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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    16

    Default Hard milling on drill press??

    I have some small plane blades for a vintage Woodworking plough plane that are all 6mm thick, and want to reduce the thickness to 3mm so they will work in an other plane body.  (I stupidly ordered the wrong items from USA) They are hardened to about rc60 and I think are carbon steel, not hss.

    Length about 80mm, width ranges from 3mm on smallest to about 30mm, and all need thickness reduced by 3mm - 0.5mm taken off the back and 2.5mm taken off front .

    The only tool I have that would seem to help me is a drill press. (I think my bench grinders would be too difficult)

    I was thinking of holding the blade in an xy vice and attempting to mill to required thickness in multiple passes .

    Any advice on the tooling I should try this with? Or is it going to be completely futile??

    One thought was to try with a CBN cup wheel .

    Alternatively , anyone with a surface grinder on Sydney north  side that would be willing to help would be very much appreciated .

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Charlestown NSW
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    65
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    1,669

    Default

    Dont even bother trying to mill them, especially using a drill press.
    3mm is quite a lot to take off, even using a surface grinder. Unless you paid a lot of money for them it might be cheaper and quicker to cut your losses and order in the correct size.
    peter

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge S Aust.
    Age
    71
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    5,942

    Default

    Peter's right don't bother trying to mill them. Drill presses are meant for drilling, unless you have a mill/drill unit.
    As also mentioned
    Unless you paid a lot of money for them it might be cheaper and quicker to cut your losses and order in the correct size.
    Getting someone to mill/grind them is asking a lot, unless they have an industrial unit, and then it wouldn't be cheap.
    At a guess, I'd have to allow about an hour each to do them, 3mm is asking a lot from a surface grinder, as they are normally used for taking off several thou of an inch or .0254 - .125mm
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    35
    Posts
    1,522

    Default

    I would take them to a Blanchard grinding place, someone on here is related to someone that runs one but I can't remember the thread. a big Blanchard wouldn't break a sweat on this.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Australia east coast
    Age
    71
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    2,713

    Default

    [QUOTE=RossM;1946547]
    I was thinking of holding the blade in an xy vice and attempting to mill to required thickness in multiple passes ./QUOTE]

    Complete, utter and total waste of time and fraught with risk of injury to both you and the drill press.

    You *cannot* do even light milling on a drill press. There are exceptions, but that's exactly what they are. A drill press spindle is not designed to take side loads and a Morse taper isn't either. Any tooling not positively restrained by a draw bar *will* come loose if subjected to a side load, the only unknown is just how much side load and when it's going to happen.

    Put this idea firmly out of mind and move on to getting the things ground or just buying more and cutting your losses.

    PDW

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,439

    Default

    Hi Ross, Guys,

    PDW is right ! You would be risking life and limb attempting to do what you suggest using a drill press.
    Ebay the blades and order the right ones !
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    16

    Default

    Thanks guys - I'll stop thinking about using drill press for milling!!

    (Out of interest, would a CBN cup wheel in a proper mill work for this sort of activity?)

    I spent some time yesterday evening experimenting on grinding using slow speed (1400RPM) grinder with 60 grit alox wheel. I managed to reduce it by about 1mm with 15 min of careful grinding, with very frequent dips in a water bath. Holding the blade by hand to judge the heat buildup. This was on an 8mm wide blade.
    The blades look to only be hardened for half their length. A file skates off near the tip, but cuts OK on the rear half of the blade.

    I might order a 40 grit wet stone that will fit my Tormek, that way I wont have to spend half the time cooling the blade.

    It will be slow going but looks do-able.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    35
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    1,522

    Default

    You must be the most patient man on earth. Kudos for even giving it a go.

    Sent from my Nokia 8 Sirocco using Tapatalk

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Near Bendigo, Victoria, AUS
    Age
    72
    Posts
    3,102

    Default

    I'm impressed with your tenacity and patience too!
    I take it the planer blades a flat on both sides and the top and bottom parallel to each other? If so, if you get the thickness to within 0.5mm - even if not quite flat and with some grinding marks, I'd be prepared to sit them on my surface grinder magnetic chuck and grind them flat, parallel and to size for you. I'm really that impressed
    You pay the postage though, as I'm in Victoria.... Maybe someone closer is equally impressed with your patience
    Cheers, Joe
    retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jhovel View Post
    I'm impressed with your tenacity and patience too!
    I take it the planer blades a flat on both sides and the top and bottom parallel to each other? If so, if you get the thickness to within 0.5mm - even if not quite flat and with some grinding marks, I'd be prepared to sit them on my surface grinder magnetic chuck and grind them flat, parallel and to size for you. I'm really that impressed
    You pay the postage though, as I'm in Victoria.... Maybe someone closer is equally impressed with your patience
    Thanks Joe - that is a very kind offer. I have found a work colleague who has a home workshop & has offered to do this for me. Hopefully I will end up with a set of blades that work well.

    I can't actually order any other blades, as the plane is very old (1870) and its nigh on impossible to find blades. The ones I ordered were reproductions for a very similar (but more common) plane. The manufacturer does not make the ones in size I need. Anyway, I'll persevere & over time should end up with a good result!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Near Bendigo, Victoria, AUS
    Age
    72
    Posts
    3,102

    Default

    Oh, good. I look ofrward to the outcome.
    Cheers, Joe
    retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....

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