Table drill in a Mill

[villas]

I would like to know how to construct a table X,Y with rotary base and simple (45 degress or less) and cheap materials. Some ideas? Plans? ... im new in metalworking but my intention is to convert a table drill in a mini very simple mill.

My table drill:



An example of what im trying to do:


Regards

[Mcgyver]

villas, do some searching herein there's a lot of material. generally its not considered very practical for a couple of reasons, the bearings in a drill press do not handle the radial loads well, they are there for axial loads and drill presses don't usually have drawbars, morse tapers without a draw bar tend to let go with side loads

[Jay_At_CJT]

I'll second Mcgyvers thoughts on that one. I knew about the bearings, but recently found out about the morse taper letting go when I decided that a little side pressure wouldn't hurt if I was gentle. I tell you, it was really frustrating when the chuck kept falling out!

[villas]

Finaly ... i forgot the idea and buy this mini mill





some day .. somehow a CNC .. who knows ($$$)

Thanks

[ZipSnipe]

There ya go Villas, you have just saved yourself alot of work. The mill is kinda small but a good starter mill none the less. Just remember light cuts on steel.

[villas]

My first work:



Its acrylic and im not finished yet..

Regards

[villas]

Originally Posted by ZipSnipe There ya go Villas, you have just saved yourself alot of work. The mill is kinda small but a good starter mill none the less. Just remember light cuts on steel.

What exatly do you mean with "light cuts on steel" ??? have no idea !!

And if someone knows the recomended RPM for celeron, acrilyc and nylon i apreciate. Thanks.

[ZipSnipe]

Well I don,t really own a mini mill even through I use the mini mill head in the mill I built. But I can tell you that I feel my mill isa little more heavy duty than the mini mill. So when milling steel I usually cut at about 1/3 of the diameter of the cutter with a depth of about 3/32 tops. So I figured the mini mill is probably capable of just a little less than that. As far as milling the plastics described I have no answer for you except if I were to do it I,d probably use some type of coolant as plastics tend to remelt to itself when cutting. I found that when I cut plexi with a jig saw that a slower speed cuts the best. But I haven't milled any yet.

[villas]

Originally Posted by ZipSnipe ... So when milling steel I usually cut at about 1/3 of the diameter of the cutter with a depth of about 3/32 tops. ..

Im sory but i realy dont understand you ... can be more specifc please ?

Thanks

[ZipSnipe]

I,m sorry I can,t be anymore specific than that. for example lets say I have a chunk of steel and I want to mill it square and i have a milling cutter which is lets say 3/8 diameter, as I start to mill , I,ll move the cutter so its about an 1/8 of an inch over the steel chunk and about 1/16 to 3/32 depth of cut, I,ll make one pass over the steel , come back move the table so I,m another 1/8 over and so on. But it sounds like you'll be milling plastics so you,ll be alright. Believe me when you make a mistake you most likely will not want to make the same mistake again thus lesson learned. Here read this link http://www.americanmachinetools.com/...ng_machine.htm
How to use a Milling Machine

[villas]

Originally Posted by ZipSnipe I,m sorry I can,t be anymore specific than that. for example lets say I have a chunk of steel and I want to mill it square and i have a milling cutter which is lets say 3/8 diameter, as I start to mill , I,ll move the cutter so its about an 1/8 of an inch over the steel chunk and about 1/16 to 3/32 depth of cut, I,ll make one pass over the steel , come back move the table so I,m another 1/8 over and so on. But it sounds like you'll be milling plastics so you,ll be alright. Believe me when you make a mistake you most likely will not want to make the same mistake again thus lesson learned. Here read this link http://www.americanmachinetools.com/...ng_machine.htm How to use a Milling Machine

OK .. i understand now ... my head think in mm not in pol ... and my english is very poor but i understand now. Thanks a lot!

[handlewanker]

Hi Villas, the cutting speed for using High Speed steel cutters, when cutting mild steel is, as a rule of thumb, for 25mm diam cutters 300 revs per minute. The smaller you go the faster the speed. So for 12.5mm diam the speed would be 600 rpm, and if it was bigger say 50mm then it would be 150 rpm. This is based upon the rule that High Speed Steel uses a cutting speed of 100 feet per min, which is an imperial setting. So 1" diam or 25mm diam tools are 300 rpm.