Eloe2000
Straight Flush
Since I keep receiving questions I figured I should try to compile all of the details into one post. Full write up, details, tips, and purchase links for a <$100 chip milling rig used for milling hotstamps and inlayed chips. This requires a moderate level of handiness and decent eyesight. If you don’t have the spare time, skill, or just want to mill a small amount of chips just reach out to @Josh Kifer or @Gear for milling by hire. Once you have your jig created and everything setup and aligned, I was able to reach a rate of about 30min per 100rack milled by my third rack. This is just a detailed explanation of my setup and experiences, but most of my knowledge just came from other posts here. I am trying to credit where I remember but just remind me if I stole your idea so I can link to your post 
What chips can I mill?
This is meant for 7/8” hotstamp or inlayed chips or molds that are meant for 7/8” inlays including THC, suits mold/card pip, Paulson mold, many CPC/ASM including HHR etc. This will NOT work on RHC chips which have a 1-1/16" inlay since there is no bit available at that size and a 1-1/4” bit is too large. However a 1-1/4” bit will work for Roulette mold chips. Some CPC/ASM may also be appropriate to mill with a 1” bit.
What you will need:
Creating the jig:
Cut two pieces of wood to be 1/4”x4”x8”. Use a 1.5” hole saw, fostner, or spade bit to drill/cut a hole in one of the pieces of wood in a way that the hole touches edge of the wood. This will allow you to pry the chips out if they fit too snugly. Begin lightly sanding the inside of this hole/recess until your sample chips fit snugly. Try several different chips because there is some variance.
Measure the distance between the mounting holes on the drill press working surface. Align the piece of wood with the chip recess that you just cut on top of the other piece of wood so that the top piece overhangs the bottom piece by about 1/8” to allow you to grab chips more easily. Please not that you don't see this overlap in my video because it was a later change I made which definitely makes it much easier to grab the chip and flip it over by hand. Drill holes through both pieces of wood for the bolts to mount to the press working surface. The cut a piece of silicon to fit in between the pieces of wood which will help reduce the likelihood of chips spinning in the jig.
Finger guard:
I created a finger guard using a 2” diameter 1.5" tall precut piece of PVC and a simple 3" “L” or right angle bracket. This allows me to keep the machine running but protect fingers when flipping a chip. The 3" bracket (from Home Depot) holes lined up perfectly for me with my jig bolts. Your mileage may vary there.
Setting up the press:
I have not experimented with the speeds of this press since it is a manual process of changing the belts. I haven’t felt the need to experiment other than the default belt setting. I use a very large cardboard box with the front side cut out and place the entire press inside of the box to operate. This completely contains all of the debris. I do not have a garage so I simply set this up outside on a patio table every time I intend to use it. When I am done I just take the press out and dump the debris into a garbage bag.
Aligning the jig:
Place a chip in the wood and silicone sandwich jig on the work surface and loosely bolt down the jig. Set the work surface platform close to the bottom of the travel space so that you will allow the most room to flip chips once the drill bit has been lifted. With the Magnate bit installed in the press and the machine OFF slowly lower the press to determine the alignment of the bit relative to the chip in the jig. Rotate the bit by hand to make sure the jig is completely centered and then tighten everything down (see video below). Because of the limitations of this cheap drill press, leveling may be easier with small shims under the jig than using the press leveling controls. Expect to realign the jig for every use and every different kind of chip.
Milling hotstamps:
Depending on how snug your chip fits in the jig you can use another chip or a tool to apply some amount of pressure to keep the chip from spinning or jumping. I generally do not need to do this but with some chips it may be necessary due to slight variations in diameter. Slowly lower the press to the chip surface and you will see the bit working. Remove just enough so the hotstamp is gone by eyeballing. My eyesight isn’t great but I still find this very easy to eyeball. Some chip hotstamps/inlays are slightly off center. I have found that typically all the chips in that rack will be slightly off. So if my jig accounts for that slight off centered-ness I just eyeball the chip as it goes in and can get the chip oriented correctly so the bit hits perfectly. Experiment with the speed of your press, but I found with this drill press the slowest setting produced the smoothest chip surface and the cleanest debris.
Milling inlayed chips:
I have found that each inlay behaves differently when it gets milled out, but it actually creates less mess than hotstamp milling. It is also obvious as soon as the inlay gets pulled up. The tricky part is the alignment since the inlay is exactly 7/8” like the bit. I have compensated for this when necessary by aligning the jig in a way that it is very very slightly off center (like 1mm). In this scenario I do an initial drill press and then slightly rotate the chip to hit the remaining inlay if at all necessary. The first inlayed chips take a little while to get aligned and figure out how to attack but after that they are the same speed to mill as the hotstamps. Experiment with the speed of your press, but I found with this drill press the slowest setting produced the smoothest chip surface and the cleanest debris.
Shaped inlays can be tricky as I have found some inlays to be excess of 7/8” on THC. I have even found variation in the same rack of chips. One way to address this is to align the jig very slightly off center and then hit the chip several times while rotating the chip in the jog to create a slightly larger recess and remove all of the inlay. This is not ideal however.
Label design and label printing for your new fresh chips:
Make sure to use the forum vendors for the rest of your custom set resources.
Label designs go to @timinater or @p5woody
Inlay labels go to @Gear or @ABC Gifts and Awards
Milling for hire go to @Josh Kifer or @Gear
What chips can I mill?
