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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default WIP - Lathe Milling Attachment

    Here is a milling attachment I'm making for my Nuttall lathe.

    I bought this of ebay for under $20. It's very solid and will make a great base for the project.


    Here is the steel for the mounting plates. It's 130 x 10 flat bar.


    Here is the start of the bolt I will be using to secure the slide mounting plate to the tool post bracket. This is an old gearbox input shaft, that I have previously annealed.


    Thread and shoulder cut.


    Boring the holes in the tool post mounting bracket. I start them with a holesaw.


    Now using a boring bar to open up the hole.



    Vice mounting plate attached to the slide and vice attached to the plate. Mounting bolts also shown. I still need to mill some flats on the bolt head.

    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  2. #2
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    Nice work.
    Terry B
    Armidale

    The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage - management.
    --The Dilbert Principle

  3. #3
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    Here is a little 30 second video of the boring operation. I must admit I love this old Nuttall lathe - it's just so solid .
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vernonv View Post
    - it's just so solid .
    When I first looked at the pictures I was worried at how out of balance that setup was. Then I remembered the pictures of your lathe. Nothing you worry about there. Great job.

  5. #5
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    Well the bulk of the work is done, now I just have to do a handle and some finish up work.

    Two sides of the bracket welded up. I was very happy with the welding of the external angle, but not so happy with the gusset tacks (although there is more than enough "good" weld to hold them securely).


    The unit attached to the lathe.


    Showing it's ability to tilt if required.
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  6. #6
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    Did some test cuts last night on both aluminium and steel. Unfortunately I don't have any proper cutters, so used a reshaped drill bit - it worked ok, but I couldn't take very deep cuts.

    The mill performed well, however there was a little bit of movement/vibration on low RPM, however that was pretty much eliminated once I increased cutter RPM.

    I've attached some video of test cuts in aluminium and steel.
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  7. #7
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    Well done Vern.
    Do you wan't to borrow and end mill?
    Just let me know.

    It is also much easier to not use the big chuck to hold the end mill.
    Maybe invest in a set of ER collets and a collet chuck from these guys
    Results for Tool & Work Holding:ER Collet Chucks
    They are pretty cheap and work reasonably well.
    Terry B
    Armidale

    The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage - management.
    --The Dilbert Principle

  8. #8
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    Nice work Vernonv
    Where's the rattling coming from?
    At a guess I'd say your feed rate it to slow, but first time out it's looking good

    Stuart

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Terry B View Post
    Do you wan't to borrow and end mill?
    Thanks for the offer Terry , however I don't have any urgent need to get any milling done, so I'll look at purchasing a variety of sizes.
    Quote Originally Posted by Terry B View Post
    It is also much easier to not use the big chuck to hold the end mill.
    Maybe invest in a set of ER collets and a collet chuck from these guys
    Results for Tool & Work Holding:ER Collet Chucks
    They are pretty cheap and work reasonably well.
    Yeah, I'm also currently looking at my options there.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stustoys View Post
    Where's the rattling coming from?
    Not 100% sure, but I think it could be a combination of lathe noise (it's a geared head lathe and is a bit noisy at higher rpm) and possible the handle of the vice (you know the flippy bit at the end of the vice screw - it was resting on another metal bit) rattling.
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
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  10. #10
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    Well, I bought a couple of endmills and tried them out ... WOW, what a difference a decent cutter makes. It absolutely ripped through the aluminium (like butter) and performed very well on the mild steel.

    Now I just need a project that involves some milling.

    Although I had better finish the milling attachment as I still need to do a proper handwheel and collar.
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  11. #11
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    Vernon, don't worry, projects that need milling are not hard to come by. Good to hear it's going well. How's the vibration now? I was a bit concerned about the round ways being loose and non adjustable, but sounds like it may not be an issue. Maybe with a sturdier lathe you can get away with more than I can. I've just been giving my milling rig a workout today actually. Small cutters at higher speeds work better for me. And light cuts. That gets boring pretty quick, but if I get impatient things get ugly. Have you done much milling before? If not it's worth reading about up-cut and down-cut at least. Trouble with vertical slides it's a bit like learning to play guitar when all you've got's a ukelele. The right instrument would make it so much easier. But when you think of the money that goes into mills, that pays for a lot of inconvenience. I'll stop rambling now. Have fun.

  12. #12
    jatt's Avatar
    jatt is offline Always within 10 paces from nearest stubby holder
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    Ah but once you have a mill, you will wonder why you didnt get one sooner.One can go crazy with bits and pieces, but a drill chuck, some endmills and a collet chuck can really do a lot.
    Frisky wife, happy life. ​Then I woke up. Oh well it was fun while it lasted.
    From an early age my father taught me to wear welding gloves . "Its not to protect your hands son, its to put out the fire when u set yourself alight".

  13. #13
    Dave J Guest

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    Vernon, I am not sure how I missed this, good work.It sounds like it's working fine.
    There is a certain feeling you get when you can get parts from here and their and make them work for the intended job.
    I see you have designed it to do angle milling as well, that opens up the variety of work for it, and will come in handy for putting 45s on corners and a lot other tricky jobs.

    If you do have any problems with the slide loosening up over time you could drill and tap 2 holes top and bottom in each side at the back or into the side and put a grub screw in them. To protect the bars from getting scratched by the screws you could put a little piece of brass round in the hole first to act as protective rubbing pad.

    Jatt is right in what he is saying, but their was a lot of years I wanted a mill and didn't have one and had to make do.

    With your new cutter just make sure you don't run them to fast in steel.
    For an easy rough guide to milling speeds, the Grizzly machinery formula is

    Cutting speed 90 (for steel) x 4 / divided by the cutter diameter in inches

    So for a 1/2inch end mill
    90 x 4 / 0.50=720 rpm

    Here are some other cutting speeds, just replace the 90 with these for the type of material your cutting.
    Aluminum 300
    Brass/ Bronze 150
    Copper 100
    Cast iron soft 80
    Cast iron hard 50
    Mild steel 90
    Cast steel 80
    Alloy steel hard 40
    Tool steel 50
    Stainless steel 60
    Titanium 50
    Plastic 300-800
    Wood 300-500

    Hope that helps
    Dave

  14. #14
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    OK so here is the latest (it has taken me a little while to get around to this).

    Turning a square into a circle. I tack welded the square piece onto an arbor and then turned it. That section was to remain on the arbor as the arbor was part of the final piece. The collar on the other hand, I just press fitted to another arbor for turning and then remove the arbor when done. It was taking 3mm cuts with ease (i.e. taking 6mm off the diameter at a time) ... the interrupted cutting didn't seem to bother the lathe or the HSS tooling.


    These are the final parts prior to assembly.


    The parts assembled. The handle was welded onto the turning wheel. The knurled knob is used to lock the graduated (soon to be) collar.


    Here it is on the milling attachment.


    Now all that's left is to put the graduations on the collar, but I'll need to make myself an indexing head first.
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  15. #15
    Dave J Guest

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    That come out good Vernon, will be watching for the graduation markings.
    I see in his feed back,you bought that off the same seller I bought my vise off.

    Dave

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