How would you...

[cuemaker]

Put slits on the end of studs? stud diameters are .500 and .750..Length vary, shortest being 2.5" long up to 5.50" long...

Slit dimensions are expected to be .125 wide by .25 deep.. maybe slightly different, but not majorly so...

quantity is 130ish

horizontal miller?

[DonT]

One way would be to set up a fixture or vee block on your mill for the stud to sit in and use a slitting saw to cut the slit. With the block anchored you remove the clamp holding the stud and replace, do all the .50" first, adjust height and do the .75" dia ones.

In this case length should not be an issue as you hang out over the vee block a little more than you want to go deep with the slit.

DonT

[Duffy]

If you have a 5C collet block, the fixturing would be a lot simpler-no clamping of the stud,just clamp the block in your vise.

[Mcgyver]

imo nothing heavy duty about it that would require the cutter to be supported on both sides as with the horizontal mill and using the horizontal would require you to hold the stud vertically; much easier to hold it horizontally. I'd just load in the vertical mill's vise sitting on a parallel and cut the slot in one pass with a 1/8" horizontal style cutter like this http://www.thurstonmfg.com/images/plainmetal.jpg (not sure if at 1/8 they're still called slitting saws!) held on a R8 arbor or whatever you have.

[Toolguy]

I would just use a 1/8" wide woodruff key cutter in a 1/2" collet.

[cuemaker]

This brings up a 2nd question..

Material is ASTM 193 B16...which is Chromium-molybdenum-vanadium with a max hardness of 321 HB or 35 HRC

Carbide tipped?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#milling-cutters/=auyqas

[Black_Moons]

Last time I held 1/4" threaded rod in a 5C collet block, It had to be so tight to keep it from sliping it totaly ruined the threads.

You might be better off drilling and threading a hole into some 1"x1"x1" stock and sliting it in half to hold the block. You can use the vise itself to clamp the block, or maybe holddowns or somesuch. Im not sure you can put more then 2 bolts into a single split block and have them all held securely.. You could have more then one split in the block however. but that seems messy to set up.

Im also kinda leaning towards a sliting saw in a vertical mill, as otherwise you need to space the block off the table for clearance for longer bolts.

[SDL]

Drill and tap square block.
Screw stud in 1/2" longer than needed.
Put nut on and do up tight.
Put in vice and machine rotate machine etc.

Steve Larner

[lbhsbz]

I would thread a block and use a jamb nut (or wing nut) to secure the stud in the block for fixturing.

I would also probably try and freehand it with a die grinder and a cut off wheel. It'll cut that tool steel no problem, tooling is cheap, and your cut is so small that it may be faster than cranking the handles and making multiple passes. I assume this is just an installation aid for the studs...someplace to stick a screwdriver, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

When I had a piece of junk mini mill that I didn't really care about.... I put an abrasive cut off wheel on an arbor and ran it in the mill...cut lots faster than a slitting saw and was almost idiot proof as far as feeds and speeds go..

[Peter.]

Clamp two pieces of ally stock together with a shim between them, drill a handful of half-inch through holes along the line and tap for the stud thread. Load the bottom block into mill vice, load up your studs with a stop to align the and g-clamp the top half on top. Threads will stop the studs from slipping and you can cut them 5 at a time. When you've done with the 1/2" re-drill for the larger ones and repeat.