# Drill press to mill conversions



## master53yoda (Jan 21, 2014)

I have converted several drill presses to functional drill mills over the years,   I am part way through the conversion of one I started this fall and I thought i would share the process here.  I have had trouble getting pictures to post but i think i do have it resolved I have posted in an album some pictures that go with this project.  Below is a general posting that i put up in another thread.

I have successfully converted multiple drill presses to mills. There are a few things that MUST be addressed. 




[*=left]Replace  the lower spindle bearing with a angular      contact double row  bearing of the 520x series is what I use. This resolves      the side  thrust issue on the bearing.
 
[*=left]I  go to a ER25 or 30 series collet systems with the      proper Morse  taper and either use a draw bar or a lockpin to retain the      taper.
 
[*=left]I  have found that the table on the drill press isn't      ridged enough  for mill work, this won't be an issue if the table is rigidly       mounted on ways. Most drill presses mount the table on the column and  the      end result isn't rigid enough. I cut the total height down,  remount the      head using a gib to make the head more rigid on the  column I also gib the      spindle to remove the excess slack in the  spindle. I then mount the x y      table directly to the base. If i  can't find an older American cast 6x 12      or 18 x-y table I upgrade  the bearings and tighten the scroll nut to      remove as much backlash  as possible from the lead screws.
 
[*=left]some method of locking the spindle, I use the center      point setscrew on the added gib if there is room for it.
 
[*=left]The items below are nice but not absolutely      necessary 
 
[*=left]A  fine feed on the Z access is pretty hard to do      without, I cast  mine out of aluminum and use brass bearings for thrust      adjustment  for the fine feed, It is also designed to put aadd stepper      motor  for CNC if desired. I also go to external springs on the spindle to       remove the play between the spindle and the z axis drive as the return       spring on a drill press leaves down backlash on the spindle.
 
[*=left]I  go to a high end 1.75 to 3 hp treadmill motor (the      ones that are  rated at 4000 rpm or less) these will deliver a sold 3/4 to      1.5 hp  in the operating range that they will be used on the mill. I       normally limit the spindle speed to nothing higher then 3500 rpm and use  a      3 or 4 step reduction pulley set. They will power tap and handle  3"      face mill.
 
[*=left]I normally will also set them up with a DRO
 
[*=left]I  use a z axes drive ( the angle motor off of a      treadmill) to raise  and lower the head on the column and also use a 1/2 or      5/8  auxiliary shaft to retain alignment on the column.
 




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## master53yoda (Jan 21, 2014)

The first thing that I look at when contemplating a conversion is the Drill press that I am starting with.   I look for a floor model that has a tall column attachment block to help the ridgidity issue.   then I also look for one that has a broken table or possible damage to the upper column.   This last project press was a craigslist find that had a broken table and bent rack.   Neither of these where items that i would use in the end but it did allow me to get a solid  17"  machine for $75.00 to start my project with.    This drill press new is in the 500 to 950.00 range.   As has been brought up many times if you were to pay new price for all the items for a conversion you would have 80% of a factory mill drill. 

    The other item that I look for but don't always find is the heavy quil lower bearing.  These will allow the installation of the 5200 series angular contact bearing without modification.    In this mill it had a 6203 series bearing which I was able to replace with a 5203 double row bearing without modification with the exception of the lock pin on the top of the upper bearing due to the quill being 3/16" lower then before.  Even with the deep bearing block the bearing still hangs out about 3/16" below the bearing block, much more then that and I would have bored the bearing deeper in the block.   These bearings new are about 40 to $50 but by watching Ebay I have been able to get new Fafnir bearings for under 15.00.

The double row angular contact bearings are the style bearings that the automotive industry has gone to for modular wheel bearings.   This site has a quick description of  angular contact bearings.   http://www.astbearings.com/double-row-angular-contact.html

The collet is a MT2 to ER25 collet with a 5/8ths  endmill.

Attached are pictures that go with this portion of the thread.  I will be posting further descriptions as time goes on.  Tonight I'm tearing down a couple transmissions that I will melt into ingots tomorrow to fill some cast aluminum ingot orders.   I will share my casting furnaces in another thread as time and interest goes on.


