milling guard slots?

[T. J.]

Ok,

For all you real machinists out there, how should I go about machining a 1/8 or 3/16 slot for a guard? I'm using 1/4 or 3/8 brass or 416 ss. I have access to a little chinese combo lathe/mill widget, and am interested in doing open top guards for full tang blades, and closed double guards for chute knives and such. What kind of tooling is most used? Key cutters, end mills? I'm far from a machinist, so this is all new to me.

Thanks
James

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[Dr.Lathe]

I use a "slitting saw" blade held in an arbor I made to hold it. What I call a slitting saw blade is a thin, 1/8""X6"dia. horizontal mill cutter. Mine has fine, staggered carbide tipped teeth. It has been sharpened and now only measures about .110 thick. This allows me to mill in and open the slot up to what ever thickness I want from 1/8" on up.
For your mill, you might want to use a smaller diameter cutter like a 4". Arbors, cutters and everything else you would need are available from MSC.
Neil

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[T. J.]

Neil;

OK, the light slowly creeps into my mind. Do you mill with the stock centered on the wheel, so that your max depth is 1/2 diameter minus 1/2 arbor size, or can you bypass mill to any depth of slot? How do you square up the bottom of the slot, or do you leave it as is?

Unless I'm totally missing the ideal here, this will not work for a closed bowie or chute knife type guards. Any suggestions there?

James

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Those who are willing to trade freedom for security deserve neither, and in the end, seldom retain them!