Milling & Machining

[psykown]

Haha yeah I splurged a little, It is quite nice to be able to set it all up and then let the GF run a few parts for me while I am at work

 

[motocopter]

This 5 axis CNC vid popped up in my Instagram.

 

[MVI]

I was about to pull the trigger and buy two of these on Sale for my little Mill

Milling Machine Chip Shield | Milling Vise Chip Shield

This milling machine chip shield uses strong magnets to mount to the front or back of a vise. Shop this milling vise chip shield at LittleMachineShop today!

littlemachineshop.com

then I thought I should ask all the smart machinists here, what is a better option ? is there one ?

 

[Alan F.]

In a box somewhere I've got a stack of sheets cut from 2L Coke bottles for that purpose.

 

[gpounce]

Never had much luck with that sort of thing on the lathe or mill, never quite where you need it or quite large enough, or its in the way. Sometimes if things are really a mess I'll fix or hold the shop-vac hose right up where the chips are coming out of the cut.

 

[BDKW1]

Use the dustpan as a shield you pussy!

 

[psykown]

I had my trusty cardboard box for the longest time,worked great for catching the chips while fly cutting and catching the overspray from Cerakoting. Super versatile lol

 

[BDKW1]

Fun story, a place I was working at about 1990 had an Acrolock CNC mill. One of the guys was showing me how to run it. At the end he says, " here's your broom, you'll need it!"

The tools had a tendency to not load quite right. It would spin up and when the tool touched the part it would come out and spon like a top around the table. The broom was to defend yourself against the 3# spinning top motivating around the table at 6000 RPM.

The tool holders were not cat40, they looked like HSK holders. It was an odd machine with Z movement for the head but also Z on the quill like a Bridgeport.

 

[psykown]

So I jokingly mentioned that I had some titanium lying around and could just make our wedding rings, and she actually liked the idea so.......now I have one good ring cut

Running a 6flute Lakeshore Carbide cutter for the roughing and cleaning up with a noname 1/8 4flute ballnose. Other than it loading up a little during the helical ramp in it cut beautifully. Made a little plug out of aluminum to keep from crushing it in the vice and then just cut some easy softjaws for op 2. The worst part of the job ended up being a blessing in disguise, I ran the very cheap edgefinder into the top of the stock and trashed that. So ordered a Mitutoyo edgefinder and Tormach touch probe to replace it. That Mitutoyo is so much nicer! Touch probe I'll find out about in a few more days.

And the most important person really likes her ring, now off to see what colors I can turn that extra one I don't like.

 

[Shinyribs]

Dude, that's very cool!

I'm confused by the last picture of the booger, though 😁 What's up there?.

 

[psykown]

lol that was the build up I got while ramping in. I lucked out stopping the cut before it broke anyting!

 

[Shinyribs]

That's buildup of titanium swarf?

 

[gpounce]

Build up on the cutter I think; the material being cut smears a bit and tends to accumulate on the cutting edge. Depending on factors, it can pile up, get hot, weld to other material, make the cutter seem dull so tool pressure increases, maybe also work-harden the workpiece while all that is going on. Titanium can burn if made hot enough, wreck the machine and maybe lots more, so it has to be handled with some care.

At best it leads to material tearing out rather than shearing off, which causes a poor surface finish. There are youtube vids of what a building up edge looks like in a microscope.

 

[Shinyribs]

Great explanation. Thank you. I'm such a noob and ask a lot of questions and really appreciate thorough answers. Thank you!

 

[psykown]

Yeah my bad yeah that was buildup on the cutting edge, only happened while ra,mping in so was able to slow down the feedrate a little and cleared it right up. gpounce Do you know if titanium (6Al4V) sticks to itself because of the aluminum in it or is just a titanium thing? all my experience has come in the last few days lol

 

[gpounce]

I've never machined titanium, but at various points have had plenty of built-up edge in soft steel. The intarwebs suggest titanium is a bit fussy about feeds & speeds and chip-breaking is somewhat difficult. Smearing and sticking to the workpiece is mentioned... never trouble like that with 6061 or 7076

 

[psykown]

So I think a bolt was a little loose, it decided it wanted to complete rip out. So drilled it out for the next sized helicoil and am back up and running. Now it’s time to play with the new touch probe!

 

[Shinyribs]

Boy, oh boy do I suck at this 😅 First time using the rotary table to actually try to make a part to dimension. Ultimately a success, it fits perfect, but I've got much to learn to get surface finish improved

Saw mount base for the fork leg is on though. Good enough to knock around in the woods.

 

[Oldtrix]

you need to cover that thing! For some reasons, exposed chains moving at high speeds gives me the heebies...

 

[gpounce]

Just for the sake of conversation, just wondering why you're mounting a chainsaw to your motorcycle? Danny Trejo had a minigun on his one time.. so there is precedent.

But digging the fork clamps tho 👍

A boring head will help with the finish in the bore.. a thick piece like that is basically slab milling- in such a case the bigger the diameter the cutter the better.