I never made mention of a turret mill. I stand by my comments about my Bridgeport having more accuracy than a drill press. The rigidity of the spindle and the table along with having variable speed capability make the milling machine more versatile in my opinion. I can make multiple parts and know that the hole locations will be repeatable which could not be done on a drill press. I don't know of anyone foolish enough to tram a drill press table or indicate a drill press vise. As far as damaging the table, no one can prevent "Act of dunce". Just my two cents.
I apologize profusely if you feel I insulted you as that was not my intention. In the work that I have done professionally, a drill press would not give me the accuracy that was required. I am happy for you that your drill presses meet your needs. Peace.
When I rebuilt my spindle I purposely left the locating pin out. It's way easier to load tools now, and I have never had one spin in there.
I would HIGHLY recommend getting a DRO right away. A good vise, DRO and Edge finder are the most important tools you can have for a mill. Everything comes second to those. The DRO will instantly make you more accurate as it will automatically compensate for any backlash your machine has.
Well i'll give you credit for wanting to learn the hard way. Keep us posted.
I agree.
When I took my tool and die making classes 25 years ago our first assignment was to make a part on the mills with no DRO’s. All of us failed to keep it within spec and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The reality is it’s really damn hard to keep tolerances without a DRO. The next assignment was the mid term and we had to manually machine a fairly complex part and keep with with in .001 tolerances. Not a single one of us used the non-DRO machines. So my point is regardless of what your making or if you are just starting out, given the costs of metal these days it doesn’t take very many F ups to pay for the costs of the DRO. Even the cheap Chinese ones on EBay work well. Using the DRO you still get to turn the dials and it’s still worth it to pay attention to what your doing but it just allows even a beginner to make relatively accurate parts with not too much effort. Starting off you got enough to learn as it is. Might as well ease some of that learning curve.
I have a bunch of both U.S.A. Jacobs and Albrechts. The Albrechts are my favorite for smaller drills. They **** for use with Silver Deming drills so I use the Jacobs for those. Good chucks come in size ranges. No such thing as a one size does all. So ideally get an albrecht for smaller sizes up to ½” and then a larger Jacobs’s for ½ and larger.
Haha yes. I’m guilty! Especially at night when I head out to grab a beer out of the beer fridge! I spend some much time in ski boots my feet gotta breathe. I do put proper footwear on when I’m running the machines that dictate it. Ie the mill cause hot metal on bare toes ain’t so fun. I’m also **** enough about cleaning up afterwards I’m ok going barefoot. If my kids going to hang in there I feel it’s on me to keep it clean of metal shards.
Another thought is to replace the arbor.I have a bunch of both U.S.A. Jacobs and Albrechts. The Albrechts are my favorite for smaller drills. They **** for use with Silver Deming drills so I use the Jacobs for those. Good chucks come in size ranges. No such thing as a one size does all. So ideally get an albrecht for smaller sizes up to ½” and then a larger Jacobs’s for ½ and larger.
You can find used chucks dirt cheap. It’s worth it to get a used one and a rebuild kit and rebuild them. All you need to rebuild either is a set of chuck wedges
Also you can buy used tooling and drill bits dirt cheap and then sharpen them. Especially the smaller sizes. I have a grizzly drill sharpener and an end mill sharpener. Vevor makes the same units and are quite reasonable. They are way better than the drill doctor units
I got a used 1/2" Albrecht like that, was £45 the arbor was very visibly bent, chuck was good on a new arbor.
Shouldn't really be using Silver and Deming drills in keyless chucks at all, in all honesty they are a poor choice for milling machine use, MT shank drills in an adapter is far better when you consider how much torque a Bridgeport has in backgear, although the Silver and Deming are more likely to wreck themselves or the chuck than damage the machine if something binds up
Normally you want to go full depth in one shot with slitting saws, with very low feed.
I thought the same thing. Like WTF!
I was actually full depth on the cut.
Exactly. I picked my big albrecht up for like $25 because the guy that bought it for his drill press couldn’t use it with the arbor in it and he had zero idea you could change them. Drove down to Grizzly and picked up a ground Southbend arbor and it runs great. Also Grizzly has some great prices especially here where I can walk into their warehouse specials room and get what ever they used for their catalog shoots for 50% off. However the problem with them and most important tooling is it’s mostly garbage these days out of china. However their South Bend line is quite a bit better as is usually at least capable of doing their job. The simple south bend stuff that’s ground is actually surprisingly good. That said I’ll never buy a cutting cool from them again or anything that’s “precision”
Having a small shop space forces me to keep it clean. You won’t find any metal or swarf in there especially on the floor. My 7 year old kid is always running in and out of their to grab bikes, etc on so I keep it very clean. I keep a Festool dust extractor next to the mill so it’s very quick to clean up.
-Have used that same round stone for decades or a new one when the old one has worn thin. The figure 8 technique is what I also use. I also stone any two metal surfaces (vise, rotary table, angle plate, etc.) in addition to the mill table. Would suggest 2 things added to that.
-I don't want to be contrary or argue but I started in the trade well before a DRO was common in the shop. All we had was the dials but still had to hold tolerance. You had to evaluate the sharpness of your cutter, including deflection, the material, and learn to have somewhat of a "feel" for what was happening at the cut. You measured, dialed in, and approached final dimension with reasonable expectations regarding the operation itself. It wasn't what I'd call easy but certainly not "damned hard" either to hold tolerance unless the tolerance was unreasonable for a turret mill like a Bridgeport.
-Didn't want to mention that I have also hummed that song in my head while truing the mill table over the decades. You have apparently been infected as well, it's yours to keep whether you want it or not. Also a favorite:
Thank you so much for your comments. I agree with you 100%. My comments where very brief and you said what I didn't say. I would use the fine stone 99% of the time for sake of mind. I too use light oil and wipe the table down with lacquer thinner before the vise is reinstalled. Thank you for adding to my comments. Well done!!
None of my 5C accessories have the pin
This is what mine look like. Show me yours.
I use Norton India stones for this and plateauing scraped surfaces.
I'm not even in the same time zone as my shop right now. Sorry
So what is the spec you are setting your calibrated torque wrench to? Otherwise, it may not be "drawn to its designed torque".
I just removed them from 2 blocks about two weeks ago. Easier to assemble and I don’t have to worry about them setting proud when putting the block in a vice or Chuck.
