help with sherline mill flycutter/boring

[DrBadWrench]

hello fellas,
newbie here and looking for help.
i recently purchased a sherline mill and need to some advice. my first projects need to me to fly cut the surface and bore some holes. i know sherline sells these accessories but i want to use a bigger fly cutter and want to use a different boring head.
any suggestions for the fly cutter and i saw a Criterion boring head, would that work on my mill?
so far, the sherline looks like a well made machine, but it seems like im "stuck" only to use their accessories, am i wrong?
thanks again!

[handlewanker]

Hi DrBrad, anything that will fit into the taper in your mill spindle will be ok.

What spindle taper do you have?

The fly cutter holder is just a morse taper body (if you have a morse taper in the spindle or whatever) and a head with a slot in it to hold a tool bit coming out the side.

If you understand how a flycutter works you'll know what I mean.
Ian.

[DrBadWrench]

i believe the taper is No. 1 morse taper. well, i was told a 1/2" straight shank will fit, so i ordered some fly cutters from enco with a 1/2" shank. im assuming these cutters will fit into my end mill holder which is setup for 1/2".

also, i bought an arbor for the spindle to fit a import copy of the Criterion boring head. i was informed the boring head will thread on this arbor and that i would not need any other adapter to make it fit.

well, i want to make sure i get the right tools before i start my projects. seems like a lot of work, but i cant wait to start "machining".

thanks again fellas!

[handlewanker]

Hi Drbrad, I forgot to mention, it is IMPERATIVE that you have a drawbar through the spindle to hold the tools in, otherwise the side forces will make them "walk" out of the spindle with disastrous results.

You can do drilling with just a drill chuck and morse taper in the spindle, but milling in any form needs a draw bar.

BTW, don't try to hold milling cutters in a drill chuck, or the chuck will drop out due to side forces etc, but if you can fit a drawbar, then light milling "can" be achieved, but only just.

Due to the fact that drill chucks have a very small diam, where the arbor fits in, makes them susceptible to a bending force at this point, and as they alos have a lot of "stickout" makes them prone to cutter vibration from this side deflection.

For milling holders on the "cheap", the best milling cutter holders, (and most economic too), are those plain holders that just have a hole in them, to accept an end mill or slot drill, with a grub screw in the side to hold them in, but again they MUST have a drawbar.

I'm not familiar with the Sherline mill, so, what diameter draw bar hole do you have through the spindle?

If, as you said, you have a #1 morse taper in the spindle, then probably the drawbar would be very small in diam at best, probably only 3mm (1/8") diam.
Ian.

[ZipSnipe]

Hey Doc, first off a Crition boring head is about the size of the Sherline mill head. So its a little big to be putting on there and you would have to take such light cuts. Same with the flycutting, the cuts would probably be around .001 to .003 at the most. Well I just want to tell ya , if you do manage to get bigger stuff for the Sherline then be careful.

What are ya cutting?