Milling

Nixie · 18th July 2006, 07:52 AM

Anyone know where I can get a small facemill with shank that can fit into the 1/2" chuck of my drill press? I need to take out some surface unevenness in my heatsinks, but didn't find any shop in town that would do it for a reasonable price.

Facemills on eBay are huge, and start at $100.

AndrewT · 18th July 2006, 08:33 AM

Hi.
to face off a heatsink you need a completely different tool.
I have seen 6inch diameter (and bigger) mills set up for facing.
The set up procedure is quite complex to ensure the workpiece is exactly at right angles to the milling axis, in both directions, and that the travelling bed is also at right angles to the milling axis.

A simpler DIY method is needed.
How about gluing a fine al oxide paper down to a flat bed and inverting the heatsink on that, then rubbing down.

I_Forgot · 18th July 2006, 11:26 AM

sandpaper?

I_F

Nixie · 18th July 2006, 11:38 AM

Not that kind of unevenness. I mean whole sections are raised about 1.5 mm. It's like they didn't facemill the whole thing at the same depth.

Actually I tool a 1/2" drill bit, cut it off and shaped the end with a rotary tool so it would cut somewhat, and that sort of worked in the drill press. I managed to shave off these areas on one of the heatsinks I was testing, but it's very rough so sanding is still needed, not to mention it was slow ging. I wish I could afford a mill...

argofanatic · 18th July 2006, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AndrewT

A simpler DIY method is needed.
How about gluing a fine al oxide paper down to a flat bed and inverting the heatsink on that, then rubbing down.

Automotive sandpaper (walmart, etc.) laid on a piece of glass and wet-sanded works great. Start coarse and work your way up.

AndrewT · 18th July 2006, 11:54 AM

Hi,
1.5mm is some unevenness!

Filing those lumps off is going to be hard work.

Trying grinding them off to about 0.1mm to 0.2mm high.

Then al oxide 80 or 100grit moving through to 320 or 400grit.

Glasspaper will be too soft and blunt too quickly

You could use emery or silicon carbide instead of al oxide but the grit ranges available over the counter are very restricted.
sandpaper does not exist- it damages your health too much

Tom2 · 18th July 2006, 06:32 PM

Nixie,

You could try using a fly cutter.
I used one once in a drillpress to mill aluminium flat.
The fly cutter and the tool bit are inexpensive.

Tom

Voltaic · 18th July 2006, 08:01 PM

get a decent X-Y axis table on your drill press and buy a 1/2" endmill, they're cheap, and will work very well.. high bit speed, decent feed rate, you'll get it pretty close to perfect, with maybe 0.1mm variance, and that will be very easy to sand. Also, when sanding heatsinks you want to start with a course sand paper, and move down to 2000 grit with water, get a sheet of 3mm or so glass, and set the sand paper on it, dont glue or tape it, and use water to hold it down, the surface tension will be enough, sand in a linear motion, not circular, and within an hour you'll have a mirror. I use to be very big into computer overclocking, and spent countless hours making heatsinks, water blocks, etc. all on a drill press with some simple mods.

on a tangent, I managed to get an AMD athlon to sit at a nice -50°C temp, at 100% load, running at 150% its rated clock speed

HTH,
Daniel

I_Forgot · 18th July 2006, 10:23 PM

Those must be mighty nice heatsinks if they are worth going to this much trouble over...

I_F

RetroAudio · 18th July 2006, 11:39 PM

an even better approach might be to take the whole drill chuck out, morse taper and all, and replace it with an end mill holder of the same taper to fit in the press. might be more stable. guess it depends on your press too.

18th July 2006, 07:52 AM	#1
Nixie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Vancouver, BC	Milling Anyone know where I can get a small facemill with shank that can fit into the 1/2" chuck of my drill press? I need to take out some surface unevenness in my heatsinks, but didn't find any shop in town that would do it for a reasonable price. Facemills on eBay are huge, and start at $100.

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18th July 2006, 08:33 AM	#2
AndrewT diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Scottish Borders	Hi. to face off a heatsink you need a completely different tool. I have seen 6inch diameter (and bigger) mills set up for facing. The set up procedure is quite complex to ensure the workpiece is exactly at right angles to the milling axis, in both directions, and that the travelling bed is also at right angles to the milling axis. A simpler DIY method is needed. How about gluing a fine al oxide paper down to a flat bed and inverting the heatsink on that, then rubbing down.

18th July 2006, 11:26 AM	#3
I_Forgot diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Phoenix, Az.	sandpaper? I_F

18th July 2006, 11:38 AM	#4
Nixie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Vancouver, BC	Not that kind of unevenness. I mean whole sections are raised about 1.5 mm. It's like they didn't facemill the whole thing at the same depth. Actually I tool a 1/2" drill bit, cut it off and shaped the end with a rotary tool so it would cut somewhat, and that sort of worked in the drill press. I managed to shave off these areas on one of the heatsinks I was testing, but it's very rough so sanding is still needed, not to mention it was slow ging. I wish I could afford a mill...

18th July 2006, 11:54 AM	#6
AndrewT diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Scottish Borders	Hi, 1.5mm is some unevenness! Filing those lumps off is going to be hard work. Trying grinding them off to about 0.1mm to 0.2mm high. Then al oxide 80 or 100grit moving through to 320 or 400grit. Glasspaper will be too soft and blunt too quickly You could use emery or silicon carbide instead of al oxide but the grit ranges available over the counter are very restricted. sandpaper does not exist- it damages your health too much

18th July 2006, 06:32 PM	#7
Tom2 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Central CA	Nixie, You could try using a fly cutter. I used one once in a drillpress to mill aluminium flat. The fly cutter and the tool bit are inexpensive. Tom

18th July 2006, 08:01 PM	#8
Voltaic diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2006	get a decent X-Y axis table on your drill press and buy a 1/2" endmill, they're cheap, and will work very well.. high bit speed, decent feed rate, you'll get it pretty close to perfect, with maybe 0.1mm variance, and that will be very easy to sand. Also, when sanding heatsinks you want to start with a course sand paper, and move down to 2000 grit with water, get a sheet of 3mm or so glass, and set the sand paper on it, dont glue or tape it, and use water to hold it down, the surface tension will be enough, sand in a linear motion, not circular, and within an hour you'll have a mirror. I use to be very big into computer overclocking, and spent countless hours making heatsinks, water blocks, etc. all on a drill press with some simple mods. on a tangent, I managed to get an AMD athlon to sit at a nice -50°C temp, at 100% load, running at 150% its rated clock speed HTH, Daniel

18th July 2006, 10:23 PM	#9
I_Forgot diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Phoenix, Az.	Those must be mighty nice heatsinks if they are worth going to this much trouble over... I_F

18th July 2006, 11:39 PM	#10
RetroAudio diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Everett, WA	an even better approach might be to take the whole drill chuck out, morse taper and all, and replace it with an end mill holder of the same taper to fit in the press. might be more stable. guess it depends on your press too.