end mill cutter

B

boltcutter

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i want to cut the material i am using for liners on my folding knife down to a much thinner thickness. I intend to use an end mill on my drill press, but did not know there were so many types of end mills. can anyone help me figure out which one to buy? Thank you!
 
Well I am no expert just self taught so here is my take on your question and let me start with a drill press is not designed to be a milling machine they bearings will not last long with the side load and you will just end up ruining your drill press.

That said the more flutes the bit has the more material it can remove like a 4 flute will remove material the a 2 flute bit. You will want center cutting bits for what you want to do to. As for material HSS, Cobalt, Vanadium or Carbide it depends on what your cutting and how much you want to pay, for most cases HSS works just fine.
 
I very much agree with Mike....trying that with a drill press is gona take forever, it's not going to work very well, and you'll likely wreck your drill press in the process. A drill press just isn't "beefy" our stout enough to handle that kind of task. I'm speaking from experience....I tried it...ONCE. I ruined my drill press and the results were a train wreck with the materials I was trying to mill.
 
Yep, X2 what Ed said! I suggest you find a local shop to do your milling.. Until you get a mill of course.. The guys at my local machine shop know me as that knife guy and they are always ready to help if they can.. Good luck.
 
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"There's a tool for every job"......
and in this case it's true. Over the years, probably very FEW makers have NOT tried it, it's natural curiousity.:confused2: In my experience 'trying it' was slotting a guard. First pass, I cautiously barely removed any material but left a mark, it's working !:drool: Next pass...a little more depth, just enough to catch my finger nail, it worked again !:biggrin: Next pass....a little more depth, starts out looking good.........my chuck flies off, it looked like a spinning top just falling over. On it's way across the guard it chewed up the beginings of a pro looking slot on the face side naturally.:sad: OK... lets make a new one, again.:2: If your drill press has it's chuck mounted with just a pressure fit (JT), forget it. Luckily it was a cheap benchtop drill press, but it's never drilled a round hole since, the chuck never mounted correctly again. Turns out I was the "tool", that's why I have a mill.:biggrin:

I know....it's real tempting.:les: Go ahead and try it, be careful and post pictures please.:drool::biggrin::sad:

Good luck,
Rudy
 
My experience was dodging my chuck after I started my first pass to cut a channel in a piece of structural steel. Look up milling machines for a tutorial on using one and you will see just how much more robust one is than a drill press. If you decide to go ahead and get a mill, don't get one of the cheap ones advertised out there. Most of them woun't cut anything harder than brass. A good micro mill is going to start out around $600-700 for just the basic package, then you are going to have to add on a few must have auxillary tools and problably a couple classifed as not necessarily essential but dang handy to have.

Doug Lester
 
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LOL, sorry but I had to laugh out loud at some of you guys posts about mishaps using your drill press for milling. The reason I was laughing is because I did the same thing many years ago and my chuck went flying across the shop also, LOL. I wasn't near as funny at the time though.

I was just trying to cut a slot in a piece of PVC pipe, I'm thinking why take it all the way down to a friends machine shop when its just pvc and I've got this little milling vice. I found out real quick how strong even a small mill is compared to a drill press. I wasn't using a small drill press either which is why I thought it might work.

Milling with a drill chuck doesn't work very well even if the chuck is in a mill, the chuck won't hold the end mill secure enough and the cutting will try and pull the end mill down and out of the chuck resulting in uneven cuts. Ask me how I know this.:eek:
 
I guess I got lucky, it didn't ruin my drill press but it did break one of the jaws off of the chuck so I had to buy a new chuck.
 
Cliff,
Great minds think alike.....my exact thought at the time was...." hey! I just got this nifty cross vise, lets go for it". It's been almost 30 yrs and seems as fresh as yesterday.

Rudy
 
#1- what material are you trying to cut.
I cut thin strips of wood and ivory on my wood cutting band saw,micarta or g-10 I just buy thinner material.
Stan
 
You could cut a Slot with drill press. You make a plunge cut, Bring the end mill back up move it 100 thousands and plunge cut again. Bring the end mill back up and move it 100 thousands and plunge cut it again repeat til the slot is cut. But you can't use drill press as a Mill.
 
Thanks, Jim. I may have to dig up my end mills and give your technique a try. I see where the blunt end of the mill would keep it from tracking out of the hold that you're trying to drill.

Doug Lester
 
It still puts side load on the quill and bearings if only one side of the cutter is cutting. You have to drill a hole to keep a straight load on it. It would be the better way though, I do it that way with a milling machine when cutting a large slot in thick material.
 
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