# Newbie question (Hope this is the right forum) - converting drill press to mill



## Lmheim (Sep 22, 2020)

Hi all.  I am new to the site and to machining and am looking forward to hearing helpful advice from folks.  I have a 1937 solid cast iron drill press that is in spectacular condition.  I have completely disassembled it and want to convert it to a non-precision, light duty milling machine.  I know this is not a particularly popular idea and has many faults, but I just want to do it.  I have new tapered bearings on order to deal with lateral forces so I think that is covered.  The frame is solid but I will brace it up a bit more and make it as solid as I can.  My big question is what to do about the tool holder.  It currently has probably the original 3 jaw Jacobsons chuck on it.The spindle is a solid rod with a taper so it won't accommodate a collet system as it is.  Any suggestions about tool holders for this (other than "get a milling machine")?  Thanks


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## NC Rick (Sep 22, 2020)

Can't argue with "just want to do it" but nice 1937 drill presses are not in everyone's shop.  Particularly with the attributes you mentioned. An import bench mill would look good next to it and be more useful?  If you can't have 2, perhaps there is good value in the old press.

off the top of my head, none of the morse or Jacobs tapers are up to the task without a draw bar or pinning.


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## DavidR8 (Sep 22, 2020)

I also contemplated this for an 1980's Taiwanese drill press.
I stopped because the only tool holding I could sort out was using the Jacobs drill chuck to hold an end mill. I tried it on aluminum. Once.
The cutting forces involved are very high for a drill chuck that makes contact in only three small areas on the tool. End mills pull down as they pass through the stock. So there is a high likelihood the end mill will pull out of the chuck. That falls under the category of bad things.
Equally bad are the lateral forces that want to remove the chuck from the taper and there is no way to hold the chuck on the spindle. So the risk of having the chuck come off the taper is high.


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## ttabbal (Sep 22, 2020)

The bearings might help with side loads, but you won't be able to hold the tool securely. End mills want to pull out of the chuck. That force will try to pull the spindle down, likely pulling whatever you have on the taper off. Once that happens, you have a tool and whatever held it flying around. That's assuming you have some way to lock the spindle so it doesn't get pulled down. You might be able to bore it out with a collet taper and hold down. You would probably need a lathe for that, but you might be able to rig a tool holder on the table and use the spindle to feed. 

You might be able to tap the spindle taper to hold the drill chuck on with an internal screw. That doesn't solve the problem of holding an end mill in a drill chuck, but it would keep the chuck on. Drill chucks just don't have the grip required to hold an end mill though. 

Perhaps build an end mill holder that will match the taper with a hold down screw and use a weldon shank end mill with a set screw to hold it in. 

I looked into this when I was getting started. I don't have the same drill press, but what I found was that you will spend the same or less on a mini mill and not be likely to kill yourself. In the event it does work as you expect, you would be lucky to take cuts of 5 or 10 thou. That gets old real fast. Even a mini would do a lot better. You also haven't dealt with X/Y movement. If you intend to use a cheap X/Y vise, I wouldn't. The screws are not designed for the forces required and will shift around. I've seen some that I would bet would snap from the cutting forces. 

Drill presses usually can't run slow enough for milling. You also need to deal with that. 

This winds up being a lot like using a butter knife as a screwdriver. Sure, you can, sort of, for very limited applications. But an actual screwdriver works a LOT better.


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## tech610 (Sep 22, 2020)

I'll second NC Rick. You are going to ruin a nice drill press that many of us would love to have in our shops.
I've already tried to do this and fortunately the victim was an HF drill press. Still, a few years later I bought another drill press to augment my mill.


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## tjb (Sep 22, 2020)

Howdy, Neighbor.  Welcome to HM.

Not really much to add to the wise counsel already posted with regard to technical detail - all of it correct, I might add.  But also consider the investment factor.  By the time you make all the modifications necessary to turn a very nice drill price into moderately (at best) usable milling machine, along with the expenses associated with it, you could have saved that money, sold the drill press and bought a pretty decent milling machine.  As a practical matter, milling machines can double as a drill press.  Unfortunately, the converse is not true.

Regards,
Terry


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## silence dogood (Sep 22, 2020)

You can't tram a drill press like a mill. In other words, setting the bits square to both x and y axis.  There is a utube showing this guy using router bits on a drill press.  Yeah. he got it to work sort of.  First, it's very dangerous.  Second, you have spend all sorts of time making jigs to hold the work properly. Third, you can't get the proper speeds.  Now, try this on metal where there are much greater forces involved.  In the end, the guy came to the conclusion was get a mill.