This is meant for 7/8” hotstamp or inlayed chips or molds that are meant for 7/8” inlays including THC, suits mold/card pip, Paulson mold, many CPC/ASM including HHR etc. This will NOT work on RHC chips which have a 1-1/16" inlay since there is no bit available at that size and a 1-1/4” bit is too large. However a 1-1/4” bit will work for Roulette mold chips. Some CPC/ASM may also be appropriate to mill with a 1” bit.
What you will need:
- Drill Press: Harbor Freight 8 In. 5 Speed Bench Drill Press (look online for coupons you can usually find 20% off as I only paid $50)
- Magnate 2712 Surface Planing ( Bottom Cleaning ) Bit - 7/8" (thanks @wonderpuddle)
- Silicon Sheets
- 1.5” hole saw, fostner, or spade bit
- 0.25”x4x16” wood cut into two approx. 8” lengths (best to get from local hardware store or HomeDepot)
- (2) 4”x1/8 or 1/4” eyebolt + (2) 1/8 or 1/4” wingnuts + washers (best to get from local hardware store or HomeDepot)
- 2” diameter by 1.5" tall precut pvc collar from HomeDepot
- 3"x3" "L" right angle bracket
- Screws and nuts and bolts
- Drill and standard bits
- Sandpaper
Creating the jig:
Cut two pieces of wood to be 1/4”x4”x8”. Use a 1.5” hole saw, fostner, or spade bit to drill/cut a hole in one of the pieces of wood in a way that the hole touches edge of the wood. This will allow you to pry the chips out if they fit too snugly. Begin lightly sanding the inside of this hole/recess until your sample chips fit snugly. Try several different chips because there is some variance.
Measure the distance between the mounting holes on the drill press working surface. Align the piece of wood with the chip recess that you just cut on top of the other piece of wood so that the top piece overhangs the bottom piece by about 1/8” to allow you to grab chips more easily. Please not that you don't see this overlap in my video because it was a later change I made which definitely makes it much easier to grab the chip and flip it over by hand. Drill holes through both pieces of wood for the bolts to mount to the press working surface. The cut a piece of silicon to fit in between the pieces of wood which will help reduce the likelihood of chips spinning in the jig.
Finger guard:
I created a finger guard using a 2” diameter 1.5" tall precut piece of PVC and a simple 3" “L” or right angle bracket. This allows me to keep the machine running but protect fingers when flipping a chip. The 3" bracket (from Home Depot) holes lined up perfectly for me with my jig bolts. Your mileage may vary there.
Setting up the press:
I have not experimented with the speeds of this press since it is a manual process of changing the belts. I haven’t felt the need to experiment other than the default belt setting. I use a very large cardboard box with the front side cut out and place the entire press inside of the box to operate. This completely contains all of the debris. I do not have a garage so I simply set this up outside on a patio table every time I intend to use it. When I am done I just take the press out and dump the debris into a garbage bag.
Aligning the jig:
Place a chip in the wood and silicone sandwich jig on the work surface and loosely bolt down the jig. Set the work surface platform close to the bottom of the travel space so that you will allow the most room to flip chips once the drill bit has been lifted. With the Magnate bit installed in the press and the machine OFF slowly lower the press to determine the alignment of the bit relative to the chip in the jig. Rotate the bit by hand to make sure the jig is completely centered and then tighten everything down (see video below). Because of the limitations of this cheap drill press, leveling may be easier with small shims under the jig than using the press leveling controls. Expect to realign the jig for every use and every different kind of chip.
Milling hotstamps:
Depending on how snug your chip fits in the jig you can use another chip or a tool to apply some amount of pressure to keep the chip from spinning or jumping. I generally do not need to do this but with some chips it may be necessary due to slight variations in diameter. Slowly lower the press to the chip surface and you will see the bit working. Remove just enough so the hotstamp is gone by eyeballing. My eyesight isn’t great but I still find this very easy to eyeball. Some chip hotstamps/inlays are slightly off center. I have found that typically all the chips in that rack will be slightly off. So if my jig accounts for that slight off centered-ness I just eyeball the chip as it goes in and can get the chip oriented correctly so the bit hits perfectly. Experiment with the speed of your press, but I found with this drill press the slowest setting produced the smoothest chip surface and the cleanest debris.
Milling inlayed chips:
I have found that each inlay behaves differently when it gets milled out, but it actually creates less mess than hotstamp milling. It is also obvious as soon as the inlay gets pulled up. The tricky part is the alignment since the inlay is exactly 7/8” like the bit. I have compensated for this when necessary by aligning the jig in a way that it is very very slightly off center (like 1mm). In this scenario I do an initial drill press and then slightly rotate the chip to hit the remaining inlay if at all necessary. The first inlayed chips take a little while to get aligned and figure out how to attack but after that they are the same speed to mill as the hotstamps. Experiment with the speed of your press, but I found with this drill press the slowest setting produced the smoothest chip surface and the cleanest debris.
Shaped inlays can be tricky as I have found some inlays to be excess of 7/8” on THC. I have even found variation in the same rack of chips. One way to address this is to align the jig very slightly off center and then hit the chip several times while rotating the chip in the jog to create a slightly larger recess and remove all of the inlay. This is not ideal however.
Label design and label printing for your new fresh chips:
Make sure to use the forum vendors for the rest of your custom set resources.
Label designs go to @timinater or @p5woody
Inlay labels go to @Gear or @ABC Gifts and Awards
Milling for hire go to @Josh Kifer or @Gear
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