John Husvar wrote:
In article ,
steamer wrote:


--Do yourself a favor and fire your boss.. ;-)


Tempting sometimes!

Seriously, we could afford a bigger, better mill, but it'd be such
overkill for what we do that it wouldn't make sense. About the most
we'll ever do with this thing is make or lengthen slots in wheelchair
adaptive equipment. Rarely, we might mill a piece to fit it into a tight
spot.

I'll probably work it harder making some tee-nuts and clamping pieces
than I ever will actually making or modifying parts. Heck, A drill press
vise is most likely the biggest thing we'll ever need for it. That or a
small proper milling vise will hold anything we're likely to put on it.

IMHO, check the t-slot size and buy even a $35 clamping kit. The strap
clamps and step blocks alone will be worth the money, and you'll get
t-nuts with it. I doubt you could get the raw material for what the
machined set costs, though I would ejoy being proven wrong[*]. While
you're at it, you should probably get a set of parallels and a good
milling machine vise, unless that is considered overkill for a mini-mill??
[*] Gainesville FL for location-specific answers.


I managed to get a little job done yesterday doing everything wrong and
holding the workpieces in our drill press vise, which I clamped to the
mill's table with 3/8 hex head bolts and washers. Nothing got away
(except the chuck itself because I was too dumb to remember you can't
hold endmills in drill chucks) and the cuts did get made.

If you expect to do any precision setups, ask for grade 8 bolts and washers.

Bill