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| Turning down the shank of dovetail cutter |
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| wongster:
Hello folks, I've still not able to work on the QCTP holder as I'm not able to locate a suitable dovetail cutter for my sherline mill. The only piece I can find of smallest size in the hardware shop is a 12mm shank, 25mm wide cutter. The shank has some threads on its end. I'm have this MT #1 ER16 collet holder with 10 pieces of collets from 1mm to 10mm. Nothing in my boxes can hold the dovetail cutter with its 12mm shank. The shop owner told me to turn down the shank to 10mm but I cracked my head on how to hold it in my sherline lathe to do that. Anyone has some suggestions for me to work on? I don't mind experimenting a bit as I move along as that will help in my learning. Or should I just ship in a right size cutter from US/UK? Appeciate any help. Regards, Wong |
| Dean W:
Hi Wong; You can get cutters with the proper shank size from the US, if you can afford the shipping. It could be a little expensive. My dovetail cutters are 3/8" shank, which is a standard size for one of the Sherline arbors. Since you already have the ER16 collet setup, I think I would search locally for a 10mm shank cutter. Another way would be to get a Sherline arbor and bore it to 12mm to take the cutter you already have. They make arbors that mount directly to the spindle, and you can drill and bore them to the size you want. Yet another way; The dovetail cutters I have here have a small center spot in each end. Providing the shank isn't just as hard as the cutting end, mount it between centers, drive the cutting end with a plastic or wooden driver, and turn down the shank to 10mm. Be careful not to put pressure on the cutting flutes if you try this. They will break if you much pressure against them while driving them. If you can get a face plate dog fastened around the shank directly behind the cutting flutes, that would be better. One other thing, not directly related to fitting your tool to your machine, but should probably be mentioned; A 25mm cutter is BIG for a Sherline machine. You will need to run it slow, and take light cuts. Dean |
| wongster:
Thanks Dean. Wish I could find a smaller cutter locally. Ordered from the sherline distributor here. Will take 2 to 3 weeks to reach me. Besides, the slot I'm cutting from is only 0.8"+. The final width of the dovetail should be 1.049". A bit of a challenge to use this cutter for my 1st dovetail cutting exercise. I was thinking about holding between centre but am scratching my head on driving it. You mentioned about a wood or plastic driver, do you have a pic of how it looks like? Is it a diy item or off the shelf? As for sherline arbor, are you referring to the endmill holder? The largest is 3/8" and I do not know if I have enough "meat" on it to bore out the 12mm hole. I'll check it out when I get home. It it can be done, it would be the simplest solution. Regards, Wong |
| Dean W:
Hi Wong; The Sherline arbor I was talking about is like the endmill holder, but has no hole in it. I looked on the Sherline site, and see they want $30 for one (!), and they no longer show blank ones. A2Z makes them for a reasonable $5. They screw onto the spindle nose and you can cut it for whatever size you need. Made of free machining steel, and is about 1" in diameter. Plenty large enough for 12mm. http://www.a2zcorp.us/store/Category.asp?Cguid={8B982514-64DD-4D5B-9BA6-020F24000020}&Category=BlankArbor%3ASherline If that link breaks, try this: http://tinyurl.com/37czrjc For a dog to drive it between centers, something very simple like this will do. You would need one slightly larger since your cutter is larger. The dovetail cutter shown is 3/4" (19mm) diameter. For a piece of wood or plastic, I meant that in case you can't rig up some kind of dog driver like the pics above. You would need a thin piece of wood with a hole in the center, and about twice the size of the end of the dovetail cutter. Plastic would do, too. It would need to be soft plastic, or rubber. Something the cutting edges of the cutter could bite into when you pressed it against the face plate. The dead center has to go through the hole to meet the center hole in the cutter. I think you would do better to make up a small dog out of aluminum. It could just be made from scrap. Considering how narrow the dovetail is that you're cutting, you would do better with a smaller cutter, if you can find one. It's going to barely fit your work piece on the size you got, and that means cutting both sides of the dovetail at once. Dean |
| andyf:
Hi Wong, Trevor Rymell, one of my co-moderators on a Yahoo machining group, lives in Singapore, so I asked him where he buys small tools. You have already ordered your dovetail cutter, but for future reference he says: "I've bought most of my mill tooling from Chan Man Lee Trading Co. Pte Ltd 75 Rowell Road Tel: 62946338 who are one of the big Dormer agents here. They also sell a number of other European and Asian brands (they constantly tell me how expensive it's getting to import brands like Dormer). You could mention this company to him and suggest he asks for Kelly and mentions my name." (Dormer is a reputable UK brand) Andy |
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