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Argus Books
Argus House
Bounda ry W ay
Hemel Hempstead CONTENTS
Hertfordshire HP 2 7ST
Eng la nd
Chapter One EVOLUTION OF THE VERTICAL MILLER 12
Early history of indu strial m achines: milling in th e
First pub lished 1977 early sma ll lath es : mi lling attachmen ts for lat hes
Second im pression 1979 ci rca 19 20s: E.T, W estbu ry's experimental machine
Sec ond edi ti o n 1984 1964: the Dar e-Westbury m achine 1968: cu rre ntly
Rep rin ted 1986, 1988 , 1989, 1990, 1991 . 1993 avail able sma ll machi nes and attach ments,

Chapt er Tw o MILLING FLAT SURFACES 27

© A rg u s Bo o ks Ltd 1977 Surf aces paralle l to table: simple fixed-radius
f1 ycutt ers: var iab le-radius bor ing head flyc utting:
multiple -tooth face m ills: work hol ding: m ult ip le­
pass mi lling: surfaces square w it h table : using side
of end mill.

Chapter Th ree SLITTING AND CUTTING 35

All r ights reserved . No p art of this publication m ay be Use of slitting saw for cutting through machinery
repro d uced in any f o rm by print. photography, microfilm component bosses : eccentric sheaves and straps :
or any othe r mean s wi thout written permission from th e mar ine type big ends of connecting rods.
pub lisher. ­
Chap te r Four KEYWAY CUTTING 37
Endm ill ing round ended 'feath er' keyways : keyways
on taper shafts : use of disc tvoe cutters for plain
sunken keyways : \Noo dru ff keyways: making
ISB N 0 852 42 843 x Woodruff cutters in the home workshop : table of
suggested sizes of \N oodruff keys and kevv vavs fo r
model engineers,

Chapter Fiv e FLUTING COMPONENTS OTHER THAN

TOOLS 43
Ph o t ot y p esetti n g by Perf o rm an ce T y pesetting, Milton Key n es Correct form of flutes ir loco connecting and
cou pling rod s: mounting rods against anglepla te for
Print ed and bound i n G reat Br it ai n by flu ti ng : parallel flutes: taper flutes: preferred type of
Biddies Ltd . Guil d f o rd and K in g 's Lynn cutting too l.

Chapte r Six BORING 45
Dealing with parts too large to swing in lathe:
trepanning large ho les.
Chapter Seven 'J I G- BORIN G' 46
Using the miller as a measuring machine : drilling
ho les at one setting of work and precise cent res:
eng ine be am: b ack-lash pr ecaution s: tri p gea r com ­
pon ent : mu lti-ho le boiler plates.
Chapter Eight PROFILING 49
Curves on parts too large for lathe: loco frames :
smokebox castings : machine pad bolts: loco con ­
nec ting rod s and coupling rod s.
Chapter Nin e END-ROUNDING 52
Use of hardened f ilin g gu ides deprecated:
mou nting work on rot ary table: sta nd ard size guide
plugs: anti-slip precau tio ns: direction of feed for
exte rnal and i nte rnal surfaces.
Chap te r Ten DIVIDING HEADS 54
Simple ungeared div iding heads : using change
w hee ls as index plat es: examples o f d ividing w or k :
h exagons. squares. dog clutch teeth : avoiding odd
numbers : the Myford w orm -geared dividing head :
avoiding back-lash erro rs : packing block for
bringing to lathe centre height: universa l steady
stand fo r Myfo rd head: three further dividing heads.
Chapter Eleven DIVIDING HEA DS AND GE AR- C UTT IN G 62
Limitations to strai ght spu r gears : sim ple head :
M yford worm -geared head: tooth cutting on
integral pi nion : use of home made Ilvcut ters:
Brown & Sharpe disc type cutters : selectio n of
cutter to suit numb er of teet h : cutting a large
coa rse tooth gea r: anti-slip back-up de vices ,
Chapt er Tw elve DIVI DING HEADS AND TOO L MAK ING 66
Fluting taps : example 5-flute Acme tap : producing
a small fine too th milling cutter w ith ball end : use
of table stop blocks: combination of rotary tabl e
with ma in table movement: large 60 deg ree coun­
te rsink fluting .
Chapter Thirt een DIVIDING HEADS AND GRAD UATED
SCALES 71
Cutti ng graduation marks : use of rotary 'engr avi ng'
cutters : use of no n-r otating plani ng t ype tools : use
o f table stops to contro l line lengths : graduating
cyli ndr ica l scales: gradua ting flat angular scales :
checking correct way of figuring when stamping
scales ,
Chapter Fourt een CUTTER SPE EDS FOR VERTICAL MILLERS 74
Speeds affect ti me occupied on job: speeds too
high may cause excessive cutter wear and chatter :
rigi di ty of work, cutter and mac hine inferior as a
rule to i ndu st rial condi tions, dry cutting inst ead of
lubricated : Tabl e III gives speeds for cutters in
different kinds of tas ks : m achi ne speeds may no t
alwa ys be suitable .
Chapter Fifteen WORK -HOLDING WITH D IFFICULT
SHAPES 78
Comparison with full scale engi neering : use of
chucki ng pieces on components : thin components
and use of ad hesives : advisability of making fixtures
fo r difficul t pieces : three -s ided angleplates.
Chapter Sixteen CHUCKS FOR MILLING CUTTERS 81
Never use taper shank tools or chucks without
drawbar: chucks for screw ed shank self -tightening
collets : Clarkson chuck : Dsborn Titanic chuck:
Chucks for tee -headed locking cutters: Clare
chucks : use of small end mills and D-bits withou t
locking features : ph ilosophy of 't hrow - aw ay '
cutters.
List of Illustrations
29 Fluti ng loc omo tive co nnect ing rod 4 4

Fig .
30 Draw ing of stea m hook (lever) 4 7

1 Ab w oo d mi llin g attac hme nt of the 19 2 0 s

13
31 Phot ograph of st eam hook 48

2 E. T. W estb ury 's m ill ing m achine 14

32 Profilin g pad bo lt 50

3 Dore-W estbu ry m achine 15

33 Profiling coupling rods 50

4 Dare-W estbury M k II machine 16

34 End-rounding wi th rotary tabl e 53

5 Rodney attachm ent 17

35 Cutti ng t eeth in do g clutch par t 5 5

6 Rodney m ach in e 18
36 Draw ing of st eady stand for Myfo rd div id ing head 56

7 Am o lco attach men t 19

37 St eady in use on a gear cutti ng opera tic 58

8 A mol co m achine 20
38 Thro p divid ing head 5 8

9 M ent or mach in e 2 1
39 Th om as versat ile divid ing head 59

10 M aximat attach me n t 23
40 Kib bey/M .E.S. dividl nq head 60

11 Astr a m ach ine 2

41 Clos e-up of flycut ter and pi nio n 63

12 Tw in machi ne 22
42 Gearcu tt ing w ith Brow n & Sharpe cutter 63

13 Senior m achin e 26
43 Fly cutt ing 10 d .p, gearwh eel. front view 64

14 Set of three fl ycu tt ers 2 8

44 Fly cu tt ing 10 d.p. gearw hee l. rear view 6 5

15 Flycu tt ing a bracket 28

45 Flut ing A cm e thread tap 66

16 Flycutti ng connecting rod ends 29

46 Cutt ing teeth of ba ll-end cu tt er 67

17 Flycutti ng t apered bar mat eria l 29

47 Close- up of ball-end cu tte r 68

18 Flycutting cy linde r soleplat e 30

48 Gashin g flutes in large count ersinking tool 69

19 Facem il l 3
49 Rear v iew showing stead y stand in use 70

20 M illing flywheel joint face 31

50 Cyli nd rical m achine compone nt being grad uated 72

21 Mi ll ing crosshe ad slide 32

51 Close -up of prev ious ope rat ion 72

22 M illing bear ing jaw s in bedpl at e 33

52 Graduating part -ci rcul ar arcua t e scal e on fl at surfa ce 73

23 Slitting boss of ca sting 35

53 Tape -he ld w orkpiece bein g flyc ut 79

4 Milli ng feath er kevw av 3 7

54 Hern inpwav three-side d anglep late 79

25 M illing feath er keyw ay on tap ered shaft 38

55 Tw o of the th ree sizes of Herninqwav ang leplates 80

26 Mil ling keyway wi th slitting saw 39

56 Clare mi ll ing chu ck 82

27 Se t of four Woodruff keyway cutters 39

57 Clark son mi ll ing chu ck 82

28 M ill ing W oodruff k evwav 4 1

58 Osborn mill i ng chuc k 83

Preface
In th e eng ineering in dustry the vert ic al
miller is very widel y used . no t o nly for
batch product lorrbu t also for tool ma king
and the 'one -off' jobs whi ch are so
common in general eng inee ring. In the
home worksho p. w her e most job s are
'one-o ff' th e ve rsatility of th e machi ne
makes it an i m port ant comp anion to the
lathe. Thi s book des crib es many of the
infinitely wid e range o f op er ation s wh ich
can be done. and all those described are
illustrated by photographs so that under­
st anding of th e methods is assured . These
cove r work on part s of model loco mot ives.
stationary engines machi nery . cutting
too ls. gea rs, clutches, etc. Full informat ion
is given o n the machine accessories wh ich
are requi red, suc h as var ious types of
cu tters and t he chuck s needed for t heir
mounting on the m achi ne spind le. The use
of chea p hom e- m ad e cutt ers i s shown
and encouraged. Guidance is also give n
on th e work- holding dev ices such as
clamps. packings, vices. angle plates,
dividing heads. rot ary table s, and w hich of
thes e are needed for part icular kinds of
w ork .
CHAPT ER 1
Evolution of the
Vertical Miller
Th e horizontal mi lli ng machine evo lved
natura lly fr om the lathe in t he fi rst or
seco nd decade of t he nine tee nt h century.
Eli W hitney (U.S.A.) is said t o have had
one in use about 18 18 . and in Tools for
the Job the lat e LTC . Rolt reco unt ed how
the yo ung engineer J ames Nasm yth {later
to become famous as the inventor of the
stea m ham mer and ot her app liances l
fixed one up and m illed the fla ts on
hundreds of tiny hexagon nuts for a model
of a Mauds lay marine eng ine. w hile
working fo r Henry Ma uds lay . Draw ings of
the ear ly hori zont al mill ers show suc h a
resemb lance to t he la th es of that period
that almost certai nly they were in fact
lat hes w hich had been adapt ed to mil ling.
The cutters we re really files. made by the
fi le m akers of the tim es, using t he 'hand­
cu tt ing ' methods (really a hamm er and a
spec ia l chisel) w hic h we re the only
practice available at that tim e.
The evolution o f the ve rti ca l m iller
came nat ural ly afte r t he ho rizo nt al
m achi ne. I have not found any reliable
refe rence to a date by w hic h the vert ical
m iller h ad appeared in industry , thoug h
this m ust have been we ll before 190 0 .
W he n model eng ineering sta rted to
beco m e an esta bl ished hobby at the t urn
of th e century quite a variety o f sma ll
12
[},'\
lath es we re provided by di fferent makers.
and the great ver satili ty of th e lathe
created in it self a te ndency to make the
lathe do every opera tion that arose . This
wa s enhan ced by th e fact th at ma ny
modellers were working men with very
litt le cash to spend o n their hobby. Many
we re the inge nious attachment s devised
to enable the lat he to carry out work it had
never been intended to do . Such makers
as Drum m ond Brothe rs modified their
lathes wit h tee-slott ed boring tables to
help in this work . and even bro ught out
t he famous ro und - bed lat he. wh ic h
although int ended for a cut -price market.
also had bu ilt into it the abi lity to do a lot
more than just simple turning . But as the
years wen t by it became ever more
appa rent somet hing better was needed
f or mi lling operations . No ne of the small
mille rs produced by the mac hine tool
industry we re oriented towards the home
w orkshop,
T hen in the 1920s the Abwcod Tool
and Engi neeri ng Co. produced an exce l­
lent vertical mi lling at tachmen t fo r
mounting on smal l lathes. especia lly the
popula r 3t in. flat bed Drum m ond . though
adjustable features made it applicable to
othe r lat hes too . It had a No. 1 Morse
j:ig . t Abv/ood milling attachment of the
tape r arbor which fitted in to the lathe 19205
13
spindl e. and bevel gear s with keywa yed
shafts took the drive up to the vert ica l
cutt er spind le. w hic h had a No. 1 M orse
inte rna l taper. A ll the gears w ere equa l
rat io m it re beve ls. so the cutter ro t at ed at
t he sam e speed as th e lat he spi ndle . and
all t he six speeds of the lathe were usable.
The w or k wa s mounte d on the lathe
bo ring table. and po wer feeding in one
direction ca me from the lathe screwcut­
t ing gear. A phot ograph of this uni t set up
on a Myford Super 7 is show n in Fig. 1. It
wa s unfort una tely a low -vol um e. labou r
int ensive uni t w it h vee slides needing
hand scrapi ng . but w as selling in 19 30 for
7 guin eas. about a quar ter of the cost of
14
the Dru mmo nd lat he. A lt ho ugh o ut of
producti on for ma ny year s now . it was in
its time a co urage ous effo rt . but be lo nge d
to the age w hen most home lathes were
driven by fla t belt fro m a tread le or cou n­
tars haft. and the cost of electric mot ors
made th e in d ep enden t m o to r drive
uneconom ic in ho m e hobb y appli cati ons.
Bu t th e need for a handy vertica l
m illi ng ma chine had been recogn ised. and
in the ear ly 19 6 0s that very good friend of
model engineers. Edgar T. W est bury .
com plete d an ex pe r im en ta l m ac hi ne.
wh ich he desc ribed w it h drawings and
pho t og rap h s in t he Model Eng ineer
during 19 6 4 . T hat too wa s a very labou r
ig, 3 D ore- W est bury machine
inte nsive machine w ith vee slides, and the
main castings w ere m uch t oo big to b e
machi ned in th e ave rage ho me workshop.
A t that ti m e he w as una ble to find any
engi neering fir m wi lli ng to take it over and
manu facture it. or ev en to do th e machin­
ing on a contract basis at such a price as it
was thought m odel engi neers would be
wl llinq to p ay.
T hree years later I found myself with
the opportunity to tak e a fresh loo k at th is
desig n, whi ch he had di scussed w ith me
during the experim ent al pe riod . I evolved
a new set of d rawi ngs for a sim ilar
machi ne, but using flat slideways more
economically constructed. a reducti on
Fig. 2 E.T. Westbury 's gear f or low er bottom speeds , hollow
spindl e for a draw bar. and othe r changes
milling machine
int ended to make econom ies or im prove
the pe rformance . This new design was
discussed w ith Edgar. w ho agreed to the
use of the name 'Dore-Wes tburv ' , the
machi ne to be sold as a kit of sem i­
fi nished compone nts by my existing fir m
Dore Engi nee ring, I was abl e to pla ce th e
m achi ning o f the compo nen ts w ith a
number of firms al read y kno w n to me . and
the fi rst sets of mat erials began to go ou t
to custo mers early in 1968. Si nce that
t im e m any hundreds o f sets have bee n
distributed . all over the wo rld . and are still
be ing made in ever grea te r quant iti es by
M o d e l En g i n e e r i n g S er v i c e s . o f
Chest erfield . w ho too k it over from me in
19 7 1, w he n I wa nted , on acco unt o f age ,
to red uce m y comm it men ts ,
Castin gs to the origi na l design are,
howeve r, st ill available fro m Waking Pre­
c is io n M od els o f 16 Dovecot Park .
A berdour. Fife. Scotland KY3 OTA . and a
machine fro m these is sho w n in Fig. 2.
The Da re-W estbu ry mac hi ne is depicted
in Fig. 3 and the sim ila rity be twee n the m
wi ll be at onc e appa ren t. Du ring it s
entire life the Dar e-Westbury has been
un dergoi ng sma ll im provement s. and th e
present supplie rs have now dec ided that
t h e m o d i f i c a t i o n s a re s u ff ic ie n t ly
st abilised for the presen t ve rsion t o be
titled the M ark II model. From now on all
ma chines supplied w ill be of this form .
though st ill subject to certain op tional
vari ations which custome rs w ill be able to
select as t hey wi sh.
T he more importan t chang es incl ude an
in crease in t he quill travel from 2i in. to
4-1- in . Ext ra pull ey ste ps with a new ty pe
of be lt extend the speed rang e sligh tly
fro m 32 to 1880 r.p.m. w ith more int er­
m ediat es. provid ing for boring head fl y­
cutting on large radii right th ro ugh t o
keyw ay cu tt ing with 1/ 16 in. cutters. The
reduction gear system now fi tt ed has
helical gears w hich run in an oil-bath.
15

