New Project

[TOM REED]

Finally felt good enough to get out to the shop todayafter my knee surgery and started my first real project on the mill and boy did I get a surprize. 1st thing I learned is that the two 3 inch screwless vises I bought from little machine shop although they may be adequate for a mini mill they are no where strong enough to hold stock firmly on a RF45 clone, they are too hard to secure to the bed and don't nearly provide enough clamping force for a 1 inch carbide end mill. I will say the plans that I got from tallgrass machine.com for the over the top ball turning attachment are very well done and should be easy to follow although it is a fairly complex turner, I also bought the plans for the engraver for doing dials etc are also very well done. Anybody else tackeled either of these projects????? tom

[EdK]

Tom,

Glad to see you up and around.

I happen to like screwless vises but a 1" endmill is probably more than those vises can handle. Time to get a bigger vise for the mill.

Ed

[Mayhem]

Good to see you back on your feet Tom. I have no experience with either project you mentioned but I am keen to see your progress.

[sasquatch]

Same as mayham, no experience, but wish you a speedy recovery with that knee.

SO many of us are now in that age group,,Now we are "THE OLD FARTS"!! (Sometimes it has it's advantages though.)

[DaveH]

Tom,

Good to see you up and on
I have a similar sized mill RF30 the max sized end mill I have used is 3/4" (20mm) I felt at the time it was nearing my machines capability.
I don't like it when my mill rocks n' rolls and has the shudders

DaveH

[Turbinedoctor]

Glad you are up and about now, best wishes with your knee.

I like the thought of the screwless vises but can't get away from the control of being able to give it just a little more pressure with the screw. I have used screwless before and had good luck in a drill press but haven't used one in a mill.[/u]

[ETC57]

Tom good to see you up and around!!

Jerry.

[stevec]

Tom, my Mill Drll has a 32 X 9.5 inch table and I used a 4" Kurt clone vise with good success. I recomend you not to bother getting the swivel base I only ever used it once or twice and each time it had to be dialed in again. With only 18" from table to spindle you don't want to waste some of that on an unused swivel base. I suggest you make up some keys for the slots in the vise base that fit the T slots in the RF-45, switching back from rotab or other set-up is quick and easy, just my take on it.
Enjoy and keep us up to date on your projects.

[TOM REED]

Definitely need to upgrade my vise, will be looking for a good price on a 6 inch Kurt style, definitely without the swivel base, I think vertex has one of the best deals. n Just need to free up some money and find a good deal as I am a little short of cash after just putting drive tires on the old KW. TOM

[stevec]

Don't mean to nag, Tom, but my 6 inch Kurt clone is a good size on my Tree mill but the 4" was a better fit for the mill drill.
Just my take.