Mill Threading

[ajclay]

I'm alway behind the times. I just heard about cutting internal threads with a milling machine. I've got a CNC Wells Index with Mach3 as the controller.

Can someone point me in the right direction on how to research the operation? It may not be possible with the machine and controller I have.

I'm not sure I'm even using the right name. What kind of program is used to generate the code?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks, Aj

[jsheerin]

Do you mean thread milling? You need a 3 axis mill. I used Visual Cam to generate some code, but it didn't do what I needed, so I wrote my own by hand. You are just making circles (G2/G3) with the cutter and moving down continuously in a helix by specifying a change in z for each circle. I started a thread about it in the diy router section.

[dsage]

As stated you need a 3-axis machine (XYZ)
Mach has a built in Wizard to do thread milling.
Look at "Wizards" button on the control screen. It will bring up a list of wizards. Thread milling is at the bottom of the list.
You'll also need a thread form milling cutter. Works a charm.

Sage

[MattTheNoob]

Not just internal threads. External threads too. Practice with a single point fly cutter setup before using the super-expensive thread mills.