Sharpening end mills on new set up

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Neat!

You got a lot of function in a manageable package.

I like your designs because you make things that get right to getting the job in hand done without overthinking, overengineering, or overstyling.

Thanks for posting,

--ShopShoe
 
Very nice work.

I can remember years ago throwing out a bunch of high end air bearing spindles due to a change of processes at work. At the time I could not have imagined a use for them. Yours of course is a bit different in application but nice just the same.

Do you have any construction videos of this spindle assembly?
 
Very nice work.

I can remember years ago throwing out a bunch of high end air bearing spindles due to a change of processes at work. At the time I could not have imagined a use for them. Yours of course is a bit different in application but nice just the same.

Do you have any construction videos of this spindle assembly?
Not many there are a few do a search for floating tool holder doc0455 they should come up it's been 6 or 7 years since I did the air spindle.


 
Neat tool. My only fear would be securing the mill with a setscrew...Any variance at all in the diameters,and the tool is sharpened off center,and then when you run it in a mill in a collet,it's cutting on one side of the mill more than the other.Any way you can put a collet setup on spindle?
 
The end mills fit very snug have not had a problem yet. The endmills fit the spindle the same as they fit a posi lock tool holder.
 
Yes that is the write up I started with and it is in this book. I see it is available here on vdocuments. I have the book and have made a few things from it.
Vdocuments
 
There is an air bearing spindle construction article in the Philip Duclos "Workshop Wisdom" and Home Shop Machinist publication - Mr Duclos calls it a 'floating end mill sharpener' is your air bearing spindle based on this ? I'd post a copy but I believe it is still copyright.

I've just finished a tool and cutter grinder and intend to add an air bearing spindle sometime in the near future, it is interesting to see yours in action.

The Nov/Dec 1999 and Jan/Feb 2000 Home Shop Machinist magazine has a series of articles on improving the Quorn tool and cutter grinder, one of the improvements is an air bearing spindle the construction of this is described along with drawings, it looks to be based on the one designed by Philip Duclos - it doesn't look hard to build but the spindle and the bore it fits in must be parallel within a tenth of a thou or so, so you need to be prepared to do some lapping to get the required fits, if someone can confirm that it is ok to share this I'll upload it to the downloads section - I did read somewhere that a single article from a magazine is ok share.
 
Yes mine is based on the one in the one described. I took the basics and added my twist to it. The spindle and the bore are the critical features. The bore I did on the lathe in a four jaw chuck. The finish pass's it was just enough pressure to hold the part. I took many finish pass's to get it down to about .0003 from end to end. I did the same with the spindle I used a dead center and adjusted the tail stock to achieve .0002 of taper from end to end. The air grooves inside were also a little on the critical side as to get front and back the same size. It works very good with about 15lb of air pressure I suspect it would be even better with less taper but at 15lb it's not using a lot of air anyway.
 
Thanks for the info on the spindle - I'm planning making one my self and wondered about the air pressure needed to support the spindle - I hadn't thought about it but it makes sense that the air grooves at each end should be equal size/depth. I have a stainless precision ground bar pulled from a printing press that I plan to use for the spindle I can't detect any taper or out of round with my 1"-2" mic so it is only the bore I'll need to take care of.
 
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