Thanks for the tips. All costructive critsism is welcome
I learned a lot on this little project
Small stuff like being accurate and what happens when
Your just a little off. How to size for a press fit. How terribly
Inaccurate a drill bit is
As far as the looks of my mill, its not as bad as the pictures
Its in real good shape with little backlash but previous
Owner didnt prep it properly for paint and the newer
Paint is flaking. Im having to much fun to fix that plus it
Looks like it could be a major chore to do
You'll have more fun than you realize with machining parts. If you want, you can contact me anytime either by PM or even by cell and I'll help you out all I can with any questions you have. For a starter mill, you have a good one and it will serve you well. Also make sure you go to YouTube and check out the many videos of Mr. Pete or Tubelcain. He goes by both. He has probably a hundred videos on machining. Keep a notepad and just jot down some note in it of different things on machining so you can reference back to your notes from time to time. I've ran mills and lathes all my life and right up to retirement, I had a couple of notebooks full of notes. I left those with a guy I was mentoring to become a machinist.
One thing you will absolutely need is a set of drill bits, and a set of reamers. When making pressfit holes for dowel pins, you cannot trust a drill bit to do it. Reamers are a must. Shop around on CL or FleaBay and see if you can find the large Huot boxes that have your Letter, Number, and Fractional sizes all in one. Then over time you can fill the spaces with drills and reamers (you'll need two boxes, one for drills, one for reamers) Pick yourself up a Kennedy Machinist toolbox, either a 7 drawer or 11 drawer, and keep your cutters organized in it. When it comes to end mills, if you are careful with what you are cutting as far as materials, feeds and speeds, you can get by with cheaper end mills. Go to the website of Enco, MSC direct, and sign up for their catalogs. Both send out a large catalog, but then you also get weekly specials and monthly flyers on their sales.
Then you will need to learn about "backlash". This is very important, especially with a mill as old as yours. And again, Tubelcain mentions this in his videos and explains it very well. You also need to know the difference between "climb cutting" and "conventional cutting". And again....Tubelcain.
You will need a good Dial Indicator. It is essential that you have one for squaring up your vise on the mill table and for also "Tramming" your head in. Tramming is where the head of the mill is exactly perpendicular to the mill table in both the "X" & "Y" axis. Before you make any more chips, "tramming the head" and "squaring the vise" are the two most important things you have to do.
I could go on for hours, and learning to machine, you will not learn in hours. To be a good machinist takes months to learn, to become an expert machinist takes a lifetime, and even at that, no one person knows it all. I've ran machines for 35 years and in talking to other machinist, I always pick up another tip or two.
If you are going to be drilling and tapping, when it comes to taps, and you need to purchase some, buy 2 flute spiral pointed gun taps. You will have better luck with these than you will if you buy 4 flute bottom taps or something along those lines.
And since you have a mill now, you will also find the need for materials. If you have any scrap dealers around your area, start shopping. Also places like TSC carries some Hot Rolled, Cold rolled, and aluminum. Avoid your Hot Rolled if you can. You can identify it by it having a scale to it.
