# Boring Head Adapter



## francist (May 4, 2019)

I bought this little boring head the other day, not that I desperately need one but it struck me at the time that the small size might work really nicely on the Atlas milling machine. The thing is, real estate on that machine is at a premium so I thought I could make an adapter to mount the boring head directly to the spindle. 

It helps that the milling machine as well as my 618 lathe have exactly the same spindle noses, so it as a bit of a no brainer. I did the inside threads first, 1" - 10 tpi, and ran that up onto the lathe spindle much like making a nose protector. 




Then I turned down the outside to diameter and finished length, and reduced the snout for the 1-1/2" - 18 thread on the boring head. I got nice fits on both threads even though it would be a big deal if they weren't. It's a boring head, it doesn't _want_ to be concentric.










A hole in the edge of the register flange for a hook spanner, and away we go. Travel in "Z" is still going to be limited, but not as much as the alternative using a taper mount. That's my theory, anyway. Thanks for looking!




-frank


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## Tozguy (May 4, 2019)

Nice work Francist, but how do you keep your fingers so clean?


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## francist (May 4, 2019)

Good question! I don't wear gloves, that's for sure!

-f


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## mikey (May 4, 2019)

Came out nice, Frank. 

Cracked me up - clean fingers! Heck, I can't use the fingerprint scanner on my smartphone because I have no fingerprint left on my forefinger.


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## mmcmdl (May 4, 2019)

My fingers are clean 1 week out of the year , when we go south to the beach !  I've never understood how one could stay clean at work . ( maybe I'm just a slob )


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## f350ca (May 4, 2019)

Nice addition and adaptor build. I've yet to use a horizontal mill, but can see where it would be great for some operations.

Greg


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## francist (May 4, 2019)

mikey said:


> can't use the fingerprint scanner on my smartphone because I have no fingerprint left on my forefinger.



We did that once at work, learned our lesson but good. Me and my Tech were French polishing a staircase, so there was a lot of ground to cover. We were using methyl hydrate as the shellac solvent (we mix our own from flake) and after a while your finger tips get numb. About two weeks later is when you realize you've killed the first six or so layers of skin and it starts to peel off -- all six layers at once. Yeow!

Needless to say we don't do that anymore....

-f


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## Cooter Brown (May 4, 2019)

I love using my boring head on my horizontal mill its way more rigid than on a vertical mill....


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## francist (May 4, 2019)

I'm looking forward to trying it. I had to order a few round-shank boring bars today so I'll need to wait til they get here. I don't have a vertical milling machine, and up til now all my boring has been limited to the lathe where I grind my own bars from square high speed tool bits. They work well for that, but not so good when you need a round shank. It's only money, right?

-frank


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## Cooter Brown (May 4, 2019)

francist said:


> I had to order a few round-shank boring bars today so I'll need to wait til they get here.
> -frank



I hope you didn't order the china brazed carbide boring bars they don't work without being modified..... I use a boring bar from Mesa Tools and I have nothing but success with it...



These are pictures from when I made an Overarm Support for my Horizontal mill with only my Horizontal mill.....









						1/2″ Boring Bar X 3″ | mesatool
					

Made from heat treated tool steel with black oxide coating. Comes with one TPGB-21.51 insert, can use any other similar insert.Uses standard 4-40 Torx screws.Actual size .498 Dia X 3″ long. Perfect for boring head. Made in USA




					www.mesatool.com


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## francist (May 5, 2019)

Nope, I did not. Only one set of those crossed my threshold as a holdover from the lathe's previous owner. It left shortly thereafter via my scrap box...

-f


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## francist (May 8, 2019)

Boring bars arrived yesterday from KBC Tools. I bought 3 of their house brand in M42 high speed steel.




Of course I tweaked the grinds a bit and honed the edges, then gave a few test passes through some aluminum. Works good. Maybe not quite as much fun as boring on the lathe, but still satisfying. The increments on the boring head itself are a bit goofy -- the scale gets smaller as the cut goes bigger -- but whatever. It works, I'm happy.




-frank


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## MalR (May 9, 2019)

francist said:


> The increments on the boring head itself are a bit goofy -- the scale gets smaller as the cut goes bigger -- but whatever. It works, I'm happy.
> 
> -frank



If you rotate the boring bar 180degrees you should get the increments working in the more logical direction.


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## Suzuki4evr (May 9, 2019)

Tozguy said:


> Nice work Francist, but how do you keep your fingers so clean?


Good question


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## francist (May 9, 2019)

MalR said:


> If you rotate the boring bar 180degrees you should get the increments working in the more logical direction.



Oh there's a thought, never went down that road! Duh! 
I'll try it, thanks!

-f


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## francist (May 9, 2019)

Well that kind of works, and kind of doesn't! 

If you put the boring bar into the centre hole, yes, you can turn the cutting edge so that the number scale will increase with the diameter of cut. But if the bar is in the outer hole you have no choice, the cutting edge has to face one way in order to cut and that, coincidentally, is still the direction where the number scale decreases with increasing diameter.

I guess if you looked at the scale as how much wall thickness you had remaining.....  naaahh!  

-f


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## MalR (May 10, 2019)

Ah well, worth a try! Back to counting the engraved lines then 

Mal


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