How To Make The Most Out Of A Bad Mill?

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Currently, all I have is a cross slide vise attachment on a 12" drill press. How can I make this work as well as possible until I can find a decent used mill and lathe? I'm willing to do lots of work on it.


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You can't.
A drill press isn't designed for the side loads that a milling machine endures. You will only tear up the quill bearings on your DP by using it as a milling machine.

My advise is to be patient. Machinery often comes up for sale. Lots of auctions and lots of guys that are strapped for cash.


Happy trails!
 
What are you planning on milling? Light stuff like brass or aluminum or something else? I have been using my DP for milling for 7 years on light stuff and it is still fine. I know that I am breaking all the rules, but it is what it is and works just fine for me.

David
 
if you have a lathe, make a milling table for your lathe and use it to mill.
 
Another thing to watch out for if you are trying to use a better drill press for light milling is that although the better drill presses have 2MT or 3MT quills or spindles, few if any are hollow. So no draw bar. End mills pull when cutting to the side. If you aren't careful (and sometimes even if you are), the cutter pull will pull the MT cutter holder (or collet) out of the spindle taper and ruin the part (or worse). This happens even if the spindle is horizontal. I learned the hard way a long time ago not to use tang style cutter holders. I don't know why they are so relatively plentiful compared to drawbar style.
 
Mark in Indiana said:
You can't.
A drill press isn't designed for the side loads that a milling machine endures. You will only tear up the quill bearings on your DP by using it as a milling machine.

My advise is to be patient. Machinery often comes up for sale. Lots of auctions and lots of guys that are strapped for cash.


Happy trails!
Click to expand...
I'm also in Indiana, where would you recommend looking? Thanks for the advice!


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David S said:
What are you planning on milling? Light stuff like brass or aluminum or something else? I have been using my DP for milling for 7 years on light stuff and it is still fine. I know that I am breaking all the rules, but it is what it is and works just fine for me.

David
Click to expand...
It would be mostly aluminum. What kind of table are you using? I had considered getting the table from a full micro mill and using that with the DP. Also, how are you controlling the Z axis?


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I have a really cheap drill press that I used to do some "very" light milling of aluminium.
The quill definitely had side play so the finish was terrible but it did the jobs I wanted.
The chuck spun off many times before I eventually epoxied it in place.
The quill bearings weren't that brilliant in the first place but they don't appear to have worsened.
:eek 2:I even used it as a lathe with a rest for the tool like a wood lathe again on aluminium before I obtained a lathe.
The dp is still in use today (as a dp) but I dont think I will be able to ever get the chuck off.:grin:
 
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