Ring billet slots

Facundus Cues

Facundus Cues

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am almost done putting together a multipurpose cnc-d taper machine with indexable head for tapering shafts and hopefully cutting slots in ring billets. The way that my router is mounted it is vertical on since I only have 2 axis (axes just doesn't look right :) my cutter can only cut along the side of the stock to be cut. I do not really want to have to mess around with turning the router horizontal when I cut slots. Are there any options for say super thin router type slot cutters or jeweler's saw? Or will I just have to suck it up and pivot the router?
 
You might be able to find end mills that would cut thin and fit your router.


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Why not put a stepper on your a axis and do away with the indexable spindle.


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What equipment are you working with? Lathe? Router? Router mount? Got pictures?
 
If I use end mills I will have to rotate the router. I have slot cutters but 1/16 is the thinnest that I could find. Stratshutr, I do have a stepper on the head . I may have used the wrong terminology but my machine has the same spindle setup as one yours. You sent a pm with pics on your spinner a while back . I was going to make a spinner to mount to my big cnc but ended up making a dedicated machine. I will eventually build a second spinner setup to mount on my 4'x4' gantry machine. Todd - here is a pic of my machine. http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=422468 . I need to upload some more recent but I have a router mounted to the cross slide much like the way one mounts to your lathe carriage
Thanks everyone
 
Use riser blocks to elevate the router so that you can cut the billet slots from above. You would have to cut to full slot depth, but you can go very slow and you would be able to actually mill the slots to any width you want and take clean up cuts on the sides.

You would need two different riser blocks, one for joint and one for butt sized billets. Remove the router bracket from the cross slide and place the appropriate riser block between the cross slide and the mount. You would need longer fasteners, obviously. This would work fine if:
1. You set the router in the clamp for turning and never changed it.
2. You always used 1/8" endmills with depth rings so the endmill projection never changed.
3. The OD of your ring billet blanks when ready for slot cutting are consistent and not too oversized in order to minimize the cutting depth. Always use the largest endmill you can get away with since you would be cutting to full depth.

Set the router positioned for turning. Once you are happy with it, take some measurements. Be as precise as you can. From these calculations, come up with what you think would be the right riser thickness for joint billets. Add .100 to the thickness (so you can whittle it down later after tests). Test. Adjust block. Test. Once the riser block gets you cutting to the proper depth for joint ring billets, some simple math will tell you what thickness to make the other riser block.

Edit: I don't know what depth you could actually get away with for a 1/16" endmill. For a .900 joint ring billet, cutting .100 deep is probably doable. For a 1.3" ring billet, cutting .188 deep might be asking a whole lot.
 
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What Kelly said. I would definitely get that spindle cutting down from the top, not the side.


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MVPCues said:
Use riser blocks to elevate the router so that you can cut the billet slots from above. You would have to cut to full slot depth, but you can go very slow and you would be able to actually mill the slots to any width you want and take clean up cuts on the sides.

You would need two different riser blocks, one for joint and one for butt sized billets. Remove the router bracket from the cross slide and place the appropriate riser block between the cross slide and the mount. You would need longer fasteners, obviously. This would work fine if:
1. You set the router in the clamp for turning and never changed it.
2. You always used 1/8" endmills with depth rings so the endmill projection never changed.
3. The OD of your ring billet blanks when ready for slot cutting are consistent and not too oversized in order to minimize the cutting depth. Always use the largest endmill you can get away with since you would be cutting to full depth.

Set the router positioned for turning. Once you are happy with it, take some measurements. Be as precise as you can. From these calculations, come up with what you think would be the right riser thickness for joint billets. Add .100 to the thickness (so you can whittle it down later after tests). Test. Adjust block. Test. Once the riser block gets you cutting to the proper depth for joint ring billets, some simple math will tell you what thickness to make the other riser block.

Edit: I don't know what depth you could actually get away with for a 1/16" endmill. For a .900 joint ring billet, cutting .100 deep is probably doable. For a 1.3" ring billet, cutting .188 deep might be asking a whole lot.
Click to expand...



whats the advantage of cutting from the top?

im using slot cutter , router vertical
 
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Don't have to I just would. Just like I use end mills instead of slot cutters. All personal preference I guess.


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BHQ said:
whats the advantage of cutting from the top?

im using slot cutter , router vertical
Click to expand...


