Planning a drill press conversion, any thoughts?

[bazmak]

I thought about it purely as an exercise and that's all it would be
Very light milling ,if your lucky with limited use.By the time you have bought the cross slide table/vice etc its cheaper to buy a mill.You learn by experience
as I did when I bought the mill it is obviouse when you look backIf you want to make anything successfully then buy a lathe and a mill and never the twain shall meet.Even drilling was so superior with mill I sold the drill

 

[Wizard69]

I thought about it purely as an exercise and that's all it would be

Very light milling ,if your lucky with limited use.By the time you have bought the cross slide table/vice etc its cheaper to buy a mill.You learn by experience

as I did when I bought the mill it is obviouse when you look backIf you want to make anything successfully then buy a lathe and a mill and never the twain shall meet.Even drilling was so superior with mill I sold the drill

The problem with drill presses and milling is that the end mill pulls on the taper dislodging it. Sadly this can happen with other tooling commonly used in a drill press. A drum sander can dislodge the taper in a drill press. This has had me wondering from time to time why drill presses aren't fitted with an ER collet spindle. I've got a drill press with a bunged up taper that I've considered building a new spindle for and doing ER instead of a morse taper. It would make me feel safer even using a drum sander. While it wouldn't make a drill press any more suitable for milling you could at least do light stuff without the taper pull out risk.

As for drilling I understand the value of a milling machine as I will go to the mill at work for a lot of drilling activities. When I finally get a mill at home I doubt I will give up the drill press though.

 

[goldstar31]

I do recall converting a scrap engraving machine into a sort of mill and later making a Westbury from aero chocolate type castings from the local technical school. The feed screws, if I recall, were 1/2" BSW studding. The motive power was a scrap 1/4HP washing machine motor. Real hands on experience is a wonderful thing- if you live that long.

Mind you, even a suggested drill chuck might separate from the taper. It did, it did. It missed me. A bit of excitement in old age.

 

[Wizard69]

I do recall converting a scrap engraving machine into a sort of mill and later making a Westbury from aero chocolate type castings from the local technical school. The feed screws, if I recall, were 1/2" BSW studding. The motive power was a scrap 1/4HP washing machine motor. Real hands on experience is a wonderful thing- if you live that long.

Mind you, even a suggested drill chuck might separate from the taper. It did, it did. It missed me. A bit of excitement in old age.

Need to ask: what are aero chocolate type castings?

In any event people need to be constantly reminded of the safety issues using end mills in drill presses without draw bars. The helix on the mill can generate a lot of downward force literally providing a constant pull on the taper. This is a real danger that people should NOT dismiss. Oh yes I have personal experience here.

On a side note on a Bridgeport I've had end mills pull parts up out of a vise or alternatively over come the quill clamp to mess up a part. This just highlights that there is considerable vertical forces (pulls if you will) involved when using an end mill. I often see comments about side loads as a big problem but I don't buy that, it is rather the pull that the mill is producing that is the problem.

In a nut shell be safe people. Flying metal can cause significant injuries and harping that metal spinning just makes the damage worst.