After the second test (didn't record it) I ended up with this for M6 threads: - Initial hole diameter of 4.93mm - Boring: 3.1mm endmill @ 22,590rpm, 573mm/min, bore pitch of 0.25mm and a finishing pass offset by 0.01mm. - Thread rough: 0.66mm PDO (66%), 22k rpm 850 mm/min - Threading final 1.00mm PDO (100%), 22k rpm 850 mm/min, and a spring pass. I'll check out the minor diameter tomorrow as I think it could be adjusted and made smaller than 4.93mm
I did a couple more holes to dial in the fit of these bolts with that scrap aluminum. Going slower for sure helps leave a nice shiny finish in the threads. In this video I never ran one of these so I just gave it 1 thou per flute (tool had 3 flutes). to see how it goes.
I know your anxietyand excitment, I cut my first threadmilled test about months ago, it was an M3 6mm deep . Its a good feeling, however I did my first cut into acrylic and a much slower feed.
Was the initial hole correctly sized? The internal threads appear to have more of a flat on them than I'd expect (from the comfort of my sofa and with no machining experience 🙂) Thanks for the videos.
In the vid I did the first pass about 60% and the second 100%. Single point thread milling the alignment will always be perfect no matter how many times. That’s why the spring pass at the end took hardly any material off.
I don't have ANY experience of thread-milling, but if I think repeated passes will work fine as long as the machine is not powered off. It will carry out the same path, with the amended settings OK. If it is powered off, or reset, the success of any subsequent passes depends on how accurately you can re-zero the axes. If Bryan sees this, maybe he can correct me?
My friend for a test bought a big chinese router to mill aluminium plates and he was scared as hell to mill threads :D I had to come in and mill the threads in front of him because something in him was telling him that the mill is not good enough for that :D Threads are pretty loose with tolerances so .. yeah :D
I think it was understandable when I clenched hard enough to make a diamond the first time you plunged into that hole at 98 mph. You'd think I'd have been prepared for the second time... but nope, more diamonds.
endmill was a DREANIQUE which are a pretty good chinese brand on aliexpress: www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001948417279.html EDIT: these ones came out to be 3.0mm and not 3.1mm they appear to be mislabeled. Same with other endmills on that page. I'd suggest not ordering any DLC endmills on that specific page from them unless you want to deal with wrong sized endmills. Thread cutter was a GULING and I don't have much to say about it. Seems to work alright. No damage with the minimal use I've put it through. Store doesn't even say the thread diameter though www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006373787254.html You can find a chart of the dimensions of those thread cutters from the alibabba store: sc04.alicdn.com/kf/H9f36178e802447369bddbc2c8250e9a71/267846975/H9f36178e802447369bddbc2c8250e9a71.png Sofar I've only run chinese import endmills. I find them last a long time for a hobbyist like myself. I typically will destroy an endmill due to unproven gcode, feeds/speeds, etc before I totally wear one out.
FYI after measuring these 3.1mm endmills they appear to be 3.0mm endmills. DREANIQUE are usually pretty good, but I wouldn't order any of these ones on this page unless you want to relabel them to the actual size which would be annoying. See the 3 star reviews. seems to be happening to the 4 and 6mm ones as well.
Looking into this more and measuring a bunch of endmills. My single flute endmills from a couple different manufactures come out undersized. 2,3,4 flute endmills are all on spec from all the chinese manufactures I use on aliexpress are on spec. Single flutes seem to be ground differently with a slight undersized to them. This might be by design. Single flute I only use for roughing so it doesn't matter much but this time around I used them for milling bore holes for threads and the exact dimension is kinda important. I'll probably just stick with single flutes for thread milling for the bore holes and just find specific manufacture and stick with them and the calculated offset to mill them correctly.
After the second test (didn't record it) I ended up with this for M6 threads:
- Initial hole diameter of 4.93mm
- Boring: 3.1mm endmill @ 22,590rpm, 573mm/min, bore pitch of 0.25mm and a finishing pass offset by 0.01mm.
- Thread rough: 0.66mm PDO (66%), 22k rpm 850 mm/min
- Threading final 1.00mm PDO (100%), 22k rpm 850 mm/min, and a spring pass.
I'll check out the minor diameter tomorrow as I think it could be adjusted and made smaller than 4.93mm
5mm should be a good hole size for M6. The issue is something else if it doesn't look right
"First time thread milling, don't have high hopes for it..." *proceeds to send it at 200ipm* lol looks great man!