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## master53yoda (Jan 23, 2014)

Dealing with the tapered chuck holding Issue  






[*=left][FONT=&amp]I go to a ER25 or 30 series collet systems with the      proper Morse taper and either use a draw bar or a lock-pin to retain the      taper.[/FONT] 
  On this conversion I have gone to the ER25 series collets.   I bought the HF set of end-mills and only need 3  collets for all that is there  3/8, ½, 5/8 .  This gives me 3/16 to 5/8 mills    I also will get a ¾ “ MT2 end-mill holder for ¾ shaft items and that I can modify for my 3’ face mill that I use, and for the boring head when I build it. 

  My son has a full machine shop up to a 30hp Hass CNC mill and if I really need something else I go and use his shop.   He is production oriented and I’m more of “enjoy the feel , and the  journey type.    We give each other a bad time about our different views of the world.

  The spindle shaft was small enough that I did not want to bore it for the draw bar.  So, on this conversion I’m using a lock-screw retainer.     I drill and tap a 10-32 hole in the bottom collar of the spindle shaft.    I then seat the MT2 collet and center drill about a 1/8”’ deep hole in the Morse taper.   I then use a 60[SUP]o [/SUP]chamfer on the hole.

  When I put the MT into the spindle I line up the Mt chamfer with the screw and push it in loosely, I then tighten down screw and it centers the taper on the chamfer, I then tap the taper home and finish tightening the setscrew, because the setscrew and the chamfer share the same center on a fully seated MT, by seating the MT and tightening the set screw the MT is locked in the fully seated position.  I retighten the screw after the first pass just for safety sake.   

  The screw is a mild steel screw that has been sharpened and end-blunted.   If I forget to unscrew it before I drive out the MT when changing tools it just shears of the screw and doesn’t mess with the chamfer on the hardened MT.     The first one of these I did I used a hard set screw and tore up the MT when I forgot to loosen it once.   Lesson learned

   In my thinking it isn’t if you forget is when you forget,  as you get older you will forget things.       As I get older  I spend more of my time contemplating the here-after--------what am I here after!!!!!


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## master53yoda (Feb 21, 2014)

Dealing with the fine feed issues


I basic idea for the fine feed came from those that where needed for the early Grizzley and Harbor freight Mill drills.

I modified the design to allow for eliminating the backlash in the worm gear.    I cast mine from a ZA27   alloy that I mix but it could be cast from aluminum just as well.   I  turn the ring gear and thread it using a tap as a gear HOB.  I have gone to using spiral taps as hobs because there is always a thread in contact with the gear .  You don’t need to scribe the first set that way.


	

		
			
		

		
	
[video=youtube;WXZb3M9Y_Yo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZb3M9Y_Yo[/video]
This picture is using a 7/16 mill to cut the cove for the thread in the ring gear.    The ring gear is mounted on a 3 jaw lathe chuck that is in turn mounted to a live center and held in the vice.  My live center is designed with a ½ x 20 thread for the cones.  It allows me to remove the cones and mount chucks etc to the live center for this type of application.  My live centers uses a small double row angular contact bearing.   By bringing the mill down to the tangent point it cuts and drives the ring gear. 


	

		
			
		

		
	
[video=youtube;a_-3Or2SF3Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-3Or2SF3Y[/video]

As you can see in this picture this also works with the tap when placing the threads in the ring gear.   I turned the tap at about 60 rpm and started with the taper just above the tangent point and feed the tap down until it was turning  through the taper and on the full tap.    I then run the rpm up to about 550 for a minute or so and allowed it to clean up the threads.



The ring gear is mounted to the drill press ring that was used for a quill stop.  This allows the fine feed to be disengaged vary easily when you want to use it for a drill press.   The ring gear is bonded to d-press ring with Locktite bearing adhesive.







The worm gear is a piece of ½ x13 threaded rod that has been turned down to 5/16 on each end where it goes through the housing.   The housing is bored and threaded   ½ x 13.    The bearing surface inside the housing is made by taking a 1/4" brass nipple and threading the outside and cleaning up the inside bore for a bearing.  These can also be adjusted to remove the backlash from the worm gear.   I use this bearing method most times on items that need a worm/ring gear set.  It also acts as a hard brake on ring gear travel.    The worm gear on this also extends beyond the housing for the attachment of a z axes drive.     I normally just put my vary speed drill on the hand wheel bolts for rough setting and quick moving.      I have short videos of cutting the ring gear that I will put up once I figure out how.


