Using a Drill Press as a Mill

David Heidary · 2003-09-05T16:08:15+00:00

This may sound dumb to you guys, but I am kind of confused. I just gotan Enco drill press (8" swing on page 29 of the Catalog) and washoping to also use it for very light milling. The machine has a 33JTmale spindle taper. In my far from expert mind, that means the drillchuck is just hanging there by the friction of the 33JT taper. What isholding the chuck from falling off once the spindle starts turning. Ican see in a drilling operation, the pressure on the work piece isholding the chuck with the female taper on the spindle. But whathappens if you start the machine and do not lower the spindle toengage the work or when milling and there is only sideway pressure onthe cutting tool and no pressure on the tip. Thanks for anyinformation and advice.RegardsDavid Heidary

Sep 05, 2003 20 Replies

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My HF $60 drill press has a keyed Jacobs chuck held on the 33JT with an M6x1 pan head Phillips machine screw. I tried a socket head set screw but it caught the jaws. I do VERY light milling with it.

Like 0.005 down feed on a 5/32 inch end mill slotting Al, or 0.002 down feed on a three tooth carbide wood surfacing cutter facing a 1/2 inch wide piece of Al. If I had some Mg, I could do a bit more.

I did my latest job, a dental casting articulator frame condyl joint emulator race, in a lot of two, by sawing most surfaces, and even to do that, I had to use an EPL was as a lubricant to prevent siezing. Just trying to round off a

3/8 square by only 1/4 inch depth, using a small end mill and rotating the work, took a long time and was subject to chatter, and that was taking 1/16 inch cuts or less inward while the work rotated around the center of the 3/8 square.

Yours,

Doug Goncz (at aol dot com) Replikon Research

Replikon Research researches replikons, which are self-reproducing configurations of non-living matter in environments that support replication, analogous to organisms living in ecologies.