Milling on a Lathe?

[Jim_cellarshop]

I would like to set up a small shop in my basement. So far I have a floor drill press, bench grinder, mig & hand tools, working on more electric & lights now. A machinist friend recommended that I get a lathe & mill on that until I really needed a mill, but most of my current projects are more milling: watch case & band, camera parts, gun sights & hardware. I have never milled on a lathe & have been thinking about a mill first, but then it may be quite a while before I could get a lathe. He had a 13x40 harrison(?) but that would be too big to put in my basement as I may have to move in 6-8years. So a 13x40 & a Bridgeport is just too large, I am looking in the size of a South Bend 10L or the Grizz 10x22 for the lathe & the Grizz 3/4 knee mill or Clausing/Milrite for the mill. How well/easy is it to mill baseball sized items on a lathe? For some items I would most likely need to use a rotary table also. How hard is it to get and keep the mill adapter square? Thanks Jim.

 

[Tony Wells]

Well, I can't say I have any real experience with a milling attachment for a lathe, but they always seem to me to be a compromise. If at all possible, find a way to get a small mill.

 

[cyrusb]

Myford lathes are very popular in Europe where most guys have only one machine. They seem to be pretty much set up for milling, still must be somewhat of a pain though.

 

[Jim_cellarshop]

Thanks for comments! I think my limit on lathe size due to the shop being in the basement may limit the milling to very small & simple parts. I think I am looking at something 9/10"x20-24" so I can take it apart & move it easily. My friend had a 13x40 in his basement but had it installed by a rigger. As he was doing paying work on the weekends he could justify the expense. The Myfords seem to have more cross slide travel than average, but it still looks small for a mill adapter and a rotary table. Anyone ever try a rotary table set up verticle on a lathe? Jim

 

[British Steel]

OK...
My first post here, lets hope I make sense?

First of all, if you want to mill on the lathe, I think there are 2 essentials:

1) a T-slotted cross-slide (or a "mezzanine" plate that bolts to it) that you can bolt or clamp stuff to;
2) a big angle plate you and bolt on the cross-slide then bolt or clamp stuff to.

Given these 2, you can use a cutter either in a collet or the chuck and make simple milling cuts (slots, dovetails, facing), if necessary packing up off the table for more width of cut, or run horizontal mill cutters on an arbor between headstock and tailstock, again packing for depth of cut - this should get you to the point where you can make a vertical slide, or a mount for your compound "stood on end" as a substitute? On my lathe I have a big angle plate and a swivelling adaptor that takes the compound, which will give me 10-1/2" (cross-slide travel) by 5-1/2" (compound travel), which is as much as (more than?) a lot of the smaller hobby mills, plus about 20" of Z-axis
Rigidity isn't as good as a purpose-built mill, of course, but light cuts and fine feeds should work OK as long as you don't climb mill (when backlash in the slides *will* break cutters!)

Just my ha'pennorth, Dave H.

 

[cyrusb]

The Myford has the milling attachment to build your milling attachment, plus a zillion other attachments available to build even more attachments. Really, for the size and requirements your talking about, it probably is the most versatile machine available. That long travel crosslide is t slotted.

 

[ivank]

G'day to all.
Firstly, if you can get your hands on the WORKSHOP PRACTICE SERIES No5 Milling operations in the lathe by Tubal Cain, it will give a great start and a better understanding of what can and can't be done..
You can do some fine work milling on a lathe, but unfortunately it takes alot of time rearanging the machinery for the required tasks at hand. I used a verticle milling slide that came with my little StankoImport Lathe but it was a real bugger resetting the machine all the time (returning the verticle mill slide square/parallel to the toolpost slide) but if light cuts and a slow speed was kept it worked great.
There are a few videos on youtube specicaly on milling in the lathe, i actually found some quite interesting.
With a mill you can use a rotary table and other milling accesories, which on a lathe you cant. I have tried attaching rotary tables to the vertical slide, but with little success. Mainly because limited slide travel and not being able to fit the larger rotary tables that were required for the job at hand..
Regards Ivank..

 

[cyrusb]

Rotary table work can be done on the lathe when the headstock is the rotary table and a flying milling head is used on the crosslide, ala gearcutting on the Myford. They have a very nice dividing attachment that slides in the rear or the headstock. I personally have made these attachments for a small lathe that I use for cutting clock gears. Although my divder is a drilled plate with fixed divisions, Myford has a worm driven unit that is really nice for this pourpose. While there are quite a few manuvers involved in this manner, it works well for the hobbist with limited space and- or money.

 

[Jim_cellarshop]

The idea of using the lathe spindle / chuck as the rotary table is very interesting. I would have to come up with a cross slide mounted mill head, something like a SX1/2 maybe? I have seen some amazing things built on just a lathe, but my eventual plan is to have a lathe & a mill. I am just trying to figure out which to buy first, manage my buget, appease my wife & fit it all down in my basement. I think I would like to get a mill first, but lathes seem to be cheaper & a lot easier to get into the basement. Some camera pieces require 2.5"x40tpi (approx) threads, lens bayonett mounts and watch cases would be much easier done on a rotary table. If I had a T slotted cross slide that was long enough I could mount a mill head on the other end & reduce set up change time, but I think the lathes in my price/size range may be too small for something like this. The Myfords look very nice but all I have seen so far are much more money than used South bend 9 & 10L lathes are in this area. Thanks Jim.

 

[8ntsane]

Now I might be off here with this recomendation, but the 3 in 1 as Shadow has shown, sounds like a good comprimise for a guy with limited space being a basement dweller.

Yes you can mill on the lathe, and yes you can do lathe work on a mill. But you need some serious sized machines depending on your wants and needs. Small machines have limitations, and experianced guys know this.

If your just getting into this, you may not realize that a given machine wont handle the jobs you want to do. If your thinking small machines, ask around. The lathes that are in question, find out who is milling on them, and find if they are doing the job,or not.

I would still look into the type of 3 in 1 like Shadow has shown.
Those are available in a few sizes that should go into most any basement. You dont want to be pi$$ing your self off trying to do near impossible set=ups. Let the experianced guys do that, they are used to it.

Just my thoughts, that sometimes dont make a lick of sense, to anyone but me!

Good Luck

Paul 8)