In article ,
says...
Ernie,
Thanks very much for the tip on setting up in a lathe. We've got the lathe and
will give it a try.


I used to do this in a Bridgeport when building bow and
stern rails for sailboats. Tip the head to change the
angle. With the end mill, you feed into the side of the
cutter rather than plunging as you would with a holesaw.
This made it very easy to shave a very small amount off the
the cope, or make a small adjustment to the angle. This was
very important on something as irregular as a boat rail
where odd compound angles on both ends of a piece were the
rule.

A two piece split block sized to the tubing clamped to the
table, or in the vise (or to the cross slide on a lathe),
makes clamping quick and avoids marring the finish on the
tubing. Most of what I did was 1" ornamental tube for which
a 6 flute endmill worked very well.


I had a large hollow shaft worm reducer set aside to make a
dedicated machine to avoid tying up the mill, but never got
around to it.

Ned Simmons