Newbie- Need mill advise please

[Mr. D]

Hello, Im making pistol grips out of Dymondwood and I have a question about which mill and cutter to get.

This is what I'm doing.
I start with a piece of dymondwood 5"x5" and 3/8" thick.
I need to plane a 3" wide, and approx 1/16" deep groove down the middle of the piece.
Also, ideally I need a 45 degree angle on the edges of the grooves.

I've tried doing it by hand, using a router, a thickness sander, and a Wagner safety planer on my drill press (not a good idea with dymondwood). None of these methods turn out perfect enough for me to be satisfied. And I'm getting tired of buying things that just don't quite work out. So after much research I realize I may need a small mill to get the precision I'm after.

I dont have a lot of $ to spend so I'd like to get something that will do the job and not be overkill. All I need to do is plane down that 1/16".
I've been looking at the X1 and X2 mills and I don't know which one to go with. Also I'm thinking that I may need a fly cutter to do the planing. I'd like to do the planing in one pass if possible.

So does anyone know if the X1 would be able to handle planing down dymondwood?
Is there a cutter that would make a 3" cut with a 45 degree angle?

Any help of info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Mr. D]

Here's a pic of what I'm trying to do.
I'd like to make the cut in one pass.
Does anyone know if the X1 could do this?
What kind of bit should I use?
Thanks in advance.

[todd71]

I doubt that machine has the torque need to cut that in one pass. But I really don't know. So I don't want to sound like I'm putting down any particular manufacturer.
Have you considered using a "planer" to do that? Would be a heck of alot faster than milling. There are companies out there like http://pgm-tools.com/ that will grind custom blades. Just an idea

[universalfab]

what he might need and that is if he wants to do more then just this job " I think" is a bridgeport sized mill. Sure you don't need something that rigid to do cutting on wood, but like I always say you can't really upgrade a bad machine, but you can always use a larger machine to do even the smallest of jobs. As for the custom made cutters, yeah I'm sure you can find one or have one made and it's going to most likely not be worth if it's for this one part. I'll cut the whole thing out for you for $20.00 + shipping and handling and you supply material. Thats much cheaper then your going to get a custom made cutter made, I'd say roughly your probably looking at $120.00 or more to have a custom made cutter made, thats just a rough guess. Just a question how many of these do you need made?

[Mr. D]

I decided to go with a HF X2 mini mill with a 3" 45 degree face mill bit.
Just have to convert it to the belt drive and get a proper vise and I should be in business. Just waiting for it to be shipped.