Well, I got the major problems fixed with the little mill/drill. It's now got a universal draw bar, and adaptors for both standard and metric internal threaded tapers. The missing gibb adjusting shoulder screw (draws it in or pushes it out) has been fabricated. Its been tested with end mills and with drill bits. The flaky power switch has been fixed, and the conclusion is...
It makes a fine drill press. Actually as a drill press its quite good compared to any of the half dozen or so I have used in the past.
Since it has more power than anything else I currently have running except the floor standing drill press I was impressed with it at first. It actually does an amazing job at plunge cutting with a ball mill. Unfortunately it quickly shows its limitations when actually milling. Pair that with a lack of a fine feed and a quill lock that I really do not trust, and it makes a fine drill press within its range. Actually far superior to my regular drill press. I will probably keep it for that, but I doubt I'll use it for my original intended purpose. I was hoping to use it for flycutting flat surfaces on mold plates. I don't think so. I do think it will do a better job than my old drill press for punching alignment pin and clamping screw holes. Its got a lot less slop in the spindle bearings and a lot less vibration at higher speeds. Now to find or make the right clamping hardware for it so I don't drill holes in the table. LOL.
The XY table itself is actually not bad given that is has cast iron or steel (not sure which) gibbs instead of brass or bronze ones. If it did have a fine feed for the quill I think it would make a fair manual mill for modest work. I considered removing the head and putting on my own Z slider, but the Taig and the MaxNC are both superior for precision CNC work so why bother, unless I wanted to turn it into a dedicated single purpose machine... which I might. For now it will sit on the end of the bench with the mini lathe and get occasional manual jobs when the CNC mini mills are busy. I doubt I'll ever bother to convert it to CNC.
Dang it... I just had an idea for adding a fine feed to the quill. One that can be engage and disengaged as needed, and it doesn't require modification of the head. Well, not much. Now I'll be up until midnight making it.