End mills in a drill press

t1mpani

t1mpani

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Jun 6, 2002
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Howdy again,
I need to drill some flat-bottomed holes in a piece of nickel silver, and was wondering if I could start out with a regular drill bit of the appropriate diameter, and then switch to one of these to square off the bottom:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-pc-4-Flute-TiN-End-Mill-Set/G9762

Is there a reason my drill press couldn't use these end mills? The RPM range listed on many milling machines I see looks about the same.

Thanks,
Warren
 
go for it. it wont hurt a thing. just make sure to have the piece clamped in place. i have used an end mill many times in a drill press for the exact same thing.
 
They say side cutting and long term lateral stresses to the chuck can cause problems but from what I've gathered most of us have a lot of trouble seeing those ill effects often talked about. As a result I think you'd be surprised how many folder makers don't even use a mill but instead use a drill press and a good vice clamp with two hands to hold the locks for frame and liner locks so they can cut their long cuts to mill the lock bar out. This is just one of many other things that are possible and also faster to do using your hands. I have milled my locks out on my bench top milling machine this way and I've done it this way in the picture using my drill press. Its twice as fast doing it using the drill. Go figure.

Picture courtesy of a fellow knife maker and a good friend of mine. I would tell you his name but I do not have permission to do that. However, if he sees the pic I'm sure he'll know it. :D

STR
 

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STR said:
They say side cutting and long term lateral stresses to the chuck can cause problems but from what I've gathered most of us have a lot of trouble seeing those ill effects often talked about. As a result I think you'd be surprised how many folder makers don't even use a mill but instead use a drill press and a good vice clamp with two hands to hold the locks for frame and liner locks so they can cut their long cuts to mill the lock bar out. This is just one of many other things that are possible and also faster to do using your hands. I have milled my locks out on my bench top milling machine this way and I've done it this way in the picture using my drill press. Its twice as fast doing it using the drill. Go figure.

Picture courtesy of a fellow knife maker and a good friend of mine. I would tell you his name but I do not have permission to do that. However, if he sees the pic I'm sure he'll know it. :D

STR
Click to expand...


Cool! I slot guards for full tang knives with that exact set-up!:cool:
 
I was using my drill press for side milling, and the bearings got wore out. Now when I run my drill press at high speed it runs real loud and I have a lot of side to side play. All of my pieces have to be centerpunched or the bit will wander pretty bad.

But, like others have said they have had no problems with this. Anyhow you said you are making flat bottomed holes so side pressure is a non issue for you.
 
hello everyone, im confused i thought that the the square bottom drills were for a milling machine. i understand that a milling machine can cut slots out for things like bolsters. so what i thought we were talking about was using the milling drills on a drill press and moving the piece of nickle silver so as to sut a slot in----instead of using the milling machine. then that picture looks like a cut off wheel mounted on a drill press --so now i dont know what were talking about anymaore. can someone please explain. thank you
 
The picture is a cut off wheel on a drill press. It is from yet another task possible with a drill press. I would assume a smaller 3/8" drill press would suffer quicker than a big beefy 1/2" floor standing industrial one.

End mills fit in a chuck providing the chuck capacity can handle the diameter of the end mill cutter. Whether that be in a chuck on a drill press or a mill they can work for flat bottom holes. The problem I see using an end mill for anything but single round holes to make them flat bottomed is side torque cutting control. However its quite possilbe to do this on materials like G10, Micarta or other things of this nature by cutting the piece and moving it by sliding the vice on your table by hand albeit a very steady double grip providing you take off a little at a time. Its much easier of course with a mill and a precisely controled micro adustable table or better yet a rotary table.

Sorry if my post side tracked the thought process. I was simply stating that a drill press can be used for more than just drilling at times and pointing out that some in fact do a lot more using them like a mill. I just threw that out there because I felt Richard J very adequately answered the original posters question.

