drill press / mill

[exawatt]

go easy on me here but, i am looking for something like this http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00927593000P
for use on a stand up drill press for simple work.
i have poked around but i am not sure what im looking for so i thought i would ask here.

i would just like to be able to set my depth and make cuts/grooves and what have you. maybe just maybe the ability to conver to cnc in the future but not a priority.

anyway thanks for any help.

[martinw]

Originally Posted by exawatt go easy on me here but, i am looking for something like this http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00927593000P for use on a stand up drill press for simple work. i have poked around but i am not sure what im looking for so i thought i would ask here. i would just like to be able to set my depth and make cuts/grooves and what have you. maybe just maybe the ability to conver to cnc in the future but not a priority. anyway thanks for any help.

Dear exawatt,

I'm really, really, no expert here. That machine looks like a drill press to me with a compound table bolted to it. I have both of those bits. Milling on a drill press will never work, IMMVO. I've tried. Never worked for me.

There is a saying.."you can drill on a mill, but you can't mill on a drill".

Sorry for the gloomy advice,

Best wishes,

Martin

[ZipSnipe]

Here same thing but half the cost(no clamps but ya can buy them too)

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G8750
G8750 6" x 18-1/2" Compound Slide Table

[martinw]

Originally Posted by martinw Sorry for the gloomy advice, Best wishes, Martin

Dear exawatt,

By the way, welcome aboard .

BW

Martin

[Chris64]

That really just looks like a drill. Look at the Mill/Drills available at Grizzly.

You really want one that has some type of drawbar to hold the tooling. A drill chuck won't handle any type of milling function. It will just fall off/break/hurt someone...in any random order.

It costs more but here's the cheapest they had:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G8689

[in2steam]

The statement made about making a drill into a mill is accurate to a certain extent, and there are several reasons why.
If your drill press was made in this century, and cost less the $1000 its not going to be capable of doing milling, its just not goining to have the correct bearings. Now I have two older craftsman drill presses that have assisted me in creating pockets for things for my atlas shaper(a really cheap way to make slots) were you need to have a relief at each end of the slot and then it was only a plunge not a mill per say. Both of these were made near 1939-40. They have three sets of bearings, wereas most drill presses today only have 2, and the wrong kind of 2 at that.
The other major problem is that your column lacks the stiffness and robustness of a mill, so you will be figting your table and the head at the same time, that combined with a the wrong kind of bearings is going to be just plain old bad idea. If you are on the cheap I suggest either a small HF mill drill like the x2, or get yourself an old pre 1950 drill press with taper roller bearings(best), or ball bearings and has an MT taper as jacobs tapers can bend esp 33 and 2. I had my cheapo chinese drill press have the chuck come out and go flying through a window when I tried to egg a hole out on it that had a straight shank which is the bottom of the barrel.
Also using a drill chuck to hold mills is not the best policy, again that has lead to things embedded in my wall. If you are a lathe owner keep in mind that you can slot on a lathe easily with a milling attachment or jig to hold your part at the correct height.
As for controlling height about 90% of drill presses use a column lock that is a split casting style, this also very inaccurate and not to be truseted for that kind of service, a split or solid cotter is a much better approach, again better brand drill presses were still using that, however I noticed that delta has gone to split castings as of late.
Just my exeperinces.
chris

[exawatt]

thanks for the replys..
i have always wanted to get a nice mill/lathe but, i cant justify the cost for the little i would use it.
any suggestions on a decent (new) mill? i have been reading on the forums but there is so much so many names that its hard to keep straight.
guess i should have went into mechanical eng. not electronic.

i have been looking at the sherline stuff but i think i want something bigger but thats why im here.

well again thanks for the info.

[exawatt]

So I have been doing more reading and getting my self even more confused but, maybe it will all come together eventually.

How does this machine fair: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44991

Like I said earlier I just want something to make simple items and have them be straight/square. I found reviews on the sieg x2 which looks some what identical (im sure its much nicer at 3x the price) but not much on the above.

There seem to be serveral machines that look the same but, have different manufacture/reseller names.

[exawatt]

Also what is the story on metric machines and standard.. I have never been much of a fan on the standard measurments so I would kinda like something metric?

[Chris64]

That looks like the same machine as the Grizzly I recommended but cheaper. Look into what parts come with each. It's probably made in the same place. Compare shipping and accessories to be sure it's truly a better deal. I got a HF version of a tool only to find it came with virtually no accessories and the Grizzly version came with about $200 in accessories - but that was a lathe. I'm not sure what accessories might come with a mill.

I've never used it but it appears to be fine. It has a drawbar, way covers, variable speed. Usually these machines have quite a bit of backlash on them so often you'll find yourself spending money/time to enhance them. Depending on your needs though you may be fine.

[exawatt]

From what I have read it sounds like most of these machines have backlash but, can be cleaned up with minor mods?
So long as what I buy is not a huge turd I should be ok (no space shuttle parts are going to be built).
Depending on how much I end up using it I can always buy the seig later if needed.

[in2steam]

All machines have backlash, you are not looking at $250,000 machining centers here. That is a sieg x2 you are looking at they are decent machines for there size and everyone and his brother sells there version of it just a different color and some are a little better QC(some are and picked by a agent in china) all though the same machine. There are some simiple mods out there to keep the backlash for getting out of hand like the double nut or split nut methods.

Also I don't understand your request on the differenece between metric and standard, in the states you are only going to find standard unless you special order it. All your material for the most part comes in fractional sizes anyway so you save your self some headaches in measuring.

Chris