IH mill table

[BlackMoon]

Hi, im wondering are the current IH mill tables fully ground?
my friend has an IH clone table and its ground everywhere except the bottom supporting ways oddly enough. (top, sides and dovetail are all ground) And every other peice of the mill thats a slideing surface is nicely ground except that one bit of the table

[Cruiser]

You would have to give Gene or Tom a call to find out exactly what is or isn't ground. All I can say is that if it isn't a slide-way then it doesn't really need to be ground. I don't really know for sure what you are referring to tho as "bottom supporting ways" ? Generally speaking if it is a "way" then it has a slide feature. If it is "supporting" then it is a static structure, and may not even require machining at all.

[BlackMoon]

Its the slide way that supports the weight of the table, ie the horzontal way, not the 45 degree way (or whatever angle it is)
I was just kinda hopeing someone with a recent IH mill could look, its an exposed area so..

[Cruiser]

The only grinding that has been done with these mills has been incorporated since Gene & Tom took over the operations. If It is one of the ground mills then any slideway must have been ground. If not then it will be an older unit before grind and may have been lapped instead. You didn't say which model it is either, an 8" or 10" or the 8" has a square z saddle and the 10" has a round z saddle. If it is an early 10" then it is not ground.
All the new models are fully ground and are really nice !

[BlackMoon]

Weird.. this one is fully ground except the bottom way of the table... i'll have to talk about the guy who sold it to me -_-;

[BlackMoon]

Hmmm.. apon further inspection it is ground, but i can still see cutter marks left that where not ground out. the seller tryed to tell me these where 'oil groves' -_-; Somehow I think if they where intentional, it would be in all ways, not just one.
Again, anyone else seen endmill/flycutter swirlies in the bottom supporting way of thier ground IH mill table? (gotta sorta look from under the mill)
Or is it perfictly ground to full depth like the Y/Z ways? (those are near mirror finish! very impressive)

[ViperTX]

Pics speak a thousand words....post some.

[BlackMoon]

www.voxelsoft.com/spacesim/IMGP6675.JPG
If you'll notice the bottom of my kurt vise and the 'polished' area around the patch and the side of the X/Y saddle, those are all how it looks when ground perfictly (for lighting/reflection compairson) and how all the other ways look. its only the bottom way of the table thats still got marks in it. (feeling it with my finger it does seem like its ground but just not deep enough... and I kinda feel that polishing is gonna leave a high spot in the ways..)

[Cruiser]

OK, the surface was ground to true it up and diminish the peaks and increase the surface contact area. A perfectly ground surface looks pretty but is not as effective at carrying oil past the whipping area of contact. The fact is that the residual milling marks or imperfections will work to your advantage by carrying the oil into the friction area and holding it. Eventually you will see a full contact patch form with use and these swirls will disappear, then you will have some longitudinal wear channels which will hold oil. This will take a very long time to happen. what you got is a good machine and it will serve you well for many yrs to come. Rest easy, use good slide oil, and use the machine ! In your photo i believe I could see the start of the wear track forming and it is nice and even while fading out at the end of travel. This is normal and good, as it wears in it will slow down in the rate of wear, right now it is breaking in. Once it is broken in it will hold for many yrs as stated above and then it will go into breakout mode, but by then you won't care or be worrying about it. If you had ever watched a hand scraped machine break in and wear over many yrs you'd know what I am trying to tell you. Basically, cast iron is soft and malleable but as its friction surfaces wear in they increase in the actual surface area in contact which slows down the rate of wear. OK, what's that third time i said that ? I think I'm done here go make some chips !

[BlackMoon]

yea I could just be being too picky.. just seems weird to me that only the underside of the table would be done like that, yet all the rest of the ways are near mirror finish ground. (well you can't see yourself in em but pertty close) kinda just wanted to make sure that the table wasent defective or anything...

[arizonavideo]

My table is ground both the top and ways.

I wanted to post a few videos of my IH mill cutting steel. This is just a test video for it is my first video post here.

The setup is a 18" x 6" x 1" plate that I needed to cut a clearance channel for the ball nut.

The cutter is a cheep ebay 3 flute R-8 insert face mill which works rather well.

The DOC was .200" and the feed was about 50 IPM and the cutter is 1 1/2" and the RPM was 1750.

I wish the camera could capture the true sound. When your in the room it just makes this growing sound that is rather impressive.

YouTube- IH-facemill-bluechips115.MP4

YouTube- IH-facemill-bluechips115.MP4