Milling with Lathe Attachment

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nuturner

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I haven't been able to come up with enough cash to add a mill to my little shop so I picked up an attachment for my lathe cross feed - a vertcal vise with micrometer control - that is marketed to provide milling capability to the lathe. My lathe, MicroLux 7x16, doesn't like this attachment. Regardless of how much rigidity I apply to the lathe structure, end mills jump all over the place and the contact between end mill and material I'm trying to cut is more of a collision than a cutting operation.
Wonder if anyone can offer suggestion(s) on how to make this attachment work as advertised. If you think my naivete got the best of me on this purchase decision don't be shy about saying so. If I made a mistake here I'll just chalk it up to advancing my education on the subject of lathes.

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Milling on a lathe that small and having problems wouldn't surprize me. Are sure it's the spindle moving or is the carriage possibly lifting up from the ways?

Also, milling on such a small lathe make sure you take light cuts, and don't crank the speed up as high as you can like some do. 6-700 RPM is more then enough.
 
Are you holding the end mill in a 3-jaw chuck? Don't do that. Use a collet.
 
We need more info. Is the carriage lifting up off the ways? Is that attachment made from aluminum? What metal are you trying to cut? Brass or aluminum would be easier on your small lathe.

I haven't used one of those light lathes. Hope you do not bend the spindle with those jumpy cuts. As said,go slow speed. Use only SMALL cutters(what size cutter have you been trying to use?)

Did you tighten the gibs on the crossfeed? It still needs to be able to move,but must be a bit snug.

Using a collet would be a LOT safer for the spindle,as the cutter would be held closer to the spindle nose,and not hanging out some inches from it. But,the main problem seems to be on the carriage end. Does your carriage have hold down bolts UNDER the carriage to keep it from lifting up?

You need to answer all these questions.
 
I recognize that attachment. Looks like a TAIG and it’s made out of aluminum. To achieve milling on a lathe the size of the lathe does not matter. It’s all relative. I do milling on a Levin watchmaker lathe all the time with excellent success. Your size lathe will limit you to size of end mill/cutter and its cutting depth. Cutting direction is important, are you climb milling or conventional milling? Rigidity in your set-up is important. Type of material being cut can be a factor. And many more gremlins can be mentioned. I think your 3 jaw is OK for holding a cutter since everything you have is small and big/large cuts are not going to be possible…Good Luck.
 
With the 3-jaw he's likely to get a lot of runout. The smaller the cutter the more that matters. Using a collet will also reduce the overhang.
 
John Hasler said:
With the 3-jaw he's likely to get a lot of runout. The smaller the cutter the more that matters. Using a collet will also reduce the overhang.
Click to expand...

Sorry I do not understand? A cutter with run out is only going to cut a wider path. That is not his problem. Yes, a collet would reduce overhang. But turn this all around and let’s talk about using it as a basic lathe again. Put a billet of material in that 3 jaw chuck and cut it with a tool bit. Same overhang, same tool/cutting pressure as the milling set-up. Are you going to say that the 3 jaw chuck is wrong and should have a collet in that set-up too? Just about every manual metal lathe out there has a chuck on it!
 
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Hi nuturner, I've done a bit of lathe milling and as has been said you need to tighten everything up and adjust carriage gibs very snug. Also adjust the gibs in the milling slide very snug.

If you are moving the cross slide lock the milling attachment with one gib screw, likewise if you're moving the milling slide lock the cross slide with one gib screw.This will eliminate lead screw slack in the non moving part.

Best not to use the carriage wheel to move the carriage towards the chuck, engage the half nuts and turn the lead screw by hand to advance the work onto the cutter, this gives much smoother control but may involve cobbling up a crank handle on the end of the screw.

As has been said a collet or at least a Jacobs chuck should almost eliminate an intermittent cut and will feel smoother.

I'm sure there's more I could add but it's been a while since I used mine, don't give up, I managed to make this using a milling attachment for quite a lot of operations.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...a-new-apron-gear-case-10F-11-using-lathe-only

Bernard
 
Wow!!! With help like this how can a guy fail? I tightened everything, even the things that I had previously tightened. Incorporated most of the other recommendations, including keeping the speed down with the 3/8 end mill and making shallow passes, and ran this test piece of 6061 aluminum. I believe I've got it figured out. Haven't made the crank for the lead screw yet but I have that one on my list. Working with the carriage to feed and the tail stock to hold it in place (I don't have carriage stops - yet) worked beautifully.
:thumbsup2:

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My sincere thanks to all for the input.

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