sealed against leakage even w hen incli ned
away from the vertical, and is Quieter th an
former ly. A large r table , 20 in. by 6 in., can
be had as an optiona l al terna tive to the
norm al 16 in. by 5t in. The co lum n and
cros s tube are steel. as always, but now t
in. thick and eno rmously st iff. 2t
diamete r m icro m et er d ials are now
18
Fig. 6 Rodne y ma chine
standa rd. Th e down-feed w orm has for
conveni ence been transferred to the right
hand side of the head, a coa rser pitch rack
is now used . and ther e are a numbe r of
oth er m ino r im provements.
in.
Opposite, Fig. 7 Amolco atta chm ent
19
 Although co lleg es and commercial
workshops wil l probably wish to use the
all -over be lt guard, it may be d eba ta ble if
th e co st of this is justified fo r the so lit ary
mat ure m ode l le r alo ne i n hi s home
workshop. An alternative belt gua rd wh ich
covers t he spi nd le pulley only and do es
not im pede belt chang ing so mu ch is
ava ilable and is shown on the M ark II
machine in Fig. 4 .
20
No do ubt the most importan t i m pro ve­
ment is the (optional) provision of po w er
feed fo r the lo ng movement of the table. A
small m ot o r wit h a 4-step pul ley and
enc lose d w o rm reduction gear provides
feed rates of .5 . .62 . .85 and 1.1 inches
pe r mi nute.
A num ber of attachm ents similar in
general concept , though much different in
de ta il. to t he old Abwood . have com e on
<,
Fig . 9 Menror machine, now superseded by th e
FB2 and Maximal attachment
the rn a rk e t in recent year s . Tew
M achlnerv produce t he .Rod ney' to su it
th e Mvfo rd M L7 and Super 7 lat hes. and
:hi s is marketed by Myfords . It is shown in
Fig. 5 and t he complete vertica l m ill er
ba sed on t his atta chme nt is th at shown i n
Fig. 6 .
A not her attachment, t he 'A m o lco is
supp lied by N. M ole & Co. Ltd . and
appears in Fig. 7 This has it s ow n motor
and attaches to t he top of t he lath e bed
also. It is made as a compl ete ma chi ne.
snown in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8 A mateo machine Fig. , t A stra machin e
21

Fig. 12 Twin machine
Elliot m achine Equipment supp lied a
continental mac hi ne, th e ' M entor' wh ich
was available bo th in b ench and floor
m ounted forms . Th e bench m achine is
shown in Fig. 9. They also have the
'M axim al' attach ment to suit the lat he of
the same nam e, whi ch fit s on the back of
the lath e bed and has independen t m otor
drive (Fig, 10 ). This is also avai lable as a
floo r m achi ne, the FB2 .
Ot her co m plete m achin es inclu de the
'Astra' suppli ed by Scot Urq uhart, w hic h
is really a horizont al m iller w it h an ext ra
ver tical spindle with it s own mo tor . Made
in several sizes, the smal l one is sho w n in
Fig. 11.
Twi n Engin eering Co. introduced a
bench ma chine illus trated in Fig. 12 and
also a floo r m ounted machi ne of sim ilar
size but slig htly di ff erent desi gn.
Fina lly the old established firm o f Tom
Senior Ltd . now produce their type E
22
mach ine w hich is floor mounted and
shown in Fig, 13.
So it will be seen that there are now
many machines and attachme nt s which
are of suit ab le dimensions for inclusion in
t h e l i m it ed sp a c e o f m o s t home
w ork shop s. It would be useless to give
any deta ils of prices in a book of this kin d ,
as such info rmation would probably be
incorrect by t he ti me the boo k was
printed, and readers are therefor e recom ­
mended t o enquire of th e various adve r­
tisers.
A summ ary of the leading particulars of
all these m achines etc. is given in Tab le 1
but again specificat ions are ame nded by
m akers as t im e goes by, and it can be no
m ore tha n a general guide .
A brief w o rd m ust be said about fore ign
mac hin es. part icularly those coming from
Far Eastern countries. I t wo uld appear
th ere are several facto ries producing
mac hine tool s and acce ssories. Some
app ear to be quite good , bu t others are
definitely not good, and I do hav e personal
exp erie nce o f some of th ese. I have not
had the chance to see one of the mill ing
ma chines work ing, but those I have
inspect ed i n exh ibi tions have some che ap
and nasty feat ur es, although the mai n
item s suc h as spind les, bear ings , and
slideways m ay be excellen t. Some of t he
machines are more suitable for com ­
merci al fact orie s th an home workshops
but th ere ar e o thers of mo dest dimen­
sions. To anyone contemplat ing buying
on e of th ese on e ca n on ly suggest that a
close inspect ion shou ld be made by a
kno w ledg eab le engineer , and that a
wo rking demon str at ion should be
requested , of th e actua l machine which is
to be bough t.
Fig. 10 Maximar ettscbrnent
23
 TABLE 1

Machine o r
Make or supplier attachment Tab le si ze Sp indle speeds Spindle nose Commen ts
Woking Preci sio n W estbury' 14 x 6 6 50 . 11 2 0. 18 50. 2 M Tp1 1l~ Un- machined castings
M on els Co. Ltd . bench mach ine 31 50 M yforn th read only supplied
16 Doveco t Park kit of parts. Head sw ivels.
Ab srdou r. Fifp..
Scot land
M ode l !'ngin eering ' Do ra Wp. ~tb llry· 16 x 5 ~ 3 4~ .90 . 188 2 M l pl us Now superseded
S ervices . bench m ach ine 304 . 7 9 0 . 16 50 M y fo rd thread by Mk. 11
6. Ken net Vale, kit uf parts
Broc kwel l. Do re W est bury 16 x 5 t 3 2 - 18 8 0 2 M T plus Comp lete ki t o f parts.
Ches lJou1ie lrt. Mk.l l (20 x 6 M y ford thread A ll machining do ne
bench machi ne op tio n ] that wo ul d be d ifficu lt
kit of parts. in ho m e w o rk shop.
Head sw ive ls.
Tew M aChin ery ltd . 'Rodney' For My/o rd Dri ven from 2 M T plus Rigid head.
M an o r W o rks a tta chm ent. M L7 anrt lathe sp in dl e M yford thread
Church SI. 57 7 lat hes.
Cogg cnh o c, ' Rodney plus' 15 x 4± 32 0, 450, 61 0 , 2 M T p lu~ Rigid head .
Northampton. floor rnachinc. 8 50.1040,1 490, M yf o rd th read
2 19 0 . 2 750
N. Mule & Cu. Ltd. 'Amolco Fo r Myfurd Mutur d riv e. 2 MT pl us Rigid head .
5. Tulp il s I line. i:t1l8 <:l lII Ulfl l. & Ao xfor d 4 speeds, 325 Myfurd thread
WH l t",d . HHrtS. tat hes. to 16 0 0
Oench m iller. 15 x 6 325 -1 600 2 M Tpi ll s Rigid hea d .
M yf or d t hread

I ABI F 1 (continued)
M ll ch in e or
T able sizt! Sp indle spe eds Spindle no se Comments
Ma klllH supp lter atta ch m en t
20t x{ 3 50 ,640 . 7 80 . 2MT Swive ll ing head.
Cllio lt M nc:hlne ' M ento r
F.'1,Jipm ent. rtlHch il1p. 14 50
U.LC. HnllHH, B.1nch an d
ViClu ,iH Hrl , f loo r.
24t x 6 120-2000 2 MT Swivelli ng haad
London . NW 10 6NY FS2 M axim at
attach me nt nr (six)
floor machine
13 x 4~ 62 0 .90 0 . 2M T M o tori sed head .
Scot Urquhart Ltd .. 'A str a'
3 17. 3 /:~,1 , Earl sfield Rn .. bench anrt 12 0 0 . 18 50
Earl sfie ld . floor
l ondo n SW18 300 Il1sch in()l';
Hor. with v ert .
head.
20 x 6 52 0 . seo. 2 M T plus Rigid head .
T wi ll en!'!. Co. 'Twin '
bench machine 165 0 .2 8 80 M yf or d thread
eelxton Way.
Ho ly we ll i nd . Est . and floor
20 x 6 3 80, 640. 2MT plus Swive l head .
W atf or u. Harts. machine.
1 10 0 . 19 0 0 . M yfo rd thread
31 0 0
25 x 4t 480. 9 50 . 2MT Swivel head
To m Senior. Ltd ., 'Seni o r type E'
lIoor m achine. 16 4 0, 2 7 6 0
A tl as W or ks.
Hig hto wn Heights.
Liversedg e.
W est Yor ks.
 CHA PT ER 2
Milling Flat Surfaces
Of all m et al-w o rking operations the
production of true flat surf aces is perhaps
one of the mo st di fficult if rel iance has to
be placed on han d t oo ls and ha nd
methods. for it depends jus t abo ut com­
pl et ely on the persona l sk i ll o f the
workm an. But a poi nt offse t from the
spi nd le c en t re of a ve rt ica l mill ing
machine must when rotated describe a
fla t plane in space if there is no axia l
movement. Therefore . provided the
spind le is truly square to the tab le. an
offset cuttin g t ool must generate a flat
surface o n a w ork- piece att ached to the
tabl e. Model engineering , just th e same as
full size eng ineering. demands th e produc­
tion of a great many flat surfaces. so the
ability of the machine to perform th is task
in a simple way, without expensive
tooling , is extremely important to the
home work er.
FlYC UTTERS
The cheapest tool for the purpose is th e
flycutter. usua ltv consisting of a small
toolbit set in some kind of holder. There
are co mmercially made ho lders avai lable.
but i t is quite easy to make satisfactory
holders at home. and they serve jus t as
Fig. 13 Senior machine
well Three ho me- made flycutters are
26
shown in Fig. 14. Each is jus t a Morse
tape r arbo r w ith an enlarged head having
a sla nti ng hole dr ille d in it to take a cutt er
bit (t in . in these samples) wit h a screw to
lock it in pl ace. The head d iameters are 1 t
in.. q . in. and 2t in. so th e face s that can
b e mac hin ed at one pass are roughly tin.
to 1- in . wider in each cas e. They w ere
m ade by bo ring through short pieces of
st eel of these sizes to suit th e parallel
parts of M or se taper arbor s. It is not
pe rhap s wid ely enough known that tool
merch ants can. if th ey will , supply M orse
taper arbors of this ki nd. w hich are a st ock
pr oduct of the large dri ll m akers. This
m et hod of fabricating flycutt ers by using a
ready made arbor wi th a head Loct ited on
saves a good deal of time and some heavy
st eel. The effectiveness of to ols made in
this way is beyond question . Fig. 15
shows a brack et cl amp ed aga inst a large
anglepl ate and being milled with on e.
Fig. 16 shows one workin g on a steel
connecti ng rod which has to be red uced
from a circular section at each end. The
rod is about 9 in. lon g. so it is held in tw o
vices at the same time. and each end is
taken down t o fin ished size b efore it is
tumed over. Packings are used . diffe rent
at each end to ensure the finished -surface
is above the vice jaws, to avoid cutting
27
 Fig. ' 4 Set of three flycutters Fig . 16 Flycutting connecting rod ends

int o them , and the se pa ck ings en sure the Ow ning tw o vi ces ali ke m ay at fi rst with the benefit s ar e at once apparen t. reduced t o a t apered sec tio n t o cu t up into
ro d is at t he ri gh t att itu de fo r keep in g t he t ho ugh t see m somet hi ng of a luxu ry , bu t Ano t her flyc u ttin g operation is shown wedge blo cks for co nnec t in g ro ds or the
mi l led surf aces pa ra l le l to the ax is , as so on as lon g art icles have to be deal t in Fig . 17 wh ere a steel ba r is be ing type in th e pr evio us picture. Thes e wedge

Fig. '5 Fly cu tt ing a brack et Fig. 17 Flycutting tapered bar material

28 29
 Fig. 18 Fl ycu tt ing cylinder soleplate
bloc ks are needed for adjusting the
beari ngs in the rod ends . The rec ta ngular
sect io n bar is held in a vice on a tilti n
ang le-p late whi ch has b een set at 6
de grees to th e table of th e mil ler with a
St ar rett com bin atio n p ro trac to r. Th e
ta pe red form w il l be seen on th e end of
t h e c o m p l e t ed piec e l y in g on th e
anglep lat e. This is an easy w ay of getti ng
a speci al section which cannot be bo ug ht,
and wh ich would, to say the least. be
tediou s to make by filing.
Th ese flycutt er hol ders do not allo w
m uch adjust me nt of the radius of the
cutte r bit, but w it h some ma kes o f bo ring
head there is quite a lo t of adjust me nt . For
exam ple the Dare boring head pe rmits of
usi ng a cu tt er in a f i n, dia m . ba r at any
rad ius up to 2t in., and by sett ing th e
saddle in or out on the slide body the
radius can be adjusted by fine amo unts to
suit any jo b w ithin the range. Fig. 18
shows an old type, pre-wa r bo ring head
30
Fig. 19 Facem ill
ground off to th e same pro jec tio n. and st ationary engi ne. The casting is suppor ­
sharpened to a diameter of approx. 2t in. ted by a spec ial angle plate typ e of fixture,
be ing used to face a cy linde r sole-p late fo r In Fig. 2 0 it is shown mill ing th e face o f th e patte rn for w hich w as m ade in an
a slide valve engine mode l of 2t in. stroke. a half -flyw hee l iro n cast ing for a mo del ho ur. W ithout this fixture th e ope ration
FACE MILLS
Of cou rse, mu lt i-cutt ing-edge face mi lls
perm it mac hinin g a surface quicke r tha n a
singl e point t ool can do, and with less
snat ch and jerki ng, but co m mercia lly
m ade they are very expens ive , and in the
hom e workshop th e greate r productivity is
no t usuall y of m uch conseq uence. Never­
thel ess, for anybod y w ill ing to spend the
tim e needed th ey can be made in the
ho me w orkshop , w ith several cutte r bi ts
mounted in o ne m ild steel body . Fig. 19
show s a face m ill of t his kind , which was
m ade originall y to screw on the spind le of
a M yf ord lat he to do some repetitive
mi llin g of a fa irly heavy nature , now no
longe r required, but it is sti ll a good
general pu rpose too l. It has 12 tool bits :l­
in. di am . set into flat bottomed holes, all
31
 correc t location for the casti ng (wh ich was
follo w ed by others) but also insurance
against slipp ing .
In the fu ll sized engi nes these slides
we re always planed , and every eng ine­
build ing shop had planers for thi s ki nd of
wo rk. In the one wh ere I w ork ed there
we re seve ral of diHere nt sizes. and the
arqest, built by Joshua Buckt on of Leeds.
auld plane any cast ing up to 20 ft. long.
12 ft. wide and 12 ft. high . It w as said at
tha t time to be the largest in Yorksh ire .
and ce rtainly it often did castings for o ther
firms. Cutti ng could be done in bot h direc­
tio ns of the tab le travel at equal speeds . or
in one directio n with a qui ck return the
o ther wa y. Each of the four too lheads had
pow er operat io n independent of tab le
mo ve ment, so that cross-p lanin g cou ld
Fig . 2 ' Milling crosshead slide be done through bearing recesses . etc.
One of the pictures show s this operation
on a model be ing do ne by m ill ing. Each
head co uld also be swive lled so t hat
ang ula r faces could be planed also .
After the planing of crosshead slides
they we re tackled by the fillers and
scraped to a portable surf ace plate. Thi s
was coa ted sparing ly with a mixture of
lam p black and oil. slid to and fro on the
slide . li ft ed off. and then all the black
marks scraped away. The surfa ce plate
w as then put on aga in and a fresh lot of
marks mad e. w hich in turn w ere scraped
away. This work went on for many hours,
indeed on a big slide tw o m en cou ld
spend two or th ree days. For such work
the surface plate wo uld be so large th at
two men cou ld not lift it wit hou t the use
of the shop crane. Even tuall y afte r a lon g
t ime t he fi nish obta ined wou ld b e
rega rded as acce ptab le. It then consisted
o f a very large num ber of extre me ly
shal low depressions bet w een the marks .
and each of these proved to be an oi l

