Which milling head for a little mill ?

[pigifly]

Hi all.
I'm new here and I'm starting right now involving in milling and lathe.
I would like to buy the midsize mill/drill combination from proxxon, called BFW 40/E, composed by a drill stand, a cross table and the motor.
The buy at local store adviced me that the motor can handle only little cutting tool ( up to 6mm ) while my idea was to use also other tool, to mill some alluminium pieces.
the spindle neck of the drill stand is 43mm so is standard size for other tools, as normal drill, but can't find nothing right around here.
Every drill I've seen so far has some vertical play that could result in no good milling action.
Do you have some advice on what I can use for this miiling setup ?

Thanks, and sorry for my english

Pigi

[Ken_Shea]

Pigi,

That unit is a nice little setup,
If I am following you correctly you want to put your own motor on it?. A hand drill motor will not be what you want for even light milling, you are correct that end play is not a good thing, hand drill motors do not have the RPM you will need for milling, they also take very little side load, just not designed for it. Perhaps a laminate router???.

Ken

[pigifly]

Originally posted by Ken_Shea Pigi, If I am following you correctly you want to put your own motor on it?.

Absolutelly.
Mmmm a laminate router... Should search the equivalent in italian

Thx for your replay

[pigifly]

Ok, I've found what a laminate router is....
The main disavantage is that those I've seen are too "speedy" (10000 to 20000 rpm) and I'm not sure they can handle cutting tool up to 12 mm.
Will search more

Pigi

[Ken_Shea]

Might mention also that you will not be able to mill aluminum on a regular basis as this machine nor the motor is designed for any serious metal milling. Drilling should not be a problem. Try and find something around 20,000 minimum rpm in a motor.

Ken

[pigifly]

That's rather sad.
I thougth it could be a good setup to start.
Why do you think I could not mill alluminium on regular basis ?
Is it too weak for this ?

I would/should try to spend not too much for my first setup.
I had also seen that sherline do some nice mill, but here in italy they are impossible to find, and others I' ve seen are too much out of my actual budget.

Pigi

[Ken_Shea]

You are right again, no way on a 12mm cutter maybe, you will need to look at a much larger and heavier machine to use that size of cutter with. a 3.175mm would cut aluminum to about 6.35mm. thick.

[Ken_Shea]

Why do you think I could not mill alluminium on regular basis ?
Is it too weak for this ?



Yes Pigi, it just is not sturdy enough.

Do you have particular items you wish to mill in aluminum?

[pigifly]

Well, I'm almost sure I've not been able to explain, due to my bad english.
I don't wont tu use a 12mm cutter, but I would like to use some cutter that has diameter on mountig side that is 12mm.
More, while I'm sure that this setup is a bit weak, I tought that may be used also on harder materials, only using more ( and more and more ) passes and little movement.
Please correct me if I'm totally wrong.
The mill should be for me an hobby machine, so if the works goes slowly it is not a problem.

( Hope I've been more clever this time )

[Ken_Shea]

Your English is far better then my Italian

With the 43mm mounting limit I do not believe you are going to find any motors that accept a shank diameter larger then possibly .250 inch and most likly it will only accept .125 inch.

What is the max thickness you think you may want to cut ?

Ken

[pigifly]

I think this "two words" we made changed my opinion on this setup.
In effect at present I have no idea what thickness I would like to cut, but probably no more the 2.0/2.5 cm ( quit an inch)
As I told before, my idea it to complete a work also in more ( and more) than one pass
Let's say ( to better explain) I had to cut some square (or whatever) hole that is 1 cm thick, I thougth I could make, say 10, maybe 20 pass ( removing then 0,5/1 mm for pass, maybe less ).
This should not be a big effort for the setup, and if the work takes 2/3 evening to complete, it would not be a matter.
The basic idea is to be able to use some paralle shank (that's why a need a shank of 12mm) to create a dovetail joint for the compound of my lathe.
If for realizing this it would take me a month of work, it will mean then that I will have had a beatiful month of fun
Do you think this would be (absolutelly) impracticable ?
Maybe I could CNC it so the machine would help me to make the needed numerous passes.
Then when my finance would permit me, I will change it with a more usefull setup.
Unfortunelly here in italy there is not too much choice on this kind of machine ( lathe and mill ). Or you get proxxon or you go to professional ones. Also for the secondhand machines the problem is the same.

[Ken_Shea]

You have the right idea on the shallow depth of cut and slow feed as well as keeping it fun. Possibly this first plan may not work, that is very often the out come. Keep looking and thinking and sooner or later sucess will follow. Keep us posted as to what you end up doing.

By the way, there are quite a few members on this board that are from Italy, they do not post too much but that could be a language barrier that you woul not encounter with them. Send them a email and perhaps they know of some solutions.

Click on MEMBERS (Top of page on the main menu)
Then "Advanced Search" top of page right beside "Top Ten Posters"
Scroll down to where it says "and Country field contains"
enter Italy
click submit

Good luck
Ken