Where to find large square billet of steel.

[TechnicAl]

200mm = 8in, so 64sq in?

so a Bloom it is

 

[Woody.v8]

And I thought a bloom was a loaf?

 

[TechnicAl]

And I thought a bloom was a loaf?

dont start that one....

 

[zzr1200]

I wound my mills table up as far as it would go, lowered the quill, then measured the gap between the table and the lowered quill.

I suspect the quill will probably be touching the table, so with a milling cutter installed you could be cutting into the table surface, which is not good.....

Now lets say for argument sake it's just touching , so I would now add up the depth of the milling vice from the bottom of the vice to the bottom of the vice jaws (lets say 2.5 inches) /rotary tables total depth (3.5 inches) /any collet adaptor from the bottom of the quill to the end of a short milling cutter l might be using (3 inches).

The above bracketed measurements are for my milling vice/rotary table/collet holder for cutters l use.

Now add up, 2.5" + 3.5" + 3" = 9 inches which is roughly the height of my mills extension spacer.

You have to work out the sizes/depths of the milling equipment you may be using, now you have to research the measurements you have to allow for.

You can always clamp/pack/raise the work piece to the cutter, so l would make the extension spacer longer rather than shorter.

Hth

zzr

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Excellent, a great start, will measure tomorrow. Not sure on cutters as I've not really used it yet, but will measure a few a have and average them for the height. I've got the vice and collet chuck so that's sorted.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Right, with the table all he way up it hits the retracted quill, so no clearance at all there. There is 75mm of collet chuck stickout with it in the spindle, I'll probably use this the most, or a drill chuck of similar depth once I get an int30 to b18 arbor.

There is 75mm from the base of the vice to the table.

There is 330mm from spindle nose to table with the spindle all the way up and table all the way down, and 75mm of spindle travel.

I make that 105mm minimum clearance without a cutter at full spindle depth.

I also measured 1480mm from quill handle to he floor, which for my height seems about 200/250mm too low at least, so the riser would also help with this.

So if I had a 300mm riser I would have 330mm of free space between the spindle fully down and the vice bed with a 75mm deep cutter in the collet chuck. The quill handle would be at a better height for me, as would the depth guage and quill lock etc.

I should note head room isn't an issue as I've 4.2m minimum clearance to the roof... Unless it goes under the mezzanine in which case it's 2.225m ish between the joists.

Any notes on that lot if it even made sense?!

Cheers, Dan

 

[dan.taylor.1]

I should mention, I think there is more travel to the table above when it hits the spindle nose (I can check tomorrow by swinging the ram to one side)

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

What taper is the spindle out of curiosity.
If I could use collets in the spindle for mills it would be my first choice over a collet chuck. As with any tool and a lathe or mill the less stick out the better.

Slightly off topic. Sorry.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

It's an int/iso30 taper so no collets will go straight in unfortunately. My collet chuck is a e40 too.

 

[8ob]

Dan, tractor weights are a good source of gurt lumps of metal and you stand a good chance of finding them locally You could always stack them to gain height. Just thoughts.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Massey-F...450884&hash=item5b4bb97f05:g:CyYAAOSwZNZbbYh2

Bob

 

[dan.taylor.1]

@8ob that's a fair shout. A big centre weight may be suitable, would require a lot of squaring up mind. Most modern weights are either a big block that's 500/1000kg or thin "wafer" weights

 

[fizzy]

Dan, tractor weights are a good source of gurt lumps of metal and you stand a good chance of finding them locally You could always stack them to gain height. Just thoughts.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Massey-F...450884&hash=item5b4bb97f05:g:CyYAAOSwZNZbbYh2

Bob

I was going to suggest that - we ship them for people all the time.
Older ones are pretty chunky!

 

[bigegg]

what about a suitably sized cast iron slotted box table?

 

[Rocketman]

You shouldn't have a problem getting EN8 or mild steel in 200 thick rolled plate. Ordered much bigger stuff than that before. For stuff like this you will need to ring the supplier. It's not something they will have price listed on the net. You need to go to engineer/tooling steel plate suppliers.

 

[Rig Pig]

I still don't see the point in going with a solid block, most riser blocks are hollow as are the machine main column, 4 x bits of profile cut plate welded up and machined will do it.

This is a Bridgeport one courtesy of Google!

 

[bigegg]

8*8*12in cast box table?

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/310-x-200-...359852?hash=item2eaea22e2c:g:5AoAAMXQlrxRallh

 

[dan.taylor.1]

So wound the table up more, there's only 10/15mm and I suspect the screw may pop out of the nut if I wasn't careful. So my original figures stand.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

@Rig Pig fair comment. I think solid came to mind for rigidity and dampening more than anything. I have some 200x20mm plate lying about so may look to use that.