I like my new mill

snipershot

snipershot

Go ahead.....run for it.
Silver Member
Ive been busy playing with my new mill, and Im pretty excited about the possibilities :) I started making this butterfly cue about a year ago, but all I had was a small bandsaw and an even smaller belt sander. and for the life of me, I couldnt get the outside pieces flat enough. One of the first things I did was mill the pieces flat, and it turned out perfect! I know its pretty simple, and nothing special, but hey, its a start! Lol. Tonight, I dove into cutting point grooves. The last pic shows my first point groove cut on my mill using the large V cutter from Chris Hightower. The cut was super smooth. and there was very little vibration. Power feed would sure help, but even without it, the cut is smooth and flawless. Just thought Id share my progress with everyone. I did screw up though, I didnt make the points long enough, so once I taper it down, those points are gonna be short. Im thinking I could make it an 8 pointer and cut 4 new points in between the 4 I already cut, after I finish putting the point wood and veneers in. It could also end up in the bucket of shame. lol.

Joe
 

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R

rhncue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
snipershot said:
Ive been busy playing with my new mill, and Im pretty excited about the possibilities :) I started making this butterfly cue about a year ago, but all I had was a small bandsaw and an even smaller belt sander. and for the life of me, I couldnt get the outside pieces flat enough. One of the first things I did was mill the pieces flat, and it turned out perfect! I know its pretty simple, and nothing special, but hey, its a start! Lol. Tonight, I dove into cutting point grooves. The last pic shows my first point groove cut on my mill using the large V cutter from Chris Hightower. The cut was super smooth. and there was very little vibration. Power feed would sure help, but even without it, the cut is smooth and flawless. Just thought Id share my progress with everyone. I did screw up though, I didnt make the points long enough, so once I taper it down, those points are gonna be short. Im thinking I could make it an 8 pointer and cut 4 new points in between the 4 I already cut, after I finish putting the point wood and veneers in. It could also end up in the bucket of shame. lol.

Joe
Click to expand...

In cue building, you don't know how much you needed a tool until you get one. A mill is a wonderful addition to any shop, and, in my opinion, should be in every shop. I've saved so much money between the use of my lathe and mill in building jigs and fixtures for pennies on the dollar over buying stuff ready made. I build most using aluminum cut-offs that I get from a scrapyard that the last time I purchased was 1.25 a pound.

With the mill you can now easily make a fixture for cutting point grooves and butterflies so that they come out exactly to the length that you want and with perfect symmetry between them. Once it is made it is easy to setup and even easier to use. My points come out within a couple of thousandths of each other. If I decide I want points to be 9 inch long when the cue is finished I can set it for that length. If I want them to be 10.125" in length I set it for that. Complete repeatability.

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Dick
 
Canadian cue

Canadian cue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This is the milling section of my shop. A pantograph, manual mill and my newly acquired cnc.
 

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snipershot

snipershot

Go ahead.....run for it.
Silver Member
Damn! You guys got some nice stuff! I was gonna buy a planer to make my point stock perfectly square, but I milled a 1 inch square piece of bocote flat with a shell cutter and it turned out fantastic. And it was smooth as glass, no chatter marks at all. Its like a whole new world got opened up in my shop. lol. Ive got all kinds of crazy ideas i wanna try out now! Lol.

Joe
 
conetip

conetip

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mill pictures

So have you got any pics of your mill to show?

You will now start spending a whole bunch more on tools and making things from now on.
Great news that it is working already.
For accurate flat faces, I like using single point fly cutters. I think they are much better over the multi point cutters, but are slower.
Thanks, Neil
 
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