wo u ld be so me w ha t diffic u lt. If th
par alle l passes w it h an end mi ll m uc h
cas ting w as held in a vice on the t able the
narrower th an the face requ ired . Apar t
point of cutting would be a long way fro m Fig . 22 Milling bearing j aw s in bedp la te
fro m taki ng mor e time th an a too l w ith a
th e ho ld ing point. and mo vem en t o f th e
wid e sweep. m inut e ridges te nd to be left
casting under the pressu re o f cu tti ng
w here the passes overlap. and these m ay
wou ld be no t easy to prevent. Vibra tio n
have to be removed lat er by filin g or
and chat ter w ou ld be more likely. It very
scrapin g. So w hile this meth od is feasible
ofte n happens that the only wa y to ge t a
the flyc utter or bo ring head is be tte r
satis fac to ry jo b is to make som e equip ­
w he re the re is room to use it, and the
ment specia lly for it. This is no t usuall y
cutter bits are cheape r than endm ill s and
wasteful. especia ll y jf a d uplic ate co m po­
easily sharpened like any lat he too l.
nent is ever requi red. bu t t he equipme nt is
However. an example of work wh ere a
usually found adaptable for some o ther
sma ll Cutte r and successive pas ses mus t
job later. Doing met al cutti ng by 'knife­
be used is shown in Fig. 2 1 w here a flat
and-fork' method s can Soon lead to
bedplat e sli de for th e crosshead on a
disaste r. The other half of the w heel
mo de l sta t ion ary engi ne is be ing m illed.
cast ing. wit h th e cast- in teeth for the
barring 'rack', can be seen in the bo tt om The surfa ce being cut is in a recess tin.
half of th e picture. The w heel is 9f in. deep and the Corners canno t be dea lt w it h
diamete r and has 96 teet h. by a to ol cutting the full Width. as the
Broad flat surfaces can be. and some­ radius left wou ld be too great. Not e th e
ti me s have to be, produ ced by Success ive stop ba r bo lted to th e table. Accura tely
squared w ith the ta bl e it provides not only
32
33
 pocket. When the engine was eventually
pu t to work, with the cross-head hav ing
had similar treatment. the resu lt was that
the cross - head ran to and fro on a film of
lubr ican t which reduced wea r to a very
small amou nt. Engines in textile m ills
would run 60 years and at the end you
would find the scraper marks still there .
T he oil was continuously renewed by
brass combs attached to the crosshead
which picked up oil from a well at each
end of the slide . An eng ine running night
and day. as many of them did . with a
speed of about 80 r.p.m. would make
approx. 3600 million cross-head strokes
in that time! No t a bad performance?
When flat surfaces have to be produced
CH A PT ER 3
at rig ht ang les to the table it is necessary
to use the side of an endm ill . Th is may be
quite unavoidable on some components,
suc h as the model eng ine bedplate shown
in Fig. 22 . There is not much choice about
milling out the jaws for the crankshaft Slitting and Cutting
bearings. This is an operation wh ich the
big planer used to do with the power drive
on the heads of the cross -rail.

It is common practice to des ign mac hinery
components with spli t bosses w hich can
be contracted with a screw for tightening
purposes. The slitting can be do ne with a
hacksaw. bu t if done in unskilful fashion
will not look good when completed .
Slitting saws and many other disc type
cu tters can be readi ly used on the vertical
mille r by mounting t hem on a Mo rse taper
arbor having a pa rallel portio n for the
cutter, and a nut to secure it . Its a good
thing to put a pair of flats on the arbo r to
hold it by when turning the nut. Fig. 23
shows a slitting saw in use cutti ng
through one side of the boss of one of the
parts of the Quorn grinder. On t hat
machine there are several components
w ith this feature, so time will be saved if
they are all col lected and cut th rough
while the saw and vice are in position.

Fig. 23 Slitting boss of casting

34 35
 M any o th er jo bs of simila r nature w il l
burrs to enable th em at on ce to be bolted
co me to m ind, suc h as engi ne eccent ri c
together. Not on ly are castings inv olved
sheaves, and especia ll y ecc ent ric straps .
but also parts ma de from bar material.
wh ich can be cast in one pi ece and the n
cut thr oug h, leavi ng two surfaces that
Ma rin e type connecting rod ends are an CHAPT ER 4
example. and this method can also be
need only a to uch with a fi le to rem ov e
used for producing bearings in halves.

Keyway Cutting

Keys and keyways are a v ery co m mo n
feature of machi nery and naturally of
mod els too. Th e comm on ro und-e nded
keyw ay. for a 'feather' key . is easily
produced on a parallel sha ft by hol di ng the
shaft in the vice and using a sma ll end mill ,
or two -f lute 'slot -drill'. Fig . 24 show s the
set up for this ope ratio n.
Various parts of car and motor cycl e
engi nes. gearboxes, and other machi nery
compone nts in the past have had whee ls
mount ed on tapered shafts wi th the
keyw ays foll owin g th e slope o f th e taper.
M odellin g one of these w ou ld involve
fo llo wi ng the same proce du re. One way in
wh ich this can be done is shown in Fig.
2 5. The vice holdi ng the sha ft is set on a
tilting angleplate so th at the top o f the

Fig. 24 M illing Ieet her keywa y

36
37
 Fig. 25 Millin g fe at her ke yway on tap er ed sha l t
tapered pa rt com es pa ralle l w it h the
m achin e t ab le. The shaft show n in t he
pictu re is a sim ple on e and q uit e short .
and could have been j ust t ilted in t he vice
in a set-up like t hat of Fig. 24 . But a long
shaft m ig ht well fo ul th e t able at it s low er
end so t he elevation which t he ang lepl at e
gi ve s co uld in such a c ase prove essent ial.
Sma ll endm ill s are rather frail to o ls at
best and li able to easy breakage . The di sc
ty pe cutt er is more rob ust and a co ll ecti on
of these acquired either as the need fo r
one crops up , o r bo ug ht cheaply seco nd ­
hand, is w o rt h while . Of co urse th e d isc
cu tte r canno t always go clos e to a
shou lder o n t he shaft , and copying a
pro totype may in some cases rule it o ut .
For th e w o rk do ne in t he hom e workshop
t he re is no need to insist on the rel ativel y
expe nsive side - and -face cutt ers, (t hose
with te et h on t he f aces as w ell as th e pe ri­
phery ) because the sli tting saw , w ith te eth
o nly on t he periphery, w il l do qu ite wel l.
T hese are m ad e in a very g reat va riety of
38
Fig. 2 6 M illing keyway w ith sli tt ing saw
t hicknesses , an d are always co mi ng on For a sta rt the key itself can be part ed ac c u racy f ro m t he b ri ght ba r. T he
t he surp lus m arket at low prices. One of off fro m a piece of ro und mi ld st eel or thi ckness need s careful co nt ro l, but if it
t hese is shown in Fig. 2 6 m illi ng an silver st eel. So it s d iam eter is sett led w it h com es off a b it t oo t hick it can be rubbed
ord inary sunk en keyw ay, th e shaf t bei ng
held in a vice wi th eno ugh ove rha ng t o Fig. 27 Set 01 four W oodruff ke yw ay cutters
avoid t he cutt er t ou chi ng t he vice.
WOODRUFF KEYS
The Woo d ruff key is on e w ide ly used in
ind ust ry . This is in effec t a slic e off a roun d
ba r, cut in ha lf and set in to t he shaft in a
recess m ad e by a sma ll d ia m eter slitti ng
saw . Th is is rath er an oversim plified
des cr iptio n , but it wi ll serve we ll enoug h
as an int rod uct io n to the W ood ru ff key fo r
thos e in ho me w o rks h op s w i t hou t
ind ust ria l ex perien c e. Se riou sly . th e
W ood ruff key. w hic h I t hink was of
A m erican or ig in, has som e ve ry real
ad v an t ag es for th e m ass pr o d u cti on
ind ust ry , and so me of t hes e are of just as
gr eat im po rt ance in t he home wo rkshop
and t he fi eld of lig ht en gineerin g.
39
 down on a flat file . It needs t o be cu t in
tw o on a lin e w hich is nearly a dia me te r,
but the cut edge can readily be filed to
br ing it to fina l shape . Th e keyw ay is made
by a simple cutter like a slitting saw, of the
same diameter as the ba r from wh ich the
TABLE II
key is ma de, with an int egral shank of pre­
ferably some sta nda rd di ame t er w hich can
be run true in a collet on the mi ller. So the
shap e of the keyw ay pro fi le - and its
w idt h - is settled by t he cu tter form . The
cutti ng par t of the cutter is set in line w ith
the diame tra l li ne of the shaft. the n th e
cutt er is fed in by a predetermined
amount.
The resulti ng keyw ay is deep enoug h to
give the key a good ho ld , so that it cannot
roll over, and yet the shaft is no t unduly
wea kened. Norm all y th e t op o f the key is
just clear of the keyway in the wheel or
lever wh ich is being secu red , it s purpose
bei ng to provi de eit her tor qu e or angular
locat io n, and some mea ns such as a grub
screw may have to be used to preve nt
endwise movement.
W ood ruff cutters are not very ch eap ,
but they can easily be made in the home
workshop, from silver steel. The process is
really qu ite sim ple. A blank can be turned ,
mak ing a shank to sui t some sta nda rd
collet. then with the sha nk held in the
colle t th e working part of the cutte r can be
turned to it s diam eter, and th ickness. The
sides sho uld be very sligh tly undercut by
setting a kni fetool a little off square. Using
teet h can be cu t in two ope rations using
an ordinary end mi ll ; the re is no need for
angu lar cu tters. as t he d iagra m on the
opposit e page indicates. The num ber of
teeth is no t importa nt, but six is a co n­
ven ient numb er for small cutters . It is
possible to file the teeth if you do not have
access to a div iding head. as the spacing
is not at all critical , but it's a little more
difficult. Fig. 27 shows a batch of cutters
made to the sizes in Table II and Fig. 28
shows a keyway being cu t . There seems
to be no place where sizes of Woodruff
keys and cutte rs are disp layed for m odel
engi neers . Machinery 's H andbook giv es
sizes wh ich are used in ind ustry. but the
shee r range of sizes is itself confusing, and
of cou rse t he tables are libe rally sprin kled
wit h to lerances that model lers cou ld
neither follow no r wa nt . I have therefore
picked ou t a few sizes wh ich I think wi ll
serve ou r pu rpo se. and as we don 't have
to provide interchange ability in our

G~
2 a sim ple un-gea red dividi ng head th e products, if anybod y w ant s t o depa rt a bit

Fig. 28 Milling Woodruff keyw ay

3~ x20 B.S.F. FOR F

CLARKSON Be. OSBORN CHUCKS.

WOODRUFF
KEY S & KE.YWAYS CUTTERS
A B C D E F G
~ I
44­ -(6 '10 9 '073 '037 '10 0 '030
~6 .%
.6 140 '/ 0 4 '03 7 '/04 '037
3-'8 %2­ '172 '/23 '053 -/ 29 '04 5
~
2 ~ 2 -203 '155 '053 -1 87 '0 60

40
41
 from t hese di mensions he can certai nly do
so. Up to date of w ritin g I have not seen
any spec ifica tion of W oodruff keys in
met ric sizes.
The cutters shown in Table II hav e
screwed sha nks to suit Clarkso n and
Osbo rn chucks, wh ich have colle ts th at
close on the cutter shan k throug h end
th rust exerted by the cutter agai nst the
inside of the chuck. If you are maki ng
cutters for use in a Clare chuck or just to
use in a 3 -j aw . these thr eads are not
needed. It may be noticed that the cu tters
42
sho wn in Fig. 27 are stamped w ith thei r
size de tai ls. It is a goo d plan to have a set
of small stam ps. say 1/1 6 in . character s.
so that appropriate identity can be mar ked
on all hom e m ade tools. jigs. etc as we ll as
model co m po nents. The hol es dr il led in
these cu tte rs were provided fo r the co n­
venien ce of the har dener . They were
harde ned for me by a firm where liq uid ­
salt bath s are used fo r heat ing and
q uenching tools. A sma ll hole enables the
tool to be hung on a w ire in the bat hs
w ith out da mage to cutting edg es.
CH APTER 5
Fluting Components
other than Tools
Fluti ng of locomotive con necti ng rods and
coupli ng rods is an operation very sim ilar
t o keyway cu tting so fa r as th e rem ova l of
me ta l is concerned. bu t the leng th of the
flutes is usually greater, and th e lengt h of
the pieces de man ds som e w ell arrange
ho lding m ethods. One occasiona ll y sees
rods which hav e been fluted w ith an
endmi ll by the same metho d as show n in
Fig. 24. giving rou nd ed end flute s like a
feath er keyw ay. Thi s is ent irely wrong . no
full size rods w ere fluted thi s w ay. They
have flutes w ith rounded int ernal corne rs
in the bot tom . and wi th swept out t er­
m ina tio ns at the ends, whi ch is done to
avo id the notch fatigue cracks w hic h can
propaga te fr om sharp co rners. Fortunately
it is qui te easy to produ ce flutes whic h are
in acc ordan ce with full size practice. and
not even necessary to have a fancy m ill ing
cutl er. A simp le tool bit, gro und rather lik e
a partin g too l. wi th the corners rou nded
off. is put into a transverse ho le in a cu tler
bar , and m ounted in a chuck on th e mil ler.
Th e rod to be dealt with is fixed edgewa ys
up , as it go es in the loco . prefe rably
aga inst a long ang leplate . and th e rotat ing
cutle r is fed in like a W ood ruff cutler
wou ld be. Wh en in to proper depth.
usually quite shallow, the ta ble move ment
is started and th e flute is then made
p rogress ive ly alo ng th e rod , leav ing
behind the swe pt end . Wh ere the cut
fini sh es there is als o a swep t en d,
autom atica ll y. Coup li ng rods usua lly have
flutes that are parallel sid ed, and so do
some t ypes of Canadian and Am eric an
con nec ting rod s. In these case s a single
pass with a cutle r th e right w idt h w ill
c om p lete t h e jo b. Mo st Br i t i s h
locom otives . on th e ot her hand , had
tape red con nec ting rods wi th parallel
flanges . l.e. tapered flutes. For these tw o
passes are need ed. and th is can be
achieved in a very simpl e w ay.
In Fig . 2 9 the rod of a Canadi an engi ne
is seen fixed on th e ang leplate. In eac h
end is a screw with a head tu rne d to th e
size of the ho le in the rod end. Thi s is a 12
in. lon g angl eplate wi th no slots. as hol es
are drilled and ta ppe d just w herever they
are needed for each job. It w ill be many
years before it is so perforated as to be no
fur ther use. The two ho les for the locating
screws are th e same dista nce from the
table. and they only provide the locati on .
the rod being secured agains t t he cu tting
forc es by two sma ll clamps as shown. For
this rod and for coupling rod s the set -up is
exac tly as shown. But for British type
rods . the screw in the big end is made
smaller than the hole in th e rod by the
43
 CH APT ER 6

