Thread: Using a lathe as a mill of sorts

Im currently on the hunt for a mill, but while i was using the lathe last night i was reminded that some of the old Hercuses came with a miling cross slide that could be bolted on in lieu of the tool post.

Got me wondering whether it would be feasable to bolt something like this: 450MM x 153MM Milling and Drilling Compound Slide Table | eBay to the cross slide of my AL320G on a chunk of steel angle so then the work would be held vertically and i could pop a milling cutter in the chuck and use it for hogging out smaller items.
The big problem i could see is not being able to mill anything bigger than the distance from the far bit to be milled to the bed of the lathe. But for hogging out large amounts of metal it could be feasable, also a hell of a lot cheaper than the 45 series mill i want.

Thoughts?

Found this one Youtube:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-8y9SxgJ5M]‪compoundtableformillingonalathe.avi‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

And just found this
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/ad...-al320-126883/

Its definately possible, and lots of people do it. The 'window' you have to work with is the main limiting factor. But many many smaller jobs can be very effectively milled on the lathe.

Hi takai,
I've done pretty much as barkersegg except I made my own angle bracket. It works but the compound slide on my lathe only moves 85mm which is limiting. I'm guessing yours would be the same or even less. Still I made a few little things with it. It may not be as good as my mill but its way better than a hacksaw and a file! As a bonus the swarf clears great.
If you can weld a few braces in a piece of angle, give it a go it wont cost much.

Stuart

I have one of those tables on my drill press, I would have thought they'd be quite large for a lathe. It needed a bit of fettling to get it working accurately, but now is "ok" for that purpose. I don't think I'd want to do any heavy milling on it however.

Pete

Wondering whether i should just see if i can pick up a cheaper Sieg X2 mill instead.

'Hogging' is not a word that comes to mind with my vertical slide setup. In fact I need to go very cautiously. But that's at least partly due to rooted dovetails and leadscrew on my cross slide, so yours may be better. I have more success with small cutters - 6mm mainly. The roughing ones are brilliant. I'd like to see that machine in the video actually cutting.

The item you linked to weighs 30kg, you would not want that to overhang the front of the saddle too much I would imagine.

It seems to me that you are paying extra (in $ and weight) for a device to move the work in 2 planes when you really only need the ability to move the work vertically, the horizontal movement is taken care of with the cross slide.

Maybe something like this might be better?

METAL LATHE MILLING ATTACHMENT SUIT TL180V,SIEG(New!) | eBay

or this (bit expensive - Myford name costs extra)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Myford-La...item256607aa3c

Rgds - Gavin

More looking at the first one due to the size of the workspace. Would mean i could bolt larger items into to machine smaller bits out of. 35kg is probably a touch too much though i agree.

Currently of two minds about mills. On one hand i probably only need to get something around the size of the Sieg X2 for the actual area ill need to mill. But for the headache/performance side of things i would be looking at something like the ZX30 or 45 series for the ability to hog out large amounts of material.

P.s. the lathe is still going brilliantly, thanks.

With the ZX30/45 you are now in the realm of the ubiquitous round column mill drill (RF 30 etc) Although they have their limitations they are very useful machines, I have a 20+ year old Taiwanese version I picked up for $200 some years ago and it does all I need to do.

I suspect that you'll run out of work-holding capacity with the Sieg unit.

These things come up at auctions from time to time, often they go for silly money but every now and then a cheap one will surface.

Glad to hear the lathe is still going well.

Hm, if i could pick up a 20yo RF30 type mill for $200 i would be a very happy man. Most of them seem to be going for $1500 or so.

Which is about half of a new Leopard/Rotax powered kart (yeah, im thinking of getting back into it).

P.s. Gavin, are you scrutineering at Mallala these days?

Originally Posted by takai

Wondering whether i should just see if i can pick up a cheaper Sieg X2 mill instead.

My 2 cents is that's where I would be putting my money toward. At the end of it you would have a "proper" mill perfectly capable of light work in all materials. Once it's time to move on it should be easy to sell and I notice these are in high demand on ebay. I think the X2 is 3MT, correct? If so if/when you get a larger mill it would be possible to buy one with the same taper, especially if you went for an older machine. All my machines use 3MT and it's handy being able to interchange tooling between them, even though many would argue it's not an ideal taper for a mill, I'm very happy with this compromise.

I think a milling slide is an excellent addition to a lathe, and I've seen the work of many who only have that available. But I personally feel they're more a lathe accessory than a replacement for a milling machine.

Once again, just my 2 cents, yours could be very different.

Pete

Originally Posted by takai

Hm, if i could pick up a 20yo RF30 type mill for $200 i would be a very happy man. Most of them seem to be going for $1500 or so.

Which is about half of a new Leopard/Rotax powered kart (yeah, im thinking of getting back into it).

P.s. Gavin, are you scrutineering at Mallala these days?

I was just at Redwood Machinery on South Road and they have a couple of those milling slides at the moment, no idea how much or what quality they are though.

Yep, still running at Mallala (15 years now). My wife is the Chief Scrutineer for the Superkarts and I do some as well but mainly I concentrate on the driving while I still can.

Latest news is that I'm running a new chassis, designed by Ian Williams and welded up by me - it's a cracker, I've gone from mid-field running to the pointy end of the field competing against guys almost a third of my age. Next outing is a 3 day meeting at Phillip Island in September.

Attachment 177355
Attachment 177356

I have just posted pictures of "My Lathe" including my milling attachment then saw this post. Mine is rough looking but only needed until I buy a milling machine. Angle is 150mm X 16mm and I don't think it needs bracing. Only light cuts possible of course. I have double movement across the bed but I lock the vice and use the cross slide. If I had seen what you list on ebay I may have bought one of them instead.

I bought an angle plate from H & F and bolted angle on this, on my face plate to machine. Need a big face plate to do it that way tho. Mine is 14inch. Angle was not square so I packed it up to even out the metal removal. It is only a few minutes work to remove the tool post and bolt the attachment on but would be much better to have separate mill.

There is another plate between the two because of the height of the drill vice base. One of the large holes fits over toolpost locater, the other was a miscalculation. The photo just misses showing a threaded hole on front edge of crossslide which is just visible on right side. There are 2 of these holes which are used to secure bottom edge of the in between plate. This plate overhangs the edge of the crossslide and is used to ensure the attachment is parallel to the crossslide.

Attachment 177364

Dean