Crazy idea or not? End mill holder for WT 15in drill press

thanks for the detailed reply George! I gave it a go getting the chuck off to see how the knurled ring could keep an adapter in place, but it wasn't having any of it so for now it's staying where it is. I've found some inch-metric bearings of the right size (recommended by another WT 15in DP owner) for ~$20 inc. shipping for a pair, which gives me some comfort at least. Replacing them doesn't seem to involved either, from the rebuild threads I've seen.

I'll mostly be using this for making LED lights for mountain biking, with the idea that I would do most of the cutting on my mini lathe and then finish off some bits on the drill press. Basically, imagine two of these heatsinks stuck side by side:



then figure out on milling the space between them, squaring off a driver pocket and joining the grooves on the sides so they go over the top. I can bore the holes out on my lathe and do the outside grooves, but some things I just can't do with a lathe. All in all, pretty light stuff and using small end mills. Essentially a DIY Lupine Piko


Thanks for the tip on WD40, I use that a lot on the lathe and it makes a bit difference (even an audible one). I really don't want to hold the end mills in the chuck as it sounds like an all round bad idea for a bunch of reasons, which is why I'd like to make an adapter to fit over the JT taper and be held in place with the lock ring. Then I can hold the end mills in with a set screw, like you do on proper end mill holders. The end mills I have now are:

but I'll hopefully get getting some smaller ones and making a small T-slot cutter.

Hopefully the need to do this won't last long and I really am taking all the advice (including the "don't do it" advice) on board!

mattthemuppet said:

hmm, thanks Andy, food for thought. The spindle does have a couple of collars on it above the taper, at least one of which is used (according to the manual) to force the chuck off the taper when the chuck needs to be removed. I'll have to check the manual again.

Would incorporating this collar help? Ideally using the taper as a register and the threaded section of the spindle to hold the adapter. I'd have to double check which way the collar threads, having the adapter unscrew during use wouldn't be any better. I wonder if the upper collar could be used as a locking collar? Might just be best to pull the spindle before attempting any of this, just to see how stuff goes together as well as to regrease any of the accessible bearings.

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I don't know if this will help but what I did was chuck my quill in the lathe and thread the bottom boss, where the morse taper is located. Then i machined up a collar to screw onto that. I then modified an end mill holder's morse taper with a groove for a snap ring, spaced to hold a ring that will just fit inside my collar. Now I just insert my modified endmill holder and screw on the collar to lock it in place. I have run a 2" flycutter in it and had no issues of it coming loose. It is definitely not a MILL but it gets me by for the easy jobs. Hope this helps. Here are some pics. Sorry they are so dark.



You can see the threads on the quill I hope.
If you look closely you can see the snap ring.



The collar I made to fit.



Here it is assembled. I have since cut the morse taper to fit more deeply into the quill, allowing the collar to thread on more deeply.
I was going to notch the collar for a pin wrench but have had no issues of it coming loose so I will just knurl it instead.
By the way, this drill press has bearings for both side and end thrust built into it. I think that helps. I'm not sure if the collar on your press does the same thing as this or not. I have never seen one like that.

thanks overthehill, that's exactly what I want to do! Thankfully my spindle is already threaded (or I'd have to buy a very large die) and that collar is supposed to hold on an accessory collet chuck or adapter, so theoretically I should be able to do exactly what you've done. I just have to confirm that the collar does work like that first.

AFAIK, this drill press doesn't have any dedicated thrust bearings, only 4 (two spindle and 2 upper bearing) radial ball bearings. You never know, by the time I get round to doing this I may have already moved and have the money to buy a 2nd hand mill

So,you already have an X Y table for your drill press?

Now,that Popular Mechanics milling adapter is just about the flimsiest pice of crapola I have EVER SEEN!!!!! It would take a fly bumping into the angle irons to jerk it sideways!! There is NO bearing for the spindle,and the shaft is so thin it is pathetic.

That was BAD advice even in that day and age. And,look how big a cutter they are using in it !!

How about mounting a small router to the drill press head as an auxiliary spindle? A $20 HF laminate trimmer or cutout tool with a single flute endmill can take on a reasonable amount of aluminum cutting.

That said, by the time you start adding a cross vise, endmill holders, and other stuff, you start approaching the price of a small mill. Mine was only $399 from HF with coupons. The little Taig or Sherline mills are not much more.

Do not leave WD40 on your lathe for a long time. It will dry and leave a deposit that is murder to remove,I UNDERSTAND(haven't left WD on my machines yet). If you could get some kerosene,it would be better. I forget what WD40 has in it that is bad. I think #2 fuel for your house's furnace is about the same thing as kerosene,but I could be wrong. Distant memory on that.

Your spindle is already threaded for the knurled collar which locks the chuck on. Sideways pressure cannot dislodge your chuck. I am tired right now,and am not sure if the purpose of that knurled collar was understood.

The collar is a regular right hand thread. You could put a spanner in one of the holes. Have the handle sticking out to your right as operator,then pull the handle towards you.

I have never had a problem getting mine off. The chuck key on my D.P. is turned down on its end to fit into one of the holes in the collar. Weak as that is,it has always been sufficient. I hope no one has Loctited your collar on,as it was not necessary.

Let us knw when you get the chuck off,and be sure to not damage it. A new chuck is very expensive,and now Jacobs are made in China. Most Chinese chucks do not run true. Hopefully they are made to tighter Jacob's specifications.

