Is lathe milling attachment worth making

[GoceKU]

That angle iron seems very thin, my thought is to make it to lock in, in my quick change tool post, i'll get couple of pictures but my tools post it big.

 

[Charles Spencer]

One thing that must not be good for accuracy is overhang.

I thought so too. Your approach is rather clever. I like it. My own idea was to add mass and balance to increase stability. So I added a large overhang on the back of the attachment.

 

[Tozguy]

That angle iron seems very thin, my thought is to make it to lock in, in my quick change tool post, i'll get couple of pictures but my tools post it big.

The angle iron is .325'' thick at the angle. To hedge against flexibility, the angle (12'' long) is almost the full length of the cross slide. Also, as you can see here in the finished version, there is a rest block to locate the compound when mounting it. It supports the compound during operation such that the bending moment on the angle iron is reduced or maybe eliminated (maybe) )



This is the angle plate and compound just sitting on the cross slide with no fasteners in place.



Once the compound was lined up square in both planes using shims under the angle plate, it was bedded with marine epoxy.



Now it is easy to reinstall it without loosing the alignment.

 

[cascao]

The only time a 3 jaw chuck can be used efficiently for milling is with a fly cutter. (but a four jaw chuck still have more gripping power)

 

[Alan H.]

Not to trying to be a naysayer but most every time I ever tried to build a tool from scratch I ended up spending way more money than I imagined. To make matter worse, they generally ended up with marginal capability as well.

Make sure that your expenditure to get you there is not going to be a big percentage of what you could get a small mill for. A benchtop mill will likely far exceed what you will achieve with a gizmo on a lathe.

 

[GoceKU]

I appreciate the advice Alen, i'm in macedonia, here prices are very different and availability of machines is not good, i've recently bought an old shaper head with 2 axes, that i plan to modify in an milling attachment.

 

[epanzella]

I built my milling attachment from a purchased angle plate and my existing compound rest. An attachment will never be a milling machine but I've built lots of parts on mine. I mounted a 3/4 steel plate on my compound that has a field of 3/8x16 holes. I can clamp just about anything including a milling vice for keyways and such. I milled a slot in the bottom of the plate and pressed in some 3/8 key stock. When mounting the vice I just slide it down on top of the keystock "curb" and it's already lined up. Time spent going from turning to milling is the biggest downside for me.

 

[GoceKU]

Here is what i have in mind, to modify this head, you can see i has ways in two directions, if i had a mill this will be a couple of hours work but using only hand tools and a lathe it will take some planning.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

i look forward to see what you come up with!

 

[GoceKU]

I hate beginning a new project before i finish the last, but having the ability to mill slots on the lathe will help me finish that project, so i took this head apart, and SilverBullet was correct is from an wood copy lathe, the inside was full of wood chips and not an single metal chip, it had a spring pushing from the bottom against the cam, the threads are M16x2 standard tread, so i may make a new screw to eliminate the cam, the dave tails are not worn, it's at an angle so its not going to be easy, i need 20mm to make the slot for may tool post and i only have it at the bottom, i need to add material upstream, i need to do a spark test to see is it cast steel or cast iron if i can weld it, it will be much easier, more to come.