# Which Milling attachment for a 10L Southbend?



## Jim_cellarshop (Jul 25, 2012)

I am planning to eventually get a mill but for right now money and time is short. So I am back to doing some milling of small parts on the lathe, a 10L 1 3/8" spindle Southbend. Two of the reasonable available attachements are Parmgren (spelling?) #250 and #400. The 250 seems to be large enough for my parts but would the #400 be better for ridgidity? Both are in my budget. I sometimes see a Southbend Mill attachment for sale but the last two I saw were $375 & $400, about twice what the Parmgren ones go for. I thought about making one, but it's not much cheaper & I am short on time also. I did not want to get too much invested in an attachement as that cuts into the mill funds. Also it looks like I may need to offset the attachement as the center of the compound does not go much past lathe axis center. I was thinking a plate mounted with a large round stud, like the compound slide, and bolted to a block added between the cross slide and the cross slide way cover extention. I hope I got the nomiclature correct, feel free to laugh if I didn't. Thanks for all you help, that's how my shop has progessed this far ! Jim.


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## ScrapMetal (Jul 25, 2012)

I don't have experience with the Palmgren but I can throw out a couple more possibilities for you.  This first one is a "kit" that says it is sized for the 10K so I think it would work with the 10L...

http://www.statecollegecentral.com/metallathe/MLA-5.html

The next two are just "do it yourself" articles/plans...

http://www.vintageprojects.com/machine-shop/lathe-milling-attach-plans.pdf

http://www.vintageprojects.com/machine-shop/lathe-millingattachment-plans.pdf

Hope that helps,

-Ron


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## macrnr (Jul 25, 2012)

I bought a Palmgren 250 milling attachment for my South Bend 10K set it up and tried to use it. It was a very unsatisfactory experience, I took it off and sold it on Ebay the next day. Milling attachments sound good in theory, but they don't work so well in practice. Between the cross slide, compound and the milling attachment, there doesn't seem to be enough rigidity.


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## Hawkeye (Jul 25, 2012)

I know a guy who ordered quite a few of the statecollegecentral kits. They seem to be quite good quality. I don't think he's actually milled anything on it yet, but a buddy who helped him build all the stuff in his commercial machine shop was impressed with them.


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## 8ntsane (Jul 25, 2012)

Here is the thread of the milling attachment Dalee made some time back .

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...illing-attachment-for-lathe?highlight=8ntsane

Incase you feel like building your own.


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## Jim_cellarshop (Jul 26, 2012)

Thank! I looked at mill attachments a bit last year & decide to just get a small mill. But then, with the help & info of the people here, I decided to get a 10L instead of a 9" SB. I almost have it set up in the basement (boy did I have to take it very apart to get there!). Now I am behind in some things I want to make & do need to do a bit of milling on very small items. I am trying to by pass the round column mills, if for no other reason to reduce the machines going into & out of the basement to make my wife happy. I like the Looks of the MLA, but it looks pretty tricky to make with out a mill. The vintage plans looks doable,I downlaoded them, Although I am bit short on time. I also thought about just bolting a 3or4" vise to an angle plate, but would have to figure how to adjust the Z axis (is up/down on a lathe still Z?), slots? Shims? Part of my original question is would a Parmgren 400 be better on a 10L than a 250? I thought I could mount it to the cross slide, leave out the compound for more ridgidity? Thanks for all your help! Jim


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## 8ntsane (Jul 26, 2012)

Jim
I dont know what one would be right for your machine. My lathe is a fair bit larger. I did make my own as well. I used a X/Y table and mounted that up, and works quite well.

page 1, post 11
Might give you Ideas, I didnt want to build it from scratch, but this was cheap  http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/6005-Shop-made-tooling


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## Benji (Jul 26, 2012)

First, I have a small Mill. 

BUT

There have been several times when ithe mill was set up to do something and I needed to do another SIMPLE, LIGHT milling task. 
Something like put a flat on the end of a shaft. 

I held the shaft in a QCTP holder, (the one with the v-grove 102 I think) and put an endmil in a collet and using the toolholder adjustment proceeded to put a flat on the shaft. 

I would only do this with a wedge QCTP. I am not sure the piston locks well enough.


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## Jim_cellarshop (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks every one! I am going to try the first couple of very small parts by clamping the on the tool post. I just got a couple of end mills. Beyond that I think I will try a milling attachment, I like the MLA one, but I am not sure I have the time/skill. I will let you know what happens  I may try harder to find an Atlas or Burke #4, depending on cost. Jim


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