I would like to see that. Do you have any pics? Send me a message through my website, if you wouldn't mind. Tom

Thanks. Someone needs to pass the baton. The state of manufacturing in this country in sad shape. If we want to maintain our current standard of living, we need to get back to making things instead of paying someone else to do it. So...got any free samples? ;) Tom

Toms Techniques there are lots of home shop machinist, thank goodness.

@@TomsTechniques Well said sir. America used to set the gold standard for quality manufacturing, especially in machine and tool manufacturing. Now, we don't make anything.

Thanks Brian. Machining has become very specialized and good general machinists are not nearly as common as they used to be. Hopefully these videos will help provide some general knowledge of machining. Tom

@@TomsTechniques it might be a dying art, but I love it and am trying to become the best I can at it

I've never heard of anyone refer to machining as a dying art. There isn't as much manual machining going on as there used to be, but CNC operators and millwrights are in very high demand. Most of the manual machining practices still apply.

@@TomsTechniques I dont refer to it as that either, but there still is not enough people in the business for the job outlook. Companies around where I live are so hungry I was offered 6+jobs last week alone. Its a good business to be but there needs to be more people interested in it. I am actually about to graduate this month from my trade school. Manual machining is my favorite, but I do CNC as well, CAD/CAM too. Im happy to have found machining

@@TomsTechniques In a 2 year late reply, I can't speak for the commentor, but I am an engineer in Lithography industry. POSSIBLY what he means, is how everything he become "automated" and operators don't have to be very skilled. Of course the automated machinery, has to cover those skills. So I would argue that finding "good lithographers" which is a VERY high knowledge, decades of learning.... the mastery of the skill has "become a dying art." We have new ways of doing it, and blah blah.... when someone says, "automate me a machine that feeds paper board and batches it. Can you make me a Pile feeder?" I might say... "Yes I can. But tell you what, let me make you a continuous feed top load friction feeder, that a COMPLETE MORON can operate. Doesn't matter who they send you from the temp agency, or who quits, or is availble to run it... AND I can make it so you have equal or better production. So I've eliminated them ahving to set the table rise speed, set the blowers correctly, the vacuum wheel adjustment... and to be honest, all of that is simple. BUT everything I design for an IDIOT to be able to run it. 10 years ago casual labor was almost imposible to use in lithography. The SIMPLEST of work, required skill. You are showing and demonstrating skills, and practices, techniques, etc. Verses somebody but an automated machine, you program in numbers off a piece of paper, and monkey can run it. Probably NOT quite that simpel in machine, and its still not quite that simpel in printing, but its getting that way quickly. I'm here because i have to design, build and automate so fast I sometimes don't have time for my parts to be made. I don't want to be a machinist.... but I need to learn a little bit for the mil I just bought for emergency design parts. THANKS TOM!

It's all about the angles. Thanks for watching.

SHAWN DOYLE Thanks for watching them Shawn.

You must be referring to illustration in the cutter diagram, which is just to show how the tool is used and not intended to build a fly cutter. If you look at the actual fly cutter I'm using, the set screws are indeed pressing against the top of the tool with the tool resting on the beefy part of the fly cutter. Not sure I understand your comment about the collet though. Collects are keyed and can't un-screw. Pretty sure I made my first flycutter at about that same time. :)

+Clevinger Customs If you got a beautiful finish on 1018, you did a very good job grinding the tool. Thanks for watching. Tom

Thanks Brian.

Thanks for watching.

Thanks Jim. The running commentary is an integral part of teaching and helps hold the attention of the student (or viewer). It's something that is picked up with experience and even though I haven't formally taught for many years, still comes fairly naturally. It's good to hear that it comes through in the videos. Receiving the spanner was a nice surprise. The fellow who made it actually lives close to where I work, so I'll have to set up a visit. Thanks for watching. Tom

Thanks Mike.

Thanks Ray!

Thanks!

Good to hear because it's always a challenge to get right. Thanks for watching. Tom

Success stories are always good to hear. Thanks for sharing. Tom

I've had that grinder for more than 40 years and it's still going strong. I doubt one made today under the Craftsman name would last that long.

I have a couple 32S models as well. They are much easier to find than 11 and 15c's. My mind works in RPN, so they are the only calculators I use.

@@TomsTechniques I have never done any machining, only design work. I would like to get into machining and I am enjoying learning from your videos. Thanks!

Thanks for watching Ron.

Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks Herb.

Thanks Terry!

Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching Thad.

Old school huh? I've definitely been called worse. :) My "Larry" was Ernie "The Kraut" Kraudelt. I used to love to watch him work. Tom

Flying steel is rarely a good thing. Good to hear you came though relatively unscathed. Thanks for watching.

+Paul Frieden That's good to hear Paul. Try stoning the cutting edge for an even better finish, especially on aluminum. Tom

Thanks.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks!

Thanks Cliff.

Thanks Andre.

Thanks for watching, David.

I do that as well, if necessary, but light milling doesn't require as rigid a setup and it saves a lot of cranking time to just leave the table alone if you don't need one. Rules like that are never absolute.

Yes it should always be fully engaged, especially for flycutting. I was taught 'the quill for drilling, not milling'.