Boring

It is not uncommon t o have bor e holes in ho le) on the mil ler tabl e and using a cutt er
com ponents w hic h are m uch too large to in a boring head. W ith the w orm- actuat ed
sw ing around in the lath es that are fo und dow n feed. and the bot tom spe ed of th e
in mo st ho me workshops. But there is no Dare-Westbury m achine. 3 4 t rp m . an
need in many cases t o resort to hand excellen t hole wa s obtained four inch es
Fig. 29 Fluting locomotive conn ec ting rod
too ls. even for ho les w here great accuracy diame ter. W ithout th ese facilities t he work
is not needed. Th e vertical mil ler can be wou ld have been sent out to som e
amou nt of the taper (at th e hol e centres) used for boring (w it h a trepanning tool in a engineering firm . Th e am pler space on t he
square ba r can be dr opp ed int o it. That
and for the first operation th e rod can be bo ring head) such th ings as fire- hole tables of m il ling machines. com pared w ith
enables fixtures to be instantly lin ed up
allowed to dro p down o n the screw whi le do or s in bo iler plates. bosses o n castings w hat one can get on a lathe saddl e w ith
w it h th e t ab le movemen t . in c lud ing
the fi rst cut is t aken. Th en for th e second suc h as lon g levers. and many o ther an angle plate . makes the miller invaluable
dividing heads as we ll as ang lep lates. The
cut the rod is lift ed up as far as th e screw ob jec ts. In or der t o rnot ori se a shaper I for w ork of thi s ki nd and of cour se by
thrust of the cutte r in this example tends
w ill let it go . and re-c tarnp ed. and a had to bore a hole throu gh t in . o f cast do ing externa l tu rnin g w ith a boring head
to move the ang lepl ate awa y from the bar .
seco nd cut taken, The rod w ill now finish iron t o mo unt a worm reduction gearbox . one can dea l w ith male regist ers as we ll
but it is secured w ith tw o good bo lts in
w ith a taper flu te and two parallel flanges. and t his had to be a true round hol e. It as hol es. This is a simp le op eration too ;
t h e t ab l e slot s . n o t v isi b le i n t h e
Th is fluti ng is a very simple ope ration . was do ne by fix ing t he cast ing (15 in. long on e just turns the cutt ing tool inw ard
pho tograph. It sho uld not be forgo tt en
The angleplate is extreme ly rigid. The in one direc tion fro m the centre o f the instead of outw ard.
that locomotive rods w hich are flu ted at
mach ine in the pi cture is happily provided
all m ust be done on bo th sides. but wi th a
t
wi th a in. w ide keyw ay alo ng the centre
set- up li ke this the job is so simp le it
of the table. only t in. deep . but a i- in.
w ou ld be a pity not to have it righ t.

44
45
 CHAPTER 7
J ig-Boring
The ter m 'j ig-boring' is lik ely t o be
unfa m iliar to m any readers of this boo k,
and they may thi nk that w hateve r it
mean s it m ust be a lon g way removed
from model engineering. This is no t so, for
in model m aking pl enty of operations arise
th at can be don e by 'jig-boring ' to adva n­
t age. Basicall y it only means fixi ng a com ­
ponen t to t he m ach ine tab le and th en
using the tab le screw s as measuring
dev ices to positio n the spindl e over any
part of th e com ponen t that is desired
before dr illi ng or boring a ho le. In m any
ways t his m eth od is better than m arking
out, measu ring wi t h a rule, then centre­
pu nch ing fo llowed by drill ing on a drilli ng
machine. For one thing th e wo rkp iece is
fi r m ly held , t he t ab l e screws are
reasonably goo d measuri ng devices, and
man y ho les can be m ade, of any diameter
needed. without losing the att itude of the
piece to the table, or on e hole to another.
Let's take a fairly com mon componen t,
the beam cast ing of a mode l bea m eng ine .
This will have severa l holes to be dri lled ,
usual ly along one straight line. and rather
impo rtan t. all these shou ld be parallel wi th
one another if the finished engi ne is to run
smoothly. There will be one ho le at each
end , and a main trunnion ho le at the
middle, plus one or more for the links of
46
the pa rall el motion, pump rods, etc. The
casti ng can be cl am ped t o the ta bl e qu ite
firm ly, resting on pack aging of reason able
thic kness so that a penetrati ng drill do es
not dip in to the t able. A t th is stage all
bosses can be faced w ith an end m ill ,
even if they are at differen t levels. Th e
centre lin e of the cast ing should have
bee n set paralle l w ith the line of the t able
movem ent . Put the drill chuck in the
spind le. w ith a fine point ed du m my dri ll
sim ilar to a ce ntre punc h. and br ing this
over the first boss cen tre . The n wind on
th e table the amou nt t o t he next hole and
check if the point com es in the righ t place
ove r that boss. W ind on again to th e next
and so on check ing at each boss. If all
com e cen tra l. all is wel l. If one or mo re
don't. then an allo w ance w ill have to be
m ade as a co m prom ise. Ma ke a not e o f
wha t it is. re-start at the begin ning, and do
another run till you are satisfied you have
got t he rig ht starti ng point for the best
results. If yo u happen to tu rn the ta ble
screw a bi t t oo far at one of the stopping
points, do n't worry, but do n' t turn it back a
bit as a correc tion , because th at way you
cou ld introd uce an error thro ug h back lash
(lost mo tion due to slackness) in the
screw and nut. Go back to the very start
and com e at it again. It's a good thing
. ~--"
=::--­...,."
t-
I~
~ ~:
I
\ .l
~: 7
r - I
Fig. 3 0 Drawing of stea m hoo k (l ever)
w hen do ing an exercise o f this kind to
have a paper and pen cil handy and w rit e
dow n the m icrom et er dial readings w hich
are th e st opp ing points. This redu ces the
ch ances of acciden t al erro r. It is a method
used by men in industry w ho are engaged
on delica t e w ork w here a mom entary
in t erru pti on ca n be disast rou s. I have
my self used it for m any year s. A t th is
stag e drillin g can no w sta rt . Each hol e
should be centred w it h a D-bi l groun d to
about 1 18 degrees, foll ow ed by the
app ro priat e dri ll. thoug h th e larger holes
may need a pilot dr ill put ting through first .
As eac h hole is fi ni shed. w ith reami ng if
needed, move on to the next hole by the
table wi nd. and go th ro ugh the procedu re
with th at. too. By this meth od all the holes
w il l be the rig ht distance apar t , and w ill all
be pa ralle l to one another in tw o plane s. It
w ill be clear th at if any holes are wanted
which are no t on the m ain centre line, it is
a simp le m at t er t o drill these in an off-set
a
6+
,..,38
-+--II-- -005
.J.
+ /6
positio n by using the table cross-screw to
provid e the amount off th e m ain line.
W hen all the ho les are fin ished t he beam
can be tu rned over and the bosses m ill ed
on the other side .
Th e beam eng ine casting is ju st one
example of ho w t his sort of t ask can be
handled. Fig. 30 is a draw ing of a co mpo­
nent of th e t rip gea r of a model steam
engin e. and the holes w hic h have to be
drilled are in posi tion s w hich w ou ld not be
easily att ained by the co m mon marking­
out and centr e punching proces s. Fig. 31
shows one of th e finishe d pieces w it h one
only part-ma de , to show th e me thod
adopted. One inch diame t er bar wa s used .
as that gives th e outside profile needed.
Set true in th e fo ur- jaw chu ck it was
bore d 9/ 16 in., the n set out of true by
.047 in . and the ho le re-bored to the same
setting . Next it was set well off centre to
dril l the No. 38 drill hole. Th e correc t
setting was established by measurements
47
taken off the outside surface of the 1 in.
bri ght ba r. With the pi ece still held. the
chuck w as removed from t he lath e and
bolt ed on the m illing mach ine tabl e. A
number 3 8 dr ill . ru nning i n a tru e chuc k.
t hen 'picked up' th e existing hol e and the
di al readin gs on both screws of the ta ble
w ere no ted {and w ri tten do wn !' The drill
was chan ged for a very sho rt stiff 1/ 16 in.
drill. the t able screw s were ro t ated . to
bri ng the first 1/16 in . hol e pos it io n un der
it and tha t hole then dr illed. Further
rota tio n of th e scre ws brought in turn
each of the o ther holes into pos ition and
the drilling wa s quickly com pleted. The
chuck was then re turned to the lathe. Th e
fi rst boss around the No. 3 8 hole was
turned and t he piec e parted off. care bei ng
taken to leave the shallow boss on the
part ing side. Then the second bos s w as
turned . anot her parting off . and the two
com po nent s w ere th rough t hat part of the
process. It rem ained only to cut the
desired piece out of the ring and file up
the two ends t o t he rounded profile. By
these met hods a com po nent of a rather
com pli cated shape w as produced und er
Fig. 3 1 Photograp h of st eam hook
• can be de ter mine d by the sett ing of a
• bo rin g head cutt er. and trave rse across
48
co mplet e co ntrol and exactly as specifi ed
on the drawi ng.
There are m any o ther artic les in model
engi neering wh ich lend them selves very CHA PT ER 8
w ell to th e jig-boring techn ique. Locom o­
tive boiler tube plates w ith a large num ber
of holes can be do ne this w ay. and
t
becau se som e of the hol es m ay be in. or
even mo re in di am eter it is vita l to have
th e m et al c lam ped do w n t o avoi d
Profiling
pe rsonal injury . as copper is not one of the
kindes t of m at erials for machi ni ng. But if
cl ampe d on packi ngs o n the m iller. any
large holes for w hich dr ills are not avail­
able can still be dealt w ith by using a
It is not unusual for large compo nent s to for locki ng tw o ma chine parts togethe r.
boring head. If a large drill is available. and
have po rti ons w hich are ci rcular arcs , Th e two part s of th e pad bolt w hich are
th e m achine has a low enough spee d t o
Loco m o t i ve f r a m e s a r e co m mo n being pro fil ed t o suit a rou nd col umn we re
avoid chatte r. there w ill be no 'three­
exam ples. w it h cut -aw ays t o cl ear bogie made fro m one pi ece of steel. and cut
cornered' holes ma de to cause em barrass­
whe els. Such pi eces are m uch too large to apart afte r th e profilin g. A gro ove can be
m ent w hen fittin g flue tubes and silver­
sw ing in th e lat he. and wh ile the bandsaw seen w her e t he separating cut wa s to be
soldering th em at a later st age. It w ill be
if available can do a lot t o relieve the taken. The cutt er in the bor ing bar w as set
fo und that as fam iliarity w it h th e vertical
tedium of drilli ng. hack saw ing and filing. to t he fini shed radius. Only the cross-feed
mi ller dev elop s. other exam pl es wi ll aris e
the miller can do a lot mor e. Using a of the t able was used (to put the cut on
in w hich this high- soun di ng but really
trep anni ng cutt er in a boring head it can bi t by bit) th e other slide being loc ked. The
qui te simple technique can be bo rrowed
take aw ay the unwa nt ed metal in a single tool w as t raversed by the down feed. It is
fr o m ind ust rial p ract ice. w i t h g re a t
operation to finished size on any arc. no t pos sible to tak e the full am ount of
benefit s.
A lte rnatively w it h a bor ing typ e tool it can metal remov al in a singl e pass in a job like
follow th e bandsaw and just avoid th e t his, but w ith succe ssive cuts a perf ec t job
is assured. Sim ilarly the hol es for such pad
filing.
Smokebo x castings for locom otives bol t s are 'part ho les' and could not be
and tractio n eng ines. how eve r, oft en have dril led in the second st age to full size
circ ular arcs t o fit the boiler she ll. and the w ith ou t gui de bus hes for the dril l. But
• bandsaw can be nohelp wit h these. But if
they are set up on th e mi ller. th e radi us
drill ing under size and th en open ing out
with a bo ring head get s there just t he
same , a bit less qu ickly.
the wo rk provided by th e downfeed of the
Prof iling loco moti ve connec ting rods
and coup ling rods can be a somew hat
t iring operation if one has t o do it by
spi ndl e. eve n t houg h th is is us u all y
m anual. Th at feed lengt h m ay no t be sawi ng and filing. Trying to do this w or k
eno ug h to cover t he face wid t h, but aft er on the bo ring table of th e lathe wi th
going as far as th e spindle w il l move. a vertica l slide or angleplate is not very
second cu t can be taken by resetting th e happy eith er. Usually the cross- slide travel
is mu ch too short to co mp lete the length
head of th e mach ine .
I n m ac h i n e r y de t a i l s t h e s a me i n one p ass. so t h a t re - se tt i n g is
probl ems arise. Fig. 32 shows a pad bo lt necessary . and th e lath e doe s not have
49
 th e in-feed faci lities needed. Gene rally
with a vertical slide the poi nt at w hich
cutt ing is be ing done at the end s of a long
rod is a very long w ay fro m th e place
where the sli de is secured, so that apart
from 'spring ' of th e pi ece there is dange r
of slipp ing t aking pla ce with dis astr ous
result s. Com pare such attempts w ith the
Fig. 32 Profiling pad bolt
Fig. 33 Profiling coupling rods
50
set- up sho w n in Fig . 33. w her e a pair of
co up ling rods . w ith 'chucking pieces' o f
extra me ta l at each end , are clamp ed on
packings in a safe and rigid set-up .
Generally th e di am et er of end m ill used
can be arrange d to give the right radi us
where the body of t he rod jo in s the
boss es.
51
CHAPTER 9
End- Rounding
In model work, as in ful l sized machinery ,
many comp on ents such as crank webs,
connecting and cou pling rods , m achi ne
links, etc. have to have rounde d end s.
These can be produced by fili ng, and th e
use of hardenerd steel collars and roller s
for gu ides has oft en been reco m m ended
in Model Engineer t o help th e not-sa-good
file r to achieve a good appe arance. Even
wi th th ese, this kind of filing dema nds a
skill wh ich many modellers jus t do not
have (and wi ll never acqu ire, for wa nt of
practice, if nothing else) so for th at reason
alon e it is not a good m et hod. But it is
also rathe r seve re o n fi les, w hich are now
qui t e expe nsive too ls, and unlikely ever t o
get che ape r.
So w here t here is a vert ica l miller avail­
able, w hy not do the job th e rig ht w ay. as
it wou ld be done in com me rcia l eng ineer­
ing ? It me ans investing in a ro tary tabl e.
but th ese can be bo ug ht in kit form as we ll
as co mp le t e read y for us e. and if
mach ined and assembled by the hom e
worker himself. are not terribly expensive.
Presum ing th at the com ponent has a
round ho le at one end . a plug is needed in
the ta ble so as to loc at e by th at hol e. I
have a sm all ro tary table w ith a t W hit.
ho le in the cent re and have a number of
plug s of sta ndard sizes to fi t tha t. Bu t
52
ano t her t able wh ich I have poss esses a
No. 2 M orse tape r centra l hole and arbor s
can be put in this for loca tion. It is. in fact ,
a Model Engineering Services Type RT3
wh ich does not have a t ee-slo tt ed table,
but has a spindle screwed lik e the M yf ord
lathes and will accept any chucks or
faceplates from the lathes. This ma kes it
feasible to turn , say, a cy linder cover and
transfe r it to a rotary tab le fo r dri lling the
bo lt hol es wi thou t losing the accur acy of
setti ng , Bu t th at is not a featu re of impor­
tance for round ending operat io ns. I have
used it for a numb er of engi ne cranks in
th e manner show n in Fig. 34 . Each crank
was located on the arbor but also cla m ped
w ith a slot plate resti ng on Picado r
step ped packings, a pa ir of these be ing
also unde r the crank itself. The cutte r is a
t in. end m ill cutt ing on it s side .
In all ro tary m illi ng of this kin d w here
the cutter is work ing on the outs ide o f th e
com ponent it is vit ally necessa ry to feed
the ta ble cl ockwis e seen from abov e. All
no rma l m illing cu tt ers rot at e the same
w ay as a twist dfl ll, so wh ich ever side of
the work the cutte r is touching, the w ork
mu st meet the cut te r. and t hat means
clockwise ro tation is essenti al. Oth erwi se
if the cutt er is goi ng the same w ay at the
surface as the work it is certa in to grab
Fig. 3 4 End-roun dinq with rotary table
hold and tha t mean s at least spo iled work.
probab ly a brok en cu tt er. and a lot of g rief.
But if one is w orki ng on an int ern al pro file,
such as trimmin g the ins ide of th e rim of a
flywh eel. th en th e forces are reversed and
th e w ork needs rotat ing ant i-clockwise.
No w the threads of th e RT3 spi nd le are
like th e M yf ord lathes. righ t hand , so
wh en one is do ing insid e work a chu ck or
facepl ate is tight ened by the thrust o f th e
cutter. But w hen do ing the. perh ap s, more
no rm al m ill ing on the ou ts ide of a piece,
the cutt er th rust tends to un do th e
faceplate. and unless the work is very light
cutti ng. this is w hat w ill cert ainly happen.
T he only satisfactory answer to thi s
problem is to drill and tap a hol e thro ug h
th e bo ss of the faceplat e. m ake a coned
di mp le in th e t able spindle at the sam e
spot, and insert a screw with a co ne po int
that fit s the dimple. No t a diffi cult mat ter
at all. But if you are going to use a chu ck
on the sam e table for th e sam e kind o f
work, the n m ake a penci l m ark to show
wh ere the dim ple is for the faceplat e, and
drill the chuck boss w ell aw ay fr om th is,
so th at you have tw o positive ly sepa rated
dimp les, each for its own accessory .
I have used a 5/ 16 in. BSF sock et grub
screw for this purpo se. with a po int
modified (in t he lathe) to a lon ger co ne.
Bu t I fo und th e or dinary hexagon key w as
no t really long enough to be conveni ent
with a standard 7 in s. Myford faceplate.
So I cut off th e shor t bent end of th e key
and fitt ed t he long part to an exte nsio n
made of 1 in. brigh t mi ld steel. This was
drilled in the lathe 3/ 16 in. deep w it h a
No . 16 d rill wh ich is about the acro ss­
corne rs size of th e hexagon , then 7/ 16 in .
further w it h a No. 22 drill wh ic h is about
the across-f lats size. The tw o pieces w ere
th en pressed togethe r in a big vice , the
squared-o ff end of the hexagon cutt ing its
way down t he hole in t he m ild steel. A
5/32 in. cross pin w as fitted. Loctit ed in,
and now I have a Tee w renc h long enou gh
to reach the screw in the boss without any
difficulty. It took on ly fiv e minutes to m ake
and is a convenience there for ever.
53

