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Truing the edges of a plate

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fluxcored:
Hi Guys, I'm nearly done with my slotter - just need to make some tool holders and  a dab of paint. Promise to send in some pics as long as nobody laughs!!

My next project is a milling plate for my lathe - I'm using 20mm plate. Problem is after cutting, filing and sanding the edges are still not as true as I want them to be. Only a cosmetic issue but I want it to be as close to perfect as I can get it.

Now, I do'nt have a mill to work with but thought that using that spare Chinese drill press, removing the drill portion and clamping my Hitachi die grinder in the table holding fixture and making a sliding table for the plate to sit on I could use the contraption to grind the edges straighter than I can do by hand. In my mind the die grinder would be held vertically and fixed while the plate would be slided back and forth on the sliding table.

The sliding table,  I can do with 2 shafts a few bushes and some angle iron to keep it to together.

Is there perhaps a better or easier way of truing up the sides of the plate. Maybe I'm overcomplicating a very simple operation?

sbwhart:
You don't say how big the plate is.

But have you thought of using your lathe bolt the plate to the cross side some way, hold an end mill in the chuck and away you go.

Stew

raynerd:

--- Quote from: sbwhart on August 23, 2010, 07:04:02 AM ---You don't say how big the plate is.

But have you thought of using your lathe bolt the plate to the cross side some way, hold an end mill in the chuck and away you go.

Stew

--- End quote ---

Yea, that is what I use to do for some basic milling before I had a mill. I also removed the tool holder and clamped a little vice onto it. Made small chips and light cuts - worked ok. I`m sure it would be a good solution for truing the edges of your plate. That being said, I was watching someone using an X, Y axis clamped onto a pillar drill and doing some nice gentle milling. Net nannys probably wouldn`t be happy but it was working well, he got a better finish than I can get and he was working the tools and funds that he had available.

fluxcored:
Can I clamp an end mill as is in a 3 jaw chuck?

It's not too big - it's going to be installed on the cross slide anyways.

raynerd:
That is what I did!


Chris

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