I have one of the HF Micro Mills currently in my shop as well as a Rockwell 11x37 lathe. Im on the hunt for a better/bigger milling machine and when I do get one I was wondering what yall thought about transferring that small mill column and head onto the back side of the Rockwell's cross slide? I would have to make a longer t-slotted cross slide but I wanted to do that anyway. I know it wouldnt be good for heavy work butas Im a hobby gunsmith I think I would be able to flute a barrel with it ok. Any reason this wouldnt work?
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Adding milling head to cross slide
- Thread starter mclarenross
- Start date
If you do be sure to oil the machine better or add a pressure lube system. You will also want to consider the machine will be really top heavy and tip over by adding more weight above the ways. Lathes are top heavy anyway. You might think about bolting on some angle iron braces to under the base to increase the floor foot print. Sounds like a good deal if it is something you can put on and off. The extra weight will probably increase how fast the ways will wear. Rich
Ok. Those are considerations I hadn't thought of so i will make sure to do that if i do this. Im not too worried about added bed wear, mine has flame hardened ways so it shouldnt change much. The machine is top heavy already but this head doesnt weigh even 50lbs so I dont think its gonna change the center of gravity enough to hurt anything. Thanks for the input.
Cool Shawn. Thanks for that. Hadnt even thought about attaching it directly to the compound. Not quite as solid but easier that machining a new cross slide.
I was thinking of something bigger...lol...that is so cool. Great idea! And nice paint job on the SB lathe 
A lot better then battleship grey. )
A lot better then battleship grey. )Its an idea that will work great if you have some kind of indexing on the lathe spindel. Some mount dividing wia wormgear and crank with plates and some drill the chuck or chuck backplate with division holes and lock them with a plunger. Fluting barrels in one setup instead of having to sett it up an truing it on a mill should be In my opinion both faster and more accurate. Of cource we are talking light cuts here
I have a 500w milling head from a sieg sx2 that has ben modified to fit the toolholder on my weiler Condor Lathe. I have removed the column becauce i have Dro on my lathe som its easier to use and if an operation like fluting is undertaken I can use a traveling steady. The millhead weighs around 10Kg and with flamehardend ways and not everyday use it shouldnt wear the bed to fast i hope
There is a product called the quick-mill made in the UK for smaller lathes http://www.hemingwaykits.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ehemingwaykits%2eco%2euk%2fcgi%2dbin%2fss000001%2epl%3fpage%3dsearch%26SS%3dmill%26search%2ex%3d16%26search%2ey%3d6%26search%3dACTION%26PR%3d%2d1%26TB%3dA&WD=mill&PN=The_Quick_Step_Mill__%2ehtml%23aQS_201000#aQS_201000
Its made for smaller lathes but, Works great for its use
I have a 500w milling head from a sieg sx2 that has ben modified to fit the toolholder on my weiler Condor Lathe. I have removed the column becauce i have Dro on my lathe som its easier to use and if an operation like fluting is undertaken I can use a traveling steady. The millhead weighs around 10Kg and with flamehardend ways and not everyday use it shouldnt wear the bed to fast i hope
There is a product called the quick-mill made in the UK for smaller lathes http://www.hemingwaykits.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ehemingwaykits%2eco%2euk%2fcgi%2dbin%2fss000001%2epl%3fpage%3dsearch%26SS%3dmill%26search%2ex%3d16%26search%2ey%3d6%26search%3dACTION%26PR%3d%2d1%26TB%3dA&WD=mill&PN=The_Quick_Step_Mill__%2ehtml%23aQS_201000#aQS_201000
Its made for smaller lathes but, Works great for its use
Hi slektning,
I have a second hand SX2 sitting idle; do you have a picture of how you mounted the milling head to the toolholder?
Cheers,
Chris.
Hi
I dont have a good picture of it, but i stripped off all that wasnt needed, including the bracket for the column. I then bolted two 20x20mm square steel bars on each side of the head (make sure they are perfectly aligned with the spindle. I used a testbar)
The motor should be pointing upwards. You then use the right side mount for machining keyways, crossdrilling and fluting. The left mount is for end drilling and milling mounted like a boringbar. If you add a small vertical milling table you can use it with gearcutters and slottingsaws too. I will try to post a video when i have time
I dont have a good picture of it, but i stripped off all that wasnt needed, including the bracket for the column. I then bolted two 20x20mm square steel bars on each side of the head (make sure they are perfectly aligned with the spindle. I used a testbar)
The motor should be pointing upwards. You then use the right side mount for machining keyways, crossdrilling and fluting. The left mount is for end drilling and milling mounted like a boringbar. If you add a small vertical milling table you can use it with gearcutters and slottingsaws too. I will try to post a video when i have time
I use a old drill press on the crossliide, and find its very handy as well. Also a pic of a way to index on the lathe. The indexer let me make the part shown with the help of a cheap drill press that's mounted in horizontal fashion. Woops, the last 3 needed to be rotated 90 degree,s
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way cool. Looking at pics of people mounting mills/drills on the lathe had me thinking "if only there was a way to index the lathe chuck..." and then there it is!