How to Mill a Pocket on the Vertical Milling Machine

[TomG]

(06-25-2012, 11:25 AM)TOM REED Wrote: http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/...pic=5495.0 This is the project I want to build and would like to make my own locking pins for the DI chuck 3 of them and would just like to be able to say I built the whole thing pins locks etc without welding, and a small radius in the corner of the pocket would be fine. tom

Tom,

You should be able to mill those. Mill as much of the pocket as you can with a larger end mill then pick the corners out with a smaller diameter, long end mill. I would recommend plunge cutting most of the material out before side milling to keep from breaking the long end mill. This is a good application for carbide because of it's rigidity but you would need to be careful because it's is also very brittle.

I would also suggest making the pins out of O1 so you can easily harden them.

Tom