What Vise For An Atlas Mfc Horizontal Mill?

I haven't been around here much but I have what I believe are the original vice and a rotary table. I can share pics if still needed.. Just holler!
 
VSAncona said:
I haven't used the vise on mine much, but if the Atlas shaper vise has too much overhang, I'm pretty sure the Atlas milling vise will too. I think the vise part is the same on both -- just the swivel base that is different.

When I've had to get the workpiece close to the spindle, I've clamped an angle plate to the milling table and then clamped my workpiece to that.
Click to expand...

I may just give that a try.

I have a piece of steel that's 7" long, 3/4" tall and an inch wide.
I need to face the 1" wide side that's got a bandsaw cut.

The widest straight cutter I have is about 3/8 wide, so I suppose could do it in a couple of passes.. just thought it would be nice to use an endmill and get it all at once. It doesn't need nanometer accuracy, I'm just making some T-nuts for my vertical milling machine.
 
spongerich,

To use an end mill to do that job, you can use an end mill on the vertical face by putting a sacrificial length of 1/8" or thicker aluminum on the table and the workpiece on top of that.and clamping the sandwich to the table. Then use the endmill against the side of the work piece instead of the top. If you have an endmill larger in diameter than the height of the piece, you can do it in one pass. Actually, a face mill would be better. If you have one.

For a drawing of the original Atlas milling vice, go to Downloads. Downloads is not by any means ready for "prime time" as the categories are not set up properly yet. But it does work. The instruction sheet should be currently at the top of the list of the few files that have been uploaded.
 
If I'm going to use the end of the endmill, I'd probably prefer to use my vertical mill for that.. much easier just to set it up in the vise.
Since I'm making T nuts, I might just chop the blank I have in half and face it on my shaper.... In fact, since the T nuts are going to get drilled and tapped anyway, I might do that first, then I can use those holes to attach the part to a fixture and go back to my original plan.

One thing is clear, I do need to make or buy some endmill holders. I have a lot of them that are too large for the 2MT collets that the Atlas uses.
 
The Atlas mills originally came with an end mill holder. I have one but it's still in the crate with the mill and in any case, it probably only goes up to 1/2" shank diameter (maybe someone who has one handy can comment). 2MT end mill and cutter holders are available up to at least 3/4" shank. But for some strange reason, all that I have or have ever seen are tang type, not draw bar type. Which is dumb because probably everyone who has ever tried to use one has learned the hard way why that's a bad idea (they pull out of the taper at the most inconvenient time). So you will probably have to cut off and drill and tap for 3/8-16 any that you find.
 
Rich,

That sounds like what I remember seeing in a photo of my mill. Looked like the same 1/2" holder as could be bought for the 19" and 12" lathes except that the latter was 3MT. If you bought the larger holder new, it came with four reducing bushings, 1/4", 5/16", 3/8" and 7/16". I'm sure that the 2MT one came with the same bushings.

The LMS 4-piece set would be a good start. It goes up to 5/8". The other sizes are 3/16", 3/8" and 1/2". Strangely, LMS doesn't list the other sizes in 2MT.
 
Do have a plain (slabbing) cutter that you could use on an arbor with the support arm?
 
VSAncona said:
Do have a plain (slabbing) cutter that you could use on an arbor with the support arm?
Click to expand...

I do have one. I think it's a little narrower than my part so I'd need to take 2 passes.
Naturally, it's got a 1" bore and the only arbor I have is 3/4, so I'll either need to make a bushing for it, or make another arbor.

Like most good projects, this one's turning into several side projects.
 
Don't make a bushing. You should have a 1" arbor anyway (not to use exclusively but because 1" cutters seem to be at least as common as 7/8", and with both arbors, you double your chances of finding a usable cutter specific width and diameter when you need it). There are one or two ads for arbors on eBay most of the time.
 
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