CHAPTER 10
Dividing Heads
For m any products the use of a divid ing
head is an absolut e necessity. M any ho me
workers, especia lly those w it hout any
engineering experience, rega rd th em as
mos t myst eriou s devic es. almost border­
ing on the occ ult, and say wi thout reall y
thinki ng, 'Oh. I cou ld never use one of
those !'. We ll , a dividing head is really no
more than a headstock w ith a spind le on
w hich the wo rk is mou nt ed, w ith some
m eans o f turn ing it through po sitive
angula r amou nts , and holding it there
wh en each movement has been made.
Nat urally th ere are m any types of div idi ng
head and over the years many de signs
have appeared in M od el Engineer for
heads w hich can be m ade in the home
w o rksho p. A g r e a t dea l o f qu i t e
sat isfactory work can be done w it h a
sim ple head of th e typ e shown in Fig. 3 5.
On the spi nd le, provision is made for
mou nting a lathe cha nge w heel. A spring­
loaded plun ger wit h a conic al poi nt drops
into th e gap between tw o teeth of t he
w heel, and then the spindle is locked by a
screw bearin g on a pad inside the ma in
bearing. I t is advisable not to rely on t he
plu nger hol d i ng the spi ndl e agai nst
rot ation when scre w ing on chucks of
w hen fixi ng a co mponen t on an arbor by
me ans of a nut. If the spind le turns, t he
54
hardly be don e at all w it h hand tools is stre ng th w as needed to transmi t a lot of
shown in Fig. 3 5. This is one half mem ber pow er this mig ht have to be done. but it is
of a dog clutch . The 12 teet h are bei ng cut a good dea l mo re difficu lt and would
with a slitting saw w hich passes across rarely be w orth the trouble. Unless yo u are
the work right on the centre line. Aft er using a we ll-es tablished desi gn for wh ich
each cut . the locking screw was eased . draw ings are available. it is advisable to
the plung er lifted out, th e w heel turned layout the tooth design on the draw ing
five teeth . and t he plunger dropped in boa rd , prefera bly at an en larged scale. to
verify the thickness o f cutte rs w hic h w ill
aga in. The spindle was then locked and
the next too th gap cu t. Really a very
simple procedure. Now on the o the r ha lf
produce th e desired result. They may be
the same thickness fo r bo th halves. bu t
member of t he clutc h the teeth have to maybe not . it depe nd s on the thickness of
have pa rallel sides, and the gaps them­ too th selected. It is also a goo d thing to
selves are t aper sided. This just involves avoid an odd num be r of tee th. bec ause
sett ing the cu tt er with its bott om edge the curve of th e cutt er w hen going
above the cent re lin e by half the thi ckn ess through one side may be chew ing int o the
teet h of t he change w heel m ay be badly met al whi ch has to be left int act on the
dama ged. In fac t w hen do ing th is sort o f of t he teet h left upstanding in th e first
half. T he same procedu re of cutti ng right opposite side to mak e the too t h. If your
fixing I alw ays diseng age th e plunger, des ign can arrange for an eve n number of
the n if the screw pad doe s no t hol d. no acr oss is fo llow ed . and afte r six passes th e
job is co m plete. It is feasible. if yo u are teeth this risk w ill be eli m inate d. A not her
damage is done . poi nt is to chec k t hat th e desired number
By selec ti ng a suit able ch ange w hee l it wi lling to t ake the trouble. to make a
clutch w ith all tooth side s t apered. so that of t eeth can reall y be s ecured wi t h the
is pos sib le to get quit e a lot o f divisions dividing head you int end to use.
very easily. For example a 60 toot h w heel the two halves are ident ical. If maxim um
w ill gi ve 2 . 3 , 4 . 5. 6. 10 . 12 . 15 . 20 or 3 0
divisions. It w ill no t give 8 . but a 40 tooth
Fig. 3 5 Cutt ing teet h in dog clutch part
w heel w ill do so. W hen doing dividing
w ith thi s kind of device it is a go od thin g
t o have a bit of chalk handy and mark the
appropriat e toot h gaps w here t he plunge r
is go ing to have to drop in, before starting
cu tti ng, to avoi d i nco rrect settings w hic h
wou ld spoi l the w or k. Ma ny examp les of
m achinery parts to w hic h a sim ple head of
this kind can be usefull y applied cou ld be
given . Suc h it em s as cr ankc ase dr ain or
filler plugs wh ich need hexagons. square
ends on shafts, tools like ta ps, reamers.
pa ralle l fl at s f o r sp anne rs on ro und
art icles, all th ese can be fo rmed so very
easily with an end mil l, w ith less phy sical
effort than fil in g, and w it h an accu racy
w hic h enha nces th e appearance o f th e
arti cl e even if dim ension al accuracy as
suc h is no t im port ant.
But there are examp les w here accuracy
is fairly im po rta nt, and on e w hich cou ld
55
 -Ic 3" ./ M YFO RD DIVIDING HEAD
The Myford dividing head is an exce l­
lent piece of equ ipment, w ith a very w ide
range of divisions. The main spi ndle has a
:0
I
60 tooth worm wheel on it. and a single­
start worm meshes with that. Concent ric
with the worm there is provis ion for
mounting a m ult i- holed division plate
which remains stationary and does not
rotate w it h the wo rm . On the worm
spindle is fitted an arm carrying a spring­
loaded pl unger wh ich has a po int of
paral lel shape that ente rs holes in the
1. divi sion plat e . This arm is slotted and can
16 be set to such a radius as w ill br ing the
plunge r in th e right place for any of the
row s of ho le s that are already drilled in the
plate . H aving set the arm. if one tu rns the
w orm one w hole turn and drops the
plunger bac k int o the same hole fro m
w hich it star ted , the m ain spi ndle w ill
have rot at ed one sixt ieth o f a turn. But if
on e m ov es t he w o rm and arm fiv e
comp let e tu rns befo re droppin g in, the
ma in spindle will have turned one tw elft h
of a tu rn. Basically. that is all there is to
~..j)(6
I I getting any desired number of divisions.
PIN %x4­ Hav ing got the right division plate on the
head one moves the arm so m any turns,
plus if necessary, a certa in num ber of
holes extra to the comp lete turns. A chart
supplied wit h the head giv es all the avail ­
141. )( 43 able co mbinat ions. In order to accomplish
all divisions up to 100 it is necessary to
have 4 plates . but two of th ese are needed
~li- i on ly for some rather out landish numbers
with whi ch few mode l engineers w ill ever
• 9
,
0 ~
...1.."
3 2.
I~
STE A DY STAND fO R
have to deal , so the two normal plates w ill
serve. almost every thing. There is on e
point of practi cal imp ortance in using a
;5' MYFOR 0 Dlv'O'G HEAD
Opposite, Fig. 36 Drawing of st eady stan d for
M yford dividing head
56
w orm gea red dividi ng head . Whe n moving
from one positio n to the next. always turn
the worm the same wa y, never go bac k. If
by chance you overshoot t he rig ht hole . of
course you have to t urn back. but go we ll
bac k. way beyo nd the hole you want by a
good margin . the n come up to it afr esh. If
you fail to do this you wi ll have an erro r in
your dividi ng and a scrapped work -piece.
Our old enem y 'back- lash' wi ll see to that.
But it' s easy enoug h to avoid th is kind of
disaste r. Th ere is provided on the head a
most im po rtant aid to co rrect co unti ng of
the number of holes needed w hen turning
the worm . Tw o brass blades are fitted
around the worm shaft . above the divis ion
plate, and these can be moved relat ive to
one anot her, by loosening a screw, and
set to em brace th e num ber of holes
needed. Th an afte r lockin g w it h the
screwdrive r, they make a mask to sho w
just where the plu nger sho uld be dropped
in . A fter each movem en t you rotate them
ti ll one blade comes aga inst the plunge r,
and yo u are the n ready (afte r doi ng the
cutting of cou rse) fo r the next move. In
this pa rt of the procedure the two blades
move together as if t hey were one piece of
met al.
STEADY STAND
I have found in using the Myford head
that it is a convenience to be able to set it
at lath e centre heigh t when fixed on the
boring table. If one wants to drill cylinde r
covers and simila r work the radius of th e
row of holes can be readily obtain ed by
the cross slide screw and th e measure­
men t is direct. So I have a packing block
of the right thi ckness whi ch I can place
under it for th is purpose.
There is one minor cr it icism of th e
Myford head which is never theless impor­
tant from a pra ctical po int of view. Th e
single bolt wh ich holds it to a machin e
57
 tab le or vert ica l slide , etc . does on
occa sion come a lo ng way from the poi nt
whe re cu tt ing is being done . and accor­
di ng ly there is da nger of the work being
spo ilt by the head slippi ng. To ove rco me
this I have made up a st eady stand from
mi ld stee l bar m ateria l wh ic h bol ts on t h
tab le o f the m ill er, and clamps on the 1 in .
overarm ba r of the head. The st and has a
vertic al t in. ba r set into a fl at base with
slot for a table bo lt. A tw o-w ay cla mp
slides o n thi s vertical bar, and ano ther t
in. b ar passes through it horizont ally. A t
the end of this is a two- plate clam p
ripping the t in. ba r, w it h provision also
Fig. 39 The George H. Thom as Versatile D ividing H ead
Fig. 37 Steady in use on a gea r cu tt ing operation
Fig. 3 8 Author 's design for simple dividing hea d
\\
58
for gripp ing the 1 in. bar o f the head. The
various clamp s can be mo ved separately
and make a pretty unive rsal fi tt ing. The
wh ole thi ng is shown in use in Fig. 3 7 .
Th is fitting of my de sign is no t on the
ma rket , but it has proved so useful to me
that I am giv ing a working drawi ng of it in
Fig. 36 and anybody who likes can make a
unit fo r hi msel f.
OTHER DIVIDI NG H EADS
Since the last edition of this boo k was
printed thr ee new divi din g heads have
appeared on th e market. The first. of my
59
own desi gn, rep laces that shown in Fig .
35 , lon g out of production after the maker
die d sever al years ago. It is essentially
similar wi t h detail im provem ents. It has a
ta ilstoc k for suppo rt ing long sle nde r
piece s, and a pai r of raising blocks which
bring the cent re height up to just ove r 3 t
in. and t hereby all ow fo r rotat ing work up
to the size of the 7 " diamete r Myford
face pl ate. It is shown in Fig. 3 8 .
The second typ e is a m uch m o re
elabo ra t e a n d v e r s a ti le appliance
de sig ned by Mr Geo . T ho m as, and
suppl ied, like t he first one, by N.S. & A.
Hem ingway , 30 Links View , Half A cre,
Rochdal e. In this head a 24-ho le divisio n
p late p rov ide s for simple dividing w ith
thos e factor s associat ed w ith 24. A 4 0 ­
tooth worm w heel and w or m ca n also be
engaged, w it h a si x- row dri lled - ha l
division plat e, giving mu ch fin er di visions.
This plate can be rotated by a subsidiary
worm, t hereb y permi tting very high
Opposite, Fig. 40 The Kibbey dividing head
nu m bers of divisions to be obtained . Most
peop le will need some help to m ake t he
full est use of thi s device and the book by
Geo . Thom as himse lf on its constructio n
and use, (Dividing and Gra duating , Ar gus
Books Ltd.) will be fou nd t he best source
of infor m ation. Th is head is also ava ilabl e
with tai lstock and raising blocks, but in
normal for m is shown in Fig. 3 9 .
The third head is supplied also in kit
form by M odel Enginee rin g Serv ices . and
was desig ned by Mr Ron Kibbey. It uses
sta ndard Myfo rd cha ng e whee ls as
division plates, but has a fork ed lock ing
plu nge r whi ch can span ov er a to oth as
we ll as drop be tw een tw o t eeth. Th us the
num ber of divi sions in creases to tw ice the
number of teet h in any w heel. In addition
it has a mount ing for a w hee l- pa ir to m esh
w ith t he spindle w heel. giving a ge ar ratio
to add to th e basic divisions. It is not at
present prov ided with a tailstock or raising
bl ocks. Th e head , w ith ext ra gea r pair in
pos itio n, is show n in Fig. 4 0 .
61
CHAPTER 11
Dividing Heads and,
Gearcutting
h ea~
The av ailabi lity o f a di vid ing is again
essentia l for doing gearcutti ng on the
mill ing m ach ine. Of cou rse the re are types
of gears on e j ust cann ot do, bu t ordinary
spur gears can be don e perfectly wel l for
m od el engi neeri ng purposes . wh ere
nei the r high speeds . extre m e silence, nor
high rate s of pow er tr ansm ission are
dem anded. The design of gear s is a
subj ect outside t he scope of this book,
which is intended to deal with workshop
ope rat ions. but there are plenty of sources
of inf orma t ion on gear design . The simp le
ty pe of div idi ng head already illu st rate d
w ill serve very w ell if the gears to be cu t
hav e such a num ber o f teeth as the
indexing cha nge w hee ls can deal wi th.
Bu t if th e num ber requ ired cannot be go t
from exist ing wh eels, t hen a more
com plex head such as the M yfo rd. w ill be
needed. Fig. 37 shows th is in use cutti ng
the teeth of a pin ion w hic h are inte gr al
with th e shaft. The blank was turne d to t
in. dia met er on the part t o be held and this
was gripped in the sta nda rd Myford t in.
coll et. w hi le the othe r end of th e com po ­
nent bei ng centred wa s support ed by a
60 degree centre in the ove rarm fitt ing.
This picture sho w s the st eady bracke t
descr ibed in the last chapter in use. The
cutt er is a simple flycutt er in a boring bar
62
I
III
held for co nven ienc e in a bo ring head. It is
shown in close- up in Fig. 41 . The prof ile
w as establi shed by grindi ng to suit a
whee l of the sam e pitch w ith slightly mo re
teeth. The variation is so sm all as to be of Fig. 4 1 Close-up of fl ycu t ter and pin ion
no im port ance. especial ly as the pi nion
ro t at es at only a lo w speed.
But if several gears are to be m ade . and
especia lly if du plicat es may be w ant ed
lat er, it can be w orth whil e to invest in one Fig. 42 Gearcutting with Brown & Sharpe cu tter
or more prope r disc typ e gear cu tt ers of
wha t is now universally known as th e
'Brow n & Sh arpe' type, because th ey
we re deve lop ed by th e famous fir m of
Brown & Sharpe in U.S.A. m any years
ago. Th ey are of cours e now m ade by
Britis h firm s as w ell. and by o th ers all ove r
th e w orld . to an accu racy of in tern ational
st and ards . far be tter th an anything th at is
needed fo r model engin eering , and are
prope rly back ed off as w ell as being made
f rom high speed ste el. No single cu tt er
will properl y deal with all num ber of tee th,
so t hey are m ade in set s. ea c ~ cutter
dea ling wi th a li m it ed range . and each
bea rs an ident ify ing num ber. The range
runs as fo llows:
No.1 135 to a rack No.5 21 to 25
No. 2 5 5 to 134 No. 6 17 to 20
No.33 5 t05 No.7 14 to 16
N o. 4 26 to 34 No .8 12 and 13
63
 Fig. 43 Flyc u tting 10 d.p . gearw heel, fron t view
These cutt ers can be bought sin gly at
any tim e fro m regular to ol merch an ts and
I doubt if any disco unt w ould be giv en for
buying a com plete set o f 8. So th ere is no
need to go to the expense of acquiring a
com plete set unless it is fir m ly kno w n
th ere w il l be a use for every one ! Fig. 4 2
shows one of th ese doing a sim ilar job to
that depicted in Fig. 37 . The smoother
acti on of the mul ti-tooth ed cu tter made it
po ssib le to dispe nse with th e use of the
ste ady stand. though care was taken not
to be too roug h wi th the feed. espe cially
at th e st art of each cut.
Going now fro m w ha t m ight be called
the sub li me t o the ridiculous. or at leas t
from th e m iniature to the outsize . the next
photograp h shows the cutting of a m uch
larger gea r. act ua lly 9 .600 in. p.c.d. This is
a gu nmeta l gear needed as par t of a metal
patte rn from w hic h the flyw heel of Fig. 20
was made. It is only 3/1 6 in. thick but the
64
Fig . 44 Fl ycu tt ing 10 d.p . gearwheel, rear view
t eet h are 10 d.p.. approx. 5/ 16 in. cent res. prev ailing. but using this safeguard all avo id damage to m achines and w o rk. as
so qu ite a lot of met al had to be rem oved w ent w ell. w ell as po ssible injury. Fig. 4 3 show s the
at each too th. The cutting w as do ne wi th It is well worth keepi ng in m ind in th e front of th e gear disc. and in this view the
a flvcut ter. grou nd up by hand to match a hom e w or kshop th at th is m ethod of divid ing head is not visibl e. But in Fig. 44
s i l h o u e tte of a 1 0 d .p . t o o t h i n back-up is wi dely used in the engi neeri ng bo th th e ang leplat e and the dividing head
M achinery's H andbook. using a m agnifier, in d u stry . espe c i al ly i n t h e h eav ie r are seen. The gear blank w ould only just
this cutter bein g set in a boring ba r of sect ion s, on planing m achines and others swing in the gap of the M yf ord lath e so
rather excessive length in a bo ring head. w here t here is eit her high thrust or hig h w ithout raising block s it repres ents about
Tw o cuts w ere ta ken, bu t even t hen there im pact,' som etim es both, because it can the largest job that can be t urned .
w as a good deal of spring and noise. Th e
shape of the bla nk casting wa s arranged
to provide for mo untin g by 8 bo lt s on the
large Myfo rd faceplat e. (9 in. diamete r!
and th is wa s fi xed on the m iller t able so as
to ov erhang the side. Tha t pe rm ittgd fixi ng
a sta ndard ang leplat e on the table too.
just to uchi ng the back o f the facepl at e,
which redu ced t he spring iness of that. and
provided a back -s top against the da nger
of slipping. It w ould have been asking a lot
of the single bolt of the divi di ng head to
prevent movem ent, und er the co nd it ions
65
 obtain the maximum swa rf clea rance this
tap has five flutes. The head has no
tailstock so the outboard end of t he tap is
CHAPTER 12 rested on a pa ir of Picador bloc ks and the
clamp rests on anoth er pai r. These are
very usefu l acce ssories for mi lli ng opera ­
tions. Of course each tim e that a flute is
co mpleted the clam p has to be released
A nother example o f the use of the
dividing head, th is tim e cou pled w ith the
use of a small rotary tab le, is shown in
Figs. 46 and 47 . The wo rkpiece to be
produced was a fine too th mill ing cutter
with a roun d end for routing or hand
m illing on the light alloy cy linder head of a
car eng ine. The co mmerc ial ly avai lab le

