Could I get an idea on what different sized mills can hog?

[RET]

Hi shld,

As Fender says, try a roughing end mill. You'll be surprised how well it works. Some time ago, I bought a 1" dia. roughing mill and I was amazed by the cuts I could take without loading down the machine. In addition, the cutter even gave a half way decent finish. I don't use it very often, but its nice to have it in the arsenal when you need it.

What also removes metal in a hurry is carbide insert tooling, but the inserts throw chips all over the place and make quite a mess. The chips are also very HOT when they land on you. When the chips are a beautiful pale blue colour, you have the spindle speed right. If they're brown, the speed is too fast.

I'm using a Bridgeport which is a heavier machine than yours, but with smaller cutters you might be able to experiment successfully with the mill you have. As the others say, rigidity is very important.

All the other advice offered is also on the money.

Richard Trounce.

[Conrad_R_Hoffman]

IMO, the problem with round column import mill/drills isn't the round column itself, but the flimsy base that allows the column and head to vibrate. Try to use cutters designed for the material at hand. The angles are different for aluminum and steel. Use a good coolant because you can't take heavy cuts without it. I like veggie based stuff like Cool Tool II. Watch your sfpm if you use HSS tools. It's easy to get optimistic and burn the tools.