Mills

Our shop is equipped with 5 Bridgeport vertical milling machines. These versatile machine tools are the workhorses of the machine shop. We use these machines to drill, mill, tap, ream, and slot work pieces. Once again the single most important safety procedure is to get help from a trained technician before starting.

When accidents occur around milling machines they are usually a result of an operator who has failed to secure the work piece in the vise or to secure the vise itself to the table. The very high shear forces required to cut metals are transferred immediately from the spindle to the work piece. Do not try to hold the work piece in your hand while machining it. Always secure it by holding it in a vise or clamping it to the table.

• Machine Guarding required - use magnetic backed safety shield as a minimum
• Know where the spindle brake is located
• Wear safety glasses
• Do not wear gloves while operating the milling machine
• Constrain long hair (wear a hat)
• Constrain loose clothing (roll up your sleeves)
• Using only sharp cutting tools
• Never start the spindle when the cutting tool is in contact with the work piece
• reduce the feed force as the drill breaks through the bottom of the work piece
• Do not leave hand tools on the machine table while cutting
• Be sure that both the vise and the work piece are clamped securely
• Remove chip fragments only when the machine spindle is stopped.
• Never remove long stringy chips with your bare hands