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I'm getting a Grizzly G0758 mini mill.

I have a Wagner Safe T Planer that I had for several years. I know a lot of people use them in drill presses... how about milling machines in a 1/2" collet?

I remembered that the cut on a drill press was rough and I was always scared that the work would get sucked out of my hands... but if the work was secured to a mill table and I use the handwheel to move the table, it would make things safer. I could also do some milling with it (like surface headstocks) without fear of injury...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Not sure about the mini mill, but there are some important things to make the Safe-T planer work well:
-Sharp cutters, properly aligned
-True drill press (mill?) table, aligned with the drill press spindle
-Reasonable stock removal
-Mind the feed direction
I don't feel the tool is particularly dangerous, and following these points I can get a pretty smooth surface on most woods with a normal drill press. I'm sure there is always room for improvement, I guess it depends on your expectations

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

It should work better in every way in a milling machine, especially if you use the table and can clamp the stock down well. Using a collet removes the biggest danger from the safe-t-planer, the taper (or one of the tapers) coming loose during operation on the drill press. The equivalent tool for metal milling is called a facemill and many come with integral arbors to fit the taper of the mill.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Dead on, Burt.
The reason a milling machine will be safer and work better is because it is more rigid than a drill press.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I found the even my basic drill press gave a very reasonable finish, better than I expected, actually.
Perhaps because I was feeding the wood though with planer feed push-pads was a help, and was able to hold it down securely.
But I am aware of the potential disadvantages of using a drill press.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

The company in Tulsa that used to make the original Wagner Safety Planer made two versions. One for the drill press and one for a radial arm saw. I bet the RAS version was more stable and cleaner cutting than the drill press style due to the more rigid connection. Using a milling machine should be a benefit, as others have stated. Just make sure you have a rigid connection. Using a collet would probably be better than a chuck.

I use a milling machine
you will like the end result

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I got the collet (still waiting for the truck driver to deliver the machine).

I realized the shank on the Safe T Planer is about .01 smaller than 1/2". It had a very loose fit in the collet... I can try to install it later and see if it will tighten properly but it appears the device wasn't intended to be installed in a milling machine collet (perhaps they want to discourage people from putting it in a router? it would not be safe).

So it looks like if I use it, I will have to use a drill chuck... which has the same disadvantage of using it in a drill press (the R8 arbor is still pressed into the drill chuck's JT33 taper)

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

No problem on the collet.

DO NOT use a router - RPM is too high.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

My super planer shaft measures at 12mm. According to what I read, R25 collets are good for nominal to 1 mm squeeze below nominal, so a 1/2 collet (approx 12.7 mm) should be fine for a 12 mm shaft,
MIke