The next set of modifications for this conversion will be to add external springs to the quill.   The reason for this is that the spring that is currently lifting the quill is on the pinion which leaves the quill floating.  The external springs will force the rack against the pinion and the fine feed will then be in direct down contact with the quill The weight of the quill and the springs will prevent the end mill form walking in most cases.

 The installation of Gibs to the quill will remove the play that is between the head and the quill.   At that point you will be able to raise and lower the quill under light cutting loads such as a boring bar,  heavy loads like a face mill would still require locking the quill in position.

On this conversion I will use the center Gib screw to lock the quill.  

I’ll address the motor changes and the control that I use on the mill and lathe in the next post hopefull next week.


That’s about it for this portion of the post.   I have had to back burner this project as the process of meeting my Aluminum ingot sales has really pushed me.   Since Christmas I have designed and built a tilting furnace,  and torn down and melted enough transmissions and outboard motors to generate 550 lbs of aluminum,  I finally have got my ducks in a row so that I can do a 50 to 75 lb run in a day and not be dead for the next three days.   I quit using transmissions and started buying 90% of my aluminum already torn apart.  It took longer to tear the transmissions down then it did to melt and ingot them buy about triple.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Feb 21, 2014)

very ingenious use of a spiral tap to cut a gear, nice job!


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## master53yoda (Mar 1, 2014)

*Asian X-Y table modifications*



​
For this conversion I was able to locate an early  American made table that I will install a set of DROs on.       When I  am not able to find an American made table and must use an Asian table,  there are items that need to be modified to bring them up to par.  They  are  excellently described on Nick Carters site.   These explanations  are from that source.  I have excerpted pictures and some of his write  up.  His site includes how to do the modifications on the leadscrew.   This material is being used with his permission.
Source   Cross-Slide Table Modifications     I have made my comments in blue+


*Gibs *  Not necessary but i use brass gibs whenever possible
The original gibs were steel and not suited to wearing in for that nice  silky movement. I just made exact duplicates in brass. Over time they  have improved the action noticeably.

*Dial Gauge Control for Table Movement* this is replaced by the DRO

With the poor leadscrew dials it was just about impossible to move the  table with any precision. Since I wanted to drill accurately located  holes, this was important. I tried mounting dial gauges with magnetic  bases and arms but found it surprisingly difficult to get them placed  just right. Constant headache. So here's my solution.



 
    Photo 3: Y-axis Dial Gauge


Photo 3  shows the mounting blocks and rods installed to hold dial  gauges for measuring table movement in the X and Y directions. This  eliminates any uncertainty because of  backlash, loose gibs or a sloppy  lead screw.


*Table Locks*
Locating the table precisely is not much help if it's going to jiggle  around whenever the tool hits the work. So locks are needed to make sure  it stays put.




    Photo 5: Y-axis Table Lock                

Photo 5 shows the extra gib holes drilled and tapped to take the ball  handled locking screws. Once tightened, these keep the positioned table  perfectly stationary. Very accurately spaced holes can be achieved.

*Thrust Bearing * This improvement is almost a necessity 

I wanted to try light milling on the drill press since I didn't have a  milling machine at the time. Experiments showed that there was just too  much uncontrolled table vibration. For milling, the table should be as  jiggle free under movement as when locked down. Once the gibs are  properly adjusted, the only other component allowing uncontrolled motion  is the lead screw.  I started with the thrust bearing where I assumed  (incorrectly) all the backlash to be. 




Photo 7: Original and New Thrust Bearings               




 Photo 8: Mounted New Thrust Bearing

The original was just a steel disc with lots of non-adjustable backlash  determined by how (not very) close to it  the outer sleeve was pinned to  the shaft during manufacture. The new one carries a ball bearing and  spacer so the backlash is determined by the precision of the ball/race  fit. If I were doing it again, I'd make this block thicker and mount two  ball bearings with a spacer between and some bearing preload. It's  amazing how much play there is in a single ball bearing. I never thought  of this until later but couldn't have done it originally anyway because  I was fitting it to the original leadscrew and was limited to the  thickness of the original thrust plate.  
The new plate had to be larger in diameter to make room for new mounting holes outside the bearing recess.

