Hi All
Im Busy tooling up to build a vertical milling attachment for my old Myford ML7 lathe. These attachments are like hens teeth in our part of the world and a lot more expensive than what a good second hand mill would cost.
I do not have too many photos as of yet but will take some more as the project progresses
I started off with a taper turning attachment. I buit it out of hot rolled mild steel plate , 20 mm chrome shaft (used in hydraulic cylinders) and some scrapyard finds.
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I then made a slitting saw arbor to be able to slit the collets I wanted to make
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With the taper attachment and slitting saw arbor made I could make 2morse taper collets to fit in the myfords spindle so I could do light milling operations for the base of the milling attachment
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With the collets done, I milled the cast iron base of the mill some slots to fit snug on the myfords bed. The twin columns of the mill is 32mm chrome steel shaft and the slide for the head is a solid aluminium block, bored for phosphor bronze bushes that fits around the two shafts as slides.
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Now I need a fixed steady to start machining the spindle. I got hold of a piece of cast iron bar that was about 230mm in dia and 75mm thick. This would serve as the frame for the fixed steady.
I started cutting it very slowly through the hard skin with a carbide cutter. This "slug" is right at the limits of my machines abilities (and mine )
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Tonight I will continue cutting the fixed steady frame and hopefulle bore it through. Will post some pics again once I get the frame done. hopefully by tomorrow night.
Cheers
Im Busy tooling up to build a vertical milling attachment for my old Myford ML7 lathe. These attachments are like hens teeth in our part of the world and a lot more expensive than what a good second hand mill would cost.
I do not have too many photos as of yet but will take some more as the project progresses
I started off with a taper turning attachment. I buit it out of hot rolled mild steel plate , 20 mm chrome shaft (used in hydraulic cylinders) and some scrapyard finds.
I then made a slitting saw arbor to be able to slit the collets I wanted to make
With the taper attachment and slitting saw arbor made I could make 2morse taper collets to fit in the myfords spindle so I could do light milling operations for the base of the milling attachment
With the collets done, I milled the cast iron base of the mill some slots to fit snug on the myfords bed. The twin columns of the mill is 32mm chrome steel shaft and the slide for the head is a solid aluminium block, bored for phosphor bronze bushes that fits around the two shafts as slides.
Now I need a fixed steady to start machining the spindle. I got hold of a piece of cast iron bar that was about 230mm in dia and 75mm thick. This would serve as the frame for the fixed steady.
I started cutting it very slowly through the hard skin with a carbide cutter. This "slug" is right at the limits of my machines abilities (and mine )
Tonight I will continue cutting the fixed steady frame and hopefulle bore it through. Will post some pics again once I get the frame done. hopefully by tomorrow night.
Cheers