# The dreaded 5x4" Indian Myford mill attachment again.



## BruceW (Nov 3, 2020)

Yes I see them for sale and they appear to be all the same.
 I could set one up in my lathe to do a little milling.

Are the swivel ones as sturdy as the plain angle plate ones?
Do you use the swivel much? Is it worth it or just nice to have?
Does the type of vice make or break its usefulness?

 I believe the Myford users make all sorts of thing with them.
Don’t want a mill.
Can’t seem to find a bigger one but it might do for most things I can foresee.

I will be using tool steel fly cutters and end mill in a 4 jaw with a holder.

Later on I may do a tool post drill mill and it may be the thing to mount it on.

I’m a tool steel user probably 1900’s high tech but hey! It works.
This is my table.



Comments welcome


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## BruceW (Nov 5, 2020)

Ahh here we go.
‘One of these set-ups.
got 4" of travel 
Cheers


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## Lo-Fi (Nov 5, 2020)

I've got a genuine myford swivel version and had quite a bit of use out of it before I got my mill. It's made 10 times more rigid and useful if you rig something up to tie it into the tailstock for support like a horizontal knee mill. 
The vise is honestly pretty useless for anything but very small pieces. I ended up with some "creative" setups involving toe clamps or pieces of angle iron used as straps but managed some useful work with it.


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## addertooth (Nov 5, 2020)

Milling attachments are a bit like the "free first sample of Crack Cocaine".  There are a lot of people who have bought them, and then realized they want a mill.   I considered buying one of these attachments very seriously, then I read about the inevitable progression towards buying a mill.  I decided not to spend the money on an attachment, and just buy a mill (I figured I would apply the money NOT spent on the attachment towards the purchase of a mill).  Once that slippery slope was in front of me, came the inevitable "well, for a hundred bucks more, I can get this feature".   Within a couple of weeks, the price had migrated up on the mill I was first looking at, (I had originally started with a very low budget, but every nice feature was just a "bit more money" to obtain).   I recognized the trend, and knew it had all started with the idea of getting a 150 buck adapter.  Don't get me wrong, it was obvious that "just the adapter" was not going to be cheap once all the associated tooling was acquired (something to tram the plate with, Quality end mills, perhaps a larger surface cutter, etc).  Either way, avoid the Siren-Song of inexpensive endmills.  Also, recognize that small endmills must spin pretty fast to work right, and the spindle on my lathe only spins at 2500 RPMs.  This last factor makes using a lathe for a mill a bit of a "Catch 22".   With a milling plate, you probably don't want to spin a large endmill, but a small endmill prefers RPMs which are above what Most lathes produce.

Oh, good luck with your choice, do post your choice, and pictures of the milling results.  Best of wishes.

                          Addertooth


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## BruceW (Nov 5, 2020)

Well that’s a bit of food for thought.
I‘ve got 1240 rpm and one whole wild stallion of power.
I have a couple of clocks and bases.
looks like I may need to make some  T bolts and packing.
‘Would one be better off with a big angle plate?
 I won’t buy no cheap end mills; I’ll make-Em outta old drill stubs.


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## Papa Charlie (Nov 5, 2020)

You will need the height adjustment that these attachments provide, although if it were me, I would not get the swivel type. It just adds one more thing to weaken the assembly in my opinion. You can always angle the mount on the carriage if you need it to cut something on an angle.

I hope you post your results. I have always been currious about these. I realize they have limitations, but sometimes a big mill is just not in the picture.


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## BruceW (Nov 10, 2020)

Well I figured out that this could bolt on but be no use for a 12" lathe.
Back to the drawing board.
 I seem to overlook the obvious.
ha


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## Papa Charlie (Nov 10, 2020)

You only overlooked it if you had already purchased it.


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## Lo-Fi (Nov 10, 2020)

You could repurpose a large lathe compound or cross slide along with a beefy angle plate? It wouldn't take much. I very much doubt there are vertical slides readily available for lathes larger than the Myford style model makers lathes.


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## BruceW (Nov 11, 2020)

I believe I will have a look for an angle plate.
a cross slide would be awesome if I could locate one.
‘Still looking at different set-up ideas.
Thanks fellas


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## Lo-Fi (Nov 11, 2020)

Or an import X Y table would do at a pinch with some modification to remove the uneccesary axis. 

Look to tie the angle plate into the tailstock as well as the carriage so the setup is like a knee mill on its back. It's so much more rigid that way than relying on the carriage alone. Keep us posted


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## epanzella (Nov 11, 2020)

I've had a number of milling attachment in my life, some bought some made. They are certainly no replacement for a mill but beat the hell out of milling with a toaster.  Keyways, slots, boring,facing, you can do a lot with light cuts, you just can't do it quick. Biggest hassle is tearing down set ups to turn stuff in between milling operations.  This was done on a milling attachment for my lathe.


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## BruceW (Nov 21, 2020)

Neat work epandzella.

Came across this for a idea.


looks solid enough if you can strap it to the cross slide good enough.
Range of movement unknown yet.


But the big issue is I don’t want anything too heavy , or I won’t tend to use it.


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## epanzella (Nov 21, 2020)

That's pretty cool^^^. Never saw one of those before.


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