after looking at the diagram and the placement of the holes, I'll need to do the entire mill attachment over again, as one of the holes is right where the angle plate face is located. I also need to search for an F drill bit as that's what 5/16-18 takes. The diagram pdf shows the placement for a 9W. Mine is a 9A so am I assuming correctly that this would work for my South Bend 9A? I've never heard of a "W"
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my latest mill attach ($65) handmade
- Thread starter SE18
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2013
- Messages
- 159
I belive 9W designates a 9" Workshop lathe which encompases the A,B,and C models. You would technically only neet one hole drilled and tapped. I believe the other is there to be able to swing the attachment in the other direction. There was also an optional offset base that may have used it, not sure. As long as one hole lines up it'll give you something to keep the attachment from twisting on its dovetail. Then again if it works fine for you without the extra hold down then it's all good 
P.S. HomeDepot sells taps with the tap drill included in the package.
P.S. HomeDepot sells taps with the tap drill included in the package.
Update: my F drill and all the other # and ltr drills arrived in the mail from Amazon so I drilled and successfully tapped 2 holes into the crossslide and also drilled thru the mill attachment. Everything is working fine now, with no more rotation with heavy cuts. However, I discovered that still, lighter cuts need to be taken because heavy cuts set up a harmonic vibration. Seems odd, but I've come to the conclusion that a lathe is not a standin for a mill.
I would highly recommend the type of attachment I made, however. If you start to add other things like vertical screw, that would be good for function but it would likely add to something that could vibrate around.
My attachment's center of gravity is low. It is beefy and it is probably just the right thing I needed.
I likely will make one more attachment in the future which will be even more simple, that being a flat T-slotted plate. You can't get more simple than that and that would put center mass even lower.
Also, in future I'd like to do two things: make myself some sort of t-slot to replace the compound rest and secondly, to get a real mill, perhaps a Grizzly mini or a big Bridgport on sale.
Anyway, there are dozens of different mill designs out there to attach to lathes, but I'm happy to report that the one I made seems to be the only one of its type, offering flexibility of using the vise or of using the threaded holes in the back plate. The only improvement that I would have made would have been to replace the threaded holes in the back plate with T-slots. However, a substantial mill with t-slot bit would have been required for that.
Dave
I would highly recommend the type of attachment I made, however. If you start to add other things like vertical screw, that would be good for function but it would likely add to something that could vibrate around.
My attachment's center of gravity is low. It is beefy and it is probably just the right thing I needed.
I likely will make one more attachment in the future which will be even more simple, that being a flat T-slotted plate. You can't get more simple than that and that would put center mass even lower.
Also, in future I'd like to do two things: make myself some sort of t-slot to replace the compound rest and secondly, to get a real mill, perhaps a Grizzly mini or a big Bridgport on sale.
Anyway, there are dozens of different mill designs out there to attach to lathes, but I'm happy to report that the one I made seems to be the only one of its type, offering flexibility of using the vise or of using the threaded holes in the back plate. The only improvement that I would have made would have been to replace the threaded holes in the back plate with T-slots. However, a substantial mill with t-slot bit would have been required for that.
Dave
Here's an angle plate almost exactly like the one I ordered with 3 vertical slots on the front which you can use to slide the face plate up and down and even tilt 360 degrees. The bottom slots look someone different but that shouldn't matter if you use a base plate like I did.
http://www.amazon.com/AP-202-4-1-We...F8&qid=1364475691&sr=8-9&keywords=angle+plate
the cost of making one of these angle plates in materials alone, not including the welding and time you'd spend make this a bargain IMO
Dave
http://www.amazon.com/AP-202-4-1-We...F8&qid=1364475691&sr=8-9&keywords=angle+plate
the cost of making one of these angle plates in materials alone, not including the welding and time you'd spend make this a bargain IMO
Dave
I spent more time in the garage milling and mulling over some vibration. The vibration was, I determined, caused by loose gib screws in the crosslide, which I tightened.
However, you need enough looseness to move the crossslide back and forth. The solution to make this mill attachment even more rock steady would be a steady rest, as described years ago, which I might try my hand at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ot...e&q=popular mechanics mill attachment&f=false
DaveV
However, you need enough looseness to move the crossslide back and forth. The solution to make this mill attachment even more rock steady would be a steady rest, as described years ago, which I might try my hand at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ot...e&q=popular mechanics mill attachment&f=false
DaveV
