Is lathe milling attachment worth making

[British Steel]

Just a suggestion for those milling (as I did before the mill came along) with a slide on an angle plate: Bring the tailstock up behind as additional support, it'll make it surprisingly more rigid and give a way better surface finish!

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[HomeMetalMan]

I think GoceKU that you may be reassured regarding the abilities of a lathe mounted milling head, especially on the larger lathe you have, by viewing my web pages showing a quite large stationary steam engine being made using my milling head on a Myford lathe. This can be seen at http://www.homews.co.uk/page177.html

Details for making the milling head are at http://www.homews.co.uk/page158.html which also has a link on that page to a video I made showing the milling head being used.
Harold

 

[GoceKU]

I need to buy couple of end mill cutters, in the pictures i've seen all are 4 flute cutters, is there a reason for this or could i use 2 flute, 6 flute or even a shell mill cutter ?

 

[GoceKU]

In the meanwhile i had this insert cutter head, and decided to make a shank for it, started with 45 mm peace of 4150 which had some surface rust, first i made a clean up cut than i cut down to the cutter size and then down to the 16 mm boss for the cuter, than i drilled and threaded it for M8, than i cut it off, i need to drill two 8 mm holes and install two pins to locate the cutter.

 

[GoceKU]

Today i decided to chuck up a end mill that i bought recently and try milling steel in the tool holder, i was afraid of chatter, but it all went smooth, first cut was 0,3 mm, second cut was 0,5 mm and last cut was 1 mm depth, that is an 14 mm two flute end mill and run it at 400 rpm and hand feed it i like the results, this give me motivation to keep going.

 

[benmychree]

My setup uses 5C collets to hold the end mill (in conjunction with a draw bar). Holding small stock in the QCTP works well. I have a milling attachment but haven't used it yet.

Roughing end mill with some 1/2" brass. Just testing out the new setup.
View attachment 241137

3/4" 4-flute end mill for milling little flats on some replica valve spindles I'm working on.
View attachment 241138

Using the QCTP was ideal for this application because I could quickly pull the tool holder and bring it to the work bench, reset the work piece in a new orientation, drop it back on the tool post and mill the next flat. I had 80 flats to machine

View attachment 241139

You should make a "thread protector" for the spindle nose, they are also used to eject the taper/collet adaptor from the spindle, drill a couple of opposite holes on the OD, and use a pin spanner to screw it off which pulls the taper adaptor out of the spindle. One came with my 19" Regal Leblond and I made one for my 9" Monarch: it is easier to remove the adaptor than using a knockout bar from the end and does no (possible) damage to the adaptor.

 

[rock_breaker]

Nice going GoceKU !
IMHO keeping the machine running as smoothly as possible is very important. Several methods of work holding have been put forth, again I think stability is key. My keyway cutters are about .75 inches in diameter with six 1/8" wide cutting edges on them. The keyway cutters were held in the lathe chuck with the spindle driven in back-gear.
The round work piece (it was short) held in the milling attachment parallel to the ways. With the work lowered enough to provide the amount to be removed I was able to rotate the whole work holding assembly 60` then slowly cut the flats with the cross feed.
There was a recent article in the Home Shop Machinist Magazine about calculating proper sizes of round stock to get flats for typical wrench sizes.
Enjoy your machine work.
Ray

 

[q20v]

You should make a "thread protector" for the spindle nose, they are also used to eject the taper/collet adaptor from the spindle, drill a couple of opposite holes on the OD, and use a pin spanner to screw it off which pulls the taper adaptor out of the spindle. One came with my 19" Regal Leblond and I made one for my 9" Monarch: it is easier to remove the adaptor than using a knockout bar from the end and does no (possible) damage to the adaptor.

Great idea, thanks! I've been using a knockout bar to remove the adaptor but don't like doing it that way.

 

[AlFiallos]

At the time I needed to do milling to cut a keyway I only had my 8x12 HF metal lathe. I made the milling attachment from a piece of angle iron and a cheap drill press vise. But hey, it was solid and it worked. Now that I have the HF 33686 round column mill/drill the lathe attachment sits in the bottom of my cabinet drawer.