Mill with Lathe

[carbide_burner]

I am new to this model engineering thing, and already enjoy every moment!
Cost of tooling (and machines) is a bit of a prohibiting factor for me at this stage. I have a small chinese lathe that seems surprisingly capable for what I use it for. My problem is that the milling machine I dream about is still somewhere on the horizon...

There is a saying that goes something like: "poverty is the mother of invention" SO, I put my think cap on and have an idea that might help me out in the meantime. I've been toying with the idea for quite some time now, and I was wondering if any of you guys have done or seen something like this before? I want to take the compound slide off, and mount an angle plate in it's place. Then mount the compound on the angle plate in a verical position, and replace the toolpost with a small vice or drilled faceplate. This will give me movement in 3 directions. Sounds a bit like a milling machine to me! ;D

 

[DickDastardly40]

I hope the picture below shows what you suggest, (can't get photobucket at work so can't see)

however, if not check out the pics of my lathe in this thread as it shows a milling operation in progress.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=1627.0

Regards

Al

 

[carbide_burner]

YES YES YES!!!! :big: EXACTLY like that!!! :big:

After those pics a huge bolt of inspiration struck me!

Thanks!

 

[pelallito]

C_B,
Palmgren sells what you are looking for.
http://www.palmgren.com/p-mt-lathemillingattachment.html
Good luck.
Regards,
Fred

 

[carbide_burner]

Nice. Will try and make it myself though. (Remeber the thing about the poverty? ;D)
I just love this forum (and Google). I dit a couple of searches and came up with more pictures of similar modifications.

Bye 4 now.

 

[Mcgyver]

most guys having mills is i think a recent phenomena - read some of the older ME books and copies of Model Engineer and you'll get the sense that for most of its history , a home shop mill was the exception not the rule. yet certainly the results wouldn't take a back seat to ours....so carry on the ME tradition of doing more with less....oh and, if you want to help out that budget, quit burning carbide and switch to hss

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

I mounted the lathe top slide onto a cheap Enco cast iron angle plate and milled everything I needed until I had enough saved to get an X-3 mill. I bolted a 2" Enco screwless vice onto it as well. It works!

You have to take light cuts and keep the gibs tight & locked when possible.

 

[carbide_burner]

I made up some quick measurements this morning of my lathe, and will see if I can source the material today. I have limited access to an OLD milling machine at my work, so after welding the fabrication I will be able to mill the angle plate square. (sounds a bit easier than what it's gonna be like, but not undoable). I found a small vice in a catalogue that should be fit for this application - I'll buy that after the rest of the mod is complete.

a home shop mill was the exception not the rule

I had a look at new milling machines, and I think it should be possible to buy one of these china thingies in the foreseable future. They are priced WAY below "real" milling machines, and the quality of the product and materials also seem to be improving. BUT: for now my milling attachement plan will have to do.

quit burning carbide and switch to hss

Yeah yeah! I love my HSS for light machine work.
I work at a big (and heavy) engineering company where I do the programming for the CNC machines. The word HSS is not even heard any more. All the tooling are modern coated tungsten-carbide disposables, and there really is no place for HSS any longer. I have to just add that we still use HSS in our old Gleason gearcutters. BIG HSS. At least 80mm square! {gave my tungsten carbide tool to my brother, so he is actually the new CB}

The downside to the disposable type tooling, is that artisans can't grind tools any more! I can't stand it if a quy with years of machining experience can't grind a tool or even sharpen a drill. Let's not mention using a file or a hacksaw properly....... What is this world coming to? Luckily some HMEM do survive to tell the tales

Time to start my fabrication drawing.
BR
HSS user

 

[Tin Falcon]

CB:
The last couple of issues of Home shop machinist Magazine has a fantastic build article of a Mini side lever steam engine . m_kilde of this board did the write up. He is dong the entire engine on the lathe an has some great ideas for lathe milling setups all shop made.
Tin

 

[applescotty]

Here's a setup I did with my 7x12 minilathe when I first got it. I never actually used it for milling beyond the little test piece in the photos, and never got a vise for it.
http://applescotty.googlepages.com/minilathemillingattachment

I'm pretty sure this was the angle plate I used:
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=418-4510
The slots lined up perfectly.

Scott

 

[carbide_burner]

The last couple of issues of Home shop machinist Magazine has a fantastic build article of a Mini side lever steam engine .

I've seen these magazines before, and I think I should invest in it. Great articles and photographs. Pity the price is multiplied by about 7.5 by the time it reaches me.... (did I complain before about the price of things?? )

Here's a setup I did with my 7x12 minilathe when I first got it.

You started out great! I will however get mine up and running a.s.ap. as I already have a backlog of projects in the back of my head simply beacause I had no milling facility. :-\

I found a piece of 10mm plate, and I'm already busy cutting out the plates to make the fabrication for the angle plate. I can hardly wait to get the machine going! :big: :big: :big:

 

[carbide_burner]

Here it is! Still need to machine the slots in the faceplate, then I will weld it together.
Next weeks job...

'later

 

[Mcgyver]

that's going to be quite an angle plate. here's a couple of things to consider if they are not already on the program.....a fabrication is going to be full of stresses and move around a lot. That'll be frustrating because you want to grind or scrape in an angle plate once and have it stay put. if you can, after welding, have it stress relieved or better yet normalized and it'll be more stable.

Next, mild steel machine components are high prone to vibration. A terrific damping technique, used for example by hardinge among other others, is to fill voids with epoxy granite. This is basically epoxy and aggregates mixed and poured, you could fill in the triangle that way. It is reputed to have about 2x the damping ability of cast iron....some claim higher but definitions of damping ability seems a little ambiguous, suffice to say its a great vibration damper.

Sorry to add to workload, but a part like that becomes fundamental to everything else you make so it might be worth going the extra mile.

whats the plan to get it square? (not a trivial matter for large angles)