Miniature milling table

[mklotz]

Most of the parts I make are small to tiny and fit nicely into my small Eron milling vise. Nevertheless, the odd part will come along that won't and I really hate to remove the vise in order to table mount the part, then have to spend time reinstalling and tramming the vise again.

So I built a small, auxiliary milling table that looks like this.



The table is 1/2" thick aluminum and the bottom is fitted with a machined block that can be grasped in the milling vise.



Most work can be clamped directly to the table using the T-slots. The removable fences allow the work to be aligned to the edges of the table which, in turn, are aligned to the x and y axes of the mill when the block is clamped in the vise. Making the fences removable (after the workpiece is clamped in place) ensures that they won't be damaged during the machining operations.

I had thought of drilling an array of tapped holes in lieu of the T-slots but came up with something a bit more flexible. I had acquired some tooling plates that were perforated with holes exactly the right size for tapping 1/4-20 or 6 x 1 mm (for Unimat accessories). I took a piece of this plate and squared it so it can be located accurately using the fences. Then the edges of the perforated plate act as additional part alignment features and the tapped holes can be used for clamping in almost any location.



Obviously not something the guys repairing tractors need but a very handy tool if one is making small models or miniature engines.

[Your Old Dog]

Pretty slick setup Marv. Will the clamping block fit in the 4 jaw lathe chuck? That would be pretty neat as well.

[Too_Many_Tools]

I agree...pretty slick setup.

I can see myself making a similar fixture for my smaller Emco Maximat machines.

TMT

[mklotz]

Originally Posted by Your Old Dog

Pretty slick setup Marv. Will the clamping block fit in the 4 jaw lathe chuck? That would be pretty neat as well.

It will fit either of the 4-jaws but I've never used it that way. I do have a purpose built 3" diameter faceplate with T-slots and indexing holes that is used for miniature work. It attaches via a centering pin to a general purpose spigot that fits in the 1" C5 collet. Other sacrifical plates also attach to this spigot.

As much as possible I try to make tooling in separable components that can be synergistically fitted together with other pieces to form new configurations.

[laddy]

Sharp as a tack!!! Great idea!! I have a couple extra milling tables from my unimat which I never even considered using on my bigger equipment but now....modification time. Thanks for the idea. Best regards, Fred

[mklotz]

Originally Posted by laddy

Sharp as a tack!!! Great idea!! I have a couple extra milling tables from my unimat which I never even considered using on my bigger equipment but now....modification time. Thanks for the idea. Best regards, Fred

That's what prompted this idea. Originally, I mounted a machined block to the bottom of my Unimat milling table and used that but it was too small and lacked fences so I built the one pictured.

[Evan]

Very nice Marv. That's the sort of thing I like to make in the winter. I'll probably steal some elements of that.

BTW, synergistically is one of those words that really bugs me. I think it should be synergetically, as energy becomes energetically. Energistically just doesn't fly. Another peeve is using orientated instead of oriented.

Interestingly, the Firefox spell checker doesn't recognize synergistically or synergetically.
Back to our regularly scheduled program.

[PHiers]

Marv,

As usual very nice work. Have you ever considered writing up some of your fixtures for HSM or MW magazines? That way people that don't use the online forum could see your work and copy it!

[tattoomike68]

Thats just what I want to make even if its a small sub plate, that will do a fine job for what I want to do., like you say small engines and stuff. Being that I own a smithy that would replace most vice jobs and let me set a height with some good shims.



mark, you have shown ideas and given software to people all over the world. Thank you.

[John Stevenson]

Originally Posted by tattoomike68

mark, you have shown ideas and given software to people all over the world. Thank you.

Marv does the same thing as well

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