Do you find milling noisy?

[Kaleb]

The purchase of a proper mill is looking more likely since I netted $600 today from the sale of a mower. However, one concern is that of noise. I might be using carbide cutters a fair bit, which means running fast. I know from watching videos that the industrial CNC mills can be quite noisy indeed when cutting, but is this the case with the types of machines typically used by us hobbyists?

 

[cncjunior]

Hi Kaleb,

There are many things that contribute to noise on machines. Higher spindle rpm is one of them and mills generally have higher rpms than lathes. Mills by cutter design are usually cutting with interrupted cuts. As on a lathe interrupted cuts are noisier. With carbide tooling cutting speeds ie surface feet per minute is higher so once again it is louder. I am not sure if your question is directed at your personal need to have quieter machines or if the environment you do your machining in requires a low level of noise ie. neighbours.

My recommendation is to wear hearing protection when machining for most if not all operations.

Daniel

 

[deverett]

I have access to both a geared head (industrial quality) mill and a belt driven light machine. The geared head machine is far louder than the belt driven machine, (but I prefer to use that one). I don't take any notice of the noise now.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

 

[Swifty]

Fly cutters can be very noisy, but general milling cutters are not so bad, you will hear the motor and drive noise more.

Paul.

 

[Kaleb]

I was asking this because I live in a residential area, so I need to avoid disturbing the neighbours too much. I am also the kind of person that likes carbide quite a bit, which means that I'll be needing to run quite fast to get good results. Not that I debate the place HSS has, as I don't think a standard hobbyist type mill can run carbide end mills below 10 or 12mm fast enough to keep them happy.

 

[Tin Falcon]

The purchase of a proper mill is looking more likely since I netted $600 today

Congratulations.

However, one concern is that of noise.

I have a X-2 mill they can be noisy out of the box.
Adding a belt drive conversion reduces noise a lot. it also increases top speed helpful for small carbide mills.

I was asking this because I live in a residential area, so I need to avoid disturbing the neighbors too much.

I do not think you need to worry much. I to live in a residential neighborhood. I live on a narrow lot the houses are only something like 10ft 3 meters apart. Never had any problems with my neighbors. Other than them playing music too loud. If you are concerned buy a sound meter. IIRC I paid about ten dollars for mine.
A good idea to be aware of noise levels as a courtesy to the neighbors and for your own hearing conservation. But IMHO not something to worry about or fear the neighbors wrath over.

Tin