Other uses for horizontal milling cutters?

[Dave Sawdon 1Participant @davesawdon1]

[Dave Sawdon 1Participant @davesawdon1]

I've recently sold a horizontal mill and will soon have a new vertical mill to play with. I now have a large number of horizontal cutters (side and fence, angle, double angle, slab, concave, convex, involute, slitting, etcetera) to dispose of but, before advertising them, I wondered whether the smaller ones could be used on an arbor in the vertical mill, or whether anyone had found other uses for them. It's clear that the slitting saws can be used, but what about the rest?

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Gear cutters are OK, but that was a Centec in vertical mode. So I suppose anything up to 3/16 wide depending on your new mill.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Never thought about it before, but I suppose you could convert a vertical mill into a pseudo horizontal mill by making an arbor support for the vertical column and making a spindle to go from the quill to the arbor support (in the Z axis). The milling vice / fixtures would present the workpiece such that milling would be done along the Z axis face. Not ideal, but could be managed especially if the vice was mounted on its own universal slide.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

I recently started to downsize my workshop pending the sale of my property and then it all fell through,my advice is that if you get rid of something you will need it next week,so keep your cutters,just oil them and stop rust. A lot of cutters can be used in a vertical mill. Another use fo convex and concave cutters is mount them on a length of bar so that they can be used in the toolpost of your lathe,they make very accurate radius form cutters,when one tooth gets blunt rotate the cutter one tooth and get another sharp cutter.I certainly would not dispose of slitting saws and gear cutters.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Make a large MDF board & start Ninja star throwing competitions. Sorry in advance.

Steve.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Can still use them in the lathe on an arbor.

If you want to sell them rather than just clutter ebay don't copy the prices you see there. Cutters seem to be 3 times the sensible price at the moment as house clearers and widdow robbers are listing stuff they know nothing about.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Dave, well I used a slot cutter which is 1/2" wide on my Major mill to true up two edges of this piece of T section.

I then used a single 60 degree angle cutter to put a bevel on each side of the bottom of the T section.

Didn't experience any problems, but it's fair to say that I probably didn't take such a deep cut that one would on a horizontal mill.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 20/10/2020 19:29:00

[VicParticipant @vic]

Yes I’ve used them a few times.

[AJAXParticipant @ajax]

I've sold numerous cutters that came with a small horizontal mill. The smaller diameter ones sell easiest, but the large ones you can't give away. Like you, I've still got a box of them just in case they are needed one day.

[Dave Sawdon 1Participant @davesawdon1]

Thanks for the quick responses. I think I'll advertise the larger ones and keep the others for a while to see whether they get called-upon.

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Dave,

Sadly I think Ajax is right. Spare the effort and just weigh the larger ones in at your local metal dealer. Some 10 years ago Lancashire had no end of industrial Ironmonger shops. As they closed, clearance stock was put in the shop windows at silly prices. Brand new 5 inch diameter 1+1/8 bore cutters any width any form for one pound each. Leaving one shop with a slab cutter 4 inches wide and 4 inches diameter a chap entering asked me how much I'd paid. To the response of £4 he said it used to be priced at £395! Turned out he was the shop owner.

As a final thought, you could always get the Mig out and make something 'arty' with them. You'd be amazed what people will pay.

Len

[Anonymous]

Posted by Len Morris 2 on 21/10/2020 11:21:54:

Sadly I think Ajax is right.

If I recall correctly I expressed an interest in buying the larger cutters, but AJAX never bothered to respond.

Andrew

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