Do I need a face plate if I have a milling attachment

[TQA222]

I am going to buy a mini lathe with a 3 jaw chuck and a 4 jaw chuck. I will also buy a collet to hold milling tools , end mills to 1/2 inch and a Warco milling adjustable slide with some T clamps.

I had vague ideas about making an aluminium face plate out of a slice of 6.5 inch bar and noted that the raw material would cost me 30.$. A ready made face plate in cast iron from LMS is only 37$

The projects I have in mind for the boat are simple turning jobs but once those are done I have aspirations to build a V twin wobbler a steam engine with a slide valve and reversing gear probably a Stuart 10 V

So I got to thinking if have this milling attachment do I need a faceplate or will it just rust away in a corner of my boat,.

Tell me if I am missing something

Please note that I live on a boat in the Eastern Caribbean which is pretty close to paradise in many respects However getting heavy stuff sent down from the USA and dealing with customs can be a nightmare. I intend to consolidate all the stuff into one load which is a major saving on carriage and only have to pay one set of customs agent fees.

 

[JimDawson]

A milling attachment and a face plate really perform different functions. The face plate is to hold parts that can't really be held in a chuck while turning. The milling attachment holds a part on the cross slide and allows you to use a milling cutter in the spindle to machine the part that is held by the milling attachment.

 

[darkzero]

Faceplate allows you mount something to be turned that you wouldn't be able to hold with a chuck. Like Jim mentioned, a milling attachment is for a completely different use.

Many people don't even own a faceplate. Some people use faceplates to drive lathe dogs instead of a drive plate (which don't seem to be made much anymore these days).

I've only ever used my faceplate like 2 or 3 times. My lathe came with one, otherwise I'd probably get by without owning one with the stuff I do.

But for $40 that's not much, better to have one in case you need one rather than not having one that time you do need one.

I needed to machine the OD & ID for these handwheels, I wouldn't have been able to do so without the face plate, well not easily or safe.

 

[jcp]

Milling attachment holds the work while the spindle holds the cutter.

 

[SamI]

Personally I've not yet found a use for a face plate. I'm not saying there isn't one and the day I do need it I'll be glad it's there. If it didn't come with my machine however I'm not sure I'd buy one aftermarket. If you were stuck with the need for a faceplate you could always make a temporary one out of some largeish round stock and grip in your chuck. Drill and tap mounting holes to suit. It wouldn't get you quite as much capacity as a dedicated face plate but it would get you by. As an added bonus if you had means of accurately locating the work piece with dowel pins or similar this method could be much faster for batch work.

 

[mmcmdl]

Faceplates are indespencable (sp) tooling IMO . I don't call a driveplate a faceplate . For a faceplate , make one about 2" thick out of aluminum and run series of tapped holes thru it . Great for mounting fixtures and hard to chuck pieces . If you're running any kind of production parts , they save you time and $$ . I know you most likely do not have a gap bed lathe , but they also let you turn some maximum ODs with the use of pressure pads and your tailstock .

 

[savarin]

Even though you may not at this point in time envision using a face plate who knows what the future will bring.
Its a royal pain needing a tool for one job but not having it.
I wont say I use a face plate regularly but it does get the occasional use to hold something awkward now and again.
I've even I've mounted cutters on a face plate to make a large dia fly cutter for one job.

 

[whitmore]

I am going to buy a mini lathe with a 3 jaw chuck and a 4 jaw chuck.
So I got to thinking if have this milling attachment do I need a faceplate or will it just rust away in a corner of my boat,.

It's possible to remove the jaws from a four-jaw chuck, and use it as a (small) faceplate, or am I missing something?

 

[darkzero]

It's possible to remove the jaws from a four-jaw chuck, and use it as a (small) faceplate, or am I missing something?

Yes but it won't be as versatile due to the limited number of t-slots. And usually 4-jaw chucks smaller than 10" aren't available with t-slots.

 

[Winegrower]

You are really going to need a mill to enjoy your project time. Got room for that?