[AUSTINMACHINING]

This part was made from 2.5x2.5x3" 6061 stock and required 5 jobs (HSMworks terminology for re-orienting the stock). I wanted to machine 1.125 dia. hole and perimeter to full depth from one side. Depth was ~ 2" but I didn't have a tool with flutes long enough to reach without rubbing the shank so I made one. I took a 1/2" end mill with 1.5" flute length and ground down the shank and flutes leaving only 1/2" of flute ant the bottom of the end mill. I did this by (go ahead and laugh :-), mounting a hand held grinder in the vise and ran the Tourus spindle at ~1000 rpm. Then slowly ground from the top of the shank downward. I only left 1/2" of cutting flutes due to the super long stick out from the tool holder. I took conservative cuts on the finishing passes and it all worked out well. Here's some video.
I need to look into some more tooling (boring bar etc).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeBw...ature=youtu.be

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Very cool! I'll have to remember that endmill trick - I sometimes want to cut deeper than the tools I have on-hand.

Regards,
Ray L.

[LeeWay]

Cool stuff. That is a neat trick with the end mill.

[keithmcelhinney]

Moutainbike stem? I have a buddy of mine wanting to do a bmx stem. Not looking forward to flipping the thing a 4 times...

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Yes it is. Without any fixturing, flipping and indicating in the vice is a pain. I don't have a decent vise stop YET. I always struggle with accurate positioning unless I make a fixture.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Yes it is. Without any fixturing, flipping and indicating in the vice is a pain. I don't have a decent vise stop YET. I always struggle with accurate positioning unless I make a fixture.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

An updated version. This is the "All Mountain stem", alodined gold. Stock before machining. 1.8 lbs. Part after machining. 203 grams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1PoBTW714k

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Niiiiice! :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

[keithmcelhinney]

Awesome!

[Hirudin]

Nice!

Where'd you get that little single-point thread-mill? What feed and speed do you run it at, and do you like the results?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Nice!

Where'd you get that little single-point thread-mill? What feed and speed do you run it at, and do you like the results?

Shars has decent threadmills at "reasonable" prices, but you still better sit down before looking, as the "cheap" ones still start at about $50. McMaster-Carr stocks some as well. For holes as small as the ones in the video, makes a lot more sense to me to use a tap. Threadmills are great for larger threads, and oddball threads that you don't need often, as a single tool will do Metric and Imperial, internal and external, and a wide range of diameters and pitches, even completely irrational sizes (like a 1/4" diameter, 1mm pitch). And the finish on thread-milled threads is wonderful, especially in nice matieral like 316 SS. But threadmilling is slooooooow compared to tapping. Lots of manufacturers charts on-line to get feeds and speeds. The programming is dead-simple.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mountaindew]

Very, well done!
Man that thread mill is tiny.
Great stuff .
md

[Hirudin]

Does Shars or McMaster-Carr have single point thread mills? I tried searching but didn't come up with anything. Maybe I'm not using the right terms (or maybe their pictures are wrong).

I see that Maritool has quite a selection of lil' single point mills.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Sorry, I meant Maritool, not Shars. I always get those two mixed up....

Regards,
Ray L.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

That was a lakeshore carbide thread mill cutting 5mm threads. Scientific tool also makes nice threadmills. Slow, but the threads are beautiful. I can drill at the low end of the minor diameter and get some tight threads. The cap screws screw in by hand super smooth and tight. Still would like to get a tapping head as threadmills are $$.