*Leadscrew and Nut *   This improvement is almost a necessity 
The new thrust bearing helped but didn't completely eliminate the  problem. The table could still be moved perceptibly back and forth. So I  took the whole thing apart to have a look at the leadscrew assembly.
The original leadscrew has a 1/2-10 Acme thread and a very loose nut.  The second nut in Photo 9 shows how I tried to tighten up this fit by  adding screws to bear on the leadscrew. It was a half-vast fix and  didn't really work. Making an adjustable nut for an Acme thread is  problematic and, anyway, the cost of a 1/2-10 Acme tap is close to $100.   So back to the drawing board.





Photo 9: Original Leadscrew Assembly


Here is the heart of all these modifications, a new leadscrew and nut.  The leadscrew is 1/2-20 threaded rod and the thrust bearing end was  machined completely on the Taig lathe. For some reason, at the time of  making this particular part I made step-by-step photos which are in the  appendix for those who are interested. The nut is adjustable following  the practice of the Taig  CR mill and is somewhat larger than the  original which is shown for comparison. Also shown is one of two spare  blanks made in case of a screw-up along the way.




Photo 10: New Leadscrew and Nut Assembly

*Dials and Handles* Nice improvement but not necessary with DRO
The original dials were intended for a 10 pitch leadscrew and were too  small. The new ones have 50 divisions to suit a 20 pitch leadscrew and  are the same size as the new thrust bearing carrier. 




Photo 11: Original and New Dials                




Photo 12: New Dial Mounted

The dial carrier was made the same length as the original pinned spacer.  The new dial is held in place by a circle clip which is bent and rides  in a groove wide enough to let it press lightly on the dial so as to  damp its rotation.   

The increase in leadscrew pitch  means more turns per inch table travel so rotating handles ease the wear and tear on fingers.


Again I would like to agknowledge that the above post is located @ Cross-Slide Table Modifications in its complete form.  The details for makeing the Lead screw are at that location.​


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## master53yoda (Mar 2, 2014)

Column and the spindle Gibs

I have had a few requests for an explanation of the column and spindle  gibs. I havn't gotten to that part of the conversion partially because  it takes a complete tear down and some time and... '[;.,/ ... to get  them in

The gibs when installed and adjusted remove the slop that is in the  drill press head that causes much of the frustration found in using a  converted drill press even when the bearing issues are removed and the  column filled with cement etc..

This modifaction is what allows a face mill to be used and still have a  clean surface, I have run a 3" face mill with out issues with the gib  modification completed. The manufactured mill-drills are machined to a  closer tolerance then the drill presses are and without this mod you can  never get the quality cut that is available in the higher end mill  drills. You may find that the brass bolts mentioned at the end of this  write up that are used in the interm while makeing the gibs, may work  for you if you aren't going to use face mills or large diameter boring  activities.

I have tried a couple of different positions on the gibs. I have found  that the very back of the column is the best location for the column  gibs and the very front opposite the pinion on the spindle. The design  is the same for both.



I have tried a 120[SUP]o[/SUP] separation using 2 gibs on the column but have found  that it must be almost perfectly adjusted or it cants the head and  makes it very hard to keep the machine trammed. I do use it on the  column if I cant reach the column lock that is in the center of the Gib I  then use the 120[SUP]o[/SUP] gibs with the one that I can get to as the column  lock.

in the drawing above there is a second gib above the journal. On some of  the larger heads I have had to add that Gib in order to get the last of  the forward slack out of the head. This conversion is a 17" head and  that is about where I end up using the upper gib as well as the lower  one. I have found that it isn't a good idea to place the lock screw in  the upper gib. I cut the gibs .125 shorter then the total space between  the journals and I have made the column gibs from the old lift rack  successfully. I have also made them out of brass if using a head with a  short quill travel.

I make the spindle gibs out of brass as they are moving a lot more. The  method I have used to cut the cove to match the spindle diameter is to  mount the brass casting up against a block in the mill vise. As a gib in  the interm I use a brass 5/16 bolt in the whole in the front of the  head that will later be used as the quil lock. This could be done on the  column as well but you would definatly need to place one above the  journal in that case.

I will add pictures to this write up as I proceed with this modification  but this will help anyone that is in the wondering mode about the gibs.

Till next post


Art


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