What is it? Milling Attachment?

[wa5cab]

It looks to me like it's two unrelated assemblies. The milling attachment is one. And I definitely would not attempt to use it without replacing that thick washer with a properly fitted T-nut. If you do, you may break the T-slot out of the compound.

The other part looks like half of an X-Y table.

 

[DaveInHouston]

Got the mystery milling attachment mounted. Made a new mounting plate and bolt to make it more solid. Turns out it is a Huron which was made in an “assemble it yourself” kit form specifically for the Atlas Craftsman. I mounted a little vise to it but I’m going to make a set of clamps out of 3/4” square stock and bolt them to the little t-slot table. Turns out the t-slots are non-standard 3/8” slots so I made a few t-slot nuts and bolts. It works fine within the limitations of the little lathe.

 

[Latinrascalrg1]

I think I need to slot the mounting bolt hole and move the attachment back closer to the compound.

Maybe try filling the gap instead of slotting the mounting bolt hole! You will gain most of the stability you are after without permanently modifying the tooling.

 

[wa5cab]

One thing that you need to do PDQ is to get a thread protector. It will only take one incident to totally spoil your day.

The milling attachment looks like it will be quite usable.

 

[DaveInHouston]

I agree completely. I ordered one yesterday. I wanted to make one but thought it might be more prudent to go ahead and order it. Thanks.

 

[wa5cab]

Good move.

 

[minsk]

One thing that you need to do PDQ is to get a thread protector. It will only take one incident to totally spoil your day.

The milling attachment looks like it will be quite usable.

i was just going to say that.

 

[DaveInHouston]

I think I’ve done all I can do, with my limited skills, to improve my little “mystery milling attachment”. I didn’t like the little cheap drill press vise I was using (too much slop), so I fabricated a set of clamps to mount to the little t-slot table. I replaced the coarse thread mounting bolt with a fine thread grade 8. I made a couple of alignment spacers to fit the compound slot to minimize lateral movement. All in all it works okay but I think the original Atlas milling attachment that replaces the compound is a much better, more rigid design. But I’ve had fun with this one.