"Stackable" cutters on a vertical mill?

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Thanks,

Wray Schelin Administrator

Sure, you can buy "stub milling arbors" with an R-8 shank. You wouldn't want to have cutters spaced more than a couple of inches apart to keep bearing loads within reason, bit there's no problem with doing this. I have never stacked cutters, but I have used the stub arbors in a Bridgeport with a 1J head, and they work fine. They can also produce an AMAZING amount of chips in minutes, which must mean they are really doing a lot of work.

Jon

The problem is that your vertical doesn't have an overarm (side arm?) to keep the arbor from flexing under the load of the ganged cutters. In other words, instead of maybe 0.020 of cutter engaged in the material, your ganged setup would have *inches* of cutter engaged at once. That's a lot of load to be supported only on one end. You'd get flex and chatter.

Gary

Absolutly correct. While the bearings will support that sort of side load..the arbor will not. It will indeed flex or deflect. The bigger and more agressive the cutters, the bigger the deflection.

I love ganging cutters in a horizontal mill thats rigid. You can generate a LOT of chips very quickly. I have a job to do this weekend for a magazine fed automatic slitting machine I designed and am building, and Ill snap a couple pictures as it will be largely cut with ganged cutters.

I keep a helical slab mill on the arbor most of the time and keep a pair of matched cutters and spacers at the mill. (Clausing 8540)

Anyone in California want some GREAT horizontal Mills, Greer Machinery in Huntington Beach, has a pair of K&T #2s, (complete with the optional vertical heads) for $400 each. Tom told me they were in good running condition and so far..he has yet to fib or exaggerate.

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

I regularly use thinner horizontal type cutters in the Bridgeport mounted in a collet and arbor for prototype work, but the spindle support and overall rigidity just isn't there for anything more serious. We use Van Norman universal mills in our production area, and I really like those old things. Horizontal/vertical setups, reliable, really smooth rapid traverse clutches. Seems like they are 22U models, IIRC. We have one old Browne &Sharpe horizontal mill that I added a vertical spindle to, to allow a 1" slot, horizontally produced, followed immediately by a T slot vertical cutter. It's a cast piece, and this saved much secondary setup.relative to clamping and alignment. Trippled production on the part.

RJ

Gunner,

Does any company make small horizontal milling machines any more? When ever I look for new import mills in the $1,500 - $2,000 price range, all I see are verticals. How come?

Are the K&Ts as small as your Vernon?

Peter

The Asians still make horizontal mills, though generally big ones. Horizontal mills are often too slow for production work of generalized nature, but are still used extensively in the automotive manufacturing world.

No. the #2s have a foot print about the size of a Bridgeport and weigh a bit more. Around 3000-3500 lbs

Here is a picture of the type

another

These are NOT the machines that are for sale, just pictures of the model.

For those who already own one..I just got an entire manual that I will be scanning. A clients shop just purchased one, and Ive been setting it up and making fixtures to do gang milling of one particular part.

Good people and on my A list...

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

Well, there's this one, but it's outside your range:

--Glenn Lyford

You can get an attachment for bridgeport style mills that use an angle head and arbor with a steady that attaches to the dovetail on the head slide.

Check out

and goto page 455 and look for the milling accessories set about half way down the page. $682 for the Taiwan made set. the Dorian set is about $1500 I have used the angle heads alot but not with the arbor or support. We had one machine set up almost permanetly with one.

If anyone needs a right angle attachment for a BPort, I think one of my customers has one that he doesnt use. I might be able to get it from him reasonable. Not free, but reasonable. Knowing him, it will have the arbor and support.

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

Note that Bridgeport made several arbors for their RA attachment. Each arbor has a uniquely-sized collet which is used in the outboard support casting. Many people offer these arbors for resale on ebay, but few offer the collets, and you can not use the one without the other. Similarly, many of these arbors are offered without their arbor nuts and these should be devalued accordingly, as the arbor nuts often have LH threads and are hardened and ground very precisely so they aren't trivial to reproduce at home.

Finally, I don't believe you can ever do very heavy milling with a BP RA attachment. And for anything even remotely approaching heavy you will need to rig flood coolant.

Regards,

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington

Heck, I've seen entire horizontal mills that sold cheaper than one of those right angle things.

Jim

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They also have this one (G8031)

I assume it wasn't a big seller as it is now in the outlet store...

Ed