how to mill after cutting on a band saw

[surrealism]

Hello, I have a problem that keeps coming up. I have solved it a few times, but never had a really good procedure.


so i have a six inch bar of 1 inch by 1 inch 6061. i need a 1.5 piece, so i go cut it on the band saw (out at the office an hour away)... and its not really straight.


wish full process:
so then i place the cut piece into my work vice, and put a 3/8 end mill in so I can "face" the part. but my end mill only goes down about .7in before a small taper starts into the shaft.

my solution:
so i have to turn the part 90 deg. (1.5in in Z axis) square the part up (the bottom is not touching my vice) and lightly mill the top face... check for square, and then flip the part and this time part is touching the vise on the bottom, and the 2 sides (cause its square now).

is there an other way?
what if I used a flycutter to mill the side face..I line up the z, start cutter and just move y axis back and forth, over and over.... anyway, I would like some feed back as i am sure you have your own methods from over the years.

thanks guys!
tighten up the vice,

[christinandavid]

What about setting your initial bar up conventionally in your vice and putting a shallow slot thru the bar before you bandsaw it?

Once you have sawed thru, you can then sit the material in the vice on the little step that remains (using a small parallel block/slip gauge) to machine opposite end, then flip the part over and finish block to required length.

Of course you could get some decent endmills and not bother with the bandsaw.

Your accuracy will ultimately depend on the squareness of your vice setup.

DP

[awetmore]

Adjust the bandsaw so that it cuts straighter.

Then a couple of passes with an endmill will clean up the edge. You can get end mills with a longer cutting surface for this purpose. They have more flex in them, but you can easily get one that has a 2" long cutting surface for this sort of cleanup work.

[Crevice Reamer]

ANY lathe with a 4 jaw independant or scroll chuck--Even a $350 7x10 from Harbor freight, would face this easily.

CR.

[surrealism]

Thanks for the feed back guys, those are some great solutions.

[langwadt]

get a vice with those 90degree notches in the jaws used to clamp round bar, or make two blocks with notches, so that you can clamp it diagonally ?