What mill bits for slotting gaurds??

happycat

happycat

Joined
Jun 21, 1999
Messages
752
I'm getting a mini mill this weekend. I plan to use it to slot gaurds. Any suggestions on what bits to get for doing that? No milling machine experience yet so I'm relatively clueless. Do I just look for something the thickness of my average ricasso? I'm hitting a harbor freight about 1 1/2 hours away, so I'd like to get what I need all at once (if I can...). Just not sure what it is that I need......
Thanks,
ED
 
Happycat, it may be better to get a bit that's just under your ricasso size. That way, you can use a handfile and bring the slot up to size carefully. I have several sizes of them. I also break them now and then, by either taking to big of bite, or going to fast. Nowdays I find myself just drilling a hole at each end of where the slot will be, and sawing out the area in between with a jewelers saw (unless it's a big thick guard for a Bowie).
 
Use an end mill which has a diameter substantially less than the width of the slot you want to mill. Do not make the cut in one pass, use at least two, that way you can mill the width exactly to you spec size. Make light cuts and try and find a book about basic machining techniques before you begin. Your tooling and your machine will last a lot longer.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I got a CD ROM a few years ago on ebay entitled "So you got a milling machine...now what?" All I have to do now is FIND IT!! :rolleyes:
Thanks,
Ed
 
We use 1/8" cutter on ours. Have a large mill and I always start where I'm not directly cutting into the metal end. Just where I can see a splint of metal shavings coming off at the point where Geno wants them slotted. And the 1-10 thousands of an inch.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I had a heck of a time finding somebody who had one in stock. Finally found it from Cummins industrial (at a hundred dollars less than harbor freight and Grizzly). Now all I have to do is wait the two weeks for the truck to bring it. :rolleyes: I hate waiting..... :grumpy:
 
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