Milling slide adapter for lathe

If you have to modify it anyway, design it to replace your compound entirely. That will give you a much more rigid milling attachment. That's the way South Bend did theirs, and I've always found it a good idea.

GWE

I will only be needing it for a couple of jobs so a bolt on plate with

3 holes in it is the quickest /cheapest route I can see.

By the way it should be top slide not cross slide in the original message, whoops.

=================== Milling on a lathe can be a problem.

The more rigid you can make the set-up the better. If possible I suggest you remove the compound-/top- slide and bolt the base of the vertical slide directly to the cross-slide. You should gain additional vertical travel and it will be more rigid.

A British HSM book you may find helpful is #5 in the Wrokshop Practice series "Milling operations in the lathe" by Tubal Cain. ISBM 0-85242-840-5, Lots of hits and tricks.

Unka George (George McDuffee) ............................. I sincerely believe . . . banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson (1743?1826), U.S. president. Letter, 28 May 1816, to political philosopher and Senator John Taylor

Ok I will have a look at how it comes apart and see how I can fit it on. Is it likely I may have to tap a couple of holes to bolt it on?

Thanks for the advice.

========== You should not have to drill/tap anything or modify your lathe in any way.

Be reminded that one or more of the bolt heads holding the compound-/top- slide on the cross-slide may be "hiding" under the slide and you will have to loosen/rotate the feed dovetail to get to the bolt [heads]. Depending on the make of your lathe with

*ALL* the bolts loose/slack -- no need to fully remove in most cases, it should slide right off, either to one side or front/back depending on how the grooves in your top-slide run.

I don't know where you are located, but assuming you are using a small hobby type lathe, it can be much more economical to use what in the US are called carriage bolts rather than the special t-nuts, studs, etc.

Get the biggest ones that the square under the head will fit in your cross slide t-slots, and grind/file the sides and top/crown down until these will fit in the slot. If you are clamping on slots or large holes in the milling attachment, use HD washers under the nuts to distribute to load to avoid bending the bolt and/or putting all the load on one side. It can be helpful to use self-locking nuts with a plastic patch. US brand name is Nyloc.

While these are not hardened, grade 27_1/2 or whatever fasteners, in the sizes with a square that fits the lathe t-slots, the lathe will explode before the bolts break.

A word of caution. Do *NOT* use a drill chuck with a Morse taper shank in the head stock. Drill chucks are not designed for anything but axial [in/out] loads, and the type of impact you get from milling is sure to jar the morse taper shank out of the spindle or the drill chuck off the jacobs taper on the shank.

You can get by on the cheap by chucking up the end mill in your 4 jaw or 3 jaw chuck and indicating it in. Major PITA though.

You can also fabricate a block about 1 inch or 25 mm thick with a hole to fit the end mill that will clamp to your face plate. Use a set/grub screw [use weldon style (flat in one side of shank) end mills] If you install dowel pins you can remove/replace the block with little loss of accuracy. Also you can chuck a dowel pin the same size as the end mill shank in your tail stock chuck and use this to locate the end mill holder on the face plate. This will also let you use one block with several size holes for most or even all your endmills.

Best alternative is to get morse taper end mill holders in the sizes you use [typically 3/16,3/8, 1/2 and 5/8 (limit for #2MT) in the States] *WITH* drawbars. Again you can use what we call Allthread or Readythread, some big washers, and a nut [use two or nylocs if vibration is a problem. You won't need a #5 [or whatever] MT end mill holders to fit your spindle [$$$$]. #2MT with a #2->#5 adapter work fine, although you may have to cut the back of the adapter off to pass the drawbar and fit your spindle. If you have a stub morse spindle, the full size emdmill adapters won't fit anyhow.

Best (and biggest buck) option is to get an ER collet adapter to fit your head stock. ER collets will hold end mills and also parts for machining. The kind that mount over the spindle nose are the best [and most expensive] as these allow long stock to go through the collet and into the spindle. Get as big a collet set as you can if you go this way. Big collets can hold little parts but not the other way round :-<

Unka George (George McDuffee) ............................. I sincerely believe . . . banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson (1743?1826), U.S. president. Letter, 28 May 1816, to political philosopher and Senator John Taylor

in theory.....

My 7x14 lathe does not have T-slots. Oh well.

Not really a hobby lathe but this one ........

Thanks

Ray

================= Very nice looking machine. How long have you had it?

Unka George (George McDuffee) ............................. I sincerely believe . . . banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson (1743?1826), U.S. president. Letter, 28 May 1816, to political philosopher and Senator John Taylor

About 2 months. Its is used primarily for turning limestone. You engineer types would have a cry at the dust produced which makes a nice grinding paste when combined with oil/gease.