Might try a hougan or similar type carbide hole saw in a decent drill press, worked good when building stls headers.
Any suggestion on HP? Just do not want to burn through a motor? The holes I need are going to be up to 3/4" diameter on .062 wall.
There is no great mini mill, especially for that price. Get the heaviest one You can find. You would be much further ahead buying a used Bridgeport type mill, but it may cost You a bit more, especially for one in better shape.
Thanks Dave, I am being given a unrealistic task. Most of these mini mills are to small for the apps that I would need it for. Just thought I would check. I will research the used bridgeports. Thanks for the suggestion.
1 HP is plenty in any of these machines. You get the required torque from the gear/belt reduction. A "J" head Bridgeport has 4 belt positions and a back gear for further reduction, 8 speeds.
Hello TheSavvy1, if you are really trying to do this on a budget you could possibly build a relatively low-dollar horizontal milling set-up to do the job. For starters find an in-expensive or used X-Y table, then locate a relatively low-speed speed reducer and set it up to drive a shell mill(s) of the appropriate diameter via a horizontal shaft and some form of ridgid bridge to hold the shaft and cutters securely. By setting up the feed table at 90 degrees to the shell mill you could clamp your pieces either perpendicular to the cutter to mill saddles or else you could clamp the pieces at whatever angle or offset heigth that you might need to mill specific saddles at angles. Just a little something for you to consider. Best regards, Allan
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