Thanks Chuck. I hand ground the end of a boring bar this morning to use as a spot facing tool and it indicated flat within .001" over a 5/8" diameter. You are right that it definitely takes practice to develop a steady hand. I'm thinking of trying to hand sharpen the helix on an end mill next. ;) Tom

Keld, My face (handsome as it is) isn't going to show you how to grind a tool bit or cut a thread. Close in shots are a necessity for demonstrations like that. Glad you liked the video. Tom

Thanks.

Thanks for watching Mitchell.

Thanks Rob.

Bill Clifford Haven't given up Bill. I still work full time so when summer rolls around all my spare time is spent in the great outdoors. Not much is spent in the shop. Tom

Thanks Don. :)

Thanks for watching, Paul.

Another good explanation!

Great! Welcome aboard. Tom

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks Daniel. Cutting a hole as you describe is called trepanning. It's normally done with a pilot of some sort to keep the center piece from jamming when the tool cuts through. A boring head would be a better option than a flycutter, but only if the center was restrained. Tom

Great video Thanks for making it- 10,000 Video on proper use of Boring head would be great -- I just purchased one and not much info out there on using - Toms Techniques

Thanks Bob. Don't forget to visit my website and download the diagram showing all of the tool angles. Tom

Yup, it's hard to beat that Reverse Polish Notation. I bought the HP11c in the video back in the 80's and have picked up a couple spares on eBay, just in case. Algebraic calculators are way to slow to use.

lol, I wish everyone used the inch system. Thanks for watching. Tom

It's always a plus to enjoy the type of work that you do. Not everyone does. Tom

I've seen too many bad things happen in my career NOT to emphasize safety. Thanks for watching. Tom

Great Bob. I always enjoy hearing a success story. Thanks for watching. Tom

+Bill Clifford Thanks Bill, I had planned on making one today, but it didn't work out. Hopefully I'll be able to do one in the next week or so. Tom

Thank you.

Good stuff Tom.

No luck required. Just a basic understanding of cutting tool geometry and lots of practice. Have fun. Tom

Thanks for watching!

OUTSTANDING--FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS THE SECRET

The DoAll is a nice mill, but they stopped making them years ago. The good thing is they hold up well, so there are still a fair number around on the used market, along with many other Bridgeport clones. Thanks for the sub.

Barry, I have had a few requests for that and it is on my list of topics. Thanks for watching. Tom

Thanks. If I'm taking light cuts, the quill stays extended instead of cranking the knee up and down. The time I've saved not doing that in my career would likely have paid for a new mill or two. Obviously, heavy cuts require the rigidity of a raised quill, but for most machining, I rarely touch it.

Who's Dale?

Good to hear!

Thanks Jack. I think I created some confusion by using the RH tool on my reference sheet. To use a RH tool bit, the fly cutter would need to be made for a RH tool. Otherwise, like you say, the top of the tool bit would not be on axis. I'll go ahead and change the reference sheet to a represent a LH tool. Thanks for pointing that out. Tom

Thanks Keith. We just moved and all my machines are in storage, but I do plan on making more videos, once the new shop is set-up.

Wow, it's good to know that my videos are more uplifting than porn. :) Thanks for watching! Tom

I wasn't talking about the Viagra effect, let's say on a more spiritual level...

lol

Thanks

You know you can mount the flycutter in your boring head to get more extension on the tool and still have the adjustment of the boring head. I've done that a lot. Tom

Thanks Ray. A fly cutter would make a good project, I'll have to add one to my project tutorial list. Yes, the top of the tool is coplanar with the axis of the fly cutter. Tom

Shouldn't do relating to what? I do a lot of that sort of thing in my project tutorials. You may want to check them out whether you build the project of not. Tom

Thanks!

There is a download in the reference section of my website. Unfortunately the site is very outdated, so you may have to do a bit of searching to find it. tomstechniques.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/RHTurning-Bit.pdf

You do have a vise? Just clamp the stock in the vise and fly cut the top surface. If the the top is lower than the vise jaws, you will have to set the part on parallels to raise it up. Be sure to take a deep enough first cut that the tool is below the scale or it will quickly dull. Tom

Depends on the size of the plate. If it's small enough, it can be held vertically in the vise and the edge end milled. If it's larger, it would need to be clamped to the table and side milled.

That is good to hear. :)

man does a fly cutter make a big mess though, throws shavings like 10 ft

I assume you mean brazed carbide bits. The cutting edges on Inserts are already "broken" by nature and not near as sharp as HSS which is why they require rigid machinery with lots of power. Since most home shops don't have that kind of machinery, HSS is a much better option. If the bits you have are brazed tips, leave them sharp. You'll get a much better finish on a light mill. Tom

Thanks. Normally the first cut is just deep enough to clean up the material. If you are asking how deep you can go, it depends on the rigidity of your machine. In this mill I can easily take a 1/8" deep cut in steel, but a lighter mill would have to take much less. Tom

Glad you enjoyed the video. All of the charts and tables I used in the video's are available on my website, tomstechniques.com.

Brain User Brian, If your mill has a 500 rpm minimum, that will limit the size of cutter you can use. For instance, you would not be able to use anything larger than a 3/4" end mill, or a 1" fly cutter in steel. Anything larger will be short lived. Tom

Toms Techniques Thank you for your response.