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## markba633csi (Sep 22, 2020)

I say go ahead and try it! No better way to find out for yourself what works (or doesn't) and why.
Get some cheap endmills, you don't want to ruin expensive ones
Have fun and be safe- wear eye protection and watch out for your fingers
-Mark


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## Asm109 (Sep 22, 2020)

You must find a way to retain the endmill in the end of the spindle that does not rely on just the friction of a taper.
If you rely on friction, the endmill WILL fall out of the machine in the middle of a cut.  Damaging your work and possibly yourself.

Machine the end of the spindle to make a weldon style endmill holder with set screw.  It will work for one diameter endmill but at least you are safe.

The slop between the quill and the main casting is usually sloppy compared to a milling machine.  This will limit the surface finish and quality of any machining you do. But its not a safety issue.

Not being able to tram the table square to the head will limit the accuracy and quality of the milling you can do. But it is not a safety issue.


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## Lmheim (Sep 22, 2020)

Dadgum it, seems like my idea is pretty much a bust.  Thing is, I am extremely cost constrained so I can't go out and buy a mill - even a Chinesium, HF or craigslist special and I have a reasonably decent radial arm drill press already.  However, the input I have received here and other places is overwhelmingly against doing this so I probably won't.  Instead I'll just get a set of new regular bearings and put this thing back together for use as a second drill press.  I guess it could be worse, huh?  Thanks for all the comments and learnin' me somethin'.


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## NC Rick (Sep 22, 2020)

Lmheim said:


> Dadgum it, seems like my idea is pretty much a bust.  Thing is, I am extremely cost constrained so I can't go out and buy a mill - even a Chinesium, HF or craigslist special and I have a reasonably decent radial arm drill press already.  However, the input I have received here and other places is overwhelmingly against doing this so I probably won't.  Instead I'll just get a set of new regular bearings and put this thing back together for use as a second drill press.  I guess it could be worse, huh?  Thanks for all the comments and learnin' me somethin'.


Pictures of your drill press?  I'm curious.  I don't know if you could buy an ER16 collet to mt 2 or 3 depending on the drill press spindle.  With that, you could run a *gasp* drill and reamer through the spindle nose and mt3 arbor and install a taper pin.  That would hold small end mills.  A nice x-y table would set you back some.  Consider that with a good rotary positioning table and a good drill press you can do some nice things like accurate and even circular hole patterns.  
 Do you have a lathe? Those are much more adaptable to milling operations.  i personally figure if I had to pair down to a cheap and small tool assortment my last to go machines would be the 4x6 band saw, drill press and my belt sander.  A lot can be done with those great tools.


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## NC Rick (Sep 22, 2020)

Lmheim said:


> Hi all.  I am new to the site and to machining and am looking forward to hearing helpful advice from folks.  I have a 1937 solid cast iron drill press that is in spectacular condition.  I have completely disassembled it and want to convert it to a non-precision, light duty milling machine.  I know this is not a particularly popular idea and has many faults, but I just want to do it.  I have new tapered bearings on order to deal with lateral forces so I think that is covered.  The frame is solid but I will brace it up a bit more and make it as solid as I can.  My big question is what to do about the tool holder.  It currently has probably the original 3 jaw Jacobsons chuck on it.The spindle is a solid rod with a taper so it won't accommodate a collet system as it is.  Any suggestions about tool holders for this (other than "get a milling machine")?  Thanks


Sorry I missed that you said the spindle had a male JT on it that killed my idea.  I think it may have been AVE on you tube who tried welding the chuck on the spindle and mill with a cheap drill press.


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## matthewsx (Sep 22, 2020)

Hi and welcome.

Others have already explained why not to do this. I'll just add that I *have* done it and it was extremely unsatisfying.

What I would recommend though is try fixing this one up as a "rare and vintage" machine. Then sell or trade it until you finally end up with the tool you need. I went from a rusty Craftsman 6" lathe to a 13x40 by doing just that. Of course the machine (Bolton) is busted up from being dropped and not the best brand, but I will fix it up and have a capable machine when I'm done. 

It is worth changing the bearings in your drill because well, you already ordered them, and, it will probably make the machine better. But, modifying it is unlikely to get you where you want to be and could possibly end up destroying it's value to a collector.

Patience is your friend here. Put it out to the universe that you want a mill and eventually one will arrive. It might take saving money up for a while, or you might end up with something free from somebody who just wants it out of the way. I got one like that once 

And yes, pictures....


