How To Make The Most Out Of A Bad Mill?

If you have $6500 and close to Chicago check the "Great deals found on Craigslist, ebay..." there is a nice CNC mill on there for ya.
 
wa5cab said:
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...
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...or, as I found when trying to use a DP for milling, the chuck will simply fall off while you're cutting.

I did it occasionally, before I bought a cheap cross slide vise I even once clamped a part to the moving jaw of the vise to mill it. The resulting part was serviceable but not pretty. As others have said it can be done if you go slow and take light cuts but it beats on the spindle bearings that aren't designed for it.
 
sunct said:
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 put another home made nut under the quill depth adjustment screw. See pic

Also see the compound table. I did remove one gib screw and made a knob for it so I could lock the x and y.

This is an old JET made in Japan DP. Years ago I was drilling 5/8" holes in steel plate and the chuck would fall off. I got fed up one night and before going to bed I put some loctite sleeve retainer on the chuck taper slammed it down on to the table and hung a weight on the quill feed handles to keep pressure on the chuck. It has never come off again.
z downfeed.jpg compound table complete.jpg


David
 
For milling alumimum without a mill, why not use a router? I understand Harbor Freight has something that can slow the speed down on a router as well
 
Does your drill press at least have the threaded locking ring above the chuck? If not,there's only a SHORT taper holding the chuck on. As said,it will loosen and the chuck will fly off,possibly milling you somewhere before it slows down!
 
Savarin: You bring up a good point concerning safety. A side load will also reduce the grip of a taper lock that's found on most DPs. I believe that mechanical forces from a rotating side load cause the chuck to follow the easiest path, or go towards the smaller end of the taper. I had a chuck come loose from the taper because the work piece moving side to side (not properly secured). Chuck came off, scared me, and lesson learned. Fortunately, no injury or damage.
 
I opened this thread thinking that it would be very applicable to me, as my mill is a not very good MaxNC-15. While it is not that great, it's better than trying to use my drill press, which has some wobble and I really should diagnose.
 
sunct said:
How are these made? Thank you!


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Perhaps you can:
remove your lathe's compound rest,
figure out a way to attach a small vise to the top of compound rest,
attach an angle plate to the carriage,
re-attach the compound rest to the angle plate with the compound feed in a vertical position with the compound feed handle on top.

IMO Using a drill press as a milling machine is playing with fire.
 
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