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I got a milling machine. Not a really big one mind you (I will still need a benchtop drill press for drilling, 9" Z axis is too limiting)

I'm wondering what luthier related things would you do with it?

I'm thinking making various jigs, small parts needed for jigs, etc.

Perhaps I could make electric guitar bridges with it...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I just used my drill press as a mill to cut the small slots required on the under side of tuner buttons to go on gotoh tuners.

If I had a mill, I could see using it for tuner buttons, saddle slots, drill ultra precise holes,etc. I once saw a picture where John Osthoff used a mill to cut the ramps on a slotted headstock. Heck, you might even be able to use it for a truss rod slot.

Plus, it would be great for making jigs out of aluminum or steel.

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im thinking aluminum radius blocks but im not sure where to find cheap aluminum bar. I can just use a round end mill and juse mess with the handwheels to get the desired radius

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

you can't compare a mill to a drill press. A mill has bearings that allow for lateral thrust and are great for slotting. I use mine for so many things . I was also a machinist so that helps a lot in knowing how to use one.

Bridge slotting and drilling can be done very precisely on a mill.
cutting fret slots depending on the size of the mill
making small metal parts and other metal work.

You will find many uses for this machine

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If I had a Bridgeport-type mill, I would be the happiest and busiest chip-making luthier you ever did see.
Add a full set of R8 collets, some drill chucks, and a Kurt vise - it would be heaven on earth.
Toss in a digital readout, a power feed on the X... there are no words for my rapture.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Sounds like Chris misses his old shop rat days.
I couldn't imagine a machine shop without a Bridgeport, until I went to work for Boeing's tooling department.
In 30 years I only saw a handful of mills and none were Bridgeports.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

My best idea and I would love to have a mill too is to just go through the Stew-Mac site for ideas of stuff that you would like to have but perhaps the budget is not there.

The Stew-Mac bridge gluing caul is very useful and there are some mods to it that I would do to make it even better. One mod would be a dimple for an Ibex clamp sands the nylon snap-on flat spot. Another mod could be for multiple Ibex clamps with milled dimples and yet another mod would be for certain belly bridges that benefit from more clamping horsepower behind the pins. With a tap or two you could make the entire bridge gluing caul out of "drops" readily available for not very much at metal supply houses.

With some inexpensive import dial indicators there are a whole bunch of cool stuff that you could make such as nut slot depth gauges. Leveling beams, adaptors for a power drill to wind strings and tools to position pups in regions that we work blind would be on my list too.

I used to fly radio control helicopters and was pretty good at it progressing to 3D flight, aerobatics, upside down flight, etc. Back then I really wanted a mill to make heli parts that I wanted modded for my aerobatics such as swash plates with more throw, mufflers tuned for 30% nitro etc.

This reminds me that you are into model rocketry and perhaps you could make some stuff for this hobby too with your mill.

The possibilities are endless and what a fun capability to have! Enjoy!

I only have a small mill, I wish I could have a bridgeport but the problem is I live on the 3rd floor with no elevator, so I'm limited by the weight of the machine. It would be nice if it was possible to make a capable mill without weighting 2 tons. Mine weights 160 pounds and getting it up is already a problem. I imagine a 300 pound machine (which is not much bigger) will be much harder.

It's not easy for me to do any woodworking in my apartment. The dust is everywhere and you can't run a dust collection setup (it will wake up the dead, aside from taking up a lot of room). Metalworking is easier because it doesn't create airborne dust that goes on everything and seems to penetrate doors and stuff. Long ago I asked a machine shop about woodworking on mills and stuff and they said they wouldn't ever allow wood to be used on any of the machines. They said the dust soaks up oil and causes premature wear in the ways. So if I were going to machine wood on the mill I would need to suck up the dust right at the source or else it could go everywhere and possibly damage the machine.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Not sure I buy into the "wood is bad for a milling machine" statement. I had a milling machine in my shop for 10 years and used it for wood, metal and plastic for my work building prototypes. No more wear than average. I did keep it lubricated and relatively clean. The guy I sold it to used it for gunsmithing and was very happy with the accuracy. His dad, a machinist, gave it a thorough check before he bought it.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I am able to use one at a motor rebuilder here in town once in a great while, and it's just like old times (literally whistling as I work).

