List of tooling for new mill

JPSWorks

JPSWorks

Well-Known Member
I just mentioned in another thread that I posted up that I finally purchased a mill. I ended up going with a new Grizzly G0704. It will be arriving mid to late next week and I am super excited about it. A good friend of my brother is the head of the machine shop at Fike and was a tool and die maker for over 20 years. Fortunately he is going to help me get the mill setup, trammed, and help me with learning to use it properly. For that I am thankful.


Now on to the reason for my post, tooling. I am trying to come up with a list of basic or essential tooling I need to get for the mill. I know one of the biggest and important that any mill needs is a good vice. Any recommendations on a quality@brand vice is much appreciated as I am new to the milling world. This goes for any other tooling as well.


The reason I am asking here is that I know@specific tooling@and end mills@used in knife making will probably differ from someone who is working@on much larger@parts. Is there a specific set of@sizes or styles of end mills that you all recommend? Carbide vs non carbide? Fluted end mills, ball style end mills? The type of knives that I will be making are mostly slip joints and now that I will have a mill I want to start making frame lock folders.


I would really love to have other knife makers opinions on what you all use most when making folders!


Here is a list of things I plan to purchase in the future.


Table clamps (if that what they are called)

Good quality vise

Rotary table

Center Finder

Fly Cutter

Cutting Wheel




Thanks,


John




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Just off the top of my head, I'd add to your list a good set of parallels, collet set or endmill holders, a dial indicator that you can put in chuck or collets, a boring head, a couple center or spot drills. You might add a second "wish" list of stuff for later, and to it I would add a tapping head. Which endmills to use is a can of worms in itself. I use the cheaper double ended ones usually and they're fine for most of the stuff we do. If you want to spend a bunch of money and run things fast and hard, carbide endmills are great. Personally, I haven't felt I really need them yet, but I don't crank out tons of knives either.
 
My G0704 was just delivered last night, took me about 3 hours to set it up, clean it, do the break in procedure, and test it out. I did not tram it yet, but i did square the vice up and cut a nice slot in some 416 stainless. No problems at all, and I was expecting problems and frustration because I have never used a mill before. Lots of good videos on youtube you can check out while you're waiting for it to be delivered. Was like waiting for Santa Clause for me.
 
John - Congrates on the new mill. If you go to the Grizzly site and page for your mill. At the bottom of the page is a section called
[h=3]"Customers who purchased this item also purchased"[/h]It has a listing of good basic items that you will need to get started, vise, end mills, parallels and T-slot clamping kit. Make sure the clamping kit is the right size for the slots on your table. A 4" vise is probably about as large as you will want to go. An edge finder is also a good thing

Your brothers friend who is helping you setup the mill is also good resource to pick his brain for basic tooling.

Goggle "The Hobby Machinist" there is a lot of good info on this site and the forum is newbie friendly.

Jim
 
I got that same mill earlier this year. Sooooo cool to have a mill, huh? :) I ended up getting a 6" old Kurt vise off eBay....and its big.... I like being able to have more jaw distance, but it's kind of huge for the mill. I got a set of parallels, a face mill (instead of fly cutter) that takes carbide inserts, a keyless chuck, R8 collet set, and some double ended end mills in 1/16", 1/8", 3/16". It would've been neat to get a bunch more end mills and other stuff in various sizes, but money goes quickly with tooling... One piece of advice I got that may be helpful is take a look at what you tend to make. A guy I know uses his surface grinder (wish I had one of those) and a 1/4" end mill together. What I mean is, for a hidden tang knife, it's just thick enough at the shoulders after surface grinding, that a 1/4" end mill leaves just a fuzz to be filed out of the guard slot and it's a perfect press fit. That, instead of ending up "wherever" when making the knife and trying to figure out which end mill will get you kind of close and then doing a lot of filing, etc. Basically, if you do certain things a lot in a given size/dimension, try and get the size tooling that minimizes your work.

I'll try and see if I have a picture of a couple things I ended up doing with mine and post up if they're uploaded. Enjoy the fun :).

ETA

Forgot to mention I got one of those hold down kits, too. The metal shelf I got off craigslist for $10 is really nice to be able to have stuff close to the mill.




Told you the vise was a little over sized....




Originally, I planned on buying a collet holder to keep them organized and easily at hand. I decided to save that money and come up with something myself. Because my shop is also the garage where vehicles get parked, I decided to make a wooden wall to help keep any problems from happening... I also had a really thick chunk of old barn wood left from another project. I drilled several holes at an angle and then attached it to the "wall". Now I've got several attachments and "stuff" easily at hand without taking up any bench space. And it was basically free, my favorite price :).



Jeremy
 
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You'll probably find that the tooling you need costs as much or more than the mill. I used HSS end mills for everything. From Enco or other on-line catalogs.
 
While its not exactly "tooling", the first thing I always do with a new milling vise is to removed the steel jaws, and built a set of thick aluminum jaws...... and once they are attached, I mill them "square" to the machine, AND mill a "step" into the jaws. 90% of my milling jobs are done using the "step" to hold the workpiece or tooling plate.


Another piece of advice concerning milling vises..... the reason I discourage using the "bargain" ones is that generally when you tighten those cheaper vises, the rear jaw (the one that moves) will "kick" upward when tightned....causing your work to be out of flat when milling...this really shows up when you are counterboring bearing pockets in folders..... one side of the hole will be several thousandths deeper then the other.:mad:

Finally, when tightening a milling vise, DO NOT "reef" on it. Just take it to a gentle "snug" and leave it. Over pressure on a milling vise, especially the cheaper vises, only kicks or torques that workpiece more, making accurate milling operations a frustrating experience.
 
Thanks ED , the aluminum jaws is a great idea and the step I can see where that would be very handy.
 
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