At work I run a Willis Microcut 10x50 vertical mill and when faced with a large run of parts or the need to drill deeper then
2"-3", I use the power quill feed (at the lowest feed rate).This freaked out a couple of the guys I work with in the machine shop dept who claim that the power quill feed is _only_ to be used for reaming.
Yet at other shops I've worked at, it was constantly used for drilling and I was taught that's what it's for (along with reaming and boring of course).
I also pointed out to my co-workers that when a manual mill is retro-fit as a CNC mill, the Z-axis CNC drive unit powers the existing quill feed, (minus the manual controls) so it can't be a problem to use it for drill work.
So who's right here?