EDGE FINDER Tip of the month

You have to mill a slot or a wall deeper than the the flute length / reach of your end mill. That never happens, because the boss / management makes sure before hand when planning the job you will have all necessary tools - right? Here's all these nice carbide standard flute length end mills that are too short to do the job - go get'em tiger! Chuck it up in your cordless drill, go over to the pedestal grinder with the "green" (silicone carbide) wheel & turn down - extend the shank- a few thou less then the cutting dia. You chew up the green wheel & it takes a little practice to hold the drill & rest your baby finger on the grinder tool rest to hold every thing. Hey it beats setting it up in a spinner & using a diamond wheel in the surface grinder, or ordering one of the off the shelf special order extended length "mold makers" brands. My new record =3D 1mm dia 9mm dp. in titanium 6al4v -those little ones are tough.

A little deckel SO grinder would be nice. Nah that'd be like the "big red easy button"

Reply to
cncmillgil
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MariTools has a line of reduced shank end mills, where the entire shank is a reduced diameter. This allows you to slide the shank as deep as you want to into a collet holder. Only extend the tool as much or as little as you need to. That sounds like a good idea to me, and it seems to work pretty good.

Sure a 1/2" EM has a reduced shank of less than 1/2", but with ER collets you can clamp on any size anyway.

I've hand ground a reduced shank more than once, for a tiny little job, and no need for a special order tool for a one off.

Reply to
Cross-Slide

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