Milling attachment

[helijohn]

I am thinking of getting into some small milling work but have only been using a big dog 7x14 mini lathe for just over a year so I am a relative newcomer. I was thinking of getting one of these.

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What do you think of them and I know it sounds like a basic question but how is it attached to the lathe and how is it operated. I Googled about milling but there seems to be precious little related to these attachments.

[earthman]

I'd be interested to hear others opinions on this too.

I've thought about buying one of the small combined machines to start with, so far everybody I've spoke to has put me off, they all say that the milling part is not strong/rigid enough and that the working 'table' area is too small. I'm guessing that the same would be said for this type of attachment??

[helijohn]

I'm guessing that the same would be said for this type of attachment??

I think that is likely to be very true but for the smaller jobs it should be adequate. I don't want to be drilling the crosslide to fit it.

[TXFred]

The 3 in 1 machines are to be avoided. A 3 in 1 machine is an extremely limited mill, an extremely limited lathe, and an extremely limited drill press. Each function is compromised by the inclusion of the other two functions.

That milling adapter won't compromise your lathe in the same way. So you go from having a lathe to having a lathe and an extremely limited mill. By limited, I mean that you won't be able to mill anything large with that adapter.

If you just want to make small parts, or do the occasional milling operation on turned parts, then this could work for you. If you plan to make larger pieces, then you might want to save that money towards a standalone mill later on.

Cheers,
Frederic

[helijohn]

If you just want to make small parts, or do the occasional milling operation on turned parts, then this could work for you.

Cheers,
Frederic

Thanks for the advice.

I only really work with smaller items though not as small as watch parts so it depends what you mean by small I suppose.

I wanted an attachment that doesn't need any special work in order to be fitted.

I'd love a separate milling machine but first I would want to put that sort of money towards a slightly bigger lathe, slightly bigger mind you; though it makes sense to get the milling machine first then go up a size of lathe later as my 7x14 is just about entirely all I need for my jobs.

[UUU]

I think we need to distinguish here between some 3-in-1 machines that have a separate milling spindle, a 3-in-1 that's a take-apart lathe that can be reassembled as a mill, and a fixture that can present a piece of work up to a cutter held in the lathe spindle.

I've no experience of the first two, and I'm not attracted to them. But the last approach I have used, before I got a mill, and got very good results with it. This seems to be what you are trying to do with the attachment in the link.

There are two key things I found. You need to have your work really securely clamped - and you need to have the cutter really well held in the chuck. I got caught out on a number of occasions by the cutter sliding forwards in the chuck. If I was carrying on with this method, I'd get a proper collet system, perhaps ER25, to hold the cutters.

[helijohn]

I think we need to distinguish here between some 3-in-1 machines that have a separate milling spindle, a 3-in-1 that's a take-apart lathe that can be reassembled as a mill, and a fixture that can present a piece of work up to a cutter held in the lathe spindle.

I've no experience of the first two, and I'm not attracted to them. But the last approach I have used, before I got a mill, and got very good results with it. This seems to be what you are trying to do with the attachment in the link.

There are two key things I found. You need to have your work really securely clamped - and you need to have the cutter really well held in the chuck. I got caught out on a number of occasions by the cutter sliding forwards in the chuck. If I was carrying on with this method, I'd get a proper collet system, perhaps ER25, to hold the cutters.

So the attachment sounds like the route to take.