shop going out of business or something and then just get a mill from them. Or there is always eBay.

Good luck.
 
Using a drill press for cutting guard slots is the best incentive I had to get a mini mill. Everything needs to be very tight or the slot wanders. Cut it narrower and file to get a fit. Still better than filing out holes. Just make sure your adjustments are all tight. Works well for mortize work on handles
Take Care
TJ
 
I can see it only with a very small (1/8 or smaller) end mill. The side load from a bigger end mill would probably loosen your chuck. You will need to run the mill FAST (2,000 RPM or more) and feed into the workpiece very SLOW. Maybe make 20 passes or more to remove a quarter of an inch.
 
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