Drilling with milling machine

[Busto]

I believe you and I are about in the same boat... My bench top mill should be here in another week or two then I will be going through what you are! Thanks for all the great info and follow up pics.

So the plate screws into the t-slots? Would love to see pics of the underneath side how it works if you have time. Also, curious... Do you use the chuck for everything or switch it out for collets when milling a slot or something?

I'll jump in and say DO NOT USE Chuck for milling drilling only they are not designed to take the side force of milling. If you notice on the back wall of his shop he has a rack of clamps which includes T-Slot nuts and studs with nuts all designed to help with clamping solutions for your projects you want a set of these designed for your machines T-Slot dimensions they do come in different sizes!!

 

[REK Knives]

I'll jump in and say DO NOT USE Chuck for milling drilling only they are not designed to take the side force of milling. If you notice on the back wall of his shop he has a rack of clamps which includes T-Slot nuts and studs with nuts all designed to help with clamping solutions for your projects you want a set of these designed for your machines T-Slot dimensions they do come in different sizes!!

Thanks for chiming in dude! So wouldn't it be best to have a cheap drill press to use for drilling and then using your mill for milling type work so you don't have to switch back and forth between collects and a chuck? Sorry for the newb question lol

 

[butcher_block]

swapping chucks and collets is not a big deal less you are going back and forth every other hole. that however woudl be more poor work flow and planning on the makers part. i go so far as keeping the most used drills in the collets that they fir so that i hardley ever use a chick in my mini mill

 

[Busto]

Thanks for chiming in dude! So wouldn't it be best to have a cheap drill press to use for drilling and then using your mill for milling type work so you don't have to switch back and forth between collects and a chuck? Sorry for the newb question lol

You're right on target with your thinking. I have several small bench top drill presses set up for specific tasks like one for just drilling small holes for folders and one with a Tapmatic for tapping those holes. I have one for drilling misc holes and I have a floor press for long items like Hidden Tang Knife Blocks. I use the mill for milling specific tasks and I have dedicated R8 colletts with specific end mills for specific tasks as well. What you will find is that there are certain tasks that you will do repetitively so no need to continually remove and replace 1/8th end mill with a 3/16th or 1/4" just get a couple extra R8 colletts and remove the collett with the mill and set in holder and replace the collett with the next size needed....I hate searching through my end mills for one I just laid aside...Of course that is personal preference and they do make 3/8th shank end mills in all popular sizes so you can get by with that collett only.

 

[Stromberg Knives]

I believe you and I are about in the same boat... My bench top mill should be here in another week or two then I will be going through what you are! Thanks for all the great info and follow up pics.

So the plate screws into the t-slots? Would love to see pics of the underneath side how it works if you have time. Also, curious... Do you use the chuck for everything or switch it out for collets when milling a slot or something?

Oh, it's nothing fancy, just a t-slot nut and a bolt. No reason to overwork it.

 

[Stromberg Knives]

By the way, as stated earlier, I'm pretty new at this machining thing.

Now that I've got a more stable platform for drilling I ordered some carbide drill bits. Wow, they're great! Full speed ahead and it just rammed through the steel. I would definitely recommend them.

I also ordered a different kind of deburring tool. It so much better than the ordinary ones I tried earlier, they just gave me chatter. These produce really nice chamfers.

 

[Dennis Towns]

You need some dirt in that shop.

 

[REK Knives]

This is what I came up w/ for mine, just clamps in the vise and has a clamp already installed. Pretty quick set up when needed! Like a drill press on steroids lol