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   James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Saturday, 09-Mar-2024 08:35:44 JST James Morris
   Finally learning to mill, in a work makerspace. This is a game changer for all kinds of projects. My first task is smoothing out a copper heat spreader, which was extruded and less than ideal for heat transfer.
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     James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:09:24 JST James Morris

     in reply to

     • Michael K Johnson
     @mcdanlj flycutting is probably not the worst? It's what I needed first. Luckily, there was a good Tormach flycutter laying around, as I have no idea how to grind the Grizzly one I bought. I will do another face prep of a heatsink (Alu) before then trying to do end milling. I may start with wood or wax there.
     
     This is addictive -- I'm actively resisting buying a bench mill because I don't have the space and I can use the one at work, but I will crack at some point and make the room. LMS & PM seem to have good starter gear, and I've already learned about avoiding round columns from this Jet.
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     Michael K Johnson (mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:09:25 JST Michael K Johnson

     in reply to

     @jmorris Starting out with copper — diving into the deep end, eh?

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     James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:11:19 JST James Morris

     in reply to

     • Imogen
     @HopelessDemigod maybe not quite yet. I guess you could start with a copper pipe and mill a spiral out of it?
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     Imogen (hopelessdemigod@mstdn.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:11:21 JST Imogen

     in reply to

     @jmorris

     Pretty cool. You will be an expert before you know it. Soon you will be making loading coils.

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     James Morris (jmorris@social.kernel.org)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:39:25 JST James Morris

     in reply to

     • Michael K Johnson
     @mcdanlj thanks for the info and it did grab a few times.
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     Michael K Johnson (mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:39:26 JST Michael K Johnson

     in reply to

     @jmorris I've done very little with copper, I just know it has a reputation for being grabby and gummy. Copper and brass generally have a tendency for tools to dig in. Some people regrind drill bits to reduce relief as a result. What you did clearly worked. 🎉

     Flycutter geometry is essentially the same as single-point lathe tool geometry. There's an epic thread on Hobby-Machinist that has a lot of information on that geometry. I'm not suggesting you go read 1871 posts, but if at some point you decide you do want to learn more about single point tool geometry, you can ignore the chatter. Somewhere in that thread is buried a document someone did to summarize the thread at that point in time. No idea where though; I didn't bookmark it.

     I can attest to the addiction. Awesome that you have a space at work for this!

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     Imogen (hopelessdemigod@mstdn.social)'s status on Sunday, 10-Mar-2024 04:39:32 JST Imogen

     in reply to

     @jmorris

     I would suggest a PVC pipe. Groove it for your desired wire diameter and spacing.

     James Morris likes this.