A slitting/routing fixture for the mini mill

[Modeler12]

While practicing with my new mini mill, I decided I wanted to add a fixture that would allow me to cut wood to various shapes and forms. This involves a 10x4 inch base plate and adjustable angles as shown below.

 

The base mounts to the mill table using four screws at the corners. Then it is a matter of setting the angles, guide bar (if used) and the X and Y feed to accommodate the cutter.

  

 

Above I show a slotting blade similar to that used on mini table saws (except this one is 1.5 inches in diameter). I have used this on my old drill press and wanted to do better using the mill.

 

A tall router can be used to make a planer and other cutters can make shapes. But I will have to experiment with those a bit later. One that I want to try is using the fly cutter (not shown) with special blades to make moldings

The last picture is just to show the bottom of the base with its slots and threaded holes. I have more details about this in my review of the Little Machine Shop mini mill in another thread.

 

The main thing is to keep this thing versatile for cutting wood (and never any metal this way).

[rtropp]

Jay,

Thanks for posting this. I am going to try to reproduce it. It would not only be a useful jig, but also work well as a project to increase my knowledge of using a mill to create jigs.

 

Is it possible for you to post a few more pictures showing more angles, i.e. a top view of the back, and any other plans you might have developed. Also, could you put a ruler in the picture? I ask because being a newbie with a mill, I could use all the help possible.

 

thanks,

Richard

[Modeler12]

Richard, a couple suggestions:

 

I drew up the plans after making some rough sketches of the idea. The drawing is rather large (full scale) and hard for me to scan unless I do it in four sections. I will try to do that and post them here or via a PM.

 

The base should be what you can handle on your mill. The exact size is not important but the way it is attached to the mill table is, of course. The slots on mine are 9 cm apart and I was able to barely use a four inch wide plate.

 

The angle pieces are very large because I used some scrap pieces I happen to have. If I were to start from scratch I would use some 1.5 x 1/5 inch or even 1 x 1 at 1/8 inch thickness. (Home Depot). The way it is, the routers and other cutters barely clear the corners of the tall angle pieces. I may have to cut the corners near the center to be a bit safer.

 

I incorporated the 3/4 inch wide 'guide bar', but don't really need it thus far. You can leave it off and always add it later if you need one.

 

So, that leaves the door open for making the adjustments of the two angle pieces and, as I showed in the mill review, they have slots to align with the drilled/tapped holes you can see on the bottom of the base plate. See http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5783-a-review-of-a-mini-mill-from-little-machine-shop/

 

I just used the planer feature on some pear wood blocks and it worked pretty well. I did have to lower the router bit into the base a tad in order to have enough cutting blade to do the whole face of the block (1 x 1 inch and about six inches long).

 

I hope this helps.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Modeler12