Subject: Milling Dovetails

From: [email-masked] (Clive Washington)
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 16:29:43 +0000

Does anyone have any experience of milling small dovetail slides?
I am getting a very bad finish, with rippling, particularly on the angular
face, even though my machine (Centec 2A) is very solid and all the free
slides are locked.  I know that it has been suggested that you should
not cut on the side and face of these cutters in the same pass, but I
get a bad finish even if I only use the angled side of the cutter.

I suspect a lack of rigidity but I can't find any obvious slop in the
setup.  I am milling a tail about 8mm deep in FCMS with a 1" x 60¡ cutter.
My only reservation is that the cutter has a rather slender shank
(about 10mm for 20mm of its length.  I've tried changing the coolant and
taking slow fine cuts, to no avail.  Help!

Clive Washington.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 12 Jan 94 22:03:22 PST

In article <[email-masked]>, 
[email-masked] (Clive Washington) writes:

> slides are locked.  

I made a new cross slide for my 10" Logan 200 lathe and had
no such trouble with the dovetail slides.   The material was
cast iron (from Metal Lathe Accessories -- very good quality)
and the machine was a big (by home standards) Kerney & Trecker (sp?)
mill (courtesy of the local college).   At the suggestion of
the instructor, the only coolant/lubricant I used was solvent
(kerosene?) applied with a dropper bottle.

I am *very* happy with the results.

--  Alan E. Frisbie               [email-masked]
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