Is lathe milling attachment worth making

The golden rule when milling in a lathe is to lock the ununsed movements. Good or bad, beautifull or ugly, sometimes doesn't matter if you need the job done. Below an GPS case and mount I've done with a milling attachment. This is my setup:

36245363906_d90d2f6c1c.jpg
 
The golden rule when milling in a lathe is to lock the unused movements.
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Holds true for milling on a mill too.

One thing that always surprises me is how many people hold the mill in a 3 jaw. Most 3 jaw chucks really have to much runout for a mill spindle. If its all you have then... its all you have, but a collet would be best. Next would be a 4 jaw and dial it in just like you would stock.
 
GoceKU said:
I have only a lathe very heavy duty lathe, i've seen couple pictures of lathe milling attachment but don't know is this a useful tool
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Well, I think it is better to have some milling capability than no milling capability. I used a milling attachment for a couple of years until I got a milling machine. It worked fine for milling t-nuts, cutting keyways and slots, etc. Of course you have to take it slow but it beats the hell out of filing by hand.

Here's my attachment on an SB 9 milling a t-nut for my quick change tool post:

Edited to add: The cutter is in a collet secured by a drawbar. You can't see it because of the spindle nose protector.

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Bob La Londe said:
Holds true for milling on a mill too.

One thing that always surprises me is how many people hold the mill in a 3 jaw. Most 3 jaw chucks really have to much runout for a mill spindle. If its all you have then... its all you have, but a collet would be best. Next would be a 4 jaw and dial it in just like you would stock.
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but a collet would be best, or an end mill holder
 
GoceKU said:
Is an ER32 collet hold in a 3 jaw chuck better ?
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No. 3 jaws are still inherently not perfect. An ER collet chuck with a taper to match your lathe spindle bore would be pretty good though.
 
Hi
Without going into a long confusing detail Go to mrpete222 on youtube and watch his videos on using a milling attachment and how to set it up using the proper end mill holder and draw bar assembly.
This way you will see how it works when using the tooling that was designed for this type of work. My sheldon lathe had all the attachments for milling on the lathe with it and it worked very good for what it was designed to do.
On occasion if my mill was in use and I needed to cut a slot or mill a simple flat i would do it on the lathe as it is a simple setup.
Tomh
 
GoceKU said:
I have only a lathe very heavy duty lathe, i've seen couple pictures of lathe milling attachment but don't know is this a useful tool, can i get any accuracy with this attachment ?
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One thing that must not be good for accuracy is overhang. My first DIY milling set up was this
IMG_1608.JPG

But I felt that there could be less flex and less stress on the cross slide by switching the angle plate to this

IMG_1628.JPG
 
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