The Home Machinist!

Harold-- I would have to "carefully choose a boring bar." My boring head is one that would unscrew very quickly. I don't want to find out what would happen in that event! (Sounds bad, though. REAL bad! :) ) toastydeath , do you know of a good source for face mill inserts? I sent an e to La...

Harold--

Turn the boring bar 180*, run the spindle in reverse, "find" the workpiece surface, crank the boring head adjustment in, and TURN a shaft of the appropriate diameter?

--Bill

Richard-- That "face mill as a fly cutter" idea is really cool! I will try that next week. (I usually do not mill on the weekends because my wife just INSISTS on parking her car in my "shop." (Well, I also park my Sportster and Crossfire in there, but that doesn't count because t...

BadDog-- Zirconium NITRIDE . It is supposed to be really good for cutting aluminum. That is why I wanted a couple to try. I am going to ask them if they plan to offer ZrN inserts for my face mill! --Bill ps The edit was from "nitrate", usually a shock sensitive, explosive molecule of its h...

Jose--

RIGHT!

I MUST have a lathe to make one of those fly cutters! It will be much cheaper than spending ten or fifteen bucks on one! Why didn't I think of that? (Well, I WOULD have thought of something before long.)

--Bill

All-- A couple of folks expressed interest in LakeShore end mills, particularly the ZrN (zirconium NITRIDE [ that is the edit ; I think nitrate is shock sensitive and explosive: probably not a good coating for an end mill) coated mills specifically for aluminum. The last two mills in the picture bel...

Harold--

Thank you for the time it took to put that thoughtful post together. I will study it.

I do not have a fly cutter, so therefore, I need one!

--Bill

Dave--

Ok. Good explanation. I am going to think about it. For sure, I was not stressing anything, including the WD40! The inserts never even got warm after a 10 minute cut.

I'll take a look at the site you posted. I would appreciate hearing your opinion of it, as well.

--Bill

Dave-- I am running 1960 rpm with a four-tooth cutter. Does that work out to about 130 teeth per second and does that change the scenario in your mind? I CAN run it at 2950 rpm. (That is my next speed.) If I am calculating correctly, this would be about 196 teeth per second. Is this better or worse?...

BadDog--

Ha! I would say you take pretty good pictures . . . and also know a deal when you see one.

--Bill

Jose--

I just TRIED to bid on the Kurt vise on eBay. However, you MUST have a PayPal account and my wife REFUSES to let me get one. She has good reasons after trying to establish one for herself.

I will look for the vise somewhere else. Heck, I might buy a new one!

--Bill
ps Not!

wannabe--

Hey! That is a great site! Thanks.

I bookmarked it and read about a third before I could tear myself away. I will doubtless read all of it.

--Bill