Thread: Milling in Lathe - What tools, collets are required.

I'm trying to set up my Hercus 260 for milling.
I have the Hercus vertical compound milling slide and have on order a toolmakers vice for holding the work. Will have some T slots made up to hold the vie to the slide.

What I need to know now are what tools, or collets or arbor should I be purchasing to hold the tooling in the headstock chuck.

Also wondering how a slitting saw may be used ? Guessing there would be a need to make up a horizontal slide with T slots to carry the work.

The work to be milled will be small and I do expect that small cuts only wil be the ordr of the day.

Thanks, being new to this any asistance is appreciated; especially pictures or instructional pages.

cheers
Richard

Richard there are numerous collets available.
Not sure if you can get the Original collets to suit your machine,I would think they would be M/T4 and you would also require the Draw tube to pull the Collets Closed in your spindle.
My self I use an ER collet chuck M/T3 with ER32 Collets when I use the Lathe,these come in a range of sizes up to 20mm.
There are different size ER collets depending on the type of work you wish to do and the size of the Tooling you have(do a search for ER Collets and you should be able to make a decision if these would suit your needs and the Size of Collets you require,you will have to make a Draw Bar for use with the ER collet Chuck if you go down this road.)
You can also either buy or make an ER Collet chuck that will mount Directly to your Lathe Spindle Nose.
In regards to the Slitting saw I think depending on how big your job is and how you hold it you should still be able to use your Milling Slide and Vice.
Because Milling inthe Lathe is not the most Ridgid set up I limit myself to .040"/.060" depths of cut.

Thanks for that info and guidance. Much appreciated.
I'l probably try and purchase a parallel collet holder as the work I'll be attempting is quite small.
I realise it won't be as rigid as if it were held by the original style holder, but sometimes I guess there has to be a compromise.

My skills are what is required more than the equipment.

I was in the presence today of the most beautiful lathe I've ever seen.
A 1935 ( sold new ) Holbrook toolroom lathe. All attachments, the works.
I intend to post some pics here, it really is beautiful.

cheers
Richard

Not sure what you mean by parallel, I have not seen a Collet that is Tapered.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Not sure what you mean by parallel, I have not seen a Collet that is Tapered.

HI,
I think He means a Parallel Collet Chuck ie ER32 Straight Collet Chuck, these are readily available. Now I'm not sure what You mean by 'I have not seen a Collet that is Tapered'. Most Collets are Tapered ie ER32, 3 MT etc. Some Collets are straight ie C32, Posilock.
All The Best steran50 Stewart

I would of thought the refference was to the internal.

Not sure how the chuck is fixed to the lathe spindle on a Hercus 260 , been many years since I've seen any Hercus lathe.
But if your chuck goes onto a threaded spindle ,its much better to get an ER collet chuck that screws onto the spindle in place of the chuck ,that way you can have long rods of material pass through the spindle bore rather than cutting shorter pieces.
I found with my Myford that the MT tapered er collet chuck had a lot of over hang as well.The screw on chuck is much shorter.
I reckon the ER 32 are a good collet ,and are available on Ebay at very good prices from Hong Kong.
I have a set of standard type Myford collets , but I don't use them much since I bought the ER32's.
If you are going to get a straight shanked ER collet chuck to hold in the three jaw or 4 jaw chuck make sure the spindle is not hardened as it will damage the chuck jaws if you have a jam up of the cutter and it spins in the chuck jaws.
It's also not advisable to hold end mill cutters in the three jaw chuck for the same reason.

For the slitting saw , you can have a MT tapered saw holder that fits the spindle taper of your lathe and is held in by a draw bar or one with a straight shank to fit into the collet chuck ,I use both depending on the job at hand .The straight shank one is used in the ER collets on my mill as well.

Kev.

Thanks all for the replies.

Seems as though the ER32 as originally suggested by pipeclay is the ticket.
That's ticked on the list.

I meant a parallel shaft on the collet holder, to fit into the 3 jaw chuck.
Guessing the bigger the better, provided I don't go over the spindle internal diameter.
Which in my case is 27mm for the 260.

I haven't seen an ER 32 collet chuck to fit the thread of the Hercus, if someone could point me in a direction, then clearly that would be an advantage over anything else.
BTW, thanks for that suggestion Kev.

Which brings me to ask the question ? Do I need to make a drawbar, to fix the collet holder or is the chuck sufficient ? This is when using a parallel shaft collet holder.
Or am I confused ? Thinking that the spindle of the Hercus 260 has an MT4 taper which would be revealed once the chuck was removed.
Hadn't figred on continual removal of chuck and replacement, somehow, ( inmy mind ) the thought of posible stresson the headstock bearings is in my head ? This could of course be fluff, CRAFT and old age...

I really appreciate the help, sorry I am unable to be more clear in my questions.
Hopefully, threads such as these will assist others like me who don't have the understanding or experience as those of you helping.
Thanks again.

cheers
Richard

Here is one that is a backplate mount
Gloster 100mm ER32 Lathe Chuck Quality - eBay, Lathes, Metalworking Milling Welding, Business, Office Industrial. (end time 18-Oct-09 04:49:06 AEDST)

I did hear on here somewhere that somebody bought one with a threaded mount not so long ago.
There have been plenty of people that have made there own, that way it runs true on your lathe. It is not that hard to make one as there is only the 2 threads and internal taper which you copy off the ER collet.If you are interested in making one, I know I have some links somewhere,just let me know and I will chase them up. Also the bloke on ebay sells the MT4 ER32 collet chuck around AU$40 posted and you use a draw bar which is just a threaded rod with a washer that goes through the headstock it's usually M12 though imperial thread is available from him.
Dave

For simplicity and ease and accuracy you would be better advised to go with a M/T4 ER Collet Chuck or an ER Collet Spindle mount chuck.
The chances of being able to run a Parallel Collet chuck in your 3 Jaw chuck and it running true would be unlikely,and the time to set it up in your 4 Jaw a waste.
Running a M/T Collet chuck in your spindle with draw bar will have NO effect on your Bearings the Load is taken on your Spindle Taper and the Rear of your Spindle where your Draw Bar will seat.

Yes, the MT4 collet chuck would be the simplest way to go.

Thanks.

cheers
Richard