Thread: Milling on the lathe

Have also been thinking about what kind of milling jobs could be done on a 9" lathe. Would I be correct to consider the plain bearings in a lot of Hercus lathes to be a limiting factor? I wonder how much sideways force that they could take without damage. I could be wrong but tend to think that the milling cutting force is at quite a different angle to that of turning. I'm sure that for small jobs it would be fine but how far can you go? Were the milling table Hercus options that were available recommended for both taper and plain bearing lathes?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Metalmachine

Have also been thinking about what kind of milling jobs could be done on a 9" lathe. Would I be correct to consider the plain bearings in a lot of Hercus lathes to be a limiting factor?

My experience with the limited amount of milling I have done on my Hercus is it's not usually the headstock that's the limiting factor but the rigidity of the milling attachment to the cross slide. Its a fairly flimsy attachment to begin with and adding a milling attachment doesn't improve things much.