You'd think Boeing would go for the good stuff - after all, they were the biggest outfit in town. Even little old Beech had bunches of Bridgeports.

Of course, the real fun machines were the old Kearney & Trecker die mills! 3 power axis plus a rotary head! Very versatile pre-CNC stuff.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

If I got a normal house like every other Americans, instead of living in some apartment I'd totally go for a bridgeport. Not sure what it costs though, people said they could get it super cheap but I haven't really found that to be the case.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

We have a Bridgeport in the maker space I belong to. Sounds like I need to take the three week course so I can start using it.


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I saw a couple of mini mills at the local makerspace. Not really anything impressive mind you (maybe a Grizzly G0704, or a G8689 mini mill). Have to take a 3 week course to use it, and that's on top of having to pay 60 dollars a month to actually join the makerspace. I'd join if they were closer but it's far enough away that I would only be able to show up once a month. So I decided it's better to get my own mill. (I don't have a car, and the bus moves at about 5 miles an hour so getting anywhere takes a long time)

The makerspace would be far more useful for woodworking though, because I wouldn't have to worry as much about wood dust getting everywhere, but the location really makes a dealbreaker. I haven't done a lot of wood shaping lately due to the dust issue (and also I still need a bandsaw of some kind)

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I use my mill for rosettes, cutting the tiles and the channels, blanking out nuts and saddles, making fixtures and cutters, slotting pins and whatever pops up that I can.. Don't specifically need a mill to do those things but it makes my life easier.

The biggest threat on working wood on a mill may be the dust working its way into the motor housing, which shouldn't happen on a quality machine. As far as wearing out the machine, as long as you are cleaning everything up up afterwards and keeping the ways covered there shouldn't be a problem. The dust does tend to gum up when it mixes with oil but it wipes off easily. I've worked materials that are much more abrasive on machines I've had almost 40 years. My first couple of guitars did wind up with a strange random metal flake that went unnoticed until the leveling process. If you want to work with metal too, that may turn into another problem.

Tim

How do you draw a perfect circle by moving the XY tables in order to do rosettes? Or do you use a rotary table?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Rotary table is one way.
CNC mill is another (just a few lines of G-code).
There might be other ways....

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

rotary table costs an arm and a leg, so does CNC. I think I can make a dremel jig however

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Yeah..... a mill would be overkill for routing rosettes.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I have used a rotary table that I've had before and after the CNCs. Guess they're expensive to buy now. They were cheaper pre Internet when you could walk into a surplus machinery seller and scrounge through things. Easier to use what is available to me rather than decide to buy something new. A mill is a handy tool for any shop and its use is really only going to be limited by the person using it.

Tim

Or limited by the tooling available. Sometimes those tooling costs way too much. For example if I want to tap a huge hole, I still require expensive taps (though a lathe would work better). I would still need a fly cutter and boring bar setup for some stuff and the costs can really add up

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Add Steppers and retrofit it into a CNC Mill. Then you could do just about anything. Inlay, fanned frets, complex rosettes, carve necks etc.

I know what you mean Chris. Production had/has nice machines but in Tooling our main tools where bandsaws and Dotco's. We did have a dedicated machine shop that was nice.
I had the chance to run a die mill when I was working on AF1 but never really felt that confident running one. Wish I could have spent more time on one.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Yikes! I pay $20, and it's a 10 minute drive

I'm not sure what's the cost for them, things are a little more expensive in Austin.

I just felt that it wasn't a good deal for me, I could buy the same tools for the cost.

Having a car would make things easier for sure, but that's an extra 400 dollar a month recurring cost associated with it. I can take the city bus for free on the other hand...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I have a benchtop mill, use it more than the other shop tools. Ah, but for a fullsize mill, power feed, DRO...

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