Drilling machine as a milling one

In my experience, some people just will not listen and must experience it first hand. After a couple failures, (and a couple "I told you so") they soften up a bit. :)

I often let my kid try something that I know will fail or not work well (because I tried it before too!). They deserve the right to learn the fun way as long as its safe.

chuck

Reply to
Chuck Sherwood
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It's a BAD idea ... but for some people, sometimes, it works. Not often. It's just one more of many ways to 'push one's luck'. *IF* you get away with it, fine, but more likley you wont, not for long anyway. And the price of failure can be high, to both the machine and the operator.

At best, with the light cuts required by the improper machine, you'll have to take a LONG time to do much useful work, and the quality of work produced will be poor.

Why punish yourself when a passable used milling machine can be gotten for a couple hundred dollars? I paid $125 for my Benchmaster vertical. True that it needed work, but it was useable 'as is', and already superior to a drill press. You can get a NEW vertical micro-mill from HF for $400, and the mini-mill is only about $100 more. None of these options will be a great solution, but either will be WAY ahead of trying to use a drill press for milling.

With the DP you need to buy an X-Y table ... a decent one'll cost you about half what a used mill will cost(unless you get real lucky in the used market)! And, with ANY of the options, you'll still need a bunch of accessories and cutting tools. Once you figure all that in, the savings on trying to use the DP are truly minimal.

Dan Mitchell ============

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

I started with a mill drill. I accumulated tooling that made it possible to finish the job without moving the head (and loosing registration). The DA collet chucks helped a lot because they don't require much head room. I still find them quite useful!

Reply to
Chuck Sherwood

I would like to know who and where such people are. Really.

For my drill press, an attempt to mill with my drill ress would be like trying to cut steel with a plastic knife. An absolutely impossible task. Safety is not even an issue, since the drill chuck falls out at the very instant when sideways force is applied.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus19325

An 8" RT will fit on a Clausing (and probably a Rockwell) mill but it's a bit of overkill for most work.

Reply to
Mike Henry

I strongly suspect that you are right.

No. Bear in mind that the Albrecht chucks which I mentioned come with a permanent shank -- either R-8 or NTMB taper, neither of which is likely to fit a drill press. :-)

Wise.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Actually -- that *is* one of the safety points. If you have the RPM up fairly high, that fallen chuck, with a sharp end mill in its teeth, can skitter all around the shop as though it is chasing you. And if it *does* catch you (or land on your foot on the way off the drill press), you can be injured.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

I put an 8 inch rotary table on my enco knee mill once which is similar in size to my rockwell. I swore I would not do it again, but the reasons are vague at this time. I think I was running out of Z travel with the tall RT and a drill chuck. It also looked like I was abusing the machine, but I guess a 80+ lb load is not too excessive.

I do not think an 8 inch rotary table is overkill. I find the bigger tables make it much easier to clamp the part.

Reply to
Chuck Sherwood

Not even close.

Absolutely. I own a 12" table and often wish it was larger. It's not because I've used it for large work, but more because it makes setup easier.

*Lots* easier. The one negative is you have to handle them, and that is a hand full for me. It's about all I can do to move it from its resting place on the bench to the right of the mill, to the table. Any larger and it wouldn't be possible. I'm wondering how I'll handle it in the future, as I age more and more.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Can you say Cherry Picker? I knew you could. Or rig up a chain drop, or build a small a-frame I-beam hoist for your shop, Harold. HF's pickup crane goes on sale for $70 several times a year. Mount one near the mill.

Don't wait, use it now. Your back is worth more to you whole.

- Inside every older person is a younger person wondering WTF happened. ---

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

Hi Harold,

You need a young neighbor with a strong back and the yearn to learn ;-) I'm not so young anymore, but I still have a good back. Suspect I live a bit far away though with the current price of gasoline...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

A foot-pumped hydraulic "scissors" lift table would be nice. I have one from HF (where else) that doubles as a welding table. The top is lined with fire brick.

