On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:48:33 GMT, "DeepDiver"
wrote:

"Wayne Cook" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 14:31:28 GMT, "DeepDiver"
wrote:

Actually there's a good number of them out there. They're called
horizontal mills and this job pretty much screams for one.

I realize there are mills available better suited to this job. What I said
was that they are not commonly found in a home shop.

What I was saying is that there's a lot of home shop machinists out
there with horizontal mills. They tend to be cheap so there's a fair
number that get snapped up by people with the room for them.


I've got a good bit of experience plunging end mills into a
interrupted cut in 316 SS and I must say that I have serious doubts
about a mill-drills rigidity being good enough.

I too have my concerns, which is why I posted the question. I'm not above
saying that I can't do this job (actually, a favor for a friend).


I'm not saying you can't do it either. But I think you may be in for
more grief and expense in tooling than the job is worth. That's a
pretty tough job with the right machines. There's a chance you could
do it with a mill drill but be prepared to buy a fair number of end
mills and possibly have some other trouble as well.


I was doing it on a huge Cincinnati #3 horizontal mill that
weighed about 8000lbs and I was wishing for more rigidity.

I'm fairly certain there's not a single machine of that caliber anywhere
within 30 miles radius of me. How far beyond, I don't know.


For reference I bought that same machine at my former employers
auction for $500 and then later sold it for $1000.

Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook