Poor mans milling

[Susquatch]

Yeah but your drill press was already modified to handle light milling - most DP are not even close. It has a collar I was talking about and it has bearings to handle side loading. Essentially it is factory modified DP to handle light milling. One could say it was a grand father of a mill-drill.

Yes, I would say that's about right. It was never advertised for light milling, but it did work. I'm thinking you might have a hard time finding another one like it.

Interesting analogy. Especially since my next machine was a big bench top mill/drill. I say big because nobody is lifting that grandson without another two or three big guys.

 

[fireguyfire]

So next question; would you guys say there is much difference between using a lathe milling attachment, or using a benchtop mill like a Rusnok 80
type machine?
Looks like a good used benchtop mill is about triple the cost of a lathe milling attachment.

 

[DPittman]

Yes there are considerable differences. One of the main one that comes to mind is your work envelope. Even tho the benchmarks are small I think most will likely give more ability to machine a larger work piece. On your lathe, your cross slide travel is the equivalent to the y axis on a milling machine. The milling attachment will give you the x axis (some people refer to these axis in opposite terms) .

Work holding is more difficult on most lathe milling attachments as opposed to a milling machine.

Any cutters and most all other set up and holding devices you might aquire in owning a lathe milling attachment will likely be useable with a milling machine should you decide to upgrade down the road.

 

[trlvn]

In general, if you see yourself continuing with machining, you should invest in a mill. The size depends on the work you expect to do. If you strictly want to do miniatures and models or other small projects, then a mini mill could work. A milling attachment on a lathe is generally a VERY limited thing. Very small size parts, very small light cuts, huge setup time, etc.

Along the same lines, a lot of new metal workers get excited about a combination lathe/mill like a Smithy or similar. And some people do great work with them. Most people, however, find the mill portion to lack rigidity, are limited by the small 'table' and constrained by the work envelope. A lot of people who buy a combo machine soon upgrade to separate machines because of these limitations.

You said you have an Atlas 9 inch, right? This one?

Atlas 9-inch lathe

Atlas 10-inch lathes from the first to last. Includes details of the British copies by Acorntools, Sphere and halifax

www.lathes.co.uk

I know Atlas made milling attachments for the later 6 and 10 inch lathes but I don't know about these models.

I think the 9 inch models were only made in the early 1930's? If so, you've got a really old, very light duty machine. Probably with a non-trivial amount of wear over the years. Asking it to do milling work is a lot. It seems unlikely that you're going to be happy with the result.

OTOH, you can use a 4-jaw chuck or face plate in creative ways to do milling-like operations with the lathe. For example, I mounted a rectangular part in my 4-jaw to create a t-nut (ie a round boss). So it largely depends on what you want to do.

Craig

 

[fireguyfire]

Great tips; that photo is very close to my lathe. I was lucky that my lathe was in the basement of a farmhouse since new and only saw hobby and small work and not much of that, so it is still very much in spec and with the QCTP I added does most things I need well.

 

[Susquatch]

I find that I waste a lot of money upgrading things.

You sound like you are enjoying your lathe. I think you can be confident that you will also enjoy a good mill.

In my opinion mills and lathes are like the partners of a good marriage. They compliment each other and together they are more than either one is individually (1+1=3). A combo machine is less than that. Perhaps only 1.5 which is still better than 1 but only half of the 3.

I think you will be happier in the end if you get a nice mill. The size depends mostly on your space and the kind of work you think you might do.

 

[Johnwa]

So next question; would you guys say there is much difference between using a lathe milling attachment, or using a benchtop mill like a Rusnok 80
type machine?
Looks like a good used benchtop mill is about triple the cost of a lathe milling attachment.

A lathe saddle essentially just sits on top of the ways. Normal lathe work exerts a downward force so that’s okay. When milling on a lathe the cutting forces can end up in other directions including upwards which can be a problem.

 

[fireguyfire]

Well, you guys have convinced me that the milling attachment is probably not the way to go.
I’ll start my hunt for a home shop milling machine; if anyone has a line on one in the Calgary area, feel free to let me know!!

 

[Former Member]

Over the years I have learned to improvise a lot, and still have all my body parts, though its been close on few occasions.

Before I had a metal lathe I used a hand held drill. It was interesting and it worked.

The lathe, used for milling small items.

Drill press arcs with hand feed and end mill hand ground from broken drill bit.

Radial Arm Saw, mill aluminum, finger count and body check needed on occasion.

Small knee Mill...which is going CNC finally.

Latest Deckel clone from Shars (days ago), little learning curve but producing acceptable results.

 

[gerritv]

Congrats on the d-bit grinder. Like with the milling-on-a-lathe, don't let people tell it is not a good machine. It can in fact do an incredible amount more than just d-bits.

Gerrit

 

[Former Member]

Thanks, I bought it to do end mills, mainly to the end cutting edges, because of how I use them. A little practice and it should preform very well.

The second application is for custom shapes on end mills.

I figure about 15 jobs pay for itself.

 

[gerritv]

Well, you guys have convinced me that the milling attachment is probably not the way to go.
I’ll start my hunt for a home shop milling machine; if anyone has a line on one in the Calgary area, feel free to let me know!!

And how do you know that the lathe milling attachment won't do what you need? Those carriage mounted devices have been producing amazing results for decades. Yes, a vertical mill mightbe nice, but also more space, more in tooling and more in money. If you don't need the work envelope, then just use the milling attacment until you actually do need it.

I built this engine on a Taig with milling slide. (The pulleys were cut on my no-name horizontal mill but could have been done on the Taig as well.) Don't underestimate what you can do with modest tools. Not everything needs a Bridgeport.

Gerrit

 

[LenVW]

Good advice from Gerritv.
Being creative yields results and let’s you make use of tools that you are familiar with.
Add-in’s are costly and tedious until you experience their limitations.

 

[Former Member]

Te secret to all skills (machining/metalwork or others), is not being limited by what is the norm. In a lot of cases those with limited resources are more inventive in coming up with results because they have little or no preconceived notion of education imposed limitations.

The simple approach......

See the problem, review your resources, solve the problem accordingly, keep at it till it gets the desired result.

 

[Mcgyver]

After about 30 years of collecting and reconditioning I've got a lot of stuff. I enjoy having a lot of stuff. However I was just as happy in the begining as a beginner without much. So stuff is not the key to happiness. It is however the key to getting a heck of a lot more things done in a block of time