Ok, so not exactly a mill, but heres what im doing;

I have an el cheapo (ish) pillar drill that will take a 20 or 25mm milling bit so im going to mount a carriage from a lathe onto the table of the pillar drill, to make a 3 axis milling machine. With this, i can then wither use it as a vertical lathe, or to mill pieces such as my exhaust manifold, removing any excess material without the cost of paying for an engineering company.

This is a picture of the carriage;


Carriage

Im making some runners for the bottom part to mount and slide along, and may even make this a threaded axis. The runners will be screwed to the pillar table with countersunk set screws.

Has anyone else made any such tool?

Unfortunately drill press spindle bearings don't like heavy side loads... they'll either wear out, or you'll have severe juddering when you take a cut (party due to the bearings, & partly due to the non-rigid table).

Do you have a lathe to go with that slide? If so, you could do your milling on that, using a vertical slide. You can't handle big pieces, but at least the lathe can take the side loads.

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Unfortunately drill press spindle bearings don't like heavy side loads... they'll either wear out, or you'll have severe juddering when you take a cut (party due to the bearings, & partly due to the non-rigid table).

Do you have a lathe to go with that slide? If so, you could do your milling on that, using a vertical slide. You can't handle big pieces, but at least the lathe can take the side loads.

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Agree with David, don't waste your energy, you might get away with milling ally using very light cuts, but it will be useless for anything else.
I am lucky enough to have a Tom Senior miller in my tool box, but even that struggles with a lot of stuff.
You need serious rigidity to mill steel accurately.
I used to use the lathe, and that was pretty good ( Harrison L5a) but you are limited to the size you can mill.

Al.

My father bought a Compound table for a pillar drill like this

LINKY





Or save up and get a Mill drill.

I have retro fitted a DIY CNC to mine.

Would not be without one now.

Martin

Its only for very light jobs, ill not be using it for anything heavy.

The chattering and vibration will probably stop you from making a decent finished surface.

To give you an idea, this would be regarded as a light tool-room mill in most workshops! Probably weighs somewhere approaching 500Kg...




[Edited on 11/1/11 by David Jenkins]

I know, i work in a facility that has a number of machine shops.

Unfortunately, i dont have a spare £30k+ or the space for the real McCoy, so im making do with what i have in true Locost fashion.

As said, its not to mass produced anything, or even make any heavy items. Its just for a bit of fun really and to have a crack at taking the inner lip out of the exhaust manifold.

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
To give you an idea, this would be regarded as a light tool-room mill in most workshops! Probably weighs somewhere approaching 500Kg...

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That bridgeport is exactly what we have at work (small family run business) we use it daily for quite a lot of jobs and its still great, parts are easy to get and replace, its a little heavy taking it apart here and there for servicing/fixing & we definately arent going to move it !

I reckon its worth a go with your idea rich, from what i gather you will be using it for, i think its worth a punt seeing as it hasnt cost anything

Locost all the way.

I tried this a few years ago, bought a compound table and even had the spindle drilled out for a drawbar.

Unfortunately it was a total failure, absolutely no rigidity, I ended up selling all the bits.

Neil

Ive got the drawbar from the original lathe still at work (the lathe is 6' long and weighs a ton. I carried these bits back on the train!) so i'll fix the drawbar onto the table as well, so that i can make micro adjustments on two axes.

It also depends on how much you value your drilling press... you could end up trashing the bearings, making it useless...

as with everything in life, it gets easier the bigger the tools you have, and the bigger the space you have

if you have the room and power supply, then ask local colleges etc, they all seem to be getting rid of machinery.

about a year ago I got a bridgeport, exactly the same as that pic, and a colchester master 2000 lathe, £200 the pair

cheap machines are in plentiful supply, however workshops to put themin are expensive

I agree with comments re bearings - we bought a small vertical miller from Axminster a few years ago and if treated gently it is capable of very accurate, if slow work,- chopping down tool posts etc, it is much heavier and better engineered than the pillsr drills we have in terms of the size of the castings enclosing the bearings, thickness of shafts and rack gears etc

However somewhere on the web I once saw an alternative technology miller made in India using an old engine mounted vertically and the crank was used as main drive shaft, it did not look so crazy when you think of the number of bearings and the precision with which it is manufactured- maybe that is an avenue worthy of more thought/ investigation?
The engine did not need to work - could be a blown block or anything at top end so long as crank was ok and could be lubed
Just imagine a straight 6 powered miller working off the garden stream atb
Mike

quote:

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Originally posted by tony-devon
as with everything in life, it gets easier the bigger the tools you have, and the bigger the space you have

if you have the room and power supply, then ask local colleges etc, they all seem to be getting rid of machinery.

about a year ago I got a bridgeport, exactly the same as that pic, and a colchester master 2000 lathe, £200 the pair

cheap machines are in plentiful supply, however workshops to put themin are expensive

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that reminds me - if you have a lathe or can get one (alot cheaper and easier to find than a bridgeport) then you can mill with it aswell

stick a milling bit in the chuck and clamp the bit your working on to the tool post (or to were the tool post fits onto)

that way you've got one tool for 2 jobs

[Edited on 12/1/2011 by mcerd1]