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Newbie: Just bought G0704 Mill, need advice on end mills and which table clamp/vice

addman16

Plastic
Joined
Oct 11, 2017
Hey guys,

My first post, I want to start by saying I'm a total newbie to machining and I wanted to dive right in and start with manual hand machining and hope to later convert my g0704 into a CNC.

First question is should I buy a table vice or clamping kit?

Second question is the T-Slots specifications state 3 @ 2.5 inch, center 1/2 inch wide, what does this mean, how do I read the numbers and select the appropriate vice or clamp.

Third I have an idea of the end mills I want, I will be cutting aluminum almost exclusively. After some research it appears a 3 flute carbide end mill would be a good fit. What is the best kind of beginners kit to purchase, perhaps I should buy something cheap because I will be breaking them since I am learning. Could you point me to a kit that is good for beginners?


Thank you guys and I look forward to learning more.
 
I'm in the same boat as you. I just bought a Grizzly G0619 and need to get tooling. I'm really considering buying the Harbor Freight set. Because like you said, I'll be breaking end mills learning how to machine parts. I'll break the cheap stuff and replace it with better stuff. Hopefully this will also show me what mills I will be using the most so I'm not buying things I don't need.

Also look up T slot bolts on the Grizzly website to see what you will need for your machine.
 
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Just FYI, this thread will be locked shortly. This is a forum for professionals, and discussion of hobby grade machines (anything Grizzly, Harbor Freight, Craftsman, etc) is strictly forbidden. You can ask any questions about machining that you like, just don't mention the machine you're using.

Yes, a 3 flute carbide endmill is what you want.

The T-slot spacing sounds self explanatory to me. 3 slots on 2.5" centers, 1/2" wide each.
 
Not sure why you brought up the ugly G word or Horrible Fright?
Anyway, a set of fly-cutters and an asst of end mills will get you started.
 
Apparently the forum moderation died before 2017....
11-10-217 to be exact.....

FWIW it's been proven many times "locking a thread" does nothing.

Newbies comment "well a google search pointed to this place, and I saw many threads involving these 'banned' machines."

Also, as the locking is slow in coming, the poster usually get's the info they desire, so locking is moot.

What does work is deleting the entire thread, and banning the poster for 1 month.
 
Go poke your head in at the Home Shop Machinist or CNC Zone (LOL, literally counted as an expletive if all one word) forums, there is a wealth of knowledge on your particular machine and there are people who will be able to answer questions about tooling, workholding, and it's capabilities and quirks in the context of a beginner with a small machine.

The folks here usually don't have mills less than about 8,000lbs so what works for us will not necessarily work for you.

What I can offer you though, is the advice to literally not waste your money on the harbor freight endmill set. They are made out of cheese. You're throwing away $80 on that. Instead, go buy yourself 2 or 3 each of uncoated solid carbide endmills in 1/8", 1/4", and 3/8" diameters from Lakeshore Carbide (their gen purpose endmills are plenty for you, no need for the variable flute) or Shars or somewhere. I usually buy fairly pricy endmills so I don't know who's got the best cost/performance ratio on the lower end of things. In any case, it'll cost you about the same and you'll actually be able to cut successfully.

Go to youtube and look at NYC CNC, This Old Tony, Abom79, Clickspring, Stefan Gotteswinter, Ox Tools, ROBRENZ, and surely some others I am forgetting. They all have videos on the basics and can get you oriented. Then when you want to dig in, you can go down any number of rabbit holes and figure out what sort of stuff you like doing.

For accessories, go to littlemachineshop.com - They have stuff for your size mill. Some of it is pricy IMO, but you can at least look at what they have and find something equivalent from a different source.

In any case, good luck with your machining journey. And put your shields up, some of the members here rather aggressively defend the delineation between the "pro" forum here and the "hobbyist" forums elsewhere on the interwebs. There's sort of a valid reason for that and they mean well, usually :) Helps keep the signal to noise favorable and keeps the respective forums focused on their primary purpose.
 
And don't use carbide tooling. They will chip and break on a small wiggly machine when the end mill is flapping against the stock. Stick with HSS tooling.
 
And don't use carbide tooling. They will chip and break on a small wiggly machine when the end mill is flapping against the stock. Stick with HSS tooling.


A lot of cheap mills have end float on the quill.

Check with a block of wood and lever up to see if the quill moves, seen this on a lot of cheap mills.
 
small tools, mill vise is the handiest, a set of parallels, rubber hammer (don't hammer on the mill), 3-flute stuff from lakeshore is probably good--I would also recommend high-helix endmills for aluminum, 40-45 degree helix the lakeshore VFA line are high helix, probably the uncoated standard ones too.

high helix for HEM.jpg
 








 
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