Milling the face of a bullseye putter?? How to hold it in the vice??

finchi5 · January 29, 2013

Basically, my machine vice for my little sieg mill is not big enough to hold the blade lengthways so I can mill the face.

I am perplexed to figure out how I could clamp the head down. Does anyone have any ideas?? Fingers crossed LaMont will chime in on this!! :)

I have quite a few bullseyes that I am wanting to customise with variuos designs, stampings etc

golfluvzme · January 29, 2013

Let me see if I can snap a picture or two, tomorrow at the shop. It is tricky, I'll agree 100%. Been a while since I did it, but if I did it once, maybe when I have one in my hands, it will come back to me, LOL. Funny when you have to rely on a familiarity of an action, to spark a memory.
I have to think that I used aluminum blocks to hold it, or maybe just clamped on the toe side of the hosel and let the heel stick out beyond my vise. Pictures tomorrow.
LaMont in AZ

tbowles411 · January 29, 2013

Oooh! Pictures!

finchi5 · January 30, 2013

Thanks LaMont for that, II have been trying to hold it at the blade (toe side) as well but the vice doesn't like it plus its hard to support underneath. I have been thinking of making a plastic resin mould for them to sit in with a clamp for the neck. JAT :beruo:

moocherpix · January 31, 2013

I was lucky enough to be at the shop when LaMont was doing the pictures and milling for this thread, today. He makes it look ridiculously simple and the end results are pretty cool. We had a chance to chat a bit and it was cool to hear where a lot of his face millings come from. He says that the boredom set in pretty early with the simple single-pass milling and just changing feed rates and spindle speeds. When he started trying patterns, that was when a big light came on in his mind. Byron did a milling on the face of a handmade that LaMont owned for a long time and he always wondered how it was done. Watching him work to create something similar to that of one of his biggest heroes told me that there is a [b]HUGE[/b] amount of respect for Byron in every piece that LaMont mills.
Hopefully he will be posting pics here, tonight. I left before he did and I know he tends to burn the oil a little later than most.
COME ON, LAMONT! Get us some pictures!
Nick

golfluvzme · February 1, 2013

Here are the pictures that show how it was held in the vise for the milling and how it turned out.

Thanks for the kudos, Nick. It is priceless just how good a lot of the guys in the putter world have been to me. Learning from some of the old school putter makers has been a true blessing.

LaMont in AZ

Then, I did one more pass with some movement of the table as the cutter passed across the face:

Being able to create unique looks like this pattern is more fun than I can say. I hope that these pictures help the guys looking to do some of their own work. The vise in these pictures is one of two on the mill, at most times. It adjusts for angles and also has rotation that comes in very handy. The other is a KURT-style that is soliid as a rock and can clamp down harder than I can wiggle a part loose. I think that part of the grip on the adjustable vise is due to the soft jaws I have milled and put in this rascal. Having aluminum jaws saves a lot of damage to parts, as well as allows me to mill into them if needed and replace them when they get to used up. :)

Have a great day!

LaMont in AZ

Nessism · February 2, 2013

Thanks for the kudos, Nick. It is priceless just how good a lot of the guys in the putter world have been to me. Learning from some of the old school putter makers has been a true blessing.
LaMont in AZ

Then, I did one more pass with some movement of the table as the cutter passed across the face:

Being able to create unique looks like this pattern is more fun than I can say. I hope that these pictures help the guys looking to do some of their own work. The vise in these pictures is one of two on the mill, at most times. It adjusts for angles and also has rotation that comes in very handy. The other is a KURT-style that is soliid as a rock and can clamp down harder than I can wiggle a part loose. I think that part of the grip on the adjustable vise is due to the soft jaws I have milled and put in this rascal. Having aluminum jaws saves a lot of damage to parts, as well as allows me to mill into them if needed and replace them when they get to used up. :)
Have a great day!

LaMont in AZ

Some awesome info here LaMont. Thanks for sharing.

Quick question:

- what endmill? Saw in another thread you mentioned "1", 4-flute end mill"

- spindle speed?

- table feed rate?

Archiving information for a future project. :)

Ed

finchi5 · February 3, 2013

Hi Nick and LaMont,

Thanks so much for emailing me these as well. that bullseye looks awesome!! Mine will be hand milled as I havent come up with a way of hooking up a powerfeed for my little mill yet (Another project!! - Or just buy a bridgeport!!! - best ask the missus nicely!!)

As soon as I get some aluminium stock to set this up I will take some photos as I go along.

Cheers fellas!

Chris