Milling on minilathe

[chatter chatter cut cut]

wanting to try to make tool holders for the qc tool post. decided to try to make a holder that would mount to tool post and be adjustable up and down. making chips one photo shows the top of the tool holder . the small allen screw near the tool post is the vertical adjustment . one pic shows the piece with the cutter being run through twice with a height adjustment. the peice was also turned to about 45 deg. and run through with the cross slide. this project got long and took several 3 hour days.i think i could have carved it from a solid piece with a file just as quick. and at the end the drill press motor decided to growl and make bad smells.

 

[Papa Charlie]

My first impression is that the material is improperly supported. There is no support for the portion that you are trying to mill. While the suto vice has a lot of hold down points, they are bedded into a poorly supported base and does not look stable enough to support the work piece. The material seems to be moving against the pressure of the mill and you may be trying to moving way too fast for the setup.

Take a look at the massive hunks of metal that people use on their mill to support the stock. They will add parallels, mini jacks, additional clamps and never extend the stock beyond the vice without addition support. It takes a lot of support to do machining of metals and get a good result.

 

[ericc]

Unless the lathe is running in reverse, that first picture looks like a climb cut. This is usually not recommended unless your screws are really tight.

 

[markba633csi]

Slow going I'll bet- especially on a mini lathe
Get the gibs as snug as you can to reduce chatter
-M