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Do you have a mill and what kind is it?

What type of mill do you have?

  • Total voters
    115
  • Poll closed .
Last nite I realized that I have 3 drill press mill tables, so as I don't have a mill does that vote still stand? And do I put 3 in drill press with x/y table?
2 of the tables I was given, are pretty course, it seems barely sub 1/16 inch. Tried cutting 2 parallel slots, good thing for files,should have done it with shaper. Have to dig out the good?, table, see if it's better.
 
Janger said:
Interesting results. On mills the majority - 80% - have a pretty big square column or a knee mill. On the lathe front it's really evenly split. Why is that?
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On relatively small lathe you can do rather good work / hobby work easily - with milling machines not so much - small mills are a hassle to use - have to go slow / can only use small cutters etc. I.e. small lathes are far more "functional" than small milling machines.
 
In another thread Susquatch asked more about my combo machine. I have limited space, so I don't have a lot of choice, but I have replaced the stock tooling. Here are a couple of pictures that might be of interest
PXL_20240210_214213523.jpg
PXL_20240210_213441235.MP.jpg
 
In the lathe configuration, I replaced the stock tool post with a wedge style quick change with carbide insert tooling (Acusize). I still have the steady and follow rests, but never use them - the bed is just too short. I mostly use the tailstock for drilling, but i did supplement the stock dead centers with a live one just in case
 
In the mill configuration, I added a much better vise and a rotary table - the combined height brings the work close to the quill. It has limited extension and unlike a knee mill, there is no other way to bring the work up. I also added an ER32 MT3 collet set and carbide tooling (Acusize again) which is much more accurate and capable. I had to make a custom draw bar, an bunch of custom T nuts, and to rebuild the manual feed on the quill, but I have it to a point that it can do +/- 5 thou.

But at least half the time is spent calibrating because absolutely every change needs to take all the tools off, and putting something new onto the bed. Then dialing that in before the next cut etc.
 
mbond said:
In another thread Susquatch asked more about my combo machine.
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Thanks for all that! I have several friends with combo machines but they are not forum friendly. I'll be showing them your setup.

I confess I was blown away when I saw your vise - let alone that it was on a rotary table no less!

I really like the flexibility that a T-slot bed lends to a lathe. I wish they all had that but especially mine. I don't have enough meat in my cross-slide to add that.
 
I guess I should be embarrassed to admit that I also tooled up another configuration with a vertical three jaw chuck. And both rotary tables can be mounted horizontally or vertically. I can take pictures of those configs too if anyone is interested. It is easy to change them 'for show' but it takes a long time to change from one to another 'for real' because of the need to dial in _everything_ after every change
 
mbond said:
I can take pictures of those configs too if anyone is interested.
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As long as it's not too inconvenient, I'd love to see your setups for what I can learn from them for my colleagues but also because.....

Er,.... Well,.... because I like pictures! I think most of us on here do!
 
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