Cheers,

John


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## Lmheim (Sep 22, 2020)

Thanks to all for the friendly words of wisdom.  I have indeed decided to just get new bearings and keep it as is.  As for pics, well at the moment it is completely torn down so it is just a pile o' parts.  Very clean and non-rusted parts though.  When I get it back together I probably won't paint it.  I like the well worn patina it has earned.  I cleaned the blue paint that remains.  My lathe is a 1950s Craftsman/Atlas consumer lathe (6" I beleive).  It needs new bronze bearing sleeves (I think that is what they are called) for the drive shaft because it wobbles and jumps around a LOT. I added a 2.5HP DC motor with a tachometer and speed control so I can adjust RPMs with a turn of a knob rather than messing with the belt or planetary gear system.  John - I may take your advice and sell it (once I replace the shaft bearings) and see what I can do with that money.


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## ljwillis (Sep 23, 2020)

Lmheim said:


> Thanks to all for the friendly words of wisdom.  I have indeed decided to just get new bearings and keep it as is.  As for pics, well at the moment it is completely torn down so it is just a pile o' parts.  Very clean and non-rusted parts though.  When I get it back together I probably won't paint it.  I like the well worn patina it has earned.  I cleaned the blue paint that remains.  My lathe is a 1950s Craftsman/Atlas consumer lathe (6" I beleive).  It needs new bronze bearing sleeves (I think that is what they are called) for the drive shaft because it wobbles and jumps around a LOT. I added a 2.5HP DC motor with a tachometer and speed control so I can adjust RPMs with a turn of a knob rather than messing with the belt or planetary gear system.  John - I may take your advice and sell it (once I replace the shaft bearings) and see what I can do with that money.



It sounds like you've made a decision, but is the spindle a male jacobs taper, or is there a JT adapter stuck in a morse taper?  I've never heard of a drill press without a morse taper, especially the old ones as many of the drills had MT shanks.  
If you put the quill down, there isn't a slot for a drift?  
If it's MT then you should be able to find an ER collet holder easily, or even solid endmill holders.


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## matthewsx (Sep 23, 2020)

I used an MT 2 ER collet system with a set screw to hold it in. It still came loose and flung itself across the shop.

I used it just long enough to modify a part for the column on my mill/drill project 

john


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## NortonDommi (Sep 23, 2020)

As *matthewsx *said send some vibes out into the universe. Look for auctions, businesses closing down or upgrading and don't be fussy.



Lmheim said:


> When I get it back together I probably won't paint it. I like the well worn patina it has earned. I cleaned the blue paint that remains.


Old stuff to a collector is devalued by fancy new paint. A lot of my stuff came is OPR,(Other Peoples Rubbish),that I have cleaned up so needed paint but I have some things like my Rotary hoe that is the same age as me but just looks better, original paint and once a year I wipe it with some thinned fish oil/Linseed oil mix. Shows its age and has plenty of character.


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## Lmheim (Sep 23, 2020)

ljwillis said:


> It sounds like you've made a decision, but is the spindle a male jacobs taper, or is there a JT adapter stuck in a morse taper?  I've never heard of a drill press without a morse taper, especially the old ones as many of the drills had MT shanks.
> If you put the quill down, there isn't a slot for a drift?
> If it's MT then you should be able to find an ER collet holder easily, or even solid endmill holders.


Hi. It came with a drift tool but there ain’t no place to use it!!!  No slot in the cast iron head enclosure or anywhere. I had to use wedges to separate the chuck. Yes the spindle ends in a male taper which inserts into the chuck. These is a collar thing that is pinned to the shaft above the chuck. Another collar screws over the pinned part. Looks like it is intended to hold some type of tool but it has no connection with the chuck As the chuck is added or removed with touching that collar. I have a picture of things I will try to attach. I’m not a tech guy so bear with me if something doesn’t work.


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## ericc (Sep 23, 2020)

Just make sure that the chuck doesn't fall off the taper and cause injury.  My old metal shop teacher saw someone get exsanguniated by a large endmill.  He said that everybody was in shock and were frozen.  Aside from that freak accident, he said that the large lathes were far more dangerous.  Look at the path that the spinning chuck can take if it gets free.  Make sure that it never gets anywhere near your neck.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 23, 2020)

what model drill press? That looks like my Walker Turner, though I'm not sure the threaded collar on mine is pinned on or the whole shaft is one piece.

If that's a JT33 taper (looks like it), I have a collet chuck that has a collar that screws onto that thread that someone gave me years ago. I used it to mill with for several years until I got a mill. It's slow and not a lot of fun, but it's better than having no mill at all. From memory I made a range of collets to go with it, 1/8 to 3/8 (maybe 1/2, but you sure as hell don't want to be using that). Yours for the price of postage.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 23, 2020)

forgot, this is what it looks like


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