What tooling and collet should I get

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Hi Guys

First time poster here so hello

I'm just about to buy a Warco WM12 mill to start building my own dive gear, mainly machining Delrin but also will be using aluminium. The types of things i will need to do are facing, removing material and cutting o-ring groves so it needs to be fairly close tolerances and neatly done.

I just had a question about collets, collet chucks, tooling and associated stuff.

Basically the question is whats the best way to go? Should I get a collet chuck and collets, an arbour so I can directly connect to the drawbar or another way. If I go collet chuck which tooling should I use.
I think tools I would need would be
– Endmills from 2 – 16 MM
– Facemills
– Groove cutters for perpendicular o-ring grooves (max 4mm wide).
– Any other stuff too

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Jools

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

I would suggest an ER collet chuck capable of holding up to 16mm.

Then get arbors for the size face mill you intend to use.

Get a boring head to do the face grooving.

Get a good quality drill chuck.

Get a good quality copy of a Kurt vise.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Welcome Julian.

+1 for ER collets. They will always win on maximum flexibility at reasonable cost.

Neil

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the input. Do you know, or can you suggest, which ER collet chuck I should get? All the other things I'll put on the list too.

Cheers

Jools

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Just looked and I think that ER25 looks to do the job.

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

Hi Julian.

I would go for an ER32 or better still the ER40 because you will find in the future that you will want to use bigger tools or workpieces.

Frank

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Good advice, thanks Frank.

Could people list their reputable suppliers please.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Julian, the WM12 is a very small mill, ER 40 would be seriously oversize I think. I have the WM14 and I find ER25 adequate. I have used a 20mm endmill but it is definitely pushing the limits.

John

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Cutting grooves for O rings sounds like you'll need a rotary table to fit the mill.

Dave

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Hi John

The max end mill a WM12 can take is 16mm anyway.

A larger one would would save me buying it again if I upgraded but as the new set would be an extra couple of hundred quid it wouldn't break the bank.

I suppose the downsides are that a larger collet may clash with work holding and clamps more.

Jools

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

If only using it for holding milling tools, anything bigger than ER25 is not really worth it, as I doubt you would ever want to hold a cutter with more than a 16mm shank in that mill. Larger faces mills etc. will normally fit directly into the spindle.

ER32 can be handy if you want to use it as an accurate woirkholder in the lathe.

Neil

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

It may be difficult to find ER40 with a 2MT shank the other drawback of large tooling is that it takes up precious headroom which is a problem on these small milling machines.

John

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

If it's available, buy one with an R8 taper and get R8 collets. That way you will get an additional 50mm or so of headroom as they don't project from the spindle more than a few mm. R8 collets grip like the proverbial, don't need to be furiously tightened, and are relatively cheap to buy.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

I would go for ER32 collet set; it will give you the facility to use a 20mm collet for that 'bit extra capacity'. if your machine has R8 spindle then go with R8 collet set.

George.

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Hi George/John

On the R8 collet the machine I am buying only has a 2mt option.

In relation to the ER32 collet can I respectfully ask whether that would be required? The machine is limited to a 16mm end mill so there seems to be no need to have a bigger shank than cutting area IMHO.

Julian

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by Julian taylor on 29/03/2017 15:53:32:

building my own dive gear,

Jools

That's brave of you. Isn't that a little 'mission critical'

regards Martin

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

You don't have to have he ER32 size, ER 25 will do what you need. I have the WM 16 – MT2 taper & on a couple of occasions I have used a 19mm insert type face mill to give me the option of completing the cut in one pass rather than two side by side passes… horses for courses I s'pose

George.

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

That's brave of you. Isn't that a little 'mission critical'

regards Martin

Yes and No I suppose. The equipment I'll be building, though it looks technical, is actually fairly basic in design and build.

But yes it will be keeping me alive while over 60M underwater or while half a mile into an underwater cave system so yes very much mission critical

Julian

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 30/03/2017 12:20:07:

Posted by Julian taylor on 29/03/2017 15:53:32:

building my own dive gear,

Jools

That's brave of you. Isn't that a little 'mission critical'

regards Martin

This type of stuff

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rebreather+head+from+aluminium&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilkbTQkP7SAhVMDsAKHan2Dg4Q_AUIBygC&biw=1920&bih=994#tbm=isch&q=rebreather+head&*

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Posted by Julian taylor on 30/03/2017 12:33:20:

Posted by Martin Kyte on 30/03/2017 12:20:07:

Posted by Julian taylor on 29/03/2017 15:53:32:

building my own dive gear,

Jools

That's brave of you. Isn't that a little 'mission critical'

regards Martin

This type of stuff

**LINK**

Dear god. That's not just mission critical, it's Darwinian?

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Can't you just hold your breath for a bit ?

[Julian taylorParticipant @juliantaylor20573]

Posted by John Stevenson on 30/03/2017 12:41:41:

Can't you just hold your breath for a bit ?

Yes I can. Just not long enough to swim a mile

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

I have ER32 collets which I use on my lathe & milling head. I've ended up getting collet chucks with MT2, MT3 & MT4 ends so I can use the lot in my rotary table & drill press (MT2), lathe tailstock/milling head (MT3) and lathe headstock (MT4). Have a range from 6-20mm, bought one at a time when I needed them. On the mill, lathe tailstock & drill press I use the thing for tool holding, but every where else I use them for work holding. This is especially useful in the rotary table and on my little CNC where I have a Stevenson hexagonal collet chuck, to which I filed a number of slots so it could be clamped collet axis vertical.

So, don't get hung up on the fact the mill can only end mill 16mm diameter. There are many other uses for the same collets.

Having said that, you could go ER25 and if you need something bigger, get another collet chuck of the ER32 size. Get them direct from China/Hong Kong via E-bay & perfectly good ones are under £20.

Regards,

Richard

[VicParticipant @vic]

For my mill and lathes I've settled on ER32 as there seem to be more fixtures and fitting that take this size than any other.

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