Skimming head techniques

[Richie-Van-GTi 70 2 Cars]

I have access to a full machine shop with plenty of milling machines. Seems crazy I still get my heads skimmed elsewhere so wondered if anyone here skims their own heads and could offer some advice on how the clamp the heads down etc.

 

[hoodygoodwood 70 3 Cars]

I haven't skimmed a head for 20 years since I was a toolmaker and that was a Ford Crossflow which is an easy casting to bolt down on a mill , Ford Pinto heads were not too bad as well because the top and bottom faces are parallel . I would imagine an Mi head is straightforward for the same reason but a 1.6/1.9 8v head does not have parallel top and bottom faces so if I had to do one today I would need a way of holding the casting . You could use the exhaust manifold studs/tapped holes  to bolt it to an angle plate or you could remove the inlet and exhaust studs and hold the head in a large vice . Depends how well equipped your workshop is but we used to do a lot of 'home work' like this and someone had made up an 8 inch diameter flycutter to skim a head in one pass .

We used to have about 20 Bridgeport vertical spindle milling machines and they were well used so I would always clock the head square with a DTi on a long bar mounted in the collet , they were often well out of square .

[petert 549]

The place I use have a Bridgeport with a 200mm face mill cutter, loaded with only 3 teeth, irregularly spaced. It gives an impeccable finish. I'd suggest if you aren't confident on how to clamp, you're probably not up to the task and better off paying the cash.

[Richie-Van-GTi 70 2 Cars]

we have 3 x HAAS millers and 3 x XYZ millers, all 3 axis and all clocked regular as we make precision parts. I am confident to do it, just asking for advice on how people do it, theres always something new to learn