Michael Pyron Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I've seen a few of these around and was wondering if anyone had ever used one? If so do they have any merit? I've used real professional vertical mills before and was hoping that maybe one of these milling vises might help mill out some interesting shapes for guards and pommels out of soft metals and wood, but with no marked dials it'd be pretty freehand, like drawing on an etch a sketch. If anyone here's ever used one before let me know what you think about them before I buy one and figure out it's useless to me in this trade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJPratt Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I have tried it and it really eats up the bearings on your drill press, and honestly doesn't work very well. ~~DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I have tried it and it really eats up the bearings on your drill press, and honestly doesn't work very well. ~~DJ Yup. Drill press quill bearings are not designed to handle side load. You may get away with it using wood, but not metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Pyron Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Dang, thanks a lot guys, I just got this drill press too, the first thing I was going to attack was this block of aluminum I've been carving a guard out of for days. Very good to know, I dont know why I didnt think of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew McKenzie Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 While you probably shouldn't actually mill with it, a milling vise is great for precision drilling, since it holds your work exactly where you want it to stay. MacGyver is my patron saint. "There's nothing in the universe cold steel won't cut." -Conan of Cimmeria- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KPeacock Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I just bought one a couple of weeks ago and I'm quite disappointed with it. it doesn;t work worth a darn for milling. you can litterally see the spindle of the drillpress flex when you apply and type of load. I abandoned that process immediately. they are great for getting holes right where you want them though. Have you ever thought about the life of steel? It's interesting to think that you can control the fate of a piece of metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Lester Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Don't feel bad, Michael. As you see you're not the only one with a milling vice and some end mills that really don't work with a drill press. No one ever said that we were smart and they were right about it. Doug Lester HELP...I'm a twenty year old trapped in the body of an old man!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Kelley Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I've done some free hand milling on my Taig 2019S. It can be done but it's tricky. Superior hand-eye coordination is essential to success. Can't claim superior coordination but I can do a fairly decent job. Awful easy to lose track of which crank goes which way and sometimes you wind up with a piece that looks like the dawg chawed on hit. As everybody else has said I wouldn't want to stress my drill press with side loads. Doesn't take much to screw up the quill bearings. K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Stephens Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I too gave up on the press as a mill alternative. I have a cheap X/Y vice on my press that is about as precise as sawed off shotgun when you needed a sniper rifle. I just ordered this mini mill from Grizzly: http://www.grizzly.com/products/g8689 Around $650 with shipping. I've done a fair amount of research on hobbyist milling machines, and this seems to be all that a knifemaker would need. I've also found a pretty neat site that sells accessories and tools that work with this mill: http://www.littlemachineshop.com/ The guy who runs the site also has some pretty good tutorials on the basic use of milling machines and lathes, which was great for me, as I don't have any formal machining experience or education. I'll let you guys know how it works out. --Dave -----------------------------------------------"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly." -- Theodore Roosevelthttp://stephensforge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Erwin Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Going along with McKenzie, I use mine just to hold and get good line up for drilling, but no milling. Beau Erwin www.ErwinKnives.com Custom knives Bcarta Composites Stabilized Woods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ty Murch Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 i'm still wondering what kind of vise you're talking about . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Stephens Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 i'm still wondering what kind of vise you're talking about We're actually discussing two different, although similar vises. One is a cross slide vice that goes on a drill press, see pictured below. It can be used to accurately position an object to be drilled. The other is a slide table which is an important part of a milling machine (also pictured below). You can mount a vise on it, or you can use a clamping kit to clamp on object to it. It can not only be used to position objects for drilling, but to apply sideways pressure to an object to cut channels, etc. Hope this helps. --Dave -----------------------------------------------"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly." -- Theodore Roosevelthttp://stephensforge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Clark Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 And if all you want to do is knife parts, Sherline makes a neat little milling machine that works fine, within it's limits. I have a large knee mill too at this point, but if all I am doing is slotting a guard, I throw it up on the little Sherline. Very handy little machine. I got mine when I got into making folders in '94, and have used it a great deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Vaught Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I got the one from Harbor Freight and am dissappointed. You guys are right about a press not being built for milling (head flexes), but there's also a tremendous amount of play in the vise itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WES Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Most of these vises (even the cheap ones) have gibbs that allow you to adjust ( tighten the tolerances) on both the X and Y movements. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Vaught Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Yup. This one had adjustments too. Still was like waving a corndog in the astro dome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Stephens Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Still was like waving a corndog in the astro dome. Well said. Hearty LOL on that one. Grins, --Dave -----------------------------------------------"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly." -- Theodore Roosevelthttp://stephensforge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Pyron Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Thank you all so much for that! I can always count on you guys to steer me straight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPeterson Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I use a cross slide vise from harbor freight like some of you mentioned. I made sure to lock down the adjustments as much as possible before I started using it. For standard guard slots it works fine for me. I first drill a series of holes down the slot area to remove the bulk of material and then follow up with a dremel carbide bit. I do the last part very slowly using plenty of cutting oil. This combination works fine for me (and at a lower cost) but it definitely has its limitations. Wes Peterson www.wpbladesmith.com Southeast Georgia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim P Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Working in a machine shop I'm a little spoiled. But, I inherited a shopsmith from my father-in-law. I havent used it yet, but I was thinking if you can run it as a planer and a table saw, wood lathe. I wonder if it would be able to handle a .250 end mill? It has about a 3.0" quill. And the old ER 10 models like mine are cheap. I have to fix up some kind of table for it. But when I use it I'll let you guys know. It has to be better than a hand drill and chainsaw files. Having access to machinery at work is great. But it's nice to do things at home, alone, in peace and quiet. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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