Dividing Heads and bef o re th e wo rk can be rot at ed to the

po siti on for the next flut e. A suitable
cutters for use in ele ct ric drills had such
coarse teet h that once they touched th e
tailstcck. w ere it available, woul d obv iate surf ace of t he alloy t hey we re uncontroll­

Tool Making
T here are many occasions in tool making
w hen divi di ng is nec essary . Multiple
edged cutt ing too ls like taps. reamers,
m illi ng cutters, cou nte rsinks. et c. all really
need divi di ng de vi ces to produce the best
results, eve n th ough so me of th e sim ple
cutters can we ll be made by filing or
free hand gr inding. Howeve r, th e f orm of
the teet h or flut es som etim es settles that
by mo vi ng 12 te et h at a ti m e on a 60
rough and ready methods j ust w ill not do.
and as in the next exam ple the physical
di ffic ulty o f getting at th e metal that has
to be taken aw ay mo re or less sett les that
m echan ica l divi di ng m ust be em ployed .
Fig. 4 5 show s the fl uti ng of a long-thread
Acm e t ap which is held in a collet in the
spindle of a simple dividing head, using
change w heels for the divid in g. In order to
the need for th is. Th e 5 flu tes are obt ained
tooth wh eel. The cutte r being use d is a
com m ercial t ap-f luting cu tte r pic ked up
cheaply at a sale. These cutters are made
w it h a som ew h at lo p- sided ro un d ed
prof ile speci ficall y for this duty, but if it
had not been available, a flycutt er w oul d
have been gro un d up to the profil e of a
simil ar tap. The prof ile is not de sperat ely
im por t ant and a sm all error wou ld not
matt er.
able and pulled sideways so vio lent ly that
dama ge to the cylinder head was almost a
ce rt ain ty. So as fine pitch cut t ers
appea red to be not purchasable it was
de cided to m ake one. The bla nk, of a
carbo n st eel sim ilar to silver st eel but
som ew hat low er in carbon, wa s made to
hold in a collet and w as give n a sm all
recess in t he end for the flut ing cu tte r to
run into. The div idi ng head , with a 50
to ot h change w heel an its spi ndle . was
m ount ed on a stee l plat e so that the end

Fig. 45 Flu ting Acm e thread tap Fig. 4 6 Cu t ting teeth of ball -end cu tter

66 67
 Fig. 4 7 Close-up of ball-end cutter Fig. 48 Gashing fl ut es in large countersinking tool

of th e wo rk- piece w as beyond th e centre table traversed alon g br inging the cutte r gr ati fyin g rat e. Th e w ork on th e ports in this w as to use a vertical sli de. There was
of t he rotary t able by half its diam et er. In int o op eration cutting along th e cy lindrica l th e alloy head wa s co mp let ed t o the great qu ite a lot of me ta l to be t aken out of the
other w ords , the centre of the ba ll end port io n. Wh en the tabl e was arrested by satisfaction of the user, leaving a beautiful 25 flutes in this de ci ded ly toug h steel , and
was ov er t he centre o f th e rot ary tab le. smooth surfa ce for the gas flo w . as usua l th e cutt ing wa s a lo ng wa y fro m
the te mporary sto p block, the rotary table
T he axis of the work w as on the rot atio n An other exam ple of cutting to ol making the anchorage point, so the st eady stand
wa s turned by means of it s w or m , so t he
cent re. This is no t app arent fro m th e is sho w n in Figs. 48 and 4 9. A large 60 was brought int o use at the back of t he
dovet ail cutt er co ntin ued cuttin g ro und
pho tog raph, but w as an essent ial feature the ball end of th e w o rk. W hen th e culler degree count ersi nk w as need ed for a head, as it proved too diff ic ult t o set it at
of the set- up. A sto p blo ck wa s clamped ran into the recess, the feed w as reversed com mercial operati on on steel tubes, the the sam e side as t he cutt er. Howe ver, it
to th e underside of the m illing m ach ine fi rst wi th the ro t ary table, then wit h the to ol being about 2 -!- in. diam ete r. It wa s served quite w ell in th at position and
table with a to olmaker 's clam p, visi ble in made with an interna l fo rm ide nt ical w it h t her e w as n ev er any su ggest ion of
main t abl e, back to th e st arting poi nt ,
t h e p ho to g raph , to l i m i t t h e ta bl e w her e th e cu tt er w as cl ear of th e w ork the M yford lathe spi ndles from a carb on­ insecurity.
move ment po sitive ly to this posit io n. In sha nk , T he d ivid ing h ead was then ma nga nese ch rom e all o y of known Th e m ain gashes fo r the flut es w ere
the other direct ion the mo vemen t of the identity, so th at subs equent hardening taken out first, w ith two cut s dow n each
indexed one tooth on the w heel. and a
table brou gh t the cutt er to a pa rt of th e coul d be done w ith out risk of failure in a flu t e. Then the head wa s til ted to a new
new cut st arte d, Eventua ll y all 50 cuts
too l shank sm alle r tha n the diam eter at co mmerc ia l e s t ab li s hm en t wit h angl e and another series of cuts take n to
we re co mp leted as shown in Fig. 4 7.
the bottom of the flu te s so th at ind exing
The working ' diamete r of this tool is f knowledge of th is st eel. In t he pictu re it is accomplis h the rel ief. Because of the
could be done w ith th e cutte r in th e clear. sho w n moun ted on the M yford divid ing coni cal shap e of the work the ve rtical slid e
in. and tlgere are 50 perfect te et h. The too l
The cutter used w as a carbon steel one head hav ing th e flut es cu t wi th a specia l had to have it s base set at an ang le to the
w as hardened and tem pered, and w hen
made origi nall y for producing locom ot ive ang le fo rm di sc type cutt er. Beca use of miller table. A ll th ese appa ren tly co m­
put to use in an electric dri ll was fou nd to
lubricator ratchet whee ls, w it h a 60 th e pec uliar angl es w hich are invol ved it plicated setti ngs had to be established
b e ent ire ly sat isfac tory, It worked com ­
degree single angle. W ith the axis of t he was necessary to be able to set the head experi mentally (t houg h pos sib ly w ith a lot
pletel y cha tt er-free, wi th no ten dency to
work parallel to the tabl e a cut was with it s axi s at an incli nat ion to the table, of effort they mig ht have been calcul at ed)
run away, and in spite of its fin e and
started at the requ ired full depth , and the and it proved that the simp lest way to do to give the de sired for m of the cutt ing
sha llo w t eeth , removed metal at a very

