Hi Everyone,
Racking my brain trying to make this work. I tried to make a post yesterday and attach photos but was unsuccessful so I'm going to do my best to explain what I'm currently doing and what I'm trying to do. Always open to ANY suggestions or ideas. Keep in mind I'm doing these hundreds at a time and need a more streamlined process.
I'm working with 1.50 O.D. .095 wall ERW steel tube. Cut down to size with a 45 degree on one end and welding a .125 thick, 1/2" wide tab across the open end, centered on the 1.50 diameter. I am currently grinding the notch for this tab to sit in, ideally this notch would be .125 deep, 1/2" wide, squared and centered but that is all but impossible with the bench grinder setup I'm currently using. Leaving inconstant depth, rounded notches (because of the wear of a grinding wheel) and slightly off center notches. Causing ALOT of unnecessary hand fitting, welding, grinding and finish sanding.
My current solution to this issue was to build a tooling jig to hold my pieces for constant cuts, combined with a Porter Cable 11A Router fitted with a 1/2" dia. end mill bit. In THEORY this would cut a nice clean, squared, centered notch to drop my tab into and weld. My problem with this is I don't know enough about machining/milling to know what kind of bit is best to use or if it'll work with the RPM of the router(27500rpm).
McMaster-Carr had too many options to choose from. What I ordered was a 1/2" dia. 4 Flute Titanium Nitride (TiN) Coated High-Speed Steel Square End Mill, it was burned up while trying to make a cut to the tooling jig, also mild steel but is .250 thick. It did make ONE cut through a test piece of tube and I was satisfied with the results but it would cut no more.
Any suggestions or other ideas would be great. The whole trial and error route is getting pretty expensive. I would like to find a bit that'll work without having to buy a dozen different kind of end mills. Thanks.
Racking my brain trying to make this work. I tried to make a post yesterday and attach photos but was unsuccessful so I'm going to do my best to explain what I'm currently doing and what I'm trying to do. Always open to ANY suggestions or ideas. Keep in mind I'm doing these hundreds at a time and need a more streamlined process.
I'm working with 1.50 O.D. .095 wall ERW steel tube. Cut down to size with a 45 degree on one end and welding a .125 thick, 1/2" wide tab across the open end, centered on the 1.50 diameter. I am currently grinding the notch for this tab to sit in, ideally this notch would be .125 deep, 1/2" wide, squared and centered but that is all but impossible with the bench grinder setup I'm currently using. Leaving inconstant depth, rounded notches (because of the wear of a grinding wheel) and slightly off center notches. Causing ALOT of unnecessary hand fitting, welding, grinding and finish sanding.
My current solution to this issue was to build a tooling jig to hold my pieces for constant cuts, combined with a Porter Cable 11A Router fitted with a 1/2" dia. end mill bit. In THEORY this would cut a nice clean, squared, centered notch to drop my tab into and weld. My problem with this is I don't know enough about machining/milling to know what kind of bit is best to use or if it'll work with the RPM of the router(27500rpm).
McMaster-Carr had too many options to choose from. What I ordered was a 1/2" dia. 4 Flute Titanium Nitride (TiN) Coated High-Speed Steel Square End Mill, it was burned up while trying to make a cut to the tooling jig, also mild steel but is .250 thick. It did make ONE cut through a test piece of tube and I was satisfied with the results but it would cut no more.
Any suggestions or other ideas would be great. The whole trial and error route is getting pretty expensive. I would like to find a bit that'll work without having to buy a dozen different kind of end mills. Thanks.