STR
 
Right off the bat, Do not try to MILL with a drill press. The Jacobs taper chuck mount is NOT designed for side loading, and has no retention feature. It may not have happened yet, but one day the bit will grab, and you'll have a two-pound ball of steel with a sharp- probably broken and jagged- bit in it turning 500RPM flying into your lap.

Drills with Morse-taper quills are no better; endmills have a helix, which under the force of the cut tends to pull the endmill down. Neither the Jacobs taper nor the Morse taper have any form of locking feature to keep that downward force from pulling them out of their sockets.

All you have is friction- but it's friction on a taper, so if that taper moves just a few thousandths, it comes completely free.

This isn't an academic concept- the drill press causes more machine shop injuries every year than mills and stamping presses combined- and that's when they're used properly.

Mini-mills are dirt cheap these days. They're designed to mill, and will do a far better job of it.

For your flat-bottomed hole, a counterbore will do a much better job when used in a drill press than will an endmill. Counterbores in those sizes are cheap- might cost you $10. It's cheap safety.

Doc.
 
I am a machinist, but I did not use Parks #50 last night...


My .02, for what it is worth.

I agree with Richard. I think it is okay to chase an already drilled hole with an endmill in a drill press to square off the bottom of a hole.

It is not okay to put a side load on an endmill (or anything else really) while it is chucked in a drill press for reasons already mentioned.

FYI: A key difference between an endmill and a drill bit is the flutes (the sides of) of the end mill are sharpened and have relief so they can cut, whereas the flutes of a drill bit are not designed to cut, but to simply pull chips from the cut and aid in the tip geometry. Therefore end mills can cut sideways and drill bits do not. This is also the reason the helix of an endmill can get you into trouble faster than the helix of a drill bit, the sides have "bite"...
 
For the record I'm not really trying to say it is ok or not ok to do anything I've mentioned above. I'm simply saying that I know makers and yes even some machinests do these things with their drill press on a regular basis. Safety is key in a shop and I would agree with Doc that you should be very careful if you try it but if you take the proper precautions you'd normally take for any job always prepared for the inevitable you can get by. A lot of folks do anyway.

I would have to say the drill press causing the most accidents in the shop may be accurate Doc but if we are talking about the most serious accidents I'd have to suggest another piece of equipment. I've always been told and read a few places that the most dangerous piece of equipment in a shop is the buffer. I know some guys nearly killed by their buffer grabbing a knife and throwing it back at them stabbing or cutting them severely, one of them a very famous knife maker. I know the buffer is the one I respect and fear the most of all my equipment I'll tell ya that.


STR
 
I only buff handle materials, do all my steel polishing with cloth and leather belts on a sander, so the tool in my shop I fear most is my routing table. :D

Many, many, many thanks for all the excellent information, everybody. I promise I won't do any side to side cutting if I go with the mills, and I'll look into counter-bores as well.

Warren
 
I went even cheaper yet... when I had to flat bottom some 3/16 holes , I drilled em to where they were close to final depth , took another 3/16 bit that I had ground flat on the bottom and removed the last small bit of material to flat bottom the hole.

Not the best way , but it works for me.... till I get the Index 55 up and going.
 
STR said:
However, if he sees the pic I'm sure he'll know it. :D

STR
Click to expand...
I do know it.

And I don't mind.

For what it's worth, flat bottom holes are easily accomplished using any of the afore mentioned methods on a drill press.

A proper counterbore (shop Enco), a flat bottom drill, or an endmill.
 
After 30 years in auto repair/body & collision and fabricating, I've learned ANY cutting tool will hurt ya if you don't give it time to cut. Improvising is in our nature,just be aware of the limitations of what you're using and what you're trying to do.
 
I am a production CNC machinist, and I would have to agree with Doc in that a drill press is far from the ideal tool for milling. You probably will get away with using an endmill to flatten your holes out. However the helix angles in my endmills are getting steeper all the time, it would seem, this is to help evacuate chips from the cut, which is great for milling but will give more downward force in a cut like the one you are asking about with the large cutting area on the sides of the end mill. I would keep the drill size as close to the size of the endmill as possible, exactly if you can.
 
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