Can I use this P&W 2A jig borer as a milling machine

Watch out for the tooling -- it requires special P&W collets.

Like any classic jig borer, the spindle is great for accuracy but not so much for handling lateral loads. It's made for drilling and boring holes.

Ignoramus1742 fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Well... of course you CAN use it as a mill, Ig. But it's DAMNED big, and DAMNED heavy. How much milling of the sorts of sizes and weights that thing will handle do you actually do?

I would think something more like a common BP mill would suit. You can always rip the DRO and scales off that unit before scrapping it.

Lloyd

Yes, I know, but it does come with collets and such.

So, what would happen if I start milling with it, collets will fall out or spindle would fail, or what>

I do not do any heavy milling, just for maintenance purposes or some such, the biggest would be a 3/4" end mill.

I always take DROs off...

'Can't tell you specifically. Back when I was reporting on these things, the transition from jig borers to jig mills (like the DeVlieg) was a subject of a lot of discussion about spindle bearings and spindle diameters, spindle-bearing arrangements, and so on. The fact is that jig borer spindles are made for highly accurate drilling and boring, and just aren't designed to take much of a side load.