Milling squares, hex on rounds

[keith1500]

Just gathering ideas and thoughts here.

I have a Centec 2 milling machine, so not terribly big but ideal for my needs.

I milled four flats on to a shaft the other day which happened to work quite well using a vice and a few other things, but nothing scientific!

What are my options for milling flats on to shafts be-it four for a square or six for a hex etc. bearing in mind the a shaft might be 5-6inches long. perhaps I could do this using the Myford. What kit would make a good investment?

[Nigel Bennett]

I usually use a rotary table for indexing flats. I've a Myford spindle nose adaptor more or less permanntly fitted to the table, so I screw on a chuck, put the bar in the chuck and mill the flats (with the rotary table mounted either vertically or horizontally to suit.)
Mine's a Vertex. One of the most-used bits of kit on the milling machine after a vice!

[abby]

I mill opposing flats on 1/8" valve rods in fairly large numbers , I found that the best way to do this was to make a fixture which bolts onto the horizontal mill table.
The fixture is a simple block with a 1/8" hole through it mounted at 90° to the cutter (side and face) .
The valve rod blanks are pushed through the hole to a stop and clamped , with the miller set for depth the first side is cut in one pass. The rod is now unclamped and rotated 180° ( a second fixture clamped to the rod make this easy) and the second side is cut. Sounds complicated but it takes less than 1 minute to machine the rod to an accuracy as good as the machine , mine are typically within a thou of 1/16".
Because the rod is supported both side of the cut there is no spring or deflection.
The clamps are brass pull-up type so no damage occurs as with grub screws.
Could be a bit over-kill for 1 offs but it's great for large quantities!

[daveburrage]

For hexagons I simply bolt a large nut to one end of the part and clamp down in the miller (with a spacer the other end if needed). Machine first flat; then index the nut round and machine the next flat

regards

Dave Burrage

[Tel]

Collet blocks work well for shortish work - I made mine for MT2 collets but commercial ones are available for R8? collets.

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[Tel]

Another shot

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[Deleted]

That's quite ingenious Tel!
JB

[Tel]

Thanks JB, they save a lot of fooling about with dividing heads or RT's for simple work. This 'special' M8 tap I did in the block, as you have no doubt gathered by now.

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[Phil Sutton]

Nice work,Tel.

Phil

[peterseager]

Warco supply similar tools to Tel's for 5C collets. One time 5C collets were everywhere at exhibitions but now ER series seem to be in. Personally I prefer the 5C type, especially useful are the collets with square and hexagonal holes when making brass fittings. As a newbie though I would not buy such things until you are certain they are what you want as part of a set of accessories for both your lathe and mill.

Peter

[drjohn]

You're not just an ugly face, Tel - that's quite smart for an upside-downer! ;D

DJ

[Deleted]

Tel.
Taking your good idea forward, I realised that the 2MT collet chuck that I'd made for the EMCO milling head could be used for this application, thereby opening up a whole vista of easy set/easy do square ends down to 2mm or less!

This afternoon's job was a 1" alloy square sleeve, bored 2MT.

This test piece was 2.5mm steel rod. Four minutes to set up, 3 minutes to machine the square. A stop on the vice end would be useful, but I just used a piece of straight guage plate against the jaw.
Well happy!
JB

[Tel]

Onya JB, make life easy, don't they? Now you just have to do a hex body.

As far as a stop, my vice looks to be wider than yours, and I use a 'Fat Washer' on the back of the block to act as a stop when needed - everything is integral then.

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[Deleted]

Tel, I've just realised that I don't need to pfaff around with a 2MT bore: I'll just machine a small collet chuck on the end of a piece of hex bar!
Watch this space....
JB

[Tel]

Even better, you should be able to get it a lot more compact that way. I will be watching!

[keith1500]

I quite like the idea of the collet blocks i could get a set for the Myford and make the blocks to suit. Then i have something for both the lathe and the milling machine. Brilliant.

Thanks for taking time to post pictures of the blocks and particularly of them being used.

Keith

[Deleted]

As a user of ER-25 collets (with chuck holder for lathe and MT2 collet holder for my mill) I have in the past looked enviously at the "Collet Block Holders" available for 5C collets - both square and hex.
Looking at Tel's and Simplyloco's posts make it clear (isn't hindsight wonderful!) that I can use my MT2 milling collet holder in my milling machine vice providing I bore the necessary holder in pieces of square and hex.
Can someone explain in simple terms for me please how to go about boring the MT2 "hole"? How did you do yours JB? Is it all a question of the angle of the cross-slide? If so, what angle?
Thanks in advance, A

[Deleted]

Alasdair
You are dead right, it is just a question of setting the compound slide angle correctly. To this day I still don't know the correct MT angle: I just put a centre in the headstock spindle, mount another centre against that with its centre hole on that centre point, and poke the pointed end in the tailstock hole. Clock up the compound slide to within one thou over three inches and you have set the perfect boring arrangement. Drill a hole just under the small end diameter of a 2MT centre and proceed from there. It will fit!
Works for me!
JB

[drjohn]

Nov 6, 2010 16:11:16 GMT simplyloco said:

Tel.
Taking your good idea forward, I realised that the 2MT collet chuck that I'd made for the EMCO milling head could be used for this application, thereby opening up a whole vista of easy set/easy do square ends down to 2mm or less!

This afternoon's job was a 1" alloy square sleeve, bored 2MT.

This test piece was 2.5mm steel rod. Four minutes to set up, 3 minutes to machine the square. A stop on the vice end would be useful, but I just used a piece of straight guage plate against the jaw.
Well happy!
JB

Tut Tut - as well circlip's not here - milling cutter in a drill chuck!! Shame on you JB

DJ

[Deleted]

It is a ROHM high precision chuck........