Cutting dovetail's

With 17 inch heavy-duty craftsmen drill press and craftsmen heavy-duty drill bit vice. Would I be able to mill out dovetails using this cutter

 

I don't think a drill press is rigid enough to hold without chattering nor will a Jacobs chuck hold a mill cutter as well as a collet. You could try it on a piece of scrap but be prepared to lose a cutter.

 

[albert]

If you would use a regular endmill to cut out most of the dovetail first, then use the cutter,you would have a better chance of getting a good dovetail. I am assuming that you have a drillpress vise that is mounted on a mill/slide table.

 

I shutter to think of all the things that could go wrong cutting dovetails with a drill press. Disaster is inevitable. Slipage of the bit in the chuck, lack of precise indexing, slop in the table piviting around that rear pipe shaft. And all of this on a barrel you worked so hard to make "just right". Fact is, it will take you just as long to set up the machine and index the barrel, for each cut, as it would to cut the dovetails by hand.

Two cuts with a hacksaw, a half dozen licks with the edge of my big horseshoe rasp and cleanup on the corners with a triangle file with a safe side, final fitting with swiss files. It's over about that quick. I don't hate dovetails nearly as much as I hate drilling a touch hole. Guess I've messed up more touch holes that dovetails.

 

[GobblerKnob]

I must agree with Ghost. That has trouble written all over it. I think using a couple files in an hour or less, you could knock out three dovetails without any trouble at all. Use chalk on the files to keep the metal from clogging the teeth.
Rick

 

[tg]

I'll third the motion, once you do a dovetail it will come rather easily with the hacksaw/safe file method..this is where a chunk of scrap barrel comes in handy.

 

My next-door neighbor has a milling machine that looks almost like this one except its sitting on a stand, he said that I can use it anytime

 

[Ohio Joe]

I'm with, ghost and the other's on this one... Hacksaw and files... Only way to go cutting dovetails...

 

[Birddog6]

I would do it by hand. Reason being it would take me loger to set the barrel up (especially a swamped barrel) & machine & etc. to get it just right, than it would be to cut & file them by hand.
Now if you were doing 10 barrels, that would be different as you could set the barrel up & get them all marked & etc. then just do one, new barrel, do another, new barrel, etc. But for one barrel, takes me about 15-20 min. per dovetail to cut it, file it, dovetail in & finished. I always do the underlugs first & save the sight dovetails til I am ready to brown, as the sight dovetails will have a sharp edge & are always catching on something & several times have cut my hand or finger on them. Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Skinning Knives

 

[Herb]

15 to 20 minutes per dovetail! Hell, it don't take me much more than about two hours! Even so, before I could go to my friend Bill's place and have him set up in the end mill (or whatever it is), I could be done at home. The thing about power machinery of any kind is, they can make powerful mistakes powerful fast. I make many of my rear sights and there is no uniform size to them. Need to get a cold chisel for "upsetting?" the slot for the rear sight, like the old timers did. I also do my sights last before browning because the barrel is easier to handle and sand smooth without them.

 

[Birddog6]

Ok.... I admit it, I know I am slow.. (in allot of ways) 20 min. each is kinda doggin the job out, ain't it.... But if I do them fast I will screw up bigtime, and if I do them slow I screw up smalltime ? or something like that.

Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Skinning Knives

 

[ploeg]

Even if you use a milling machine you still want to cut undersize and get your final fit with a file anyway. I have access to a milling machine and may mill a flat cut in the barrel but still use a file to cut the bevel. Make or buy a safe one side three sided file for the final fit. Grind and stone one flat on the file.