He has no Z axis on that machine. The only reason to do what I suggested was so that he could mill a .074 slot, or a .093 slot, or a .....

If cutting from the side with a slot cutter his slot width will be limited to the size of the cutter...which limits his designs.
 
If you contact Whiteside (actually go to one of their dealers, like Woodcraft, because they prefer that), they have an excellent selection of slot cutters/arbors. They will also happily custom build a cutter for you assuming you ask for something that's reasonable and safe. So don't ask them to build a 3" slot cutter on an 1/8" arbor, or something stupid like that. I've had them make custom tooling for me in the past. Many others will do it too, but I've always had great luck with Whiteside. I believe my last custom order from them actually happened to be a custom 3 wing slot cutter and arbor.
 
I have enough height on my router mount to be able to cut from the top but it is fixed and not movable like a z axis. My whole objective is to not have to adjust the router position between cutting tapers and ring slots and that is why I was planning on cutting them with a slot cutter. I have a 1/16 slot cutter already but was just thing that the lot would be too wide but maybe not. Maybe the slot from that type cutter will not be accurate enough anyway. It seems that if I pivoted the router from vertical to horizontal it would be exactly the same as cutting from the top. Maybe the solution is to make some sort of indexing pins where when the router is rotated I can lock it into the same exact position each time. I just was planning to make keep the router fixed vertical and make depth collets for each bit to cut down on setup. I would ultimately like to cut point grooves as well. It all of this becomes too complex I will just use this machine for tapering and use my larger machine for everything else. Who knows? Heck up to this point I have not built anything yet other than a cnc machine ,a set of handles for my lathe chuck bars and a hole in my pocketbook 😃
 
john coloccia said:
If you contact Whiteside (actually go to one of their dealers, like Woodcraft, because they prefer that), they have an excellent selection of slot cutters/arbors. They will also happily custom build a cutter for you assuming you ask for something that's reasonable and safe. So don't ask them to build a 3" slot cutter on an 1/8" arbor, or something stupid like that. I've had them make custom tooling for me in the past. Many others will do it too, but I've always had great luck with Whiteside. I believe my last custom order from them actually happened to be a custom 3 wing slot cutter and arbor.
Click to expand...
various thickness saw blades
can also stack 2 together if i want
http://stores.ebay.com/GLOBALMALLUS...4393018&_sid=1004489318&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322
i dont see them listed at this time there, but i have .5mm & .8mm thick blades too
 
BHQ said:
various thickness saw blades
can also stack 2 together if i want
http://stores.ebay.com/GLOBALMALLUS...4393018&_sid=1004489318&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322
i dont see them listed at this time there, but i have .5mm & .8mm thick blades too
Click to expand...

Have you tried stacking them? The reason I ask is you can run into problems with the set of the teeth, or alternately if the teeth are straight and the plate is hollow ground. Just curious if everything is really flat and they gang well.

Thanks.
 
john coloccia said:
If you contact Whiteside (actually go to one of their dealers, like Woodcraft, because they prefer that), they have an excellent selection of slot cutters/arbors. They will also happily custom build a cutter for you assuming you ask for something that's reasonable and safe. So don't ask them to build a 3" slot cutter on an 1/8" arbor, or something stupid like that. I've had them make custom tooling for me in the past. Many others will do it too, but I've always had great luck with Whiteside. I believe my last custom order from them actually happened to be a custom 3 wing slot cutter and arbor.
Click to expand...

Why did you need a custom 3-winger and arbor ?
They have enough selection of 3-wingers.
 
JoeyInCali said:
Why did you need a custom 3-winger and arbor ?
They have enough selection of 3-wingers.
Click to expand...

I needed a longer arbor, and if I remember correctly I ordered it to make round bottomed slots. I believe it was a 3/16" cutter with a 3/32" radius. I may have needed a deeper cutting depth also. Basically, it was for cutting curved truss rod slots using my pin router.
 
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MVPCues said:
He has no Z axis on that machine. The only reason to do what I suggested was so that he could mill a .074 slot, or a .093 slot, or a .....

If cutting from the side with a slot cutter his slot width will be limited to the size of the cutter...which limits his designs.
Click to expand...

I agree.
You can get those slotters ground locally too .
To any thickness you want.
 
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