The mill tooling Plate serves two purposes: 1) It protects the surface of your mill table from damage in case you get a cutter too close to the holding surface or run a drill through a part. 2) The pre-drilled and tapped holes make it easy to hold parts for milling. The hole pattern is designed to accommodate hold-down set studs, the mill vise and the rotary table, plus additional holes are supplied to hold clamps. The plate itself is machined from cast plate which, unlike extruded materials, does not have any internal stresses. Drilling additional mounting holes in it for your special hold-down needs will not cause it to warp.  

INSTRUCTIONS

The Mill Tooling Plate went into production after a request from a customer who had damaged his mill table. It was an intelligent request because we use Tooling Plates on many of our large shop machines. They not only protect the machine's table from damage, but they provide an inexpensive, modifiable surface for clamping work that is as flat as the machine's original table. We felt it was time the SHERLINE miniature machine tool line should be able to benefit from this same shop practice.

Use of the Mill Tooling Plate

Like a Lathe Faceplate, the Mill Tooling Plate should be looked at as somewhat disposable. It was manufactured more for making it easier to clamp down hard-to-hold parts than for protecting the table. It has a hole pattern predrilled to make it easy to clamp down the SHERLINE Mill Vise. Two additional holes were also added to accommodate the SHERLINE Rotary Table, but you should feel free to drill whatever additional holes are needed to meet your particular clamping and setup needs. We use 10-32 holes for the SHERLINE clamp screws. Unless you have a particular need for another size, we suggest that you stay with that size for additional holes so the same size screws can be used in all holes.

The material used for the plate is cast aluminum which is milled to 3/8" thickness. Though not quite as strong as extruded grades, it is very stable and free from internal stresses so it will not warp when you drill additional holes. The surface is not anodized as it is intended to be drilled and machined to suit your unique needs. The size of the plate is approximately 4" x 10".

Clamping to the Tooling Plate

Use all six mounting screws and Tee Nuts provided to mount the Tooling Plate to your Mill Table. Do not overtighten Tee Nuts or you can damage your table slots. The heads are countersunk into the Tooling Plate to leave your working surface free from obstructions.

Clamping Parts to the Tooling Plate

It should always be your goal to try and hold a part as firmly as possible for milling. If a part moves during the cutting process it will probably be ruined. The heavier the cut you wish to take, the more important this becomes. The best way to hold a part more securely is by adding more clamping points. Do not overtighten the points you already have. For example, on the mill vise use four clamping points rather than two.