Milling aluminum with drill press

[thorhammer]

Anyone have any suggestions about bits, speed etc.? Obviously I'd love to have a Bridgeport but that ain't in the cards to whip out a few small things I need. What's the thickest plate that may be reasonably cut?

[mikeysm]

What are you trying to do. A drill press won't do a very accurate job.

Mike

[thorhammer]

just make a couple reel clamps for my own fishing use. so just a couple semicircles which i will then dill and hand chamfer. very basic.

[swill88]

Gary, Gstours, mentioned using a cutter in his drill press which has a 'lock down' abor' feature reducing wobble??.  I wonder if some drill presses are more useable for simple milling than others. Not talking about precision fitment here. I have a few crank arms I'd like to mill thinner at the connection to the reel. I tried this with my die grinder hand held. Oops! Dremel would have been better.
Steve

[thorhammer]

Steve, handle blades were in my my mind too but I can do that on belt sander. i did recall Gary saying something about this and that's what got me thinking. I want an aluminum clamp for 16/0 to match the T-Bar handle and even the Strikemaster 3 for Int 130's isn't big enough. So I'll make one. Just was trying to avoid rat-tailing a groove big enough for a Varmac 6 if i can use Rule #3: mechanical advantage. But I will if need be.

[STRIPER LOU]

If you want to thin the handle down only in the contact area, why not go simple and use a counterbore? This way you can use a drill press.

A 4 flute  CB will do a nice job. It is important the pilot size be reasonably close to the hole your machining.

If not and only doing a few pcs, a shim can be glued to the pilot or even a thin wall bushing can be used. I've done this in a pinch and as long as you don't go whole hog and generate a lot of heat, it should get you by for 1 handle and at that point if you want to do more, just glue on another shim or re glue the bushing.

There are tables available that will cover longitudinal and even some that have cross slides. Most are crude but may work. The main problem is the spindle of the drill press. Its made for up and down and doesn't really fare well for side to side movement. A possibility is to remove the chuck to see what Morse taper it is and buy the appropriate adapter to hold the cutter.

That being said, with enough ambition, almost anything can be done. Aluminum is possible and will be a slow go but SS more than likely not to good.

.....................Lou

[Tiddlerbasher]

I made a clamp (similar to a reel clamp) many moons ago. I took a slab of aluminium - drilled a 1" hole in the middle with a drill stand - then hacksawed it in half, right across the hole. That provided 2 reel type clamps - they just needed the 2 mounting screw holes to be drilled. Finished off with filing and belt sander. I have done some very lightweight milling on a drill stand BUT the majority of drill stands are not really suited to the task. The side force applied to the spindle is not good, it wasn't designed for it. When I've done milling I've left the spindle in the up position (where it will be better supported). I then set the depth of cut, .5mm at a time, by raising/lowering the table. To be successful you also need a milling vice with x and y movement otherwise you will not have enough control.

[swill88]

The question still remains. Are some drill press tools better for milling than others?

[STRIPER LOU]

There ya go! Chris's idea will work! If you want to avoid the hacksaw process, just start with 2 pcs of aluminum clamped together.

[STRIPER LOU]

Steve, none of them are made for that kind of work but its like anything else, some are built better than others.

We had an old Clausing at work that was built like a tank and probably handled more than it was designed too.

Any of these thing are doable as long as you have some patience and do a little planning.

[thorhammer]

yep, i thought of the drill and cut method and did that with delrin before. issue is I'm gonna need about 1.5 inches for that Varmac 6 and I don't have anything that big to drill one hole. i could do a Chris  / Mike and drill a bunch of holes to rough out most of the bulk then jig and file out the rest. I've jigged 7/18 plate but its not fun and certainly not exact.

we will see. those guys  can fil out a semitruck transmission given time; i can do an aluminum clamp.

[Keta]

A hole saw does a fair job but unless you have a high $ one the hole will be oversize.

[thorhammer]

hmmm....great tip Lee. that could actually not be too be too bad. i can then cut around the part of the radius I want, and then contour and emory rest of the part.

[PacRat]

I'll give my opinion in 3 areas starting with the press.

Your typical belt drive drill-press has too much slop in it for accurate work. The stand and table will vibrate, the spindle will flex side-to-side and the speed will not be consistent as the belts may slip and stretch/flex. It can be done but the results may not be great and it may not be safe. A geared head drill-press is the way to go if you plan on milling with it. It will not be the best mill but it certainly will be the last drill press you will ever need. These are built much stouter and have a gear box rather than a belt and pulley system. As a bonus you also get reverse. I'm partial to Wilton but they hold their value very well and most users don't want to part with them. Expect to pay between $600 and $2500 for a used one.

You will need an X/Y table. Quality and price are all over the place for these. Along with this you will need a quality vise.  Harbor Freight sells one but it may not be suitable for milling. The HF version is a combo with the vice included which is good for locating when drilling but may not feed consistently smooth or straight when milling. Personally I would search for a used cross-feed table locally then clean and adjust it. Like the Wilton press this will last you a lifetime and you will likely be able to sell it for what you paid for it. You might get lucky and find a geared-head press that comes with an X/Y table.

The last thing is cutters, coolant and knowledge. There are a lot of machinist here (I'm not one of them) who can advise the correct cutter, speed, coolant and feed for the alloy you choose to work with. On one end of the spectrum aluminum can be soft and almost 'gummy' on the other end it can be very hard and almost brittle. Speed/feed/coolant type/number of flutes/type of flutes (straight or twist) will all affect your success.

One last word of caution. Be very careful with your eyes when milling aluminum. Some of the better coolants are very oily and the chips can be very fine and sharp (like micro-needles). I once had to have one removed from my iris and I didn't even feel it. It wasn't until I walked out of the shop into daylight and my iris couldn't adjust to the brightness that I realized there was a problem. I must have somehow transferred it from my hand. I was wearing safety glasses. My best advice it keep your hands away from your face while milling aluminum.

That's my two cents worth
Mike

[PacRat]

I use to use an aluminum specific cutting fluid. It may have been called 'Aluma-tap' or something like that. Use this even with a holesaw as it will keep the heat down and will keep the aluminum from sticking to your tool.
-Mike