68
69

Fig. 49 Rear vie w showin g s tea d y stand in use
edges of the count ersink and the rake
angles desired in two directions. The sm all
division plate in use is one wh ich had
been made some ti m e pr eviously for doing
12 5 div isio n m icrometer dial s. for w hic h
unfo rt unatel y the st andard M yford plate s
do not provide , or did no t at that time.
How ever, w ith th is set -up and not too
many hours w or k it proved possible with
ho me workshop equipme nt to produce a
very suitable specia l countersink w hich
would inev itably have cost a small fortune
70
if it had had to be made in a com m ercial
factory.
It is ho ped that th ese exampl es of
too l m aki ng wi ll enco urage al l who need
non- stan dard t oo ls, and wh o know of no
firm th at w ould take them on, or are
det erred by the high co st of labou r­
int ensive spe cials. Who kn ow s, somebody
in a home works hop m ight t ake on th e job
of hel ping out some tool fact o ry that
w ould not wa nt to be diverted from its
norm al w or k by job s of this kind?
CH A PT ER 13
Dividing Heads and
Graduated Scales
In the co nstructio n of sma ll m achine tools
and access ories it is o fte n de sira ble to
have grad ua te d sca les fo r the co n ­
ve nience of precise measurem en ts, and
the cy lindr ical m icrometer dia l is undo ub­
tedly the com mo nest type . Depe ndi ng on
the number of graduation s req uired the
eng rav ing or cutt ing of the li nes can be
done w ith eit her a simp le head or the
worm gea red type . There is a choice
be tween usin g a non-rotati ng cutte r of the
pla ning or slott ing type, and usin g a
rot at ing cutt er like t hose employed on
pantograph engraving m achi nes. In each
case the work is mounted on th e d ividing
head and t he table screw is used t o move
the work against the too l. It is advisable to
clamp stops to the table . if the mac hine
does not have st op devices built in . so as
to positively limit the t abl e movement an
keep the li nes the co rrect length. W he re
there are li nes of mor e than one length on
the sam e di al, one or more slip s of she et
metal ca n be inserted in front of the stop
to obtai n the sho rt lines . The cu tting tool
can be gro un d to an included angle of
about 50 degrees, Few mode lle rs have
access to an engraving cutter gr inder.
which is the ideal m achine for grindi ng the
D-bit type cutters with conica l end w hich
are neede d. but t hey can in fact be ground
on the Quorn g rinde r. w hic h is becom ing
more and more popular wi th model
engi nee rs. Those w ho do no t po ssess one
of these versatile mac hines may have
some friend w ho can hel p ou t by grindi ng
an occa siona l cutter. For my par t I pr efer
the rotating cutte r bu t then I do have the
machine to grind them. W ithout this a
slo tting tool can easily be ground and if
rigid ly held w ill also do a good job,
Fig. 50 shows a cy lindrica l scale be ing
eng raved on the m ill er w ith a rot ating
too l. This is no t a loose co llar, the scale is
on the co mpone nt itself. act ually par t of a
Quo rn grinde r, but a separate co llar wou ld
just be mount ed on an arbor and treat ed
in t he same way. Fig. 51 is a close- up of
th is operation ,
Some art icles need the sca le on a flat
surface but sti ll in a curve, One of these is
needed on the Ouorn gri nder, and Fig, 52
shows this set on a rotary tab le on the
miller and being dealt with by a rot at ing
cu tte r as the last examp le. The M. E.S.
table in the pict ure has a 90 too th worm
w heel. so one revolut ion of the worm
gives 4 degrees movement and each
division on its 16- line micrometer collar
gives one quarte r o f one degree , The scale
being eng raved is one sp ec ified in
degrees, as it is an ang le-setting scale.
71
 Fig. 50 Cylindric al ma ch ine com p onent being graduate d
Fig. 5 T Close-up of previous operatio n
72
Fig. 52 Graduating part- circular arcuat e scale on fla t surface
Conic al mi cro me te r collars are som etim es
requ ired , but they are more diff ic ult to
prod uc e and should be avoided in the
desig ning if at all possible. For graduat ing
one of these the dividing head woul d nee d
to be tilte d aft er th e fashion of th at in Fig ,
48. but poss ib ly in the o ther direction.
dependi ng on the actua l de sign of the
co llar.
On e po int in ma king scales of any kind.
T he fig uring should always be done so
th at th e figures are the right w ay up as
seen in using the scale . The figures m ay
need to have risin g value . . . 10 , 20 , 3 0
. . . to the right hand from t he zero m ark,
but quite possib ly, depe nd ing on circ um­
sta nces they may need to be the opposite
way. It is as w ell t o get this thoroughly
sorted out before starting to use ma rking
punches to pu t the figures in. because it
can be very di fficu lt t o retrieve th e situa­
tion if th e start was made the wrong wa y.
73
 article in Model Engineer in yea rs past has
descri b ed met hods fo r maki ng gea r
cutters of the Brow n and Sharpe type. and I
CHAPTER 14 hav e some of these myself, mad e from
plain carbon st eel of abo ut 1% carbon .
Such cutters m ust be run mo re slow ly
than the high spe ed steel cutters of com ­
mercial m ake, but it is possi ble that a
miller is a matter of grea t im port ance.
Reference has already been made to t oo ls
which screw di rect ly on t he spind le nose ,
and anothe r chapter in this boo k w ill give
descriptions of the milling chucks w hic h
are currently availab le .
It will be foun d that some of the m illers
at present on offer have spee d ranges

Cutter Speeds for w ide r var iety of tools w il l in fut ure be

ma de in the home w orkshop s, as a bett er
wh ich do not go low enoug h to mat ch the
botto m end of the recom mended speeds
on Table II I. This is un fort unate, bu t it is a
understa nding of too l making and th e con ­

Vertical Milling t ribution w hic h the vertical m iller can

In gene ral I a~ af raid mode l eng ineers do
no t have very clear ideas about ho w fast
they should run t heir lath es, drills or
mi lling m achines. To run t oo slowly
extends the w or king time unnecessarily,
but to ru n t oo fa st will soo n blunt a cutter
and may also cause poor w ork finish
through cha tter. The wear on m il lin g
cutters (apart from flyc uttersl is quite
impo rta nt because of t he trouble of
sharpening t hem , and broke n cut ters can
be qu ite an expe nse. The pri nciples w hich
govern the speeds of cutting metal in
othe r mac hines such as the lathe and dri ll
can be taken as a usef ul guide, in th e
sense t hat any speed which an a particular
materia l w ill blunt a lathe tool or drill wil l
likewise blunt a m ill ing cutter. But on t he
vertical m iller there are other problems
too. Generally t he point of cutting is m uch
furth er from the supp ort than that of the
lathe t ool. It wi ll also be a long wa y co m­
pa ratively fro m the spind le bearings. The
work may be m uch furthe r from the
slideways than it wou ld be from the bed of
th e lathe. Th e cutt ing tool is normally
unsupport ed at it s cuttin g end, and it s
own elasticity is added to that of the
chuck, spindle , work, etc . So speeds
which might be feasible on the lat he may
well be fou nd much too hig h on the mi ller.
pro vid e com es t o be rec ogn ised . The
fact of life, and one mu st do t he best on e
can w it h it, even it it me ans occasional ly
bor row ing the use of a friend 's machine.
cutti ng sp eeds t o be used with such tools
w ill need to be arranged t o sui t the tool Naturally it w ill t end to in flu ence the
As an exampl e, turni ng back to Fig. 2 0 wi ll m ateri als and the w ork they are doing. decisio n w he n thinking of pu rchasing a
show how eleva ted the surfac e o f the The proper mou nt ing of tools in th e machine.
w or k is f rom the t able slides, and in th is
exam ple lo w speed s were esse ntial t o
obtai n a reas onably goo d fi nis h.
Th e rat es of feed and dept h of cut
w hich are co m monp lace on industrial
mach ines are quite out of order in the
home worksho p. N ot only are industria l
machines heavy and rigid, so are the wo rk
holding dev ices, and the work it self is
much more robust and rigid. Also, and th is
app lies particu larly when cu tting stee l,
these machi nes can usually flood the
cutter with coolant , t aki ng away the heat
gen erated in t he cutt ing ope ratio n, and
that is no t norm ally possible on m achines
in t he ho me wo rkshop . So Table III has
been com piled to giv e som e gu idance in
the kind of opera tions which have been
described in the boo k. It is based on using
speeds w hich wi ll conserve the sharpn ess
of the cutters like ly to be used. For flycu t­
te rs, commercially made endrni lls . and
Brown and Sharpe gear cutters, t he tools
t hemselves wil l be properly hardened high
speed stee l. Fo r the Woodruff cutters it is
based on these being hom e made cutt ers
pro duced from carbon stee l or 'silver' st eel
(w hich is a carbon stee l with about 1.2%
carbon and no alloy) . M o re than one

74 75
 TABLE III TABLE III (continued )

FLYCUTIING . Flat surfa ces as in Fig. 16, H.S .S. cutters, easily sharpened. KEYW AY CUTIING. With H.S.S. disc cutter Fig. 26 , or slitting Fig. 23 .
Dep th of cut :
Mild steel .0 30 in. (inc hes)
Brass .0 4 5 in. Cutter diameter. 2 2t 3 3 2' 4
Light A lloy .0 60 in. Speeds r.p.m .
(inches) Mild stee l 65 55 45 38 33
Bras s 1 15 95 75 65 55
Diam eter of Light Al loy 190 15 5 125 1 10 95
cu tt ing : 1 It 2 2 l2 3 31 4 4t 5
Speeds r.p.rn.: GEARCUTIING. Commerc ial H.S.S. Brown & Sharpe cutters 2~ in. di am eter. Fig. 42 .
Mi ld Stee l 150 100 75 60 50 45 38 34 30 Speed s r.p.rn.
Brass 2 30 150 1 15 90 75 65 57 50 46 M ild ste el 48
Ligh t alloy 57 0 3 80 28 5 230 190 165 14 5 125 1 15 Brass 80
Light A lloy 11 0
Sp eeds may well be lim it ed by the exten t that sw arf throw n abo u t the workshop can be
accepted. 'Hom e-m ade' cutters prod uced from 'silver steel' ,
(inches)
Cut te r diam eter, 1t 1 2t 2 2}
ENDMILLING . Sp iral fl ute H.S.S. endm ill s. Dept h of cu t up to ~ of cutter d iame te r up
to 3/ 16 in., then up to -i- o f diame ter. Wid th of step be ing cut up to } o f d iameter. Speeds r.p.m .:
(inches) M ild st eel 60 50 38 30
Cutt er diam et er 1/1 6 3/32 1/8 3/16 1/ 14 3/8 1/2 5/8 3/4 Brass 120 10 0 75 60
Light A llo y 18 0 150 110 90
Spee ds r.p.m .:
M ild steel 18 0 0 15 0 0 12 0 0 800 65 0 450 3 50 2 50 18 0 WOODRUFF KEYWAYS. Using 'hom e- m ade' silver steel cu tters, Speeds may be
Brass 2500 2000 160 0 11 50 850 650 450 350 250 increased by one third for co m me rc ial H,S.S. cu tters.
Ligh t alloy 3500 30 00 2 500 17 00 14 0 0 120 0 9 00 800 70 0 (inc hes)
Cutter diamete r. 1/4 5/ 16 3/8 1/2
KEYWAY CUTIING . H.S.S. spiral flu ted endm ill s or slot dr ills. Fig. 24 . Speeds r.p.rn .:
(inches) M ild steel 380 30 0 250 200
W idth o f keywa y 1/ 16 3/ 32 1/ 8 3/ 16 1/4 3/8 1/ 2 5/8 3/4 Brass 70 0 580 450 3 50
Light All oy 10 00 900 800 650
Depth of cut: (thousand ths of an inch)
Mi ld steel 10 15 25 30 45 70 100 2 00 2 50 Cast ir on, un less excep tiona lly hard, may be cu t at th e same revs . as mi ld stee l, but for
Brass 12 17 27 40 60 10 0 140 250 300 work on carb on stee l ('silve r stee l'). alloy stee ls, and free CU ll ing sta in less reduce revs.
Ligh t alloy 15 18 30 45 65 1 10 13 5 300 3 50 by one third. For non - magnetic stain less reduce by half.

Speeds r.p.rn.:
M ild steel 180 0 1500 120 0 800 65 0 450 350 250 18 0
Bras s 2500 2000 1600 11 50 850 650 450 350 250
Light alloy 3500 3000 2500 17 0 0 140 0 1200 900 800 70 0

76 77
CHAPTER 15
Work-holding with
Difficult Shapes
Pro blem s do arise from time to time
reg ardin g the m eth ods of holding work in
the m illing m achine. In fu ll sca le engi neer ­
ing th ese problem s are not nea rly so acut e
as compon ents are m or e solid and clam ps
can be app lied w ith out crus hi ng the
pieces. Often wi t h model parts it is
di ff icu lt to ge t a hold sufficien tly fi rm ly
withou t m ore or less mutil ating the piece.
One m eth o d I ofte n use bo th for castin gs
and bar materia l is to arrange fo r an
accurate chuc ki ng piece to be left on the
co m p one nt unti l all operati o ns are
co m p lete and th en t o rem ov e th is.
Gener all y this p iece is m ade to su it one of'
the M yf ord coll et s, from t in. diam et er
dow nw ards, since the co lle ts do hold the
part w it h great accuracy, and after turn ing
operations it can be tra nsferred to the
miller w ith the coll et pl aced in a di viding
head ; even if no indexing has to be done ,
the head act s as a very effec tive vice.
So me times thi n compo nents prese nt
prob le ms i n ho ld i ng on th e m ill ing
m ach ine. If one sid e is already fl at one can
use do ub le- side d sticky ta pe, available
from drawing o ff ice supply shops and
so me stationers. If tw o or three strips can
be used , an astonishing ly firm grip can be
obtained, w hich w ill stand up t o shea r
forces induced by m illing. I have also in an
78
industrial p lant stu ck down m et al which
had to be to oled all th e w ay ac ro ss th e
p iece, on a fal se base w ith woodw ork er's
glue and a sheet of new spaper. A fte r the
operation s are comp let ed a fine chisel is Fig. 53 Tape- held w orkpiece being fly cut
knocked in betwee n the part s and the
pape r t ears w ithin its thick ness, so th e
pieces come apa rt wit h some pap er
Fig. 54 Three-face ang leplate used to align vee-b lo cks
st icking to each . This can th en be washed
off w it h hot w at er. Th ere is not hing very
orig inal abo ut t his, of course, it is an age­
old pa t ter nrnakers' m eth od of pro duc ing a
patt ern wh ich has eve ntua lly to be in
hal ves , but it is a sound me t hod not nea rly
so well known as it sho uld be. Fig. 5 3
shows a light alloy casting being faced
rig ht across w it h a flycutter, th e cas ting
bei ng stuck to the t able wi th sticky tape
and no th ing else.
How ever, t he var io us exampl es give n
throughout th e book shou ld serve to show
how to undert ake a really wide range of
jobs . A t the risk of seemi ng repe titive I
would agai n st ress th at it is often wort h
w hile to m ak e a ji g fo r hol din g or loc ating
th e work , j ust to m ake sure it can be held
fi rmly enoug h without da mage in the rig ht
attitude . The ki nd of ji gs and fixt ures
neede d in m od ellin g seldo m involve mo r
t han a few mi nu tes or pe rhaps an hour to
make, and if this safegua rds the co mpo -
79

