milling attachment

[tanii51]

has any one adapted one of the chinese or other type mill slides/vices to the hercus

[pipeclay]

The Palmgren milling vice and slide would probably be the easiest to fit to a hercus lathe.

[Godzilla98]

Hi Tanni51,

I have just grafted this onto my Hercus. (Model B)

Not suggesting this is the best way for one moment and I am sure here are lot of others who have tried similar process that can give us both a lot of advice.!!!!

Not sure of the brand but a local supplier of machining stuff procured it for me.
Around $185 (And its almost Hercus Green)

It is essentially a single action vice.
The cross action is achieved by the compound, and up/down by the attachment.

The plate is 4" x 6". It has two "T" slots (5//8") - You could mount a vice on this but it all gets a bit unstable I found.

I have been learning the art of clamping and pic 1 shows the attachment in place with some 'clamps' I made.

The assembly is mounted where the top slide normally fits. I machined up a 'spigot' the same as on the bottom of the top slide and then drilled a hole to suit in the bottom plate of the assembly.
This then just fits into the compound existing hole and is clamped by the normal screws and shaft.

It is slightly tapered and thus as the screws pull down on their bevel in the compound it drags the whole assembly down onto the top face of the compound.

Note the two bolts on the Vertical of the angle allow the whole assembly to be tilted.

Pic 3 shows (Just) one of two 1/" tapped holes in the top of the compound. I intend to machine out the edge of the bottom assembly plate - where the black mark is - and then use two extra bolts to secure it against rotation.

Pic 4 shows it 'at work' - It really is only for small jobs with a gentle feed - but it certainly does work.


Anyway that is first attempt - welcome any advice or thoughts.

Cheers

Ian

[tanii51]

yes thats what i was looking for . i have this idea in my head that i may want to make tool posts and things with grooves in . please post some of your results and hints that you learn on the way :U

[Godzilla98]

That is precisely why I got one - the first tool post is being machined in these pics.

I think my attachment came via Hare & Forbes - they have them.

I have learnt that there are some bolts on my machine that are not tight!

I guess there will be a quiet chuckle from some of our more experienced readers, but it is well worth actually putting spanner to nuts - not just looking at them, I found one of the bolts holding the head stock on looked good was really only there for appearance...

So a good lesson for all of us that get our new tool and just want to start making things. Go over it carefully first.

You will need a collet to hold your tools - I first got a 1/2" collet - My lathe has a #3 Morse taper in the spindle - and then have made some 'bushes' by putting a short lengh of 1/2" BMS into my 1/2" collets and drilling it to suit the smaller tools. A quick hacksaw cut longitudely and I now have effetively a smalller collet. - Just a way to save some money until I figure out just what I do need.

Any how good luck in your venture

Cheers

Ian

[tanii51]

just been and counted the piggy bank ( damn not quite enough yet :~)

[tanii51]

thanks godzilla wonder if you could post a pic and some dimensions of the spigot you machined i think the top part is slightly bigger than the hole through the vertical slide.
hmm how do we make sketches( more learning)