Drill Press

Yes.

No.

Depends. Generally no though...

Is it a table top small drill press, a stand-alone cheap model or a multi-hundred pound monster with a stable table, quill, etc.

The advantages of a milling machine have a lot to do with stability of the workpiece and tooling. If your drill press is stable enough and has enough HP, then all you need to do is figure out the feed method. Otherwise, you might get some very poor results.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

V8013

The problem with a drill press is that the chuck is on a taper and you really can't apply side pressure to those as that is one way to get them to release the part on the taper. If you don't believe me, chuck a rod into the chuck and oil the side of it and put some sidepressure on it while the drillpress is running and the chuck will come off amazingly fast. IN addition, the drill press doesn't have the bearings setup to handle large side loads nor do those bearings hold the chuck rigid enough to do milling.

-- Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

As Bob said, the issue is the hazard of the chuck coming out with a sharp tool spinning madly. It's dangerous. If you can come up with a way to positively locate the chuck arbor in the spindle, it's possible. Ideally you'd have a drawbar through the top of the spindle, screwing down into the arbor. If that's not possible, perhaps you could drill and pin the two together. For a few pieces of aluminum, the spindle may be accurate enough to get away with, but use a mill that is smaller than the slot you want, because it WILL cut oversize.

Will this cheap mill work for the basic alum slotting i need to do?

Scott

It will probably work, but the next one larger would be even better. THis one has a morse taper spindle, to effectively use the machine, you'd have to buy the collet holder from them, slightly expensive to get the same thing you'd get with the next size bigger and R-8 collets which are relatively cheap. Buck for buck, by the time you have the holders, you're not that far away from the price of the bigger unit.

Greybeard

If it's only a few pieces chain-drill and file.

Ken.

not if the chuck is attached with a conical taper.

Drill press bearings, also, are not designed for sideways presure.

i

This one will do the job also for $200

Catch the rov> Will this cheap mill work for the basic alum slotting i need to do? >