"Harold & Susan Vordos" wrote in message
...

While I value your opinion, my over 40 years in commercial machine shops
tell me that when you plunge cut with end mills, one side (or flute)
generally drives. It can be caused by chip loading, a slightly duller
side, a small defect in the cutting edge, the reasons are endless.


Perhaps I was misunderstood, I was soliciting your opinion to understand why
you felt it wouldn't work, not to suggest you were wrong.



My
suggestion to make a tool that is circularly ground (no peripheral relief)
helps avoid the problem. Counterbores are made thus, and for that
reason.

Working with large tools in a drill press that has little to NO rigidity
is
a recipe for disaster. I am not of the opinion that it won't work, but
I
am of the opinion that it works only for those that don't know the
difference between a milling machine and a drill press. Once you're
used
a mill, even one as spindly as a Bridgeport (I can say that, I own one),
you'll fully understand what I mean. When you plunge cut with an end
mill
of the needed size, especially when it's held in a drill chuck, which is
NOT
intended to hold heat treated items like end mill shanks, the chances of
the
hole coming out even remotely the right size is almost non-existent.
That's
true even in a milling machine, especially a spindly one.

In a drill press, runout of the chuck holding the end mill alone would
likely be trouble. The spindle will allow the end mill to wallow
about,
and with the side relief of the end mill as it is, it's likely to hog in
and
create lots more problems than one can settle. Instead of piloting on
the
hole as it is generated, the end mill simply cuts away anything that gets
in
the way when it wallows about. Personally, I wouldn't use a drill press
for any kind of milling. Even when they make the cut, the degree of
precision sucks, and the finish is likely to be something for which you'd
be
constantly making apologies.

Hope this helps you understand my position.

Harold



Thanks, as much as I like being right I enjoy understanding why I was wrong
even more.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.