Old Horizontal Mill-will I Have Problems Drilling?

I'd say Brino has the right idea.
I have one of the small German mills ( http://www.hobby-machinist.com/thre...ling-drilling-and-boring-machine-mh600.30766/ ), and really like it. The vertical head is fitted with a short manual quill - which is nice to have. However, I will often use the Z-axis power feed for drilling (compared to the manual quill it is very stable). On mine, the work envelop is also small, but with a bit of thought, I can generally complete the majority of projects (the biggest issue is the length of the drill chuck + adapter + drill bit). I have numerous modified / cutoff drill bits.

One consideration may be availability of tooling. What spindle does the candidate machine have? What tooling comes with the machine? One approach to address limited headroom is with direct mount collets (once you are set up with them, they are great). If the machine has an unusual spindle, be aware that you may have to spend money (or patiently troll the internet).
 
It might be a little awkward, but you could get some sensitivity when drilling if you turned the head 90° and used the longitudinal (X) feed…Dave.
 
Well, the more I keep thinking about it, the more I feel that this wheel is indeed for some horizontal table movement and not for the Z axis! I'll try to find a manual of some kind and sort this out, or just call the seller and have him move the lever and see what happens! (he will need to engage it of course in a way...)

The thing is that by talking about it and thinking I came across another shortcoming: you cannot drill at an angle (unless, of course, you hold your item at an angle), since no quill is available...Of course, this can also be worked around, but, in real life it is just way simpler to just bolt the item flat on the table, rotate the head and drill with the quill. If only a vertical head with a quill could be purchased (or, why not, constructed to precision...)!
 
Ah, also, tooling is ISO 40 and ebay.de is full of cheap ISO 40 tools, which is a good thing.

I just watched one of myfordboy's videos and saw him cranking the Z axis like a mad man in order to centerdrill and then drill. Sure you can make do with what you have, and this is great, so if somebody gave me such a machine as a gift I would be happy and more than grateful. But when you are looking around as a buyer, you have the choice and it would be a pity to start with such a handicap. I mean, if it is your only machine and you don't have a vast selection of sine plates and angle plates and all, or just want to do everything (including proper drilling) then, I am afraid, you've got to have a quill...
(not that I already decided though...)
 
Over the china are you really asking . Go for the German machine you will never regret the buy.
 
thanvg said:
The thing is that by talking about it and thinking I came across another shortcoming: you cannot drill at an angle (unless, of course, you hold your item at an angle), since no quill is available...Of course, this can also be worked around, but, in real life it is just way simpler to just bolt the item flat on the table, rotate the head and drill with the quill. If only a vertical head with a quill could be purchased (or, why not, constructed to precision...)!
Click to expand...

You can drill in the horizontal plane by using a collet in the spindle where the arbor goes.

You can drill at an angle by rotating the part in relation to the spindle hole and clamping it to the table.
 
Charles Spencer said:
You can drill in the horizontal plane by using a collet in the spindle where the arbor goes.

You can drill at an angle by rotating the part in relation to the spindle hole and clamping it to the table.
Click to expand...

Yeah Charles, of course you can and you certainly will if you end up, somehow, with such a machine. But, when out to buy, things are different and you need to buy what really makes your life easier. A conventional drill/mill will make more operations simpler, raising, this way, the number of tasks performed, which is fun. I would not want to find myself avoiding a task just because I would have to send the time overhead to complicatedly hold the piece in order to circumvent the machine's limitations, even if it is a nice old well-made beauty...

Also, it seems that the seller cannot find the head steady (if I am correctly referring to the dovetailed thing that holds the horizontal tools when machine is used as a horizontal mill), has no tooling at all at a non-negotiable and not-that-reasonable price tag.

So, thanks for your assistance and useful advice, let's see what the future will bring...

ps. of course MozamPete, the lever is for fast movement along X and not along Z as I had imagined (actually 'wished')
 
Horizontal mills do not have their axes labeled the same as a vertical mill. On any machine, Z is always parallel to the spindle, left/right on a lathe, up/down on a vertical mill, and towards and away from the column on a horizontal mill. On a horizontal mill, the table left/right is X, up/down is Y, and in and out from the column it Z. It is very confusing speaking about it using the wrong nomenclature, and will get you into even more trouble with things like surface grinders, chuckers, and horizontal boring mills. Just remember that Z is always in line with the spinning thing.
 
Bob Korves said:
Horizontal mills do not have their axes labeled the same as a vertical mill. On any machine, Z is always parallel to the spindle, left/right on a lathe, up/down on a vertical mill, and towards and away from the column on a horizontal mill. On a horizontal mill, the table left/right is X, up/down is Y, and in and out from the column it Z. It is very confusing speaking about it using the wrong nomenclature, and will get you into even more trouble with things like surface grinders, chuckers, and horizontal boring mills. Just remember that Z is always in line with the spinning thing.
Click to expand...

Hi there Bob. Thanks for the advice. I thought that axes where named with respect to the user, i.e. X Left/right wrt the user both in mills and lathes, Y in/out and Z vertical to the horizontal plane (up/down). If this Z always parallel to the spindle I will adopt it, but I am afraid a disclaimer will always be necessary when talking to others.

(So, if you fit a vertical head on a horizontal mill then Y becomes Z? If you rotate the head of a BP mill 45 degrees? The more I keep thinking about it, the more I feel that the conventional use or the cartesian axes seems more reasonable, independent of the machine type...However, I will respect traditional naming...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top