On Sat, 16 Jan 2016 18:46:34 +0000, David Billington
wrote:

On 16/01/16 15:20, wrote:
I've got a little job I need to do/get done. I am working on the wing
strut fittings for the bush-plane. There are 4 struts - so 8 strut end
fittings. They are made of 1X1 6061T6 - 4 abot 4 1/4 inches long, and
4 about 5 1/2 inches long.
2 need 1/4 inch slots, 4 need .195" slots, and 2 need 3/16 " slots -
all 1 3/8" deep.

I may have the use of a bridgeport style mill that used 3/8" shank
cutters, and I have located a 3/16" end mill that has 5/8" cutting
depth (end mill)

How close to 3/16 will I likely be able to get? (thinking the cutter
is going to want to "walk" a bit in the cut) Would it help a lot if I
drilled a row of 1/8" or 5/32 holes down the center of the slot first
to reduce the chip load????

Or do I just farm it out to a CNC shop??

If I had access to a horizontal mill it would make life a lot easier,
but nobody has them any more.
From those details if you want to do the job I would have thought you
would be better off using an arbor and a slitting saw or side and face
cutter.
If I has an arbour and 3 inch (minimum) cutter that I could mount in
the Myford I could do it, but I'd still have to figure out a way to
square the end of the cut because it would have a 1.5" radius which
may or may not be centered in the piece, depending how I managed to
clamp the piece to the cross-slide. The bigger the cutter, the closer
to straight the end of the cut would be.. Hard to move the part
virtically toclean up the end of the cut.

I just talked to a friend from my highschool years who is a machinist
(usually works a lathe on parts up to 3 1/2 feet in diameter and up
to 20 feet long - both turning the outside and boring) and he said
he'd set up on the "little" cnc mill and do them for me in his spare
time over the next week if I just drop them off for him -
So that's THAT problem solved.!!!

I've done a fair bit of computer stuff for him over the last few
years, so now I'm getting "payback"