Mill accessories

J

Jason Fry

Joined
Jun 5, 2008
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3,216
I just got my first mill yesterday, a 1998 Taiwan manufactured Rong Fu 30. It wasn't used much, still nice and tight, but came with only a cheap endmill set, harbor freight vise, and a drill chuck. R8 spindle taper, best I can tell.

Help me build my shopping list. What else do I need?
-parallels
-dial indicator
-collet set

What makes a "good" vise good? Brands to look for?
 
edge finder
fly cutter or face mill
T slot hold down clamp set
 
Kurt vise, but probably overkill for your needs,
def a buy once cry once purchase
 
Kurt and Albrecht make the best of the best for sure, but may be a little bit of overkill. Grizzly, Shars, Interstate, etc... (I.E., import tooling) all have pretty decent quality control these days, at a fraction of the cost. For the tolerances the Rong Fu is likely to hold, and moderately priced import tooling will likely be adequate.

You can never have too many indicators and indicator holders. I like the single knob noga stye magnetic bases. I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-G9627...1&keywords=grizzly+articulating+magnetic+base.
Noga makes the best, but they're about 2 or 3 times the price.

Get some 123 blocks too. Seems like I never have enough.

A decent set of calipers and a mic is good for checking work. iGaging makes some really nice digitals for a fraction of the price of what they probably should be.
 
What does a fly cutter or face mill do? Are those the ones you'd use to mill off a handle block square, for example?
 
Do you find that you change collets often enough to make a quick-change collet set a good investment, or is a regular collet set good enough for most of our work?
 
import kurt style vice will do i have one and will upgrade but its ok
like was said Tblock set even tho you dont use it often (when you need it you really needit )
i think was missed was a dial indicator to help tram out the mill
 
Jason Fry said:
Do you find that you change collets often enough to make a quick-change collet set a good investment, or is a regular collet set good enough for most of our work?
Click to expand...

A power drawbar is always an option, but unless you're doing production work and getting paid by the minute, I haven't yet found it necessary. It is an added convenience to be sure, but you might find the money best used on more tooling.

I don't think anyone has mentioned v-blocks yet. I must have when milling anything round. A 5C indexer isn't a bad toy to have at times either, depending on what kind of work you're doing.
 
HF vise is good enough for the mill, Kurt would be nice but only if you have no budget.
Forget the drill chuck, use collets. With the round column you cant practically move the head without loosing tram so you won't have enough space. Get a complete collet set (or er-32 or somesuch if you have the funds) and hold your drills with it too.
I have a hold down clamp set, never used it. (I only do slotting and small stuff in the vise)
 
It's possible that you spin an endmill in a collet and it screws out deeper into your work.

Dedicated endmill holders have a setscrew that presses against the flat spot of a Weldon shank on the endmill.
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1254

480.1254.jpg
 
Count, maybe with larger endmills like an inch or more and really driving it hard but with the smaller ones we use with this size mill I don't think so. Well it never happened to me anyway.
 
Patrice Lemée;16011889 said:
Count, maybe with larger endmills like an inch or more and really driving it hard but with the smaller ones we use with this size mill I don't think so. Well it never happened to me anyway.
Click to expand...

I broke some tiny end mills in copper, it stopped when I use an endmill holder vs that collet.

I suspect maybe better rigidity of that toolholder helped.
 
my 1/8 3/16 and 1/4 inch collets live in a holder with drill bits in them i hardly ever use the jacobs chuck
small endmills work much better when they have a larger shank. i think a big part of holding them is that its hard to clean the collet when the hole is small
 
Oh, the waiting! I toted the mill around in my truck since Thursday night, and had four big guys over this evening to help me get it into the shop. We didn't have adequate muscle, even with five grown men. The machine weighs in at 660 pounds according to the book. We were able to use a come-along on a tree and get it out of the truck, at least. We'll have to get a tractor with a bucket lift and try it again later in the week. One of my friends said I need a "lighter" hobby :)
 
Jason Fry said:
Oh, the waiting! I toted the mill around in my truck since Thursday night, and had four big guys over this evening to help me get it into the shop. We didn't have adequate muscle, even with five grown men. The machine weighs in at 660 pounds according to the book. We were able to use a come-along on a tree and get it out of the truck, at least. We'll have to get a tractor with a bucket lift and try it again later in the week. One of my friends said I need a "lighter" hobby :)
Click to expand...

If you've got it on a relatively flat/hard driveway or similar, you'd be surprised what you can do with a couple of pipes for rollers and a 3 to 4 foot prybar.

The other option (and the route a lot of home shop guys end up going, especially with larger mills) is to take it in pieces and reassemble. An engine hoist is usually needed if you've got to lift a head in place, or set a benchtop mill on it's stand, though 4 stout guys and proper rigging can do in a pinch. ;)

I've moved a good number of large machines into my garage, and was lucky enough to have plenty of help getting stuff off of trucks and what not, but the majority of movement after that I did by myself with a couple prybars and some pipes.

A couple machine skates/dollys are a great thing to have too, if you plan on moving too much equipment.
 
Alright, I got the mill in the shop about a week after this post originated. Took me till now to sell enough knives to buy belts, take care of some household business, and then have some left over for mill tools. I also picked up a (free) lathe during that stretch, but lathe tools are even further down the list than mill tools.

Here's what I ordered today from Shars:

6 Piece Precision R8 Collet Set $27.81

Edge/Center Finder Set $19.95

5/32x1/2 HSS Corner-Rounding End Mill $8.50 - I ordered this one specifically for finishing the edge of a hardened plunge finishing platen.

3 Piece Fly Cutter Set $14.95

3/16" M2 Square Tool Bit (3) $4.80 - for the fly cutter

Magnetic Base W/ 1" Dial Indicator $20.01

Well on my way... $115 later. Still lack parallels, v blocks, 123 blocks, and a clamp set, at least.
 
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