I always send it! If it fails at least it'll be spectacular 😃
That plunge though 😮😮
I've seen punches with less velocity than that!
bro... not f*cking around with that speeds hahahahaha I mean glad it worked :)
Thread milling is really handy. I run quite a bit lower feed, probably a slower spindle speed too. Couple passes. Also slowly dial in diameter.
I did a couple more holes to dial in the fit of these bolts with that scrap aluminum. Going slower for sure helps leave a nice shiny finish in the threads. In this video I never ran one of these so I just gave it 1 thou per flute (tool had 3 flutes). to see how it goes.
I know your anxietyand excitment, I cut my first threadmilled test about months ago, it was an M3 6mm deep .
Its a good feeling, however I did my first cut into acrylic and a much slower feed.
The Psychiatrist would probably say you are more cautious than adventurous. 😜
well done, definitely agree you could/should slow the feedrate down tho... lol
Yup. Second hole test I dropped it down by half to 850mm/min and threads look shiny instead of rough like in this video
Bryan doesn't like long videos! 😜
Was the initial hole correctly sized? The internal threads appear to have more of a flat on them than I'd expect (from the comfort of my sofa and with no machining experience 🙂) Thanks for the videos.
Just read your pinned comment - so ignore me (apart from the gratitude)
It looks like you made multiple passes, how do you keep the alignment between them? Very cool
In the vid I did the first pass about 60% and the second 100%. Single point thread milling the alignment will always be perfect no matter how many times. That’s why the spring pass at the end took hardly any material off.
I don't have ANY experience of thread-milling, but if I think repeated passes will work fine as long as the machine is not powered off. It will carry out the same path, with the amended settings OK.
If it is powered off, or reset, the success of any subsequent passes depends on how accurately you can re-zero the axes.
If Bryan sees this, maybe he can correct me?
My friend for a test bought a big chinese router to mill aluminium plates and he was scared as hell to mill threads :D I had to come in and mill the threads in front of him because something in him was telling him that the mill is not good enough for that :D Threads are pretty loose with tolerances so .. yeah :D
I think it was understandable when I clenched hard enough to make a diamond the first time you plunged into that hole at 98 mph. You'd think I'd have been prepared for the second time... but nope, more diamonds.
Gotta trust in your CAM and simulations! I didn't expect it to drop into the hole and than spin up. Would prefer if the spindle go up to speed first.
Keep watching... you'll be a rich man in no time! 👍 😜
"I could slow it down a bit." Filed under NSS... 😉
Hey Bryan, can you pls share what bit you used? Thanks!
endmill was a DREANIQUE which are a pretty good chinese brand on aliexpress: www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001948417279.html EDIT: these ones came out to be 3.0mm and not 3.1mm they appear to be mislabeled. Same with other endmills on that page. I'd suggest not ordering any DLC endmills on that specific page from them unless you want to deal with wrong sized endmills.
Thread cutter was a GULING and I don't have much to say about it. Seems to work alright. No damage with the minimal use I've put it through. Store doesn't even say the thread diameter though www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006373787254.html
You can find a chart of the dimensions of those thread cutters from the alibabba store: sc04.alicdn.com/kf/H9f36178e802447369bddbc2c8250e9a71/267846975/H9f36178e802447369bddbc2c8250e9a71.png
Sofar I've only run chinese import endmills. I find them last a long time for a hobbyist like myself. I typically will destroy an endmill due to unproven gcode, feeds/speeds, etc before I totally wear one out.
@@BryanHoward thank you!
Nice! Those two are on my favorite list but I was not sure if was good or not.
FYI after measuring these 3.1mm endmills they appear to be 3.0mm endmills. DREANIQUE are usually pretty good, but I wouldn't order any of these ones on this page unless you want to relabel them to the actual size which would be annoying. See the 3 star reviews. seems to be happening to the 4 and 6mm ones as well.
Looking into this more and measuring a bunch of endmills. My single flute endmills from a couple different manufactures come out undersized. 2,3,4 flute endmills are all on spec from all the chinese manufactures I use on aliexpress are on spec.
Single flutes seem to be ground differently with a slight undersized to them. This might be by design.
Single flute I only use for roughing so it doesn't matter much but this time around I used them for milling bore holes for threads and the exact dimension is kinda important.
I'll probably just stick with single flutes for thread milling for the bore holes and just find specific manufacture and stick with them and the calculated offset to mill them correctly.
Nice job!
Milling a thread makes no sense to me on a conceptual level, seems like witchcraft
like you cant drill a square hole but how does something cut a helix if its not "worm" shaped
Simple really... it IS witchcraft! 😱