Milling with a Morse taper?

strantor

strantor

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I've got an old busted milwaukee mag-drill with that uses a dovetail to raise/lower as opposed to a round column like a drill press which makes me think that it would be more accurate and more rigid than a drill press. That and being designed to attach itself horizontally to the side of a ship or an oil rig derrick while some salty seaman or roughneck hangs on it and plows away without mercy for an entire shift makes me think it's more cut out for the side-load of milling. Recent posts about mounting small drill presses on lathes has got me thinking that resurrecting this old mag-drill as a lathe milling attachment might be worth my time. Only draw-back is that it uses a Morse #3 taper for the chuck. I was planning to make an endmill holder tool instead of holding endmills with the Jacobs chuck, but I would still have to use that morse taper, and I've heard that milling in such a scenario can cause the chuck (or endmill holder in this case) to fall out. So is there any trick to making that not happen? I was thinking of getting the tool good and seated in the spindle, then drill a hole through and put a spring pin in. Would be "good enough"? Or possibly some sort of draw bar solution?

Also any input about the feasibility or methods of mounting the mag drill to the lathe are appreciated. I'm planning right now to remove the "mag" part (base) and mount the remainder on the base plate of my tailstock (tailstock removed). So on one side of the lathe you have, well, a lathe, and on the other side you have a mill.
 
A draw bar is a neccesity if you plan to use an MT tool holder and apply any side loading at all. If the shaft is hollow through and through then a drawbar is simple. A piece of 3/8-16 all thread a couple of washers and a nut and your done. If it isnt through and through then you will have to do something a little more creative to hold the holder or MT slug in place. Since I am unfamiliar with the exact mag drill thats about all I can offer, but the drill speed may be too low to get a good surface finish especialy if the is any in and out or radial play in the machine. When you do decide what your going to do, please post up some picks of what you did so the others might use your idea also. Good luck and hope to see the project soon.

Bob
 
Over the years I have tried that when I was in a pinch and needed to mill sometime on-site. It didn't work to good. The issue was more of a problem with the mag not holding more then the chuck coming out. The side pressure will surprise you on how it will release the mag. and column swivel. I drill and tap holes with the mag drills and seldom will they release, so the vertical mag is good. I needed to mill out a score in a way and wanted to cut a slot and fill it with a cast iron insert. We flipped a Bridgeport table upside down and made a portable slide and magged down the drill to use as a mill. It was a pain and we eventually had to clamp the drill down. I think we were using a 1/2" cutter mounted in the chuck at first. We had a BUX drill and a Milwaukee with the dovetails, neither worked to hot. If your mounting it on a small lathe and milling with a 1/4 or smaller cutter, maybe it would work. On the spring pin, I think I might use a couple of sets screws with the holes drilled on a 45" upward angle if the taper slips out. A lot of the old machines used a drift pushing the holder in. They had one slot for pushing it out and one pushing /holding it in. Hard to explain via typing...lol
 
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A draw bar is the preferred method. However, in researching methods of using a drill press for milling, I found that several people claimed success with epoxying a tapered shaft mill holder into the matching taper of the quill. To ensure the best fit the mill holder needs to first be lapped into the quill using a fine valve grinding paste.
After thoroughly cleaning both items an industrial epoxy is used to permanently lock the two together, with the quill/mill holder combination being firmly compressed against a wood block on the table for 24-48 hours while the epoxy hardens.
Of course, this means that you are restricted to only using milling bits of a diameter that can be accepted by the mill holder.
I'm not recommending the epoxy method, just passing on what I've read.
If you can engineer a draw bar you should definitely do so.


　
M





 
7HC said:
A draw bar is the preferred method. However, in researching methods of using a drill press for milling, I found that several people claimed success with epoxying a tapered shaft mill holder into the matching taper of the quill. To ensure the best fit the mill holder needs to first be lapped into the quill using a fine valve grinding paste.
After thoroughly cleaning both items an industrial epoxy is used to permanently lock the two together, with the quill/mill holder combination being firmly compressed against a wood block on the table for 24-48 hours while the epoxy hardens.
Of course, this means that you are restricted to only using milling bits of a diameter that can be accepted by the mill holder.
I'm not recommending the epoxy method, just passing on what I've read.
If you can engineer a draw bar you should definitely do so.


　
M





Click to expand...
I'm going to pull the thing apart later this week and see if a drawbar is feasible. I had imagined that implementing a drawbar solution may be difficult as I would have to disassemble the case of the drill each time I want to change out the end mill holder. So what I was thinking of doing in that scenario, and what I think might also work in the epoxy scenario, is a 2-part end mill holder device. For example, the tapered holder is bored to 3/4" ID and could hold a 3/4" end mill with no insert (one-piece end mill holder). Then if you want to use a smaller end mill, inserts are made with a 3/4" OD to fit into the tapered tool, and the ID is the size of end mill. Do you think this would work or does it introduce too many variables to cause problems?
 
strantor said:
...................................For example, the tapered holder is bored to 3/4" ID and could hold a 3/4" end mill with no insert (one-piece end mill holder). Then if you want to use a smaller end mill, inserts are made with a 3/4" OD to fit into the tapered tool, and the ID is the size of end mill. Do you think this would work or does it introduce too many variables to cause problems?
Click to expand...

As long as the reducing sleeves are designed to adapt mill bits and can tightly secure them in the holder I don't see a problem. However, adapting the drill for a drawbar is still the best solution.
If you can find a way to have the drawbar pass through the drill casing, or perhaps make part of the casing removable so that you didn't have to disassemble the drill to remove the mill holder it would make things a lot easier!
M
 
As mentioned, a drawbar is the best option. My Victoria U2 is a very powerful mill. It uses an MT3 to good effect. I wouldn't even want to try it without the drawbar.

If you end up having to epoxy something into the quill, why not get an ER collet set with an MT3 shaft? That will give you the most options down the road. Get the most complete set you can find.
 
Depending on the configuration of the spindle nose, perhaps you could thread a short distance of the end and fashion a nut with a hole through it that would snag the shoulder of whatever Morse adapter you end up using.
 
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