02-03-2013, 03:38 PM
Time flies - no kidding! I have a GRANDSON his age. Two more in their teens, and a new GREAT-grandson. Where did they all come from?! Last time I checked, I was 40. Guess I need to check again.. ;-)
My stuff, it breaks carbide. Years ago I bought a drill press, a big honkin one they call a mill/drill. $850, brand new. Thought it would make a decent drill press with that nice X-Y table, and they said it would run endmills. Oh goody, a bonus. My knee-mill is a 100 year old horizontal, top spindle speed of 316 RPM. I've a vertical head for it but because of the mill/drill I've never had to use it. Point being none of this stuff is suitable for carbide endmills.
That mill/drill came with a 3" brazed tip carbide face mill. Curious, when I got it I put a chunk of steel on the table and promptly shattered the bits. It was doing a bobble-head thing, shaking. Re-sharpened the bits on a green wheel and have been using it on the far more rigid horizontal, where it has worked for a long time (.375" DOC typically) -- until the other day when I put a cheapo 10" rotab on the table and things went snap-crackle-pop... Thus, that little project turned into a big one for the 3/4" endmill I'm trying to replace. Carbide is now verboten, looking at replacing those face mill bits with HSS next weekend, modifying the holder for standard 1/2" square HSS. We'll see.
Home shop stuff. Time isn't money.
My stuff, it breaks carbide. Years ago I bought a drill press, a big honkin one they call a mill/drill. $850, brand new. Thought it would make a decent drill press with that nice X-Y table, and they said it would run endmills. Oh goody, a bonus. My knee-mill is a 100 year old horizontal, top spindle speed of 316 RPM. I've a vertical head for it but because of the mill/drill I've never had to use it. Point being none of this stuff is suitable for carbide endmills.
That mill/drill came with a 3" brazed tip carbide face mill. Curious, when I got it I put a chunk of steel on the table and promptly shattered the bits. It was doing a bobble-head thing, shaking. Re-sharpened the bits on a green wheel and have been using it on the far more rigid horizontal, where it has worked for a long time (.375" DOC typically) -- until the other day when I put a cheapo 10" rotab on the table and things went snap-crackle-pop... Thus, that little project turned into a big one for the 3/4" endmill I'm trying to replace. Carbide is now verboten, looking at replacing those face mill bits with HSS next weekend, modifying the holder for standard 1/2" square HSS. We'll see.
Home shop stuff. Time isn't money.