Metal Bit

[Kokanee]

I'm looking to rig up a drill press and jig to do some detail work on an aluminum part. What I have in my head so far is a drill press with jig, then a 1/2'' round router bit.

Of course, the bit being made for wood might be a problem. I'm looking for a source for router style metal cutting bits that could be mounted in a drill press.

Any help is most appreciated.

[HGI]

Easly call up home depo or canadian tire(or any other tool store)

Just ask them what you just asked and they'll hook you up.

They also shouldnt cost that much.

[mcguyver]

i use to use carbide tipped bits for my router when working with aluminum. the sheets were 1/8 inch thick layered onto mdf and the router cut no problem. after about 96 feet of cutting the bit barely showed any wear, so i'd say it should be ok.

[MadMax]

A lot of HSS and carbide router cutters for wood work fine on aluminum. It's pretty soft stuff. Are you planning to do sidecutting or just plunge work?

Sidecutting with a drill press is messy work. Most drillpresses use an unsecured taper fit at the chuck. The chuck is typically thudded onto a tapered spindle without a screw or drawbar to pull the chuck up onto the spindle. When you side cut, you risk dropping the chuck when the vibration and sideload shakes the taper loose.

[Greylocks]

Have you tried Lee Valley tools? They are the hands down experts for quality tools.

[MadMax]

you can also try kbctools.com for machine tool supply.

[CDN_Stalker]

What about a router attachment and various bits for the Dremel? MUCH better and easier to use for small detailed work (I used a router attachment and a tiny router bit to shape fret marker inlay holes in new fretboards I'd make for guitars and banjos back in my pre-airsoft days, to install custom made abalone stars and moons and whatever else I'd make. Always worked perfectly!)

Aluminum is easy to work with, but a lot of bit types may/will get plugged with metal (case in point, using a metal grinder to shape aluminum or copper, plugs the wheel up repeatedly.)

[Kokanee]

Madmax - I am planning on doing some limited sidecutting - total transition of about 1" is need to make carve the indentation i need. Was going to use a wood jig setup on the press to guide the piece along...

Stalker - I'm thinking that may be the way to go, but as I mention above if possible I'd like to go with the jig and drill press setup. Ofc ourse the dremel is always #1 in my mind when it comes to modding!

[CDN_Stalker]

Good man! And good luck! 1" of material is pretty hefty for a Dremel unless you have the time & patience (which I know you do, recall numerous times you spending 2 hours crawling into position to get a single kill on the field.) Problem with drill presses in that capacity, is they lack the necessary strength laterally to do much fast stock removal. Might be best to drill holes throught he bulk of the stock, remove it roughly with a Dremel and cut off wheel, then finish it with the router bit attachment?

[MadMax]

You risk a few things with your drill press arrangement:

If you're not using a crosslide travel (i.e. freehand with guide/fence)

Bit catching the workpiece and pulling it with the cutter. Cutting edge digs into wp and pulls it in tangent to the cutter progressively pulling it through the cutter. This results in a very poor finish and can cause damage to the wp or cutter. You can imagine what happens if you don't let go of the wp and it drags your hand in.

This kind of progressive bite and drag happens with a fence because the fence backs the workpiece against the cutter but allows it to be pulled in direction of the cutter tangent.

It could be safer to push the wp against the direction of the cutter as the cutter would push your hand away from the cutter if it grabs. Unfortunately you could still damage the part or get the wp spat into your face.

Chuck falls off spindle

This is actualy pretty likely with a drill press. They're definitely not designed for sidecutting. I used to maintain the students workshop for an engineering design class. Every year, I had to replace chucks or drillpresses because students tried to use the drillpress for sidecutting. They typically worked wood or styrofoam and attempted sidecuts with drill bits which don't have the right cutting faces for that. Once the chuck falls off from sidecutting load, you tend to scratch the spindle because it's still spinning while you're dragging the wp against the chuck. Once the spindle is scratched, it doesn't register to the chuck so well and it falls off more easily.

Hand drills have a screw which keeps the chuck pulled on because they tend to get sideloaded because the user tends to not be very well aligned. Sideloading is expected in hand drills but not drillpresses.


Unfortunately there aren't many options you can easily go with if you want a professional looking deep sidecut with common tools. I sometimes use a hacksaw to remove the bulk of material before milling. My mill isn't all that stiff so it helps to do bulk removal. Saves me some patience so I can take more light cuts within the capacity of my machine.

If you don't mind a more hand finished look, you could saw off the bulk of mat'l and finish to the desired shape with a single cut file (parallel straight edges, not "diamond" faces made by two edges). Aluminum is a bit cloggy, get a file card to brush out the file regularly.

[Kokanee]

pm'd you madmax