Isn't it funny how the prices NEVER DROP when an American made product suddenly gets made in China? Nicholson files are now made in Mexico,and are dead soft. Still cost the same,though.

here's the compound vise I bought ($60 with coupon):


wow, hope that gets resized on posting. I know that it's not going to be great out of the box, so I plan on tearing it down and seeing what needs to be fixed or improved upon before putting it into use. I also plan on making a set of alu step jaws for it and levers to lock the gibs on both axes (axises? axii?). It'll still be useful just for drilling whenever I get a mill, so I felt comfortable spending the money.

Interesting idea about the router, hadn't even thought about that. I'll see how I get on with this approach first.

George, the knurled collar is actually to force the chuck off the taper, not hold it on. You screw down to force it off. Then you can stick a collet chuck or spindle adapter onto the taper and hold it on with the knurled ring. All that's from the manual, I've never seen any of those adapters and the one rebuild thread I can remember mentioning the chuck used those little wedges to get it off. I guess the collar works well when the machine is new and taper is fresh, but after being on there 60 years or so it probably needs a little more persuasion. Note that the collar moves freely, it just doesn't off enough leverage to force the chuck off (it was also -14C in the garage last night, which probably didn't help). I sprayed some PB blaster on it for good measure though (you can just see it in the pics). I don't like whaling on tools - I've already found out that using car mechanics methods on machine tools = bad idea and lots of time to fix the mistake.

I hear you on WD40, got a box of it for cheap though and my lathe isn't painted, so I figure a thin layer of WD40 and 3in1 oil probably keeps the rust at bay

Your chuck and collar may be different from mine,but it looks the same except for the knurling. My collar is trapped onto the chuck and definitely serves to hold the chuck onto the #33 Jacob's taper. The Rockwell drill press I replaced the chuck on was also the same. I have had my chuck off many times over the years,as I have a 1/4" collet attachment for holding router bits. It also has the same locking ring. To use this collet,which Sears also sold in the 60's,you took the chuck off and screwed the locking ring onto the spindle.

I don't even know why they offered the router collet with the rubber cushioned spindle able to jump around like it does. Doesn't seem like the safest idea,but safety back then wasn't much thought about. Osha had become used in industry,but in school shops,old square headed jointers were still allowed. Those things would suck your whole arm into them quick as a wink.

You apparently have not yet gotten your chuck off of the spindle yet,so I suggest that you hold onto conclusions until you do. Hopefully you will get a pleasant surprise!

Be sure to let us know when you accomplish this,and post pictures.

mattthemuppet said:

thanks overthehill, that's exactly what I want to do! Thankfully my spindle is already threaded (or I'd have to buy a very large die) and that collar is supposed to hold on an accessory collet chuck or adapter, so theoretically I should be able to do exactly what you've done. I just have to confirm that the collar does work like that first.

AFAIK, this drill press doesn't have any dedicated thrust bearings, only 4 (two spindle and 2 upper bearing) radial ball bearings. You never know, by the time I get round to doing this I may have already moved and have the money to buy a 2nd hand mill

Click to expand...

What are the bearing numbers with two sets of bearings you could possibly be running angular contact bearings already, they WILL carry the load for a mill. If they are not angular contact you will be replacing the lower ones in the near term, you can probably replace the two lower bearings with a single 520x series double row angular contact bearing and that would handle the bearing issue.

I don't use the lock-screw method to try to hold an adapter on the chuck taper because it has minimal contact . When locking a Morse Taper the contact area is fairly large. In the thread that i'm running currently in the projects section i talk about how to set up a lock-screw on a Morse taper that will hold milling loads. does your drill press have a Morse taper or is the chuck taper on the end of the shaft. You can get a MT1-Er16 collet adapter for 25.00 or less from ebay, a mt2-er25 taper can be had for about 30. pinning the Mt does resolf the problem of the taper coming loose.

thanks George, it's still a mystery! I have a few projects to get through first (more shop lighting, live center for the lathe, this'n'that) then I'll get onto this. Getting the chuck off will be the first step as I'll need to know what I'm working with to design the adapter. Certainly having even light milling capacity is going to be a huge improvement over doing things by hand with a dremel, that get's old pretty quickly (and freezes my fingers to the bone!).

I plan on finishing my daughter's light this weekend, fingers crossed, then onto the next project!

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master53yoda said:

What are the bearing numbers with two sets of bearings you could possibly be running angular contact bearings already, they WILL carry the load for a mill. If they are not angular contact you will be replacing the lower ones in the near term, you can probably replace the two lower bearings with a single 520x series double row angular contact bearing and that would handle the bearing issue.

I don't use the lock-screw method to try to hold an adapter on the chuck taper because it has minimal contact . When locking a Morse Taper the contact area is fairly large. In the thread that i'm running currently in the projects section i talk about how to set up a lock-screw on a Morse taper that will hold milling loads. does your drill press have a Morse taper or is the chuck taper on the end of the shaft. You can get a MT1-Er16 collet adapter for 25.00 or less from ebay, a mt2-er25 taper can be had for about 30. pinning the Mt does resolf the problem of the taper coming loose.

Click to expand...

I think that they're just deep groove ball bearings. Here are the ones others have recommended for the WT 15in:
http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/5-8inch/kit966

The taper on the spindle is a male JT33 according to the manual. After reading your post and PM I thought hard about making a collet chuck (didn't make much sense to make a JT33>MT1 adapter to use a MT1>ER collet adapter) but doing the male threads for the collet nut is beyond my abilities right now. Seemed to make more sense just to make an 3/8 end mill holder - I can't see myself using larger end mills than that!