Reply to
Robert Swinney

All great ideas, particularly Leon's. However, he doesn't know how lucky he is to be so far away. I likely keep the strangest hours of anyone on the list. Particularly when I'm *not* building a house, which appears to have taken on a life of its own. I generally (when *not* house building) get to bed about 5:00 AM, and get up around noon. Imagine the delight of getting a phone call at 1:00 AM in which I ask for Leon's good, strong back to come over and move the rotary table for me. Still, it would be nice to have a neighbor with whom I could share machining. That's the one thing I miss now that I live so remotely. I left behind a considerable peer group when I left Utah.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

I use a "Big Joe" platform lift found at an auction. It is a variable height table.

Mark

"Larry Jaques" wrote

Reply to
M

I have become, lately, a big fan of material handling equipment. I have a hoist and a crane, and even had a forklift briefly. I sold it because it was too wide and did not lift high enough. There are so many possibilities that these tools open. I may buy a die lift soon.

Reply to
Ignoramus29516

The Clausing has a bit less Z-travel than the Rockwell, but that wasn't a problem for me. I was trying to flycut a 12" square aluminum plate and there isn't enough Y-travel to allow that on the Clausing 8520 mill without re-mounting the plate. I mounted the plate to the RT with double-sided tape, flycut 1/2 of it, and then rotated the table 180° to flycut the other half. It worked surprisingly well.

Drilling a hole with a S&D bit in a tall casting would be another matter.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Henry

I occasionally use an 8" RT on my KBC A1S knee-mill. The A1S mills come in two different sizes (bench and floor models) and several variations in each (column height, table size, etc.). The KBC floor model mill is among the larger A1S machines. I think it's roughly comparable to the Rockwell vertical mill, and somewhat larger than the Clausing mills.

My 8" RT is not too big for my mill, but it doesn't weight 80 lbs, either ... it's a Phase-II, and weighs 53 lbs.

And, yes, the larger table is far handier for clamping items than the 6" table I also have. It's also more robust overall ... this is especially true of the gearing. The gears in small RT's can be quite delicate when using the table rotation to actually mill rather than merely position. I discovered this the hard way with my 6" table, and had to replace the gears (the wormgear is fine-toothed, made of cast iron, and quite brittle ... not a good design). The Ph-II 8" table has steel gears with much larger and stronger teeth.

The 6" table is a good match for my smaller Benchmaster mill. It works well, but has to be used gently, and is not suitable for rotary milling. It's fine for establishing bolt-circles, sprocket teeth and such, but the table clamps need to be locked down before cutting metal.

Dan Mitchell ============

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

My enco knee mill was the bench model which is probably one of the smallest. I don't have it any more so I really can't compare it to the rockwell but now I believe the rockwell has a large table.

My 8 inch rotary table does indeed weigh 80+ lbs. I don't remember the name but it is a made in Taiwan import from KBC.

It is interesting to hear that the 6 inch tables are delicate. I really wanted one but now that I replaced the enco with a rockwell, I guess I'm better off sticking with the 8 inch. I don't use it much anymore because I use a DRO to drill bolt cirles; easier, faster and more accurate.

Reply to
Chuck Sherwood

I didn't mean that ALL 6" tables are necessarily so delicate ... but he one I had sure was/is. It's not a Phase-II like my larger 8" table, but some no-name Taiwanese import. I bought it about 20 years ago. It's a nice little table, and very well finished (better than the Ph-II), but had the darned cast iron fine-toothed gear that was it's weak point. Fortunately I was able to get a replacement ... also cast iron! As long as you don't try to rotate it while cutting, it works fine.

Such gears would be something to watch out for, and avoid, in any lower-priced rotary table.

Dan Mitchell ============

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

Hi Harold,

Seeing I still get up ~5:45A in semi-retirement, it would be a bit different. Nice thing about retirement though is you can take a nap almost anytime. Mostly the nap never happens, but in the back of your mind it is comforting to know you COULD take one :)

I've never minded odd calls like that when they were for a good reason. We still have that distance problem though...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

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