# Re-registering A Round Column Mill



## Bill W. (Jan 28, 2016)

After buying this mill, I realized maybe I should have researched a little more before I plunked down the money.  This is a bench top mill with a round column.  What is the best way to dial in the spindle once you you have raised or lowered  the head?


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## RJSakowski (Jan 28, 2016)

What I would do would be to place a pin in the spindle and bring it into contact with a reference face like the side of the vise.  Raise or lower the head and adjust the spindle and swing the head to contact the reference again.  This should be done along the x axis.  It will get you fairly close.  For better accuracy, you can use a dial indicator and adjust  for the same reading before and after.  The spindle should be locked or otherwise restrained from rotating.   The head is rotated from left to right to get the reading on the dial indicator.  When you tighten the head, you might get a small shift in the reading.  You will be fairly close if you adjust your x axis and note the displacement and use that to reset your x axis.


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## Bill W. (Jan 29, 2016)

R J
Thanks for the info... I realized that not being able to raise and lower the table, as soon as I loosen the head on the spindle, there goes everything.

Thanks again,
Bill


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## stupoty (Jan 29, 2016)

I normaly use an edge finder or a pin in the chuck to relocate a feture on a part.

Stuart


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## Dorn (Jan 29, 2016)

I have one of these round column mill/drills.  With a little bit of planning I find that I mostly don't have to move the head up or down much in the middle of a project.  When it is unavoidable, the methods above work well enough.  Another method is to fix a small "pointer" laser to the head and have it shining on the opposite wall.  Put a mark on the wall as your "zero".  With modest care that will get you within a few thousandths almost immediately.

A good resource for these kinds of machines is the Yahoo news group:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MILL_DRILL/info

Somebody who has documented lots of work on his mill/drill is Rick Sparber:
http://rick.sparber.org/


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## Bill W. (Jan 29, 2016)

Stuart and Dorn... Thank you for your comments, I read somewhere about the laser pointer method, I may try that one.  I will first try to set the mill up where (as you mentioned)  to have the head positioned to make changes between drilling and milling without having to raise or lower.  I am a newbie and your comments are greatly appreciated...  Thanks again.

Bill


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## Paul in OKC (Jan 29, 2016)

I had the Harbor Freight version of one of those for a few years. Like Dorn said, a little planning and you can avoid raising or lowering the head in the middle of a project. If I had milling and drilling to do, I tried to use collets for the drills so I wouldn't need the room required for a drill chuck. What I did was to turn the shanks of the drills to the nearest collet size. Worked like a charm.


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## stupoty (Jan 29, 2016)

Paul in OKC said:


> I had the Harbor Freight version of one of those for a few years. Like Dorn said, a little planning and you can avoid raising or lowering the head in the middle of a project. If I had milling and drilling to do, I tried to use collets for the drills so I wouldn't need the room required for a drill chuck. What I did was to turn the shanks of the drills to the nearest collet size. Worked like a charm.



Iv'e got an er collet chuck for mine, saved hitting the draw bar (mines a morse taper) i like the step less clamping, i tend to only hold stuff in the collet chuck and don't use the drill chuck, helps a lot with not raising or lowering the head so much.

If im drilling some holes that will require the head to go up i spot drill them all first and step up the drill size or locate using the drill bit if it's ok for a losser tolerance thing.

Figuring out the optimal order of doing things is always fun 

Stuart

Also figure out what the shortest tool your using is before starting


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## Bill W. (Jan 29, 2016)

Paul in OKC said:


> I had the Harbor Freight version of one of those for a few years. Like Dorn said, a little planning and you can avoid raising or lowering the head in the middle of a project. If I had milling and drilling to do, I tried to use collets for the drills so I wouldn't need the room required for a drill chuck. What I did was to turn the shanks of the drills to the nearest collet size. Worked like a charm.



 This is a HF mill also.  It is the green one, model 33686.  I do have a set of R8 collets for it and I also ordered a set of machine screw (stubby) drill bits.  I think with some careful planning, I should be ok.  I am a newbie but  with all you guys sharing your knowledge, maybe I can avoid some errors to start with.   

Thank you... Bill


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## TC0853 (Feb 29, 2016)

stupoty said:


> Iv'e got an er collet chuck for mine, saved hitting the draw bar (mines a morse taper) i like the step less clamping, i tend to only hold stuff in the collet chuck and don't use the drill chuck, helps a lot with not raising or lowering the head so much.
> 
> If im drilling some holes that will require the head to go up i spot drill them all first and step up the drill size or locate using the drill bit if it's ok for a losser tolerance thing.
> 
> ...


The idea about using the collets in the spindle gives you back that room that you would lose with the drill Chuck in there. It's true that you can chuck any size drill bit in an ER collet, but they take up most of that room that you've gained by not using the drill Chuck, whereas if you resize your drill bit shanks so you can fit your bits into the spindle collets you've gained the maximum room. IMHO.


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## stupoty (Feb 29, 2016)

TC0853 said:


> The idea about using the collets in the spindle gives you back that room that you would lose with the drill Chuck in there. It's true that you can chuck any size drill bit in an ER collet, but they take up most of that room that you've gained by not using the drill Chuck, whereas if you resize your drill bit shanks so you can fit your bits into the spindle collets you've gained the maximum room. IMHO.



I havn't got a vertical clearance issue, i can put a 10" rotary on their with a vice and still have plenty of head room. 

The collet chuck helps with not moving the head up and down.  Most end mills are short compaired to drills, if i have an end mill in a collet then I change it for a drill bit I don't have the extra 2-3 inches of room required for the chuck, as e quill only moves 4 inches (well a bit less) that dosn't leave much wiggle room.  

The collet chuck with a drill in is much shorter than a drill chuck with a drill in.

Remeber if ur trying to eek the last 1/4 inch of clearance out of ur mill/lathe then your on he edge of what it's capable of.  I sure we all do it from time to time though, like rotating the head off the table to drill the end of a long thing.

Stuart


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## TC0853 (Feb 29, 2016)

stupoty said:


> I havn't got a vertical clearance issue, i can put a 10" rotary on their with a vice and still have plenty of head room.
> 
> The collet chuck helps with not moving the head up and down.  Most end mills are short compaired to drills, if i have an end mill in a collet then I change it for a drill bit I don't have the extra 2-3 inches of room required for the chuck, as e quill only moves 4 inches (well a bit less) that dosn't leave much wiggle room.
> 
> ...


Yup. I've never been up close to one of the lathes with a milling attachment on the back, but they look like they might work fine. In the meantime, we learn the quirks of our machines, and live with them. And have all kinds of fun in the process.


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## stupoty (Feb 29, 2016)

TC0853 said:


> Yup. I've never been up close to one of the lathes with a milling attachment on the back, but they look like they might work fine. In the meantime, we learn the quirks of our machines, and live with them. And have all kinds of fun in the process.



Yeah fun and enjoyment should always be present  I was tempted by a milling attachment but the rf25 has so far served me well for a couple of years (I got it second hand) I got it at the same time as a basic 9x20 lathe which wasn't quite so hardy and I pushed it too far, the rf25 has taken the use and abuse very well.

I lust after the smaller knee mills that are bench mounted but fear I may just get a very big mill one day  ow hang on I have a little very big mill(horizontal 1905ish rebuild nearly finished the main spindle went back in last week) humm I mean an even bigger mill 

Stuart


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