[ovisopa]

Hello everyone,

it's been almost one year since I started out to mill steel on my Tormach PCNC1100, I still have alot to learn but there is one thing I must improve ASAP, because I loose a lot of time in the first stage of the process, when I have to prepare the raw material to mount it in the vise.

I get my materials from 2 different suppliers.

1. The main supplier also sells small parts of 1.2379 steel, like 50x50mm, from time to time I go there and get small block to make more cutting dies, I search for blocks that fit almost perfectly the final product size, so I will need to mill as less as possible.

Those blocks are cut from larger blocks, and usually all sides have marks from their huge bandsaws, I had success in facing those on the mill using Tormach 38mm facemill, but still slow as the blocks are not parallel, sometimes I have to add a round broken drill between the vise jaw and the steel block, because otherwise the vise will only hold in left or right side of the block. Using something round in the middle, was ok , I just used this method twice untill now, with success.

Attachment 374386

2. The second supplier sells longer (1 meter ) FORGED steel bars, this was a good choice for me as I quite often I need to do even smaller parts, like 10 x 20mm (15mm thick) and this small size blocks can't be purchased from the main supplier, also he can't cut slices so small on their big bandsaws.

The main problem with this material is that is uneven and when I try to facemill with the Tormach 38mm facemill, the carbide inserts get dull (tear very easily or get chipped). I think the surface of the forged bars is very hard compared to the inner section, which is milling ok. I tried to mount new carbide inserts twice and each time the inserts got dull in less than a minute.

Maybe one reason is the cutting depth I used, it was quite small: 0.3mm. Is this to small for the carbide inserts ? When the block is large enough I use 0.5mm or 1mm (this was the maximum depth of cut I used)

This is a forged steel bar:
Attachment 374388

For the last cutting die I made from the forged steel, I spent some time (maybe ~ 15minutes) to sand all the faces on the belt grinder, until there was almost no black spot on the face of the material, but still after this I had more work to do on the mill, to make the side parallel, sometimes I spend ~1 hour only to prepare the material, to make it parralel and have all sides faced flat

I started to look over a surface grinder, I don't want to spend $4k for a Tormach grinder, the size is enough for me, and I like as it does the job almost automatically, I know there are alot of machines on ebay, but I'm not sure if this will help me out to "square" a block faster. Also some of my blocks are wide, and I will need to make the sides parallel one to another, the magnetic table will hold the block when mounted on the tall side ? or I need to use a vise to mount it like that?

Before you grind a block like that, I would have machined it close to size (within .010 of finish size) then go to the grinder to finish it.

I read some threads and seen a message from @Steve Seebold, is it recommanded to grind the uneven metal first on the surface grinder and only than start to mill it ?

Any advices are welcome, for facing faster the forged blocks, or any method to make easier a block of steel parallel so it can be safely mounted in the vise.

Bellow are a few photos with a cutting die I finished last night

Attachment 374390

Attachment 374392