john lucas

I made a new tool today. I wanted to see how the Hunter cutter would work on a longer, bigger bar. This is 14" long 3/4" in diameter. I put a 1/2" Hunter cutter on the end. I'm still new to using this tool but it's going to be fun.

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firehawkmph

John,
sound good. Is there enough clearance just below the cutter head to do a shear cut with it? Hard to tell in the photo but it looks like the shaft is as big as the cutter. Did you try it yet?
Mike Hawkins

john lucas

The shaft is as big as the cutter. It acts as a bevel. I'm going to round the bottom a little more to make the "bevel" a little shorter so I can reach into more rounded areas. This is just a larger version of the Hunter #4 turning tool that Mike Hunter sells. It has a 1/2" bar with 1/2" cutter. It works well down to about 8" deep but I wanted something longer. Mike also makes a #5 tool which is a 5/8" shaft with 1/2" cutter. I'm just going a step further. It's actually a modification of the tool Mike just sent me to try out. It was OK but I thought it would be better if the cutter was lower, more toward the center of the tool so I made this one to try out my idea. I think it is better. Maybe in the near future it might be on the market.

Mitch Cholewinski

John Lucas
Nice looking tool John. Hope it works well for you. Let us know, after you get used to using it, if it performs, the way you wanted it to . I have a 1/2"cutter,maybe I will make one if you like yours. I wish you the best if your able to market it. How is the gouge tip coming along.? I like using a termite for hollowing and had the same idea as you as far as being able to go in deeper so ,instead of 1/2" body I used 5/8"and made the length 41/2" longer and attached the largest cutter Oneway makes. Works very well with no chatter whereas the one I bought does chatter a bit at it's max depth. Mitch

john lucas

Mitch I won't be marketing this but Mike Hunter might make this or some modification of it. That's why I made it, to see if my idea would work better than the one he sent.
I like his cutters. They do anything the Termite tool does but they don't clog. I plan to make one on a really short bar than can be inserted sideways in a long bar. I'll use this for cleaning up the inside of vases. I now use the #1 tool but I want to try a larger cutter to see if it has more control.

Mitch Cholewinski

John Lucas
John. I knew you meant Mike Hunter might market the tool. I just worded my reply poorly. I hope he does though.Not sure I understand what you mean by putting on short bar then onto a long bar. Do you mean like the short gouge you made? I am sure it would work if you say so,but I still favor the large termite cutter at this time. It does clog but if kept sharp it isn't so bad. The smallest cutter is notorious in wet wood though. I run a diamond stone over mine about every 8 to 10 passes and run the cutter over a bar of canning wax every so often, but not on the finishing cuts. Wanted to tell you, I am going to be getting the mini milling machine from Grizzly, will be delivered tomorrow. Was going to get a much larger model , a combo but started thinking what you told me about doing the indicating every time changeing from one operation to another. I will just buy a smaller metal lathe for any lathe work and just have 2 dedicated machines. I was onsidering the machine you have. Settled for Grizzly 8689. Good luck. Mitch

john lucas

Mitch I'll have to make one of the sideways tools to show you what I'm talking about. It will look similar to the Termite in overall shape but of course will have a Hunter cutter on the end. I plan to drill a hole in the side of a larger bar and stick this cutter out sideways. It will be used by starting at the bottom of the side and pull the cutter back out toward you.
I think you made a good choice on the small Grizzly. It will give you a chance to learn what you like and don't like about milling machines so if you decide to step up you will have a better feel for what you want. That's sort of why I bought what I did. It will let me play and learn and later in life I might want to step up to real quality machines. By then I'll have a much better idea of what I want and need.

Mitch Cholewinski

John
That will be great if you make the Hunter tool the way you explained.Should work good if the bowl you just posted is any indication of results you get with a Hunter tool.I had a couple teardrop cutters so I mounted on a round 5/8" bar and tried it in a deep vase I turned. Surprised me and worked very well.Never thought I would use it but I am using it more often now. Glad you think I made a good choice on the mill. I was actually going to get the 2 horsepower mill but was talked out of doing that. Met a machinist on the net and he has been good enough to be advising me on what is best for a beginner. I was afraid of the lack of horsepower and he explained it this way. For what I want to do I will be using small end mills and tools and he says horsepower seldom makes much difference when using small tools. He agreed with me about there being too much time resetting up if using one machine so I went for one dedicated mini mill and if I get to doing the milling I will get a dedicated metal lathe. He sent me a machinists book and a couple end mills to use for learning and gave me a couple exercises to practice on., along with a piece of round rod he said he uses every day so he will know what is wrong if I run into trouble. I wanted to ask you John, do you have a cooling system at all on your machine? I understand there is a misting kind and one made with most any type of pump. I am looking for a misting system that uses water and an oil mixed. Only ones I found cost as much as my machine. Thanks John. Mitch

john lucas

Mitch Cooling is in the future. It does work really well but I simply don't have a way to contain the mess. For most surface milling operations I just do without. When I was milling the flute I sprayed it occasionally with WD-40. It seems to cut better when you do this. When I'm drilling holes or if I get poor cutting when turning I use few drops of cutting oil on the workpiece.

Mitch Cholewinski

JohnI understand in the future, but you do spray some oil at least some of the time. I would think that would be hard on the tools, getting hot like they must. Do you notice this at all?I am thinking if I can locate a reasonably priced system, I will let it spray for a few times then find out where the lubricant actually runs off the mill. Then build a box type affair into the table, install a funnel and let it drain into a bucket. My mill came today and I spent a couple hours uncrateing and cleaning it up. Looks real good. Read some of the manual and was so surprised at the quality of the manual. Whoemever the Chinaman waswho wrote this manual needs to go back to school. I read all kinds of errors. Sometime I would read two sentences and not understand his meaning one bit. hate to be critical but this is the worst manual ever. Going to be tough setting everything up since I can't understand their meaning. Guess I will manage somehow. Got a bit of a surprise though. I was thinking I would be able to use my drill press vice on the mill. Works great on the drill press. It is way too big for the mill table. Received that machinist book from the guy I told you about. Opened it and it was written in 1941. Thanks again John. Mitch

john lucas

Mitch Up until about a month ago I never used oil or any cutting fluid when working on the lathe or Mill. I'm just now trying it to see if it works and you do get cleaner cuts. I just have trouble controlling the mess right now so I'm still working on the best way to do this. The tools do get hot but then they also do with lubricant unless you can have a fairly large flow of liquid over the tool. That would be really messy and probably isn't going to happen for a good while in my shop. I would almost need a dedicated metal working area, which is what I would love but ain't gonna happen any time soon unless I win the lottery. In which case I will buy all state of the art machinery and hire a good machinist to teach me how to use it.

Mitch Cholewinski

john I believe I understand what you mean by the mess created but think I can contain it. Going to make a dedicated bench for the mill , on what would be the top , attach a sort of bedpan pan cut a hole in the middle and put a small funnel in the pan . Install the top and place the mill on top with funnel emptying into 2 gallon bucket inside the bench. Won't cut a hole in the top till I run the mill with the spray on all the time to see just how bad a mess and how best to contain it. Not a good explanation but no doubt in my mind it will work. I decided on a mist type sprayer that uses your compressor to work in conjunction with the spray system. Cost $68 for the system plus tax and shipping. It runs all the time but you need to pull something to get it spraying as the mill is running. I was assured this one purchase will eventually save me many dollars in having to replace burned up tooling. I have drilled enough steel to know this to be true. Anyway that is my plans for right after the holidays. When you win the lottery and hire your own machinist to teach you, tell him you know some guy who needs all the help he can get. Happy Thanksgiving. Mitch