VEVOR 7X14 Lathe converted to a dedicated horizontal mill.

I did some milling today and to my surprise the cross slide DRO did come in very handy locating and drilling a few holes. The carrage DRO is geat. No more guessing at depth of cut. I will use it as is and see what I need to refine on the brackets if anything.
Then I will machine all the brackets out of aluminum.
 
I did a lot of milling practice today and encountered a interesting issue.
I will try to explain without sounding like a moron. I was facing a 2x2 block of aluminum using a carbide tiped 1" end mill. I set the depth of cut at 1 mm. When I cut in the horizontal direction the completed surface had very slight
Milling lines. I then without changing any adjustments resurfaced again only changing
The feed direction to vertical feed. The completed surface was slick as eel snot.
The way I look at it is the cross slide is the issue?
When feeding horizontal I am using the cross slide. When feeding vertical I am using the milling attachment vertical slide. I tighten up the cross slide Gibbs but no difference in surface texture. Any ideas?
I did try different depths with no difference.
 
steelcat said:
I did a lot of milling practice today and encountered a interesting issue.
I will try to explain without sounding like a moron. I was facing a 2x2 block of aluminum using a carbide tiped 1" end mill. I set the depth of cut at 1 mm. When I cut in the horizontal direction the completed surface had very slight
Milling lines. I then without changing any adjustments resurfaced again only changing
The feed direction to vertical feed. The completed surface was slick as eel snot.
The way I look at it is the cross slide is the issue?
When feeding horizontal I am using the cross slide. When feeding vertical I am using the milling attachment vertical slide. I tighten up the cross slide Gibbs but no difference in surface texture. Any ideas?
I did try different depths with no difference.
Click to expand...
Just a vague idea pulled out of my arse (I'm kinda hazy about this as I've yet to use my milling attachment) but could this be the result of the difference between conventional and climb milling?

What direction were the cuts taken in vertically and horizontally?

(Your answer to the latter question will be for the consideration of those who know what the hell they're talking about, because I definitely lack the actual experience and knowledge required to offer suggestions based off your answer :oops: :big grin:)
 
I think I might not be explaining it right.
The carrage slide adjusts the depth of cut.(in and out) The cross slide moves the work piece horizontal ( let's call it left or right) and the milling attachment slide moves the work piece vertical ( up and down)
Pictures would help but I was not able to get pictures to show the ridges.
To answer your question it didn't matter what direction I cut ( down or up) vertically or horizontally (left or right)
When I feed the work piece horizontally cutting in both the left or right direction I got surface ridges.
When I feed the work piece vertically (up/down) cutting in both the up and down directions the finish was smooth as glass.
I don't know how big a issue this may be moving forward but for now I just do my final passes cutting in the vertical direction but I also know that this may not always be possible.
 
The problem may be due to backlash in the cross slide, or gib that isn't tight enough. For the former case, the cross slide mechanism on this class of lathes has a fair amount of backlash in it. It's not just the feed screw and nut, there's some necessary clearance at the handle end (because there are no bearings in there). This source of backlash can be reduced by the use of a shim washer (the simplest way) or modifying the cross slide by adding thrust bearings. For a loose gib, manually turning the crank will move the cross slide around a bit and that can cause the ridges. If the ridges aren't uniformly spaced (roughly), this may be the issue.

While adding thrust bearings might seem to be an easy fix, it has the complication that bearings with a large-enough ID to accommodate the feed screw have a large-enough OD to interfere with the cross slide when it is retracted. I ran into this when I modified the Y axis feed screw bearing block on my mini mill to add thrust bearings.

Finally, the cross slide may be more problematic because its nut and feed screw are more worn than your new vertical slide. Or just sloppier....
 
steelcat said:
I think I might not be explaining it right.
The carrage slide adjusts the depth of cut.(in and out) The cross slide moves the work piece horizontal ( let's call it left or right) and the milling attachment slide moves the work piece vertical ( up and down)
Pictures would help but I was not able to get pictures to show the ridges.
To answer your question it didn't matter what direction I cut ( down or up) vertically or horizontally (left or right)
When I feed the work piece horizontally cutting in both the left or right direction I got surface ridges.
When I feed the work piece vertically (up/down) cutting in both the up and down directions the finish was smooth as glass.
I don't know how big a issue this may be moving forward but for now I just do my final passes cutting in the vertical direction but I also know that this may not always be possible.
Click to expand...
Ah right, so you got the machining marks in both directions horizontally (left or right or, in other words, away from, and towards you).

That would definitely mean it's not a climb vs conventional milling thing. :encourage:
 
I am fairly confident the issue is movement in the cross slide as suggested by HB. But the ridges are uniform. I locked down the carrage and cross slide and used the vertical slide on the milling attachment and it cut great feeding vertical.
I found a utube video on a review of the new milling attachment that I just got and the gentleman reviewing it had the same issue. He never offered a explanation why.
 
Ridges when milling horizontal would suggest that your milling Vice is leaning one way or the other causing the cutter to cut one side deeper than the other. When going up and down you wouldn’t see the ridges but I would expect to see one end thinner than the other.
 
D.sebens said:
Ridges when milling horizontal would suggest that your milling Vice is leaning one way or the other causing the cutter to cut one side deeper than the other. When going up and down you wouldn’t see the ridges but I would expect to see one end thinner than the other.
Click to expand...
Humm.... I will investigate that tomorrow.
When I set it up I was very meticulous keeping the milling attachment table square to the vice. Maybe I wasn't meticulous enough?
Thanks for the guidance!
 
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