For Those Forced To Use A Drill Press For Milling

The spindle shaft it a bit small for boring that deep. Also the shaft has a Jacobs taper on the end for the chuck. Not an internal taper for MT.
It is a Walker Turner #900 and will never be anything more than a drill press with an x - y table.
I have stopped using it for milling because it takes too long to do anything and my health only allows me to spend a couple hours at a time in the shop. So now if I something can't be turned or drilled I don't do it anymore.
Lack of money keeps me from getting anything better. So I do what I can for now. I had a list and plans of things I wanted to make but those are useless now.

I do appreciate all the thoughts of making the Drill Press better though. I have thought about a lot of them myself. But it is what it is.
 
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Here is another can do drill press and it's not even top of the line quality.


"Billy G"
 
Many drill presses with x-y tables can make an excellent light milling machine. For those with little money and not in a hurry to make something they work well. Plastics and aluminum machine fairly easy on these. Steels take more time as one can only take light cuts. But if one can cut the stock close enough to what is needed then it makes it that much easier to make something. It does take much longer to machine things but when one does not have a real miller it does the job. I have used mine for 7 or 8 yrs now with only one minor accident. But that was my own fault for trying to remove too much stock when climb milling with it. Conventional milling I can remove as much as .020 at a time. But only a max of .005 when climb milling. The head tends to swing on the column when taking more off during climb milling.
After using it for a few times one can learn what it can and can't do.
 
Billh50 said:
After using it for a few times one can learn what it can and can't do.
Click to expand...
My cheap little table is the limiting factor with my converted Avey. I scraped it in (I'm not much of a scraper but it didn't take much skill to improve it) and replaced the bearings and gibs but it's just too small and light. With the knee powered I can leave the quill locked while cutting. Of course, I've never used a real mill, so perhaps I'm just not spoiled.
 
I wish I had an AVEY. That would be a big improvement over the one I have.
 
I have a pretty big machine & climb milling isn't any fun on it.

Where are you located? If your close enough I might be able to help with the use of a mill.
 
I live ten minutes from Bill. He knows that if he needs one, my mill is always available to him.

"Billy G"
 
I was thinking of temporarily homing my knee mill but that works also.
 
Billy,
I know that. I just hate using other peoples stuff. I still remember an old timer at work telling me one time " If you borrow something 3 times it's time to buy one".
Well I never let it get to the 3rd time. If I need to borrow something more than once then I need to buy it or learn to go without.
 
I hate using other peoples stuff myself. However under some circumstances I'll let others use mine.
 
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