I have a 1/2" drill press I want to use for some light milling on the AK47 flats.  Who has some decent quality bits at a good price.  I did find some at Grizzly Industrial, Inc.  Also What would be the speed for milling on the receivers, I only have a choice of 5 different speeds (620, 1100, 1720, 2340 & 3100)?

Thanks for the input all ,
Kyle

Tag for info.

Bits...whatever you can get that's cheap will work fine for sheetmetal.  Doing rails, I don't recall the speed I use on my mill since I cut by the sound it makes with whatever diameter bit I'm using.  I think it's around 900 rpm up to around 1000.  Sheetmetal vibrates quite a bit so you need to make internal blocks and get a good hold on it.   Cutting sheetmetaal doesn't require any coated or high-dollar bits so get whatever you can find like high-speed steel .  I usually order from Wholesale Tool. they have cheap and they have expensive.

Really, may depend on what you're trying to do....probably just have to experiment until you get it right.

Quoted: I have a 1/2" drill press I want to use for some light milling on the AK47 flats.  Who has some decent quality bits at a good price.  I did find some at Grizzly Industrial, Inc.  Also What would be the speed for milling on the receivers, I only have a choice of 5 different speeds (620, 1100, 1720, 2340 & 3100)? Thanks for the input all , Kyle

When I bought my Mill at HF this weekend I saw they had a set of 20 for $75.00  Check on thier site, I got a %20.00 off coupon good until the 15th of Feb.

I have tried this before.  A drill press is not tight enough for milling.  When you first try to mill something you will see what I mean.  Every thing that can possibly flex or move does, making the bit chatter.  It is horrible on aluminum, but on steel, you will probably break the bit, or it will dull very quickly.  

Definately the wrong tool for the job.

Thanks for the info guys

I'll have to agree with wildearp. A drill press is not a mill. You might be able to do some very short cuts but don't plan on anything extensive.

A little trimming on the receiver rails is all I want to do, nothing major.

McMaster-Carr   Great service.

www.use-enco.com or www.mscdirect.com in addition to those already mentioned.

Like I said, a drill press is designed for compressional forces.  Side loads can cause real problems.  If all you are doing is cutting the top rails in sheet metal, go slow, light cuts and you should be fine.  A dremel and a cutoff wheel will work too.....

SRM

I can answer this from experience.  I used a brand new Craftsman drill press to do some very light milling.  I even had an X-Y table and had the workpiece firmly clamped down.  By "light milling" I mean 3/16" carbide bit and a depth of cut of only about 0.025"

All I did was cut a depression 0.025" deep and about 4" x 5" in a piece of 6061 aluminum.  By the time the project was done, I had destroyed all the bearings in the spindle & sleeve.  Replacing them was inexpensive, but a huge pain in the butt and the machine never ran quite the same again.  It's still suitable for normal drill press operation, but it's noisy and tends to vibrate some.

I have a mill now.  With the mill, I could have done the same project with far greater accuracy in about 1/10th the time with no damage.

At $50 for the drill press with a 2 year exchange warranty, I'm not worried about burning out the bearings

Just be prepared - with a side load the chuck may drop out.

Quoted: Just be prepared - with a side load the chuck may drop out.

Thanks for thr heads up, I'll make sure to tap'er in good.