Copyright (C) 1986-2008 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.

No part of "This Web Site" (HTML document), including associated files, may be: distributed, sublicensed, transmitted, copied, archived, mirrored, modified, bundled, embedded, sold, given away, rented, loaned, or shared in any form without express written permission in a formal Vendor agreement contract dated and signed in ink obtained directly from Daniel H. Hudgins by registered postal mail. All agreements for permission to distribute expire after a period no greater than one year from the date of the signing of the agreement by Daniel H. Hudgins. See the current "EULA" for information regarding limited copying and storage for the purpose of "Beta Testing" "This Web Site."

To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.

This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 22 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.

You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please read "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before trying to contact "The Author."

SECTION: 7.20 is for some "general" discussion about Metalworking, see also the program files in the current distribution of my programs, the other parts of this HTML documentation, and the current On-Line version of this Web site for information more specifically about my programs. Any comparisons of my programs or methods to some others is only given as a vague generality of my opinion and is not intended as a recommendation or reference to any particular products, or methods, always make your own evaluations and comparisons before taking any action.

The illustrations in the sections and sub-sections of SECTION: 7.20 are not intended to be examples of recommended or proper practice, and in some cases may illustrate methods that you yourself would not apply as shown. The variety of illustrations, showing both practical and discouraged practices, has been included to provide illumination of the general metalworking principles discussed in these sections, and other parts of the documentation, in order to help the reader understand some of the many issues relating to the practical matter of producing parts of usable quality by manual, semi-manual, semi-automated, or fully automated machine operation, and how CAD and CAM software, such as my programs that are described in this Web site, might be of assistance to that end.

A couple of the photos in subsections of SECTION: 7.20 where taken using a Sears (tm) Craftsman (tm) Atlas (tm) type lathe, the others were taken while using a ShopTask (tm) model 17-20 type 3-in-1 multi-purpose combination mill, drill, and lathe. When a manual machine tool is retrofit for computer control you need to consider how safety shields should be added, and where the emergency power cutoff switches should be placed.

Be sure to watch all of the video clips linked to in SECTION: 4, in order to see my CAM program DANCAM.EXE (tm) being used to automatically make a part under a form of Computer Numerical Control a.k.a. CNC, and to also see other narrated lessons on how to use my CAD program DANCAD3D.COM (tm) for related tasks.

When making parts, whether by manual or automated means it is frequently necessary to make angled cuts on parts so that an inclined flat surface is formed. When a manually operated vertical milling machine is used, a tilting table can be used to clamp the part to be machined at an angle. A rotary table might also be used to rotate a part to several specific angles.

Under computer control angled cuts might is some instances be made by having the end mill move along an inclined path, although the motion would need to be repeated along closely spaced parallel paths, or contour lines, to get a reasonably flat inclined surface. CAM programs like my DANCAM.EXE (tm) software can also make sculpted 3D contoured surfaces and are not limited to just flat angled faces on parts.

The tilting table was first squared to the machine by using a dial gauge. The part was then squared on the tilting table using a dial gauge. The tilting table was then adjusted to the required angle. The part was then checked again for being parallel to the machine's axis with a dial gauge before the milling of the angled flat surface began.

When designing a tool path for an automated machine to mill such a surface you should have the end mill move out into the air before it moves down to the next cutting depth and stay the same height while the flat surface is machined by going back and forth past the part on both ends of the motion. If the end mill does not clear the part on each pass over it there will probably be marks left on the surface since the tool digs into the part a little when there is a direction change.

Both the side and the bottom of the end mill were used to machine this part, since the angled flat area only extended part of the way along the edge. In order to get a sharp internal corner you need to use an end mill that still has sharp flute tips. The tips of the flutes on the end mill tend to snap off as it is used, so it is a good idea to keep a "good one" in reserve for use in the times when a sharp corner is going to be needed.

I needed to make an angled cut on a round part that fits into a tube that is held in a rectangular frame. To do this I clamped the frame onto the tilting table and then used a set screw to hold the round part in place while the angled cut was slowly made taking small cuts.

To set the tilting table to the correct angle their are some markings on it. When the tilting table is returned to 0 for flat work you should use the dial gauge to probe all over the surface of the tilting table so that you are sure that it is locked flat within the acceptable tolerance.

The dial gauge can also be use to check if the tilting table is set to the correct angle. The dial gauge needs to be set square to the machine's dovetails before making any height measurements. If you read the height of the surface of the tilting table at two points you can read the slope of its surface. For instance, if you zero the dial gauge then crank the table across the probe 0.5000 inch, and you read a change in height of 0.2071 inch you have the tilting table set to about a 22.5 degree slope. The [M]easure command in DANCAD3D.COM (tm)'s drawing editor might be of assistance to you in finding the distances and corresponding height changes for various slopes and angles.