Fig. 55 Three-face ang lepla tes used as m ain p acking
nent , as w ell as t he tool s and m achin e. it an g l e p l a t e s , wh i c h a r e sent out
is ti m e we ll spe nt. If a duplicate co m po­ unm achined in lig ht alloy, are in three
nent is ever neede d that w i ll be produce d sizes very conve nient for use in ho me
exp editiously w it hout risk t oo. wo rkshops and can easily be faced up on
the M yford lathe bo rin g t able o r faceplat e.
A n gl eplates Fig. 54 show s on e of th em set across a
A new type of anglepl at e has been mil ler tabl e t o locat e the tw o vee-block s in
int roduced by Hemin gw ay. This has three w hich th e w ork is resting. Fig. 55 show s
faces m achined at 90 degree s to one anot her pai r used as main packing s w it h
ano the r. I have found over many years Picado r st epped blocks o n t op t o give th e
th at cast- in slot s in ang lep lates never last bi t of heigh t adjustme nt for the cl am p
seem to be in the righ t place fo r any job, pl at es. So many sizes are ava ilab le by
and it seems bet t er to just drill a hole selecting di ffer en t atti tu de s of the se blocks
wh ere it happens to be needed. Th ese tha t they are very useful indeed.
80
CHAPTER 16
Milling Chucks for
Safe Cutter Holding
Th e newcom er to ve rtical milli ng m ay
wo nde r w hy there should be any need for
special ch ucks for m illi ng cutters, and
especially w hen he sees that these are
fairly expensive accessorie s. may be
tem pte d t o make do w itho ut one. But first
of all it is nece ssary to realise th at t he
force s acti ng upon m il ling cutters in use
are generally quit e diff erent from those
act ing on dr il ls in a drilling mach ine or
lathe. The drill is usually subject ed, except
at the mo m ent of com plet e pe net ration , to
axial fo rces on ly , whi ch press it mo re and
m ore firmly in t o t he M orse t aper hole in
the spindle. Eve n if it is held in a drill
chuck and has a para llel shank, t he sam e
thi ng applies.
But th e m illing cutt er is subject ed to
transverse for ces, across th e axis , and
unless it is screw ed on the spindle, these
forces have a co m p on en t wh ich is
pressing against t he inside of the Morse
tap er hol e, and thereby try ing to cau se the
cutter to slide out of the spindle . Each
ti me t he spindle rota te s the pres sure is
transferred to the opp osite side of the
hol e. and this waggles the tool out of the
spind le. So fi rst of all , any tool mounted
by a t aper shank, whether it is a ch uck or a
solid endm ill w ith taper shank, MUST be
pro vided w ith a drawba r through the
spindle to stop th is ten dency to w ork out.
For cutt ing tools w hich in ope rat ion
prod uce no end forces that precau tion is
suff icient. But all th e spiral fl uted end m ills
and slot dr ills do gene rate end forc es,
tending to screw t hem out of th e holding
device. (Strictly speaking this app lies to
cutt ers w ith righ t ha nd rot at ion, like a drill,
and right ha nd f luting , also like a drill. But
as it w ould be rem ark able for any othe rs,
tho ugh m anuf actured, t o be fou nd in a
home wo rkshop , the others can we ll be
disregar ded.) So spiral flut ed cutt ers w ill
try t o work ou t of a chuck, if parallel
shanked, and m ust be fo rcibly prevented.
It is not good eno ugh to ho ld th em in a
thre e-jaw lathe ch uck, especiall y since
mo st of th ese exert mo re pr essure at t he
in ner end tha n th e out er, through wear
existing in the jaw slides, in eff ect givi ng
them a slight t ape r.
This is w here th e specially des igned
mill ing chuc k com es int o its ow n. Th ere
are tw o bas ic types, but each is arranged
to grip the cutte r firm ly on it s paral lel
shank by a split coll et clo sed by a screw
thread forcin g the collet into a conica l part
of the chuck. In addition one typ e uses
cu tt ers formed with a specia l shap ed end ,
81
 Fig. 5 6 Clare milling chuck
and the ot her typ e uses cu tt ers w it h a
sho rt screw th re ad at t he end of t he
shank. The first of these, the Clare, has a
rect angular end fo r the cu tt er, and this
end is undercut by m illing. After passi ng it
through a rect ang ular slo t in the co llet, the
cutter is turn ed t hro ugh a sm ail angle, so
the pa rt not und erc ut overhangs the end
of the co ll et, and cannot slid e out. The
Fig. 5 7 Clar kson milling chuck
82
collet is no t only retained in the ch uck
body by all int ernal ly screw ed ca p w hich
fit s on t he bo dy , b ut is also closed on the
shank by it. The co llet screw s int o anot her
th read in t he cap, which en sures that it
lo osens wh en requi red, a sm all span ner
being prov ided by the m akers for t his
pur pose. This type of chu ck w ill in fact
hold cu tters w hi ch do not have the 'tee'
Fig. 58 Osborn m ill ing chuck
end, and have jus t a plai n rou nd shank,
though of cou rse the security feature is
then non-exist ent . But f or sm all cutt ers
and light duty it w ill serv e very we ll.
The other type of chuck, m ad e both by
Clarkson and Osb orn , uses only a screwed
shan k typ e of cutt er and can not be used
exc ep t w ith this. Th e screw th read on th e
shan k, w hen subjecte d to the torque
necessary to dr ive th e cu tte r, prov ides the
force t o clos e the collet and th ereby gr ip
the t ool shank. A cent re device inside t he
bod y engag es w it h t he cen tre dimple in
the end of the cutt er to reduce fr ic tion
force s that w ou ld hamper rot ation of th e
cutte r. T h e Cla rkson chuc k needs a
spanne r, provided w it h th e to ol. to release
t he co llet for chang ing cu tt ers. T he
Osborn e uses a finer thread on t he
sec ur ing sleeve . t oget her wi th some lost
motio n provisions. and can be re leased by
hand w ithout th e use of a span ner. There
is provision w ith each of t hese for using
't hrow - aw ay' cutters, w hich are m ade
cheaply in sizes up to :l- in. These have a
plain shank. unsc rewed, of t in . di ameter
w hate ver the size of th e cutt ing portion.
w hich has a sma ll flat in one place . They
are set in an adapto r w ith a sm all screw at
the sid e, w hic h bears on the fl at , and t his
is suffic ient to preven t t heir working out of
the chuck. The id ea of th ese cutt ers is tha t
they are m ade so cheaply that in a com­
m ercial eng ineeri ng shop it wi ll co st m ore
t o re-sharpen one th an to rep lace it by a
new one . Whe ther or not t hat is really true
will depend on t he par t icula r establish ­
ment in w hich they are being used, bu t in
the hom e worksho p, if the re is a Qua m
grinder. it will be feasible t o re-sh arpen
the m at a wort hwhile cost in tim e and
t roubl e, for a w hile , until a cert ai n amo unt
83
of shortening has taken place .
All the cutte rs with screwed ends to
suit the Clarkson and Osborn chucks have
Whitworth form threads 20 pe r inch
irrespective of diameter. On t in . shanks
this conforms to B.S .W . and on t in .
shanks to B.S.F . fo r both of which dies can
be readil y obtained . But fo r other
diameters, if one needs to make a special
cutter in the hom e workshop. screwing a
shank 20 threads per inc h is no t a difficult
task. Making the specia l ends for the Clare
cutlers is not quite so easy in my view. but
the Clare chuck has t he advantages of a
sho rt overhang and a sm aller diam et er of
body, This is part icula rly useful when
holding wo rk in a 3 or 4- jaw chuck on a
dividi ng head , when some times it is
difficult to clear th e chuck jaws. But all
84
these chucks can be fu lly recommended
as be ing good precision tools which
provide complete security agains t cutte rs
worki ng out in use. If an accident of tha t
kind happens due to not having a security
chuck. a spoiled component is certa in, a
broken Culler is possible. and I have seen
this happen on a nu mbe r of occasions, So
do be w arned , and don' t think the cost of
a proper chuck is too high to face.
Pho t og rap hs of the t hree chucks
men tion ed are shown in Figs. 56 , 57 and
5 8 . The Clarkson Autolock chuck shown
here, as we ll as in pictures in the tex t, is
fitt ed w ith a damping ring . A fter the
chuck is fixed in the Mo rse taper, this ring
can be scr ewed up to cont act the end of
the mach ine spindle, giv ing extra support
aga inst vibrati on.
 A RNO LD T HRO P wa s an apprentice the n
an Outside Erector w it h the fam ous
engineer s Cole. Marchent & Mo rley.
Brad ford. Yorks. Produc t s : compound
engines to 2 50 0 hp , Uniflows t o 15 00 hp.
Diesel oi l engines, condensers for largest
pow er stations. Lat er he held t echnica l­
adm inist rat iv e po st s i n hig h - t en sio n
swi tc hqear. mi ning m achin ery . st ainless
fabrication. mac hine tools, and m arking
devices. A t his retireme nt he was th e
Dir ector of Engineering, Ed w ard Pryor &
Son. Sheffield.
He has been an I.Me ch .E. in mo unting
seniority over 50 years, serv ing on several
com m itt ees and one of B.S.1. He has read
pap ers t o I.Mech .E. and the Newco me n
Socie ty of w hi ch he is a mem ber. H e has
worked for half a doze n years as demon­
st rator on the W orkshop Stand of S.M. E.E.
at M od el Engi ne er Exhibit io n s, con­
tributed articles to Model Engine er fro m
193 2, and having been in Sheff ield
S.M .E.E. from 193 7 has been it s Presi­
dent fo r. some year s.
Founding Dore Engineering in 19 63 . he
redesig ned Edgar Westbury 's ve rtic al
m ille r and sold it as th e Dore-Westbury
unti l tra nsfe r t o Mod el Engin eering
Services in 19 7 1.
His present interests are sta tion ary
eng ines. wo rkshop equ ipment , gardening
and ph ot ography.

The author

86 87
 Index
Divi ding heads and graduated scale s 71
Planing/ slotting and rotating too ls 71
Tabl e stop s and li ne length co ntrol 71
Abwood m illin g attac hme nt 12 Cutti ng/engraving cy lindrical scale 72
Amo lco m i ll i n g atta c h m e n t a nd Cutt ing/ engraving flat arcuate scale 73
machine 21 Con ical m icro m et er dials 73
A ng leplat es M arkin g fig ures of scales right way 73
80
A ng leplate used as backst op 27 , 29 Divid ing heads and tool-m aking 66
Arbors for sli tt ing saw s and disc cu tters 35 Fluting screwin g t ap 66
As tra m illi ng machin e 22 Cutt ing fine tooth m il ling cutter 67
Cutting large co unter sink 69
Boring operation s 45 Specia l di vision pla te. 2 5 hole 70
Bori ng heads D-b it fo r hol e cen tri ng to start dri lls 47
30
Dor e-W estbury m ill ing m achin e 14
Chuc ks, Clare, Clarkson, Osborn 82
Clutch teeth End-ro undi ng :
55
Connecting rods 43 Filing coll ars and rollers 52
Crosshead slides , engine bedp late 30 Using rotary tab le 52
Fittings for rot ary table 52
Divid ing heads . de s cr iption an d Rounding engine cranks 52
principle 54 Direc tion of table rotation 52
Plain typ e. change whe el Lo ck ing pre c auti on s f o r ex te rna l
indexing 55 work 53
Myford w orm -geared type 57 Engine bedpl ate bearing jaw s 33
Use of div ision plat es 57 Engi ne cyli nder solepla te 30
Use of locating blades 57 Evolut ion of ver t ical mi ller 12
Packing block for centre height 57
Steady stand for extra rigidity 56 Flut ing op era t ion s. locom ot iv e rods,
Dividing head s and gear-cutting 62 cor rec t f lut e form 44
Plain type Rods for Briti sh engines 43
62
Pin ion cutting 62 Rod s for Ca nadian and Am erican
Large gea r cutti ng 64 engines 43

88
89
 Flywh eel (in halves) joint face 31 Me ntor mi lli ng ma chine 22
Mill ing cutters. mu lti -tooth :
Gear cutt ing 62 Early (19 th century ) 'fil e-cut' cutters 12
Grinder for engraving cutlers and o­ Facemills 30
bits 71 Endm ills 38
Slitting saws 35
Identi fication of cutte rs etc . by mark ing Disc cutters 40
whe n made 42 Woodruff cutt ers 40
Brown & Sharpe cutters 62
J ig-boring : Tap flut ing cutters 67
Meas uring by table screws 46 A ng le cutt ers 69
Wri tten recor d of m easurem ent s 47 M illing cutters, single toot h :
Example of beam for model eng ine 47 Flycutters 27
Trip gear lever of model eng ine 48 Connecti ng rod fluting cutt er 43
Boiler tube pla tes 48 Profi led gear tooth cutte rs 62
Avoidance of back-l ash erro rs 46 Engraving cutters 71
J igs for milli ng opera t io ns 78 Milling operation s:
Flat surf aces parallel
Keyways for pla in sunk keys: to table 32
Endmilling feather keyways on plain Flat surface s square
shahs 37 to table 34
Keyways on taper shafts wi th tilti ng Slitting and cut ti ng 35
angleplate 38 Com ponent flut ing 43
Disc cutter milling of keyways 41 Tool fluting 67
End rounding 52
Gear- cutti ng 62
Locti ting for permanent assembly 27 39
Keywaying
Long com pone nts, holding problems 38. 49
W oodruff keys and
keyw ays 38
Machi ne specifica tions. tab le of 24 Bor ing 45
M axim at milling attachme nt 22 J ig-boring 46

90 91
 Profili ng 49 29
Tapered sections
Engraving 71 83
Throw-away' cutte rs
Myford-Rodn ey m illi ng attachm ent and 22
Twin mil ling mach ine
m ach ine 21
Myford co llets 62 27
Vic es. use of tw o tog ethe r
Myford dividing head 57
Westbu ry, Edgar T. 14
Profiling : 14
Westbury m illing m achine
Circular arcs 49 38
Woodruff keys and keyw ays
Locomotive frame s 49
Work holding fo r difficu lt shapes:
Sm okebox and cy linder saddl es 49 Use of chucking pieces lat er
Pad-bolts 49 78
discarded
Sma ll ar c s d er i ved f rom c u rve of Sticky tape fo r t hin art icles 78
end mills 51 Glue and paper for t hin articles 78
Specia lly made jigs for di ff icult
Quo rn grinder for tool sharpe ning 83 78
shapes
Quorn gri nder , parts of 35 ,71

Rota ry tab les 52

Rotary tabl e. M.E.S. 52

Senior milli ng m achine 22

Security of m ill ing cutters :
Forces act ing upon drills and cutters 81
Use of drawbars in machine spindles 81
Positive lock ing of screwed cutters in
ch uck s 82
Posit ive locking of Tee cutters in
chucks 82
Slitting and cutting operations 35
Speeds of m illing cutte rs 74

92 93
 e" the pressure's on
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I I ~ 1 ~11001 1 1 1117696
1 1 1 1 1 , 1~11 1 ~ 1 W
6
illi
1. Hardening. Tempering and 8. heet Meta! Work 15. Workholding in the i.athe
Heat Treatment R.E. Wakeford Tubal Cain
Tubal din 9 . Soldering and Brazing 16 . Electric Motor"
2. vertical Milling in the Homo Tubal Cain V.1. Cox
Workshop 17. Gears and Gear Cutting
10. Saws ami SawlI1g
Arnold Th rop I. Law
Ian Bradley
J . Screwcutting in the Lathe 18. B""ic Benchwork
Milflin Cleeve 1 I . Electroplating
Les Oldridge
4 . Foundrywork tor the Amateur
I. Poyner
19. Spring De'ign and 1\t.mutocture
B. T. Aspin 12. onn« is» ,md Dies Tubal ain
5. Milling Operations in the Lathe Tubdl Cain
20 . Mt't,l/work and Mac hining
Tubal Cai n I J . Wor kshop Drawing Hint and Tip«
6. Measu ring and Ma rking Meta/~ Tubal Cain Ian Bradley
Ivan LdW 14 . Mak ing mall Workshop 21. Adhes ives and Sea lants
7. The Art of Welding Tools Da vid Lamm as
W.A. Vause S. Bray

2. Vertical Milling in the Hom W orksho

The increasing appearance of vertic, I mil lin g machines in model
engineers' and other small workshops has brou ght the versatilit y of thi s
type of machine to the notice of a large and growing group of pot ntial
users, but until the fi rst edition of the book wa s publi shed in 197 7 there
w as little easily available guidance for the average am ateur or small user.
This third , revi sed ed itio n incl udes descriptions of many of the very w ide
range of op erations possible, wi th photograph ed examples, plus infor­
mat ion on machines, acce sories, cutters, chucks, r quirement s and
methods of work-holdi ng.
Arnold Throp enjoyed a long and successful engine ring care r
starting with very larg steam and oil engines and including high tension
sw itchgear, mining machinery and machine tool s. He has a hi eved over
55 years' membership of the Institute of M echanical Engineers.

ISBN 0-8 5242-843-X

I I

£6.50 net UK
IIII II1
9 78 085 2 428 436
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