Can I use this jig borer as a milling machine?

*Which* jig borer?

In general, the bearings in jig borers aren't up to normal milling loads. The mass of those machines is deceptive. They'll do light milling, but that's about it.

"Ignoramus26799" wrote in message news:-d6dnYGMT5Duk3_LnZ2dnUU7-Q snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

I do rough milling mainly by downfeeding since I can regrind the ends of high quality used endmills more easily than the sides, and sharpening only the end doesn't change the diameter.

On my 700 lb mill it's about as fast as milling sideways because the vertical cut creates less vibration.

Then I finish to width with light cuts that don't wear the sides of the endmill much.

Perhaps you could use the jig borer that way to minimize side loading on its spindle bearings.

--jsw

Sorry!

this is all I care about, 1/2" end mill

Ah, a big ol' Pratt & Whitney. Well, it's a hell of a machine. I'll bet it will handle 1/2" endmills without breaking a sweat (this is a second-hand opinion, because I've only seen them in T&D shops and I never ran one).

That's one hell of a chunk of iron for milling like that, but if you have the room and you're cozying up to that neat old machine, it probably will do a neat job of it.

And you can always take in work re-boring stationary steam engines, if the scrap business slows down. d8-)

Scrap business is actually picking up again after a horrible slump.

i

And if you were to ever wear it out, it's still scrap. Nothing to lose by trying whatever you want.

Paul

That's good. Commodities hanging in the gutter for too long are not a good sign for the economy. I thought the slowdown in China was going to keep the secondary metal markets in the dumps for the rest of the world.

Speaking of which, some steel news today:

Qingwei announced he plans to cut just under 200 million of steel production capacity by 2020, or about 60% of current production capacity.

"By the end of 2017, the province plans to close production capacity of 60 million tonnes of steel, 60 million tonnes of cement, 40 million tonnes of coal, and 36 million cases of plate glass.

"In 2014, Hebei produced 185 million tonnes of crude steel and 239 million tonnes of rolled steel, 107 million tonnes of cement, and 158 million cases of plate glass. Those are equivalent to around 22% of national steel supply (down from 25% only 2 years prior), 4.3% of national cement supply, and 19% of national glass supply. If Hebei even partially implements its planned targets, it will be a major milestone in China's efforts to reduce heavy industrial overcapacity."

Holy crap! Cutting 60 million (metric) tons of steel in one year is going to shake out somehow in world markets. That is a lot of steel.

Well, of course, it will handle drilling just fine. It may not have a great range of spindle speeds. If you have the arbors for whatever spindle taper it has (looks kind of BIG!) then it should do light milling just fine. And, of course, it was MEANT to bore holes!

Jon

How much would you be giving up by not parting it out & scrapping it? Compared to the cost of a regular mill that would do what you need?

It certainly would be cool to use this machine, but if it has a lot of part/scrap value that has to be a major consideration.

Bob

$1,800 for steel $500 for the DRO $300 for all handles $300 for books (just guessing) $800 for tooling ================= $3,700

On 3/10/2016 10:39 PM, Ed Huntress wrote: ...

I read recently (Bloomberg BW, I think) that China produces more steel than the next 4 steel producing countries combined! Of course, in the

50's the US produced more steel than the rest of the world combined (it was said). Who would have thought then what the situation would be today? China then was an insignificant 3rd world country.

Bob

I recently read that in recent three years (not last three years), China used more concrete than the U.S. in the entire 20th century.

i

That looks too nice to scrap! Willing to ponder adapting a proper milling head in place of the boring head? Heresy I know, but would beat scrapping it.

Jon

Yeah, I get these industrial reports every day, and sometimes I think I've become immune to the shocks, but, jeez, China produces roughly half of the world's crude steel and roughly 8 or 10 times as much as the US,, and here they're talking about knocking off close to 10% of their production in *one year*!

It probably will be a good thing for Iggy.

It has collets and a collet nut, it should be able to hold end mills pretty well.

i

I agree!

What voltage does it need to power it? Do you have that voltage in your shop? (Certainly more than a typical home shop could handle, but you've got an industrial building. :-)

The spindle looks like it *might* be a variant of the quick-change spindle that is on my Bridgeport BOSS-3. It takes the Erickson 30-taper NTMB tool holders -- this one might take 40-taper or

50-taper. Anyway -- about a quarter turn of the lower ring locks up the holder in the spindle or releases it. You would need two hook spanners (you may have them with your list of things which came with it.)

I don't see the V-troughs which would accept the measurement rods (a set of incremental inch multiples, plus a pair of micrometers covering something like 2"-3" which are added up to set the distance between a stop and a moving part of the tables *very* precisely. But since this has the DRO, it probably can be set equally precisely with less work needed. (FWIW, I have a set of those rods and micrometer heads -- and may someday make a V trough for using them with my lathe.

Doesn't sound like an easy job, looking at the images.

Enjoy, DoN.

240v 3 phase

It is a special taper, that I know

This machine appears to have CNC on the X-Y axes (or else it has two DROs, which would seem odd). The thumbwheels would set the X-Y coordinates, and the Sony DRO would verify that it was right on target. The fact they added the DRO might indicate the original measuring scales are full of crud and unreliable.

Jon

I do not believe that it has any cnc capabilities. It was, however, inspected by precision tool inspector a year